Neil Young – Classic Rock Review

Tonight’s the Night by Neil Young

June 15, 2020

by Classic Rock Review with No Comment Album Reviews

During an era of glam rock and progressive virtuoso, Neil Young delivered a raw and genuine record with Tonight’s the Night. Although released in mid 1975, the music on this album was recorded years earlier, with the bulk of it coming from a single jam session in August 1973. The somber songs were recorded in the wake of the deaths of two professional colleagues of Young’s, former Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten as well as a roadie who worked for Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

Young found both critical and commercial success with 1972’s Americana-flavored LP Harvest. Young then went on tour with Whitten and member of the backing group “The Stray Gators”, which included pedal steel player Ben Keith. However, it became apparent during rehearsals that Whitten could not function due to his drug abuse. Shortly after being released from the tour, Whitten died from an overdose in November 1972. Original music from this tour was later released on the 1973 live album Time Fades Away, the first of what would be three consecutive commercial failures later known as the “ditch trilogy”. Young and Keith then formed “The Santa Monica Flyers” with keyboardist and guitarist Nils Lofgren. Following the second drug-induced death in less than a year, roadie Bruce Berry in mid 1973, Young decided to record an album specifically inspired by the incidents.

Tonight’s the Night was recorded quickly, capturing a raw energy and spontaneity. Much of it was recorded in a small rehearsal room behind a music equipment rental shop in Los Angeles in August and September 1973. However, Tonight’s the Night raw sound and dark tone was initially rejected by the Reprise label, causing a two year delay in its release. In the meantime, Young recorded another album, On the Beach in 1974, a more melodic and acoustic effort that also sold poorly (the second of the “ditch trilogy”). After a brief stadium tour with CSNY in late 1974, Young recorded another acoustic album, entitled Homegrown, an album he ultimately decided not to release (many of the songs were later included on other albums by Young). Instead, he fought once again to have Tonight’s the Night released, and it finally was in June 1975.

Tonight’s the Night by Neil Young
Released: June 20, 1975 (Reprise) Produced by: David Briggs, Tim Mulligan, Elliot Mazer & Neil Young Recorded: Fillmore East, New York City, Broken Arrow Ranch & Studio Instrument Rentals, Hollywood, March 1970 – September 1973
Side One	Side Two
Tonight’s the Night (Pt. I) Speakin’ Out World on a String Borrowed Tune Come on Baby Let’s Go Downtown Mellow My Mind	Roll Another Number (For the Road) Albuquerque New Mama Lookout Joe Tired Eyes Tonight’s the Night” (Pt. II)
Primary Musicians
Neil Young – Lead Vocals, Guitars, Piano Ben Keith – Pedal Steel & Slide Guitars Nils Lofgren – Piano, Guitars, Vocals Billy Talbot – Bass Roger Earl – Drums, Vocals

The opening title track has an intro that methodically builds harmonies through repetition of main hook. The song directly references Bruce Berry and talks of how the late roadie would play Young’s guitar late at night after gigs. From the jump, it is unmistakable that this album is sonically raw for a major artist release and this especially true of Young’s lead vocals on this track where he is, at times, too close or too far away from the mic. “Speakin’ Out” features bluesy piano and lead electric with an excellent melody over the dueling instruments, right up to Young saying “alright Nils” to coach the commencement of a guitar lead. “World on a String” is a more straight-forward country/rock track, with “Borrowed Tune” being a straight-up admission of being a derivation of the Rolling Stones’ “Lady Jane” from 1966’s Aftermath. This Neil Young version features his fine harmonica intro and slow, emotive, high pitched vocals matching the melody of Lofgren’s piano.

The oldest track on Tonight’s the Night is a 1970 live Fillmore East recording of “Come on Baby Let’s Go Downtown”. The song was co-written by Whitten, who also provides vocals with the performance by Crazy Horse and this heavy rocker has a Grateful-Dead-like style to provide a different vibe, that still seems to fit perfectly in the sequence of this album. “Mellow My Mind” is first song that really sounds like a Harvest-era Neil Young tune, with a nice blend of folk, rock and country under harmonic and unique vocals, while “Roll Another Number (For the Road)” is more pure country track with a pedal steel lead by Keith, multi-part harmonies throughout, and a spoken word vocal in third verse which reminisces about the Woodstock Music Festival.

Neil Young

While “Albuquerque” has a great Western vibe during extended intro, the rest of the song does not quite live up to its initial promise, and the following track, “New Mama” is also pretty standard and unremarkable. However, the next two songs may be the best overall on the album. “Lookout Joe” is a strong, chord, driven rocker with a fine melody and hook and a slow but strong rock beat by Kenny Buttrey leading to the fine guitar lead by Keith. The spoken word, pleasant, mellow intro and verses of “Tired Eyes” are contrasted by the rich harmonies of the choruses. This song is, effectively, the grand finale as a lazy harmonica plays over the country-esque backing before the final track, “Tonight’s the Night” (Part II) offers a different take on the opener with just a slightly distinctive musical arrangement driven by the pulsating bass by Billy Talbot throughout.

While Tonight’s the Night did reach the Top 30 in the American Pop Albums chart, it’s poor sales solidified this as the third and final installment of the “ditch trilogy”. While it received mixed reviews at the time, it is now widely regarded as a classic by Neil Young. For decades there has been speculation that an entirely different version of the album exists that is even more intense than this published version, but as of 2020 that version has not yet seen the light of day.

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1975 albums.

Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
by Neil Young

June 3, 2019

by Classic Rock Review with No Comment Album Reviews

Buy Everybody Knows This is Nowhere

Neil Young‘s second solo record, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, was the first of his string of classics. Released in May 1969, this album was also the first to include Crazy Horse, a backing group that Young would employ sporadically for decades to come. On this critically acclaimed album, Young bounces back and forth between rock, folk and country, landing a few times on a custom sweet spot nestled somewhere in between all three genres.

Young migrated from his native Canada to Southern California in 1966 and fortuitously found himself at the founding of the group Buffalo Springfield. After two years and two successful albums, he left the band to launch a solo career, releasing his self titled debut by the end of 1968. That fine psych-tinged folk-rock album was as much uneven as it is interesting. Young would later comment that his debut record was “overdubbed rather than played” and he immediately set out to make a better record.

Prior to recording Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, Young recruited a trio of musicians originally from a band called The Rockets to be the first incarnation of Crazy Horse. Young composed all the material, much of which was written in a single day while he was recovering from a high fever, and co-produced the album with David Briggs. However, the members of Crazy Horse did play a large role in the forging and recording of the songs, adding rhythms, backing vocals and a few long and loose instrumental jam sections.

Everybody Knows This is Nowhere by Neil Young
Released: May 14, 1969 (Reprise) Produced by: David Briggs and Neil Young Recorded: Wally Heider Recording, Hollywood, CA, January-March 1969
Side One	Side Two
Cinnamon Girl Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere Round & Round (It Won’t Be Long) Down by the River	The Losing End (When You’re On) Running Dry (Requiem for the Rockets) Cowgirl In the Sand
Primary Musicians
Neil Young – Lead Vocals, Guitars Danny Whitten – Guitars, Vocals Billy Talbot/strong> – Bass Ralph Molina – Drums, Vocals

The album begins with the indelible “Cinnamon Girl”, an innovative combo of riff-based hard rock and pop/folk sensibilities. Along with the signature riff, guitarist Danny Whitten provides co-lead vocal high harmony with Young providing lyrics about a “city girl on playing finger cymbals”. The title track follows “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere” features an innovative accident of Young including a temporary scratch vocal sung through the talk-back microphone with no further effects in the final mix. Thematically, this song has some deep influence from Buffalo Springfield.

“Round & Round (It Won’t Be Long)” slows things down as a country-esque waltz complete with exquisite vocals by both Young and guest Robin Lane throughout and some strategic chord changes placed within the consistent acoustic strumming. The epic “Down by the River” finishes off the first side as a classic epic in length and approach. This dark song about a crime of passion features some extended instrumental passages with Young leading the group with staccato-laden guitar leads.

Neil Young

“The Losing End (When You’re On)” is slightly psychedelic, but mostly country in approach and a much less interesting song than anything previous as it really doesn’t go anywhere unexpected and the words are delivered painfully slow, Diddo for “Running Dry (Requiem for the Rockets)” a reserved, haunting and dark folk tune featuring squeaky violin by guest Bobby Notkoff. The album wraps with the classic “Cowgirl in the Sand”, a true highlight for the rhythm section of Crazy Horse, namely bassist Billy Talbot and drummer Ralph Molina. In between the extended jams lie two well constructed melodic sections with nicely doubled lead vocals to accent the fine melodies of this song, which buttons up the album as a classic.

Everybody Knows This is Nowhere peaked in the Top 40 in the United States and remained on the charts for nearly 100 weeks. During that time, Young joined Crosby, Stills & Nash for the 1970 album Déjà Vu before resuming his solo career later in that year.

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1969 albums.

Déjà Vu by
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

July 6, 2015

by Classic Rock Review with One Comment Album Reviews

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Déjà Vu is the sophomore effort by the super group with the expanded name of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, after the addition of Neil Young to the group. Each of the four named members of the group contributed an original composition to each side of the original LP, which worked to give this album a very diverse musical and textual feel overall. following its release, the album topped the charts in the US and went on to be the most successful record overall for the group as a four piece.

The 1969 self-titled debut by Crosby, Stills & Nash was a critical and commercial success. On that album, Stephen Stills played the bulk of the instruments with drummer Dallas Taylor being the only player outside the core trio. After the album’s release and success, the band looked to add more players, at first trying to recruit Steve Winwood (to no avail). At the urging of Atlantc Records founder Ahmet Ertegün, Young was brought on as a fourth member, reuniting him with Stills, his Buffalo Springfield bandmate. This updated group then embarked on their initial tour in the summer of 1969.

Through late 1969, great anticipation was building for another album by the group. Ultimately, the album took a long time to record, with over 500 studio hours logged over the course of five months. The end result is an album filled with precise playing, rich harmonies, and strong rhythms, with three charting singles and several more tracks which have sustained throughout the decades.

Déjà Vu by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Released: March 11, 1970 (Atlantic) Produced by: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Recorded: Wally Heider’s Studios, San Francisco and Los Angeles, July-December, 1969
Side One	Side Two
Carry On Teach Your Children Almost Cut My Hair Helpless Woodstock	Déjà Vu Our House 4 + 20 Country Girl Everybody, I Love You
Primary Musicians
David Crosby – Guitars, Vocals Stephen Stills – Guitars, Keyboards, Bass, Vocals Graham Nash – Guitars, Keyboards, Vocals Neil Young – Guitars, Keyboards, Harmonica, Vocals Greg Reeves – Bass Dallas Taylor – Drums

The songs through most of Déjà Vu are great Americana classics which, if they are flawed at all, are just a bit too short in duration. “Carry On” has an upbeat acoustic folk intro. Still’s thumping bass and some hand percussion are present through much of the opening verses. The later section changes direction a bit while still giving room for harmonies to fully shine along with some great electric guitar licks. “Teach Your Children” is a pure, steady country tune by Graham Nash, featuring exquisite harmonies throughout. This track also has some impressive pedal steel by guest Jerry Garcia, who made this signature arrangement in return for the CSNY teaching members of the Grateful Dead how to effectively harmonize for their upcoming 1970 albums.

“Almost Cut My Hair” is a bluesy, hippie anthem by David Crosby, featuring a triple guitar attack by Crosby, Stills, and most especially Young on lead guitar. This track is also the most ‘live’ sounding on the album and features no harmonies, with Crosby alone supplying the soulful lead vocals throughout. The album again changes direction with Young’s “Helpless”, where Neil plays acoustic, electric, piano, and harmonica along with the lead vocals. This track was originally recorded by Young with Crazy Horse in early 1969. The album’s first side concludes with “Woodstock”, a song written by Joni Mitchell as a folk song but adapted by CSNY as a rocked out version with potent, electric guitar motifs and exceptionally harmonized counter-melodies during the choruses. Mitchell did not play at the actual Woodstock festival, but wrote the song based on accounts from then-boyfriend Nash, and recorded her own version for the album, Ladies of the Canyon.

Crosby Stills Nash Young

Side two of the album contains five more fine tracks, although not quite at the level of the first side. Crosby’s title track, “Déjà Vu”, may be the oddest song on the album, as it slowly works its way into an acoustic groove for the intro section but then abruptly breaks into a slow, bluesy rock for the duration. Nash’s “Our House” is a very British pop, piano love tune, unlike anything this band had done before or since. The song simply portrays a day in the life of Nash and Mitchell verbatim. “4 + 20” is a short acoustic folk tune by Stills, followed by Young’s “Country Girl”, a loose medley with a waltz-like beat, deep organ textures in the background, and slight harmonies. The album concludes with “Everybody I Love You”, the only collaboration on the album (between Stills and Young), which seems like the least finished track on the album overall.

Within a year after the successful release of Déjà Vu, each of the four members recorded solo albums — Crosby’s If I Could Only Remember My Name, Stills’ self-titled debut, Nash’s Songs for Beginners and Young’s After the Gold Rush, all four of which reached the Top 20 on the charts. However, there would not be another CSNY studio album by all four until American Dream in 1988, nearly two decades later.

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1970 albums.

After the Gold Rush
by Neil Young

June 10, 2015

by Classic Rock Review with No Comment Album Reviews

Buy After the Gold Rush

For his third studio album, Neil Young embraced the Country/rock fusion style for which he would become best known. After the Gold Rush is a moderate to slow paced album, which may require a certain type of mood to enjoy, But once tuned in, the music is an infusion of genres a nice variety of electric and acoustic guitars along with steady rhythms and just enough intense edge to make it artistically viable. Every track is good, all showing some value with very little filler, making the album solid as a whole.

Young first found mainstream success with the group Buffalo Springfield, a band which had a successful but very short existence. For that group’s 1967 second album, Young wrote and recorded three solo tracks apart from the rest of the group which , in essence, was the beginning of his solo career. Young’s 1968 self-titled debut received mixed reactions and reviews, while his next release Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere was the first to feature his backing band, Crazy Horse. Released in 1969, this second album was a raw and energetic rock record which was recorded in just two weeks and found some mainstream success. Later that year, Young became the fourth member of Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young and recorded the early 1970 Déjà Vu with the group.

Much of After the Gold Rush was recorded in Young’s basement studio in California. Young set out to find a middle ground between the Crazy Horse and Crosby, Stills, Nash sound and even enlisted CSNY bassist Greg Reeves and drummer Ralph Molina of Crazy Horse. The album got its title from an unpublished screenplay by Dean Stockwell-Herb Berman, for which Young wanted to write the soundtrack. However, the film was never produced and the actual script has been lost to time.

After the Gold Rush by Neil Young
Released: September 19, 1970 (Reprise) Produced by: Neil Young, David Briggs, & Kendall Pacios Recorded: Sunset Sound, Sound City, & Redwood Studios, California, December 1969–June 1970
Side One	Side Two
Tell Me Why After the Gold Rush Only Love Can Break Your Heart Southern Man Till the Morning Comes	Oh, Lonesome Me Don’t Let It Bring You Down Birds When You Dance I Can Really Love I Believe in You Cripple Creek Ferry
Primary Musicians
Neil Young – Lead Vocals, Guitars, Piano, Harmonica Nils Lofgren – Guitars, Keyboards, Vocals Greg Reeves – Bass Ralph Molina – Drums, Vocals

The acoustic track with plenty of hammer-ons along with bright strumming guitar action drives the opening track “Tell Me Why”, which also includes some sparse but nice harmonies. This song was originally performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young during their tours earlier in 1970. The indelible title track is a classic ballad, simple and measured with the sparse arrangement of a distant piano and near lead vocals, with session man Bill Peterson adding a pleasant flugelhorn lead. The lyrics to “After the Gold Rush” are at once disparate and yet very poetic in a song that reflects contemporary life.

Peaking at #33, “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” was the only real radio hit on the album, as it returns to the Country sound with strong pop elements. This Tin-Pan-Alley like song has a wistful melody and a waltz-like beat with a simple arrangement. In contrast, “Southern Man” contains a solid rock groove featuring Young on electric guitar and then-18-year-old Nils Lofgren on piano. There are harmonized vocals during hook, solo vocals during the verses and an extended jam in the middle. The lyrics vividly describe the racism towards blacks in the American South, with a sweeping accusation which sparked a direct response by Lynyrd Skynyrd on their later hit “Sweet Home Alabama”.

Neil Young After the abruptly cut “Till the Morning Comes” completes side one, the second side starts with the album’s only cover track, Don Gibson’s classic Country song, “Oh, Lonesome Me”. While remaining moderately slow paced, “Don’t Let It Bring You Down” contains strong variations in mood, adding its own diverse slice of uniqueness. This original track contains excellent melody and a bit of a dark tenor, which elevates the simple Country beats to a much higher level which was expanded upon on Young’s 1972 album Harvest.

Dating back to the days of Buffalo Springfield, “Birds” is a slow piano ballad, a bit sappy but with great harmonies during the choruses. Then comes “When You Dance I Can Really Love”, a very Byrds-esque jangly rocker, which seems to work a bit too hard to try and be a relevant rock song, falling just a bit short. “I Believe in You” is one final, sweet Country ballad with complex harmonies and plenty of mellow sonic treats dispersed throughout the straight-forward, traditional love/heartache song. The album concludes with “Cripple Creek Ferry”, a way-too-short song which is nonetheless deep and effective.

After the Gold Rush peaked at number eight on the American Pop Albums chart and spawned an acoustic solo tour by Young. A solo act would remain his status for the better part of a decade as CSNY split up and Crazy Horse signed their own independent record deal as a group.

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1970 albums.

1979_NeilYoungCrazyHorse RustNeverSleeps1

Rust Never Sleeps
by Neil Young

November 24, 2014

by Classic Rock Review with 3 Comments Album Reviews

Buy Rust Never Sleeps

Rust Never Sleeps was a unique recording by Neil Young and Crazy Horse as it was an album of all new material mainly recorded live but post-produced with some studio overdubbing and most of the audience ambiance removed. This all resulted in a final product that feels at once intimate and intense. The title and overriding theme for this work was a concept for the tour which preceded its production and provided much of it’s raw material. Rust Never Sleeps acts almost like a bookmark for the end of the decade that examines the state of contemporary life and the music industry, much like Don McLean’s American Pie did at the beginning of the 1970s.

Following the success of Young’s 1972 album Harvest, he had an uneven career span, marred by struggles with his vocals and performance issues by backing musicians. Although these works sold poorly, most of his albums through the mid 1970s received critical praise, highlighted by the 1975 release of Tonight’s the Night, which Young later opined was the closest he ever came to true art. Through these years, Young intermittently used the backing musicians collectively known as “Crazy Horse” with whom Young first worked in 1968. Following the release of commercially accessible, Comes a Time, in 1978 Young and Crazy Horse set out on the lengthy “Rust Never Sleeps” tour, where each concert was divided into Young’s solo acoustic set and the full band electric set.

The tour was the basis for the core live elements on the Rust Never Sleeps tracks. The album was produced in a way to minimize the live nature, with some abrupt song starts and quick fade-outs to help mask the audience noise, which is really only audible on the opening and closing songs. Imaginative and bold, the material on this album blends many of Young’s previously established styles while, at points, reaching areas of music unprecedented.

Rust Never Sleeps by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Released: July 2, 1979 (Reprise) Produced by: Neil Young, David Briggs, & Tim Mulligan Recorded: Various Locations, 1975–78
Side One	Side Two
My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue) Thrasher Ride My Llama Pocahontas Sail Away	Powderfinger Welfare Mothers Sedan Delivery “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)
Primary Musicians
Neil Young – Lead Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards, Harmonica Frank “Pancho” Sampedro – Guitars, Vocals Billy Talbot – Bass, Vocals Ralph Molina – Drums, Vocals

The first three songs on the album were recorded live in 1978 at the Boarding House in San Francisco. Co-written by Jeff Blackburn of The Ducks, “My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)” is the opening acoustic version of the more popular electric album closing track. Here, Young takes a lot around the state of rock n’ roll at the end of the 1970s and pays slight tribute to the late Elvis Presley and the emerging punk genre, while the lyrics philosophically deal life and its reality. “Thrasher” sounds less “live” than the opener, as a more traditional Bob Dylan or even Bruce Springsteen influenced folk song, less concerned with riff and rhyme than with poetry and substance. Lyrically, Young stays on the state of rock stardom while musically the song contains a substantial harmonica lead in the outro. “Ride My Llama” is a short but pleasant and melodic ballad which dates back to Young’s Zuma album in the mid seventies.

Built like a time-traveling, acid-influenced tune from the sixties, “Pocahontas” is dark folk with lyrics that alternate between historic scenes and fantasy meetings. Along the way, Young references Marlon Brando, the Houston Astrodome, and, of course, Pocahontas. Completing the first side, “Sail Away” bucks the production trend of this album as a country-style recording left over from the Comes a Time recording sessions. This well-constructed song with a light but full arrangement would have fit in well with Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young and contains excellent harmony vocals by Nicolette Larson.

The real brilliance of Rust Never Slepps lies on the electric side two, starting with “Powderfinger”, the best overall song on the album. With great riffing throughout, especially when Young and guitarist Frank Sampedro harmonize guitars between verses. While the compositional approach is still basically the same folk as on the acoustic side, the raw industrial strength rock puts the album in full electric stride. The poetic lyrics of “Powderfinger” tell a first-person story told by an Old West fallen pioneer who failed to defend himself and his family due to several moments of indecision. An acoustic version of the song was originally recorded by Young in 1975 but was unreleased because Young thought at the time it would work better for a band like Lynard Skynard.

Next comes a couple of heavy rock influenced songs. “Welfare Mothers” sounds like it is musically inspired by the late sixties heavy rock, with the lyrical content being more contemporary to the late seventies. The powerful rhythms of Crazy Horse’s drummer Ralph Molina and bassist Billy Talbot drive the mood for the lighthearted lyrics about the rash of economically-strapped divorcées. On “Sedan Delivery” Young shifts between a heavy punk verse and slower, bluesy chorus which may have been influenced by The Who. The stream-of-consciousness lyrics portray the confusion often found in the era’s punk rock.

“Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)” is the most popular song on the album and, in a lot of ways, Young’s signature song of his career. A rocked out version of the opening track with slightly altered title and lyrics, Young coins some memorable phrases such as “it’s better to burn out than to fade away”, which John Lennon cited as “garbage” as he did not “appreciate the worship of dead Sid Vicious or of dead James Dean or dead Jim Morrison…No, thank you. I’ll take the living and the healthy” (unfortunately, Lennon was assassinated less than a year after these comments). As the song itself does get a bit too long and repetitive, it does sustain through the final crowd applause, adding nice closure to the album.

Critically acclaimed in its day and for years to come, Rust Never Sleeps was also commercially successful, reaching the Top 20 on both sides of the Atlantic. Later in 1979, Young and Crazy Horse released the complimentary album Live Rust and Young also released a live concert film of the album under the same title. Beyond these follow-ups, however, Young continued to take radical new musical turns in the early 1980s, which included a documentary film soundtrack, a synth-heavy techno album, and a pure rockabilly album.

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1979 albums.

Top 9 Rock Festivals of All Time

August 17, 2014

by Ric Albano with 11 Comments Special Features

This week Classic Rock Review joins the celebration of the 45^th Anniversary of the historic 1969 Woodstock Music Festival. In conjunction with Top 9 Lists, we present a list of the Top 9 Rock Festivals of all time, along with a bonus list of Top 9 Single Day, Single Location Concerts.

1. Woodstock

August 15-18, 1969
Bethel, New York
This remains the mother of all music festivals, held at a 600-acre dairy farm owned by Max Yasgur. A series of coincidental events unfolded which effected the location and operation of this festival, which grew to become a “free” event for over 400,000 attendees. Regarded as a pivotal moment in popular music history, 32 acts performed during the rainy weekend, starting with Richie Havens, and concluding with a memorable performance by Jimi Hendrix as the crowd dispersed mid-morning on Monday, August 18^th. Woodstock was immortalized in a later documentary movie as well as a song by Joni Mitchell, who was one of many major acts that did not attend by later regretted it.

Woodstock Performers: Richie Havens, Sweetwater, Bert Sommer, Tim Hardin, Ravi Shankar, Melanie, Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, Quill, Country Joe McDonald, Santana, John Sebastian, Keef Hartley Band, The Incredible String Band, Canned Heat, Mountain, Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin with The Kozmic Blues Band, Sly and the Family Stone, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Joe Cocker and The Grease Band, Ten Years After, The Band, Johnny Winter, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Crosby, Stills, & Nash, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Sha Na Na, Jimi Hendrix and Gypsy Sun Rainbows

Buy Woodstock soundtrack
Buy Woodstock: Three Days of Peace & Music DVD

2. Monterey Pop Festival

June 16-18, 1967
Monterey, California
Credited as the event which sparked the “The Summer of Love”, The three-day Monterey International Pop Music Festival had a rather modest attendance but was soon recognized for its importance to the performers and significance to the sixties pop scene. The lineup consisted of a blend of rock and pop acts with memorable performances by The Who and Jimi Hendrix Experience.

Monterey Pop Performers: Jefferson Airplane, The Who, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, Booker T. & the MG’s, Ravi Shankar, The Mamas and the Papas

Buy Monterey Pop Festival Live album

3. Live Aid

July 13, 1985
London and Philadelphia
Still the largest benefit concert 30 years on, Live Aid was a also the first live multi-venue event, with over 70,000 at London’s Wembley Stadium and close to 100,000 at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. Organized by musician Bob Geldof of the Boomtown Rats as relief for the Ethiopian famine, the concert evolved from Band Aid, a multi-artist group who recorded “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in 1984. Live Aid was also one of the largest worldwide television broadcasts, with an estimated audience of 1.9 billion in about 150 nations. Memorable performances and moments included those by Queen, U2, Dire Straits, a reunited Black Sabbath, and a loose reunion by members Led Zeppelin, the first since their breakup in 1980.

Live Aid Performers: Status Quo, The Style Council, The Boomtown Rats, Adam Ant, Spandau Ballet, Elvis Costello, Nik Kershaw, Sade, Sting, Phil Collins, Branford Marsalis, Howard Jones, Bryan Ferry, David Gilmour, Paul Young, U2, Dire Straits, Queen, David Bowie, Thomas Dolby, The Who, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Band Aid, Joan Baez, The Hooters, Four Tops, Billy Ocean, Black Sabbath, Run–D.M.C., Rick Springfield, REO Speedwagon, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Judas Priest, Bryan Adams, The Beach Boys, George Thorogood and the Destroyers, Simple Minds, The Pretenders, Santana, Ashford & Simpson, Madonna, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Kenny Loggins, The Cars, Neil Young, The Power Station, Thompson Twins, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin (announced as “Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, Tony Thompson, Paul Martinez, Phil Collins”), Duran Duran, Patti LaBelle, Hall & Oates, Mick Jagger, Eddie Kendricks, David Ruffin, Tina Turner, Bob Dylan, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, USA for Africa

Buy Live Aid DVD

4. Isle of Wight Festival

August 26-30, 1970
Isle of Wight, UK
In sheer numbers, the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival may be the largest ever, with estimates of over 600,000, which is an increase of about 50% over Woodstock. Promoted by local brothers Ronnie, Ray and Bill Foulk, the 5-day event caused such logistical problems (all attendees had to be ferried to the small island) that Parliament passed the “Isle of Wight Act” in 1971, preventing gatherings of more than 5,000 people on the island without a special license. Memorable performances included late career appearances by Jimi Hendrix and The Doors, and The Who, who released their entire set on the 1996 album Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970.

Isle of Wight 1970 Performers: Judas Jump, Kathy Smith, Rosalie Sorrels, David Bromberg, Redbone, Kris Kristofferson, Mighty Baby, Gary Farr, Supertramp, Howl, Black Widow, The Groundhogs, Terry Reid, Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso, Fairfield Parlour, Arrival, Lighthouse, Taste, Rory Gallagher, Chicago, Procol Harum, Voices of East Harlem, Cactus, John Sebastian, Shawn Phillips, Joni Mitchell, Tiny Tim, Miles Davis, Ten Years After, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, The Doors, The Who, Sly & the Family Stone, Melanie, Good News, Ralph McTell, Heaven, Free, Donovan, Pentangle, The Moody Blues, Jethro Tull, Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez, Leonard Cohen, Richie Havens

Buy Message to Love, The Isle of Wight Festival DVD

5. Ozark Music Festival

July 19-21, 1974
Sedalia, Missouri
Ozark Music Festival stage “No Hassles Guaranteed” was the motto of the Ozark Music Festival, held at the Missouri State Fairgrounds in 1974. While this festival offered an impressive lineup of artists as well as a crowd upwards of 350,000 people, the Missouri Senate later described the festival as a disaster, due to the behaviors and destructive tendencies of the crowd.

Ozark Music Festival Performers: Bachman–Turner Overdrive, Aerosmith, Premiata Forneria Marconi, Blue Öyster Cult, The Eagles, America, Marshall Tucker Band, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Boz Scaggs, Ted Nugent, David Bromberg, Leo Kottke, Cactus, The Earl Scruggs Revue, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Electric Flag, Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band, Joe Walsh and Barnstorm, The Souther Hillman Furay Band, The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Charlie Daniels Band, REO Speedwagon, Spirit

6. US Festival

May 28-30, 1983
Devore, California
Steve Wozniak’s US Festivals were staged on two occasions in September 1982 and May 1983. The second of these was packed with a lineup of top-notch eighties acts who performed in an enormous state-of-the-art temporary amphitheatre at Glen Helen Regional Park.

1983 US Festival Performers: Divinyls, INXS, Wall of Voodoo, Oingo Boingo, The English Beat, A Flock of Seagulls, Stray Cats, Men at Work, The Clash, Quiet Riot, Mötley Crüe, Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, Triumph, Scorpions, Van Halen, Los Lobos, Little Steven & the Disciples of Soul, Berlin, Quarterflash, U2, Missing Persons, The Pretenders, Joe Walsh, Stevie Nicks, David Bowie

7. The Crossroads Guitar Festival

June 4-6, 2004
Dallas, Texas
Starting in 2004, the Crossroads Guitar Festivals have been held every three years to benefit the Crossroads Centre for drug treatment in Antigua, founded by Eric Clapton. These concerts showcase a variety of guitarists, with the first lineup at the Cotton Bowl stadium in 2004 featuring some legends along with up-and-comers hand-picked by Clapton himself.

2004 Crossroads Guitar Festival Performers: Eric Clapton, Johnny A, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Ron Block, Booker T. & the M.G.’s, Doyle Bramhall II, JJ Cale, Larry Carlton, Robert Cray, Sheryl Crow, Bo Diddley, Jerry Douglas, David Honeyboy Edwards, Vince Gill, Buddy Guy, David Hidalgo, Zakir Hussain, Eric Johnson, B.B. King, Sonny Landreth, Jonny Lang, Robert Lockwood, Jr., John Mayer, John McLaughlin, Robert Randolph, Duke Robillard, Carlos Santana, Hubert Sumlin, James Taylor, Dan Tyminski, Steve Vai, Jimmie Vaughan, Joe Walsh, ZZ Top, David Johansen

Buy Eric Clapton: Crossroads Guitar Festival 2004 DVD

8. Live 8

July 2, 2005
Locations world wide
Held 20 years after he organized Live Aid, Bob Geldof’s Live 8 was even more ambitious, being held in nine different locations around the world on the same day. Timed to coincide with the G8 conference in Scotland that year, the goal was to raise money to fight poverty in Africa. The most memorable moment from the concerts was at Hyde Park in London where the classic lineup of Pink Floyd reunited for the first time in over two decades.

Live 8 Performers: U2, Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Mariah Carey, R.E.M. The Killers, The Who, UB40, Pink Floyd, Elton John, Bob Geldof, Velvet Revolver, Madonna, Coldplay, Robbie Williams, Will Smith, Alicia Keys, The Black Eyed Peas, Kanye West, Linkin Park, Jay-Z, Rob Thomas, Sarah McLachlan, Stevie Wonder, Maroon 5, Deep Purple, Neil Young, Buck Cherry, Bryan Adams, Mötley Crüe, Brian Wilson, Green Day, a-Ha, Roxy Music, Dido, Peter Gabriel, Snow Patrol, The Corrs, Zola, Lucky Dube, Jungo, Pet Shop Boys, Muse, The Cure

Buy Live 8 DVD

9. Woodstock ’94

August 12-14, 1994
Saugerties, New York
Organized to commemorate the 25^th anniversary of the original Woodstock festival, Woodstock ’94 was promoted as “3 More Days of Peace and Music”. in fact, this concert took place near the originally intended location of that first show and other similarities such as common performers, similar crowd size, rain, and mud.

Woodstock ’94 Performers: Blues Traveler, Candlebox, Collective Soul, Jackyl, King’s X, Live, Orleans, Sheryl Crow, Violent Femmes, Joe Cocker, Blind Melon, Cypress Hill, Rollins Band, Melissa Etheridge, Crosby, Stills, & Nash, John Sebastian, Nine Inch Nails, Metallica, Aerosmith, Country Joe McDonald, Sisters of Glory, Arrested Development, Allman Brothers Band, Traffic, Santana, Green Day, Paul Rodgers Rock and Blues Revue, Spin Doctors, Porno For Pyros, Bob Dylan, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Peter Gabriel

Read more on Woodstock ’94 from our recent Comebacks and Reunions special feature

Bonus Top 9 List: Best Single Day, Single Location Shows

1. The Concert for New York City October 20, 2001. New York, NY
2. The Band’s Last Waltz November 25, 1976. San Francisco, CA
3. Atlantic Records 40^th Anniversary Celebration May 14, 1988. New York, NY
4. Concert for Bangladesh August 1, 1971. New York, NY
5. Knebworh Festival June 30, 1990. Knebworth, UK
6. Texxas Jam July 1, 1978. Dallas, TX
7. Farm Aid September 22, 1985. Champaign, IL
8. Canada Jam August 26, 1990. Bowmanville, Ontario
9. Altamont Free Concert December 6, 1969. Tracy, CA

Ric Albano

Harvest by Neil Young

November 11, 2012

by Classic Rock Review with 3 Comments Album Reviews

Buy Harvest

Harvest is an album of Americana personified by Neil Young. It is where rock and roll goes to Nashville (literally), with simple and tight rhythms and subtle acoustic guitars are flavored by distant steel guitars and harmonica all under clearly vocalized lyrics about the simple struggles of life. This was the fourth studio album by the Canadian native and included a rich list of contemporary musicians who provided cameos on the album. It was Young’s most successful album commercially, becoming the best selling album of 1972 in the US.

After his brief stint with the super group Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Young recruited a group of country session musicians, whom he would name “The Stray Gators”. These included pedal steel player Ben Keith, bassist Tim Drummand and drummer Kenny Buttrey, all of whom would reunite for Harvest Moon, 20 years later in 1992. In contrast to this “Nashville” sound, Harvest also includes two tracks featuring the London Symphony Orchestra and were produced and arranged by Jack Nitzsche.

The project began in February 1971 when Young traveled to Nashville to appear on the Johnny Cash television show. He was approached by producer Elliot Mazer, who had just opened Quadrofonic Sound Studios and wanted him to record at the studio. Being a fan of the Nashville studio musicians known as “Area Code 615”, Young made the decision to start recording that very evening. As it turns out, most of those musicians had gigs that night (it was a Saturday), Mazer had to “scrape up” the three players who would become the “Stray Gators”. Young re-recorded some of the new material he had used the previous month on a live recording at UCLA in California. Although it got off to a quick start, the album would not be completed and released for over a year due to a back injury that Young suffered.

Harvest by Neil Young
Released: February 14, 1972 (Reprise) Produced by: Neil Young, Elliot Mazer, Henry Lewy, & Jack Nitzsche Recorded: Quadraphonic Studios, Nashville, January–September 1971
Side One	Side Two
Out On the Weekend Harvest A Man Needs a Maid Heart of Gold Are You Ready for the Country?	Old Man There’s a World Alabama The Needle and the Damage Done Words (Between the Lines of Age)
Primary Musicians
Neil Young – Lead Vocals, Guitars, Piano, Harmonica Jack Nitzsche – Piano, Guitar, Orchestration Ben Keith – Pedal Steel Tim Drummand – Bass Kenny Buttrey – Drums

The simple rhythm of “Out On the Weekend” grabs you from the beginning with Drummand’s bass guitar and Buttrey’s kick drum locked in perfect time. This mellow country two-step is followed by the even more gentle country waltz Of the title song. Harvest brings you onto the farm with a great melody by Young, who offers uplifting lyrics in a portrait of vulnerability and sincerity.

The two Nitzsche produced orchestral tracks may try a bit too hard to contrast with authentic Nashville sound. “A Man Needs a Maid” sounds authentic enough at first with just piano and vocals but soon morphs into an overblown orchestral section which strays far from the theme of simplicity. Lyrically, the song contrasts the fears of committing to a relationship with simply living alone and hiring help. “There’s a World” is not quite as deep and drifts far too much towards the Moody Blues on Days of Future Passed, trying to be dramatic and operatic.

The song “Heart of Gold” was released a month before the album and would go on to top the charts. It is pure pop with country flavoring and just a dash of Dylan with the ever-present harmonica, a sound which did very well in 1972. The song features backup vocals by James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt, who were also doing the Johnny Cash show the same night as Young, and agreed to come to the studio to “help out”. Taylor and Ronstadt also provide vocals for “Old Man”, the most philosophical and musically deep song on the album. Taylor further provides banjo on this song which Young wrote about an aging caretaker of a ranch Young acquired in the early 1970s. The song is both haunting and poignant, as the 24-year-old sees some of the same needs and desires he has in the old one.

Neil Young 1972

Young also wrote a handful of electric guitar based tunes for the album, while maintaining the same basic rhythm section. “Are You Ready for the Country?” starts with boogie piano introduction by Young and morphs into a loose jam with good slide guitar to end the first side. “Alabama” is a sequel to “‘Southern Man” from Young’s 1970 album After the Gold Rush. It contains some harmonies from ex-band mates David Crosby and Stephen Stills and is probably the hardest rocking song on the album musically. Lyrically, it tackles the history of prejudice in the state and sparked an answer by Lynard Skynard in the song “Sweet Home Alabama”, who address Neil Young directly in that songs lyric.

“The Needle and the Damage Done” is the only live recording and the most haunting song on the album, with lyrics that speak of a friend’s descent into heroin addiction. Young said of the song;

“I am not a preacher, but drugs killed a lot of great men…”

Unfortunately the mood of the subtle “Needle” is abruptly broken by the weak mixing into the album’s closer “Words (Between the Lines of Age)”. This song features a lengthy guitar workout with the band with multiple improvised solos and alternating time signatures between standard 4/4 and the more unusual 11/8 for interludes.

The mood on Harvest is melancholic with songs that describe the longing for new love. The success of the album was met by Young with extreme mixed feelings, who was never one to play the role of “pop star”. Whether by design or by fate, Young never again quite hit the commercial success of this 1972 album, although he certainly put out several more quality works.

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1972 albums.

Harvest Moon by Neil Young

June 25, 2012

by Classic Rock Review with 3 Comments Album Reviews

1992 Album Of the Year

Buy Harvest Moon

It may be a bit controversial to name a decidedly “retro” album as the album of the year for any particular year. Many rock fans who reflect back on the era of the early nineties, and the year 1992 in particular, will rightfully think of the alternative or “grunge” craze which had then fully materialized. But Classic Rock Review is all about timelessness in rock, and Harvest Moon by Neil Young may have sounded like something that should have been made 20 years earlier, but 20 years later it holds up as well as anything from 1992. So we chose this restrained, Nashville-produced, Americana classic over anything that came out of Seattle that year.

Much speculation has been made about the relationship of this album to Young’s 1972 album Harvest, with many labeling Harvest Moon as a “sequel” to that album two decades earlier. There certainly is a case to be made due to the similarities in title, the fact that both albums were recorded in Nashville with some of the same players (dubbed the “Stray Gators” by Young), Ben Keith on pedal Steel, Tim Drummand on bass, and Kenny Buttrey on drums. Then, of course, there is the plain fact that the albums are very similar in sound and arrangement. However, Young denied that there was a strong connection between the two albums in an interview;

“people see the correlation between the two, and it’s kind of a plus to be able to refer back 20 years and see the same people and do that. But the thrust of the albums is different, even though the subject matter is similar, so I tend to shy away more from comparisons between them…”

Young spent much of the 1980s experimenting with vastly different styles from electronic to rockabilly to hard-edged electric rock. Previous to Harvest Moon he explored the outer limits of guitar noise with the 1990 album Ragged Glory, recorded along with his sometime backing band, Crazy Horse. In this light, Young’s return to his predominant style of the 1970s, was just another radical turn in style. While most longtime fans and critics appreciated this move, some found his return the antipathy of spontaneity and therefore less ambitious.

Harvest Moon by Neil Young
Released: October 27, 1992 (Columbia) Produced by: Neil Young & Ben Keith Recorded: Redwood Digital, Woodside, Sep 1991-Feb 1992
Track Listing	Band Musicians
Unknown Legend From Hank to Hendrix You and Me Harvest Moon War of Man One of These Days Such a Woman Old King God Smack Dreamin’ Man Natural Beauty	Neil Young – Lead Vocals, Guitars, Piano, Banjo Ben Keith – Pedal Steel, Marimba Spooner Oldham – Piano, Keyboards Tim Drummand – Bass Kenny Buttrey– Drums

The opening track on Harvest Moon is “Unknown Legend”, a song of romance and imagination which tells of an adventurous woman who has settled into the relative obscurity of domestic life and middle age. The sound is intentionally retro and haunting with the deep reverb and a sparse, acoustic arrangement beneath the strong melody which is harmonized by Linda Rondstadt. The song’s lyrics are bittersweet and poetic;

“the chrome and steel she rides colliding with the very air she breathes…”

“From Hank to Hendrix” is a self-reflective county-rock song which speaks of Young’s own diverse influences and is led by a strong harmonica riff musically while it lyrically sounds like it may have been influenced by younger contemporaries like Tom Petty. “You and Me” is the most direct link back to Harvest, with strong elements of “Old Man” and “Needle and the Damage Done” evident implicitly and explicitly. It is a personal and introspective ballad with a very sparse arrangement of just acoustic guitar and vocals by Young and Nicolette Larsen who does some fine harmonizing.

What truly makes the album a masterpiece is the absolute masterpiece of a title song, “Harvest Moon”. The song celebrates longevity in relationships and love affairs with a flawless melody backed by a perfect music arrangement. From the upfront acoustic riffing to the picked steel guitar, subtleties of ethereal sounds, soft brush strokes on the drums, and beautiful background vocals, this song captures the essence of beauty and romance as well any song ever.

The middle of the album contains a couple more Neil Young classics. “War of Man” is dark folk with an Americana aura throughout, where Young comments on the destructive tendencies of mankind. It contains a haunting acoustic arrangement with some interesting presence by Drummand on bass, who breaks into an almost-rock rhythm towards the end. In comparison to the cynical “War of Man”, the next song “One Of These Days” could not be more different in tone, although similar in overall quality as a song. It is a song of gratitude and appreciation of friends and acquaintances, set to a moderate Nashville beat with more great melodies and harmonies.

Neil Young 1992

The album next thins a bit with the all-to-soft piano and orchestral ballad “Such a Woman” and the frivolous “Old King”, which is only finds salvation with the fine banjo picking by Young. However, the album does end strong with the return to the solid, Nashville-influenced accessibility in “Dreamin’ Man” and the ten minute, live acoustic closer “Natural Beauty”. This last song is a gentle, minor-key folk song which uses nature as an allegory for love.

Harvest Moon was Young’s 21^st overall album and, although it was highly reflective, it was far from his last. In fact, just this month (June 2012) Young released his 34^th overall album, a collection of traditional standards called Americana, which he recorded along with Crazy Horse. It may seem absurd to suggest that Young may still be around making music in yet another 20 years, when he’ll be age 86. But we wouldn’t bet against it.

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1992 albums.

The Live Album

December 16, 2011

by Classic Rock Review with One Comment Special Features

We pretty much cover studio albums exclusively at Classic Rock Review and will continue to do so with the exception of the few studio/live hybrids that we explore later in this article. The reason we do this is because of the generally ubiquitous nature of these live albums as well as the inconsistency in sound and the art of production. In short, we feel the only true way to hear a band live is to hear a band live and we’ll stick to that whole other entertainment art form, the studio album. However, this surely does not mean that the live album has now place in the world of classic rock. So today we will examine some of the more important live albums through time, with a special look at 1976, the current year we are reviewing with our regular features and one year that was especially rich with quality live albums.

The Classic Live Albums

Ever since Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877 there have been live recordings, starting with the the first commercially available music recordings in the 1880s. All recordings were “live”, whether in a studio or concert hall for about 70 years until the 1950s when the first multi track recordings began. But it wasn’t really until 1960s when the true distinction of a live album was made. Although rock n’ roll would be the genre most strongly tied to the live album, two of the most influential recordings came from artists tied mainly to other styles, James Brown and Johnny Cash.

Live At the Apollo was recorded on October 24, 1962 at the famed theatre in Harlem, New York and released the following year. It was produced at Brown’s expense when his record label opposed the concept of recording an album full of live versions of songs which had already been released. To everyone’s surprise, Live At the Apollo sold rapidly and spent more than a year on the Billboard Pop Albums chart. It was so popular that many radio DJs began playing the album in its entirety, only pausing for commercials during the side break.

Johnny Cash met much of the same resistance from his own record label when he proposed recording an album live at the prison he made famous over a decade earlier with his song “Folsom Prison Blues”. The album was recorded at the state prison in California during two shows on the morning and afternoon of January 10, 1968 and released later that year. Cash was supported in this project by his future wife June Carter, his backing band The Tennessee Three, supporting act The Statler Brothers, as well as then-California Governor Ronald Reagan, but with little investment by Columbia records. Nonetheless, the album still rocketed to number one on the Country Charts and the top twenty on the mainstream charts. Further, the album revitalized Cash’s career and lead to his producing a second prison album, At San Quentin.

A third mega-successful live album from the recordings in the 1960s was the Woodstock soundtrack, a 6-sided triple album released on May 11, 1970. The album was unique at the time not only because of the variety of performers (18 different artists performed on the original version), but also for its “feel” as just about each track contained stage announcements and conversations among the musicians, which acted as a narrator of the overall Woodstock story. The original LP was also laid out with side one backed with side six, side two backed with side five, and side three backed with side four, to accommodate the popular record changer turntables, something which would become standard for most multi-disk live albums.

Some of the better Live Albums of the early 1970s

Starting in 1970, a prolific period of several top-notch live recordings began. That year featured many great live albums such as Live At Leeds by The Who, Absolutely Live by The Doors, Band of Gypsys by Jimi Hendrix, and Mad Dogs and Englishmen by Joe Cocker, which had sales fueled by his impressive performance on the the a fore-mentioned Woodstock soundtrack. Subsequent years saw more classic live recordings such as At Filmore East by the Allman Brothers in 1971, Made In Japan by Deep Purple in 1972, Yessongs by Yes in 1973, Alive by Kiss in 1975, along with a couple of original live recordings by the Grateful Dead.

As the golden age of live albums started to wane in the late seventies and early eighties, the quality live albums were fewer and further between. In 1978 Aerosmith released the fine Live Bootleg while the newcomers Cheap Trick released At Budokan. The Eagles finished off their remarkable career with Eagles Live in 1980 while another band with a long career capitalized on their new found fame with Showtime! in 1982. The following year, U2 displayed their talents on Under a Blood Red Sky.

The great live album that never was should have been released following the plethora of great performances at Live Aid in 1985. No tradition “album” was released from these performances with a four DVD set finally coming out in 2004.

Top Live Albums from the Later Classic Rock Period

Live Albums in 1976

At this articles date of publication, the year the Classic Rock Review is examining is 1976, which also happened to be a very strong year for live recordings. In fact, the deliberation on whether to cover some these live albums with regular reviews is what initially sparked the idea for this special feature. So we’ll give a little bit of special attention to some of the great live albums from the bicentennial year.

Frampton Comes Alive! by Peter Frampton
Released January 6, 1976 (Double LP)

Perhaps one of the most successful commercial live albums ever, Frampton Comes Alive! was a double live that sold at a price comparable to “single” albums of the day. This marketing scheme may have incentivized fans to check out this artist whose previous four solo albums had little commercial success, but it was the quality of the material and performance that created the snowball effect making this a true breakthrough for Frampton.

Robin Tower Live by Robin Tower
Released March 3, 1976 (Single LP)

Recorded in Sweden over a year before its release, this album by a true power trio lead by the former axeman of Procol Harum captures the group extremely loose and freewheeling. This is because the shows were recorded by the Swedish Broadcasting Company while the band was completely unaware that the show was being taped.

Live Bullet by Bob Segar
Released April 12, 1976 (Double LP)

Live Bullet forecast the popular rise of Bob Seger by first becoming a staple on Detroit rock radio and later reaching a much further audience due to some of the timeless classics on the album. Although Seger’s success was still mainly regional, this album played a large role in him headlining before 78,000 at the Pontiac Silverdome in June 1976.

One More From the Road by Lynard Skynard
Released September 13, 1976 (Double LP)

This was Lynard Skynard’s first, and sadly last live album during the “classic” era of the band, which ended with a plane crash in 1977 that killed several members. The version of “Freebird” propelled that then-five-year-old song into FM radio super status for decades to come.

The Song Remains the Same by Led Zeppelin
Released September 28, 1976 (Double LP)

Led Zeppelin was a fantastic live act, as we later found out from the various bootlegs and eventual collections released in the 1990s and 2000s. Unfortunately, the band’s only concerted effort at capturing the live magic was done during a couple of sub-par shows at the end of their 1973 tour. Producer Jimmy Page and the band spent three years overdubbing and patching in both audio and video for the dual film and soundtrack. It was great because it was Zeppelin live and it was all we had for decades. But it could have been so much greater.

All the World’s a Stage by Rush
Released September 29, 1976 (Double LP)

All the World’s a Stage was the first live album by Rush, marking the conclusion of the first four studio, one live album “phase” of the band. They would repeat this pattern several more times through their long career. The performances were recorded in June 1976 in the trio’s home city of Toronto.

Wings Over America by Wings
Released December 10, 1976 (Triple LP)

A decade after the Beatles stopped playing live gigs, fans finally got a chance to hear Paul McCartney perform live with his new band, Wings. Although the triple album was made up mostly of songs from McCartney’s post-Beatles career, Wings Over America did offer five Beatles songs becoming the most modern recordings to date of these compositions.

Hybrid Albums

Through the years there were a select number of albums which contained a hybrid of live and recorded material. These include Cream‘s Wheels Of Fire from 1968, Pink Floyd‘s Ummagumma from 1969, Eat a Peach by the Allman Brothers and Everybody’s In Showbiz by The Kinks from 1972, and Rust Never Sleeps by Neil Young & Crazy Horse in 1979. Classic Rock Review may review these as regular albums when the time comes.

Ironically, as more and more live albums proliferated through the 1990s their prestige seemed to wane and fewer and fewer were considered “classic” recordings. This is likely due to the relative simplicity of digital recordings and hence the less capturing of “lightning in a bottle” with live performances. Still, we’ve only just scratched the surface of all the fine live albums through the decades, so please feel free to comment on some of these omissions.

~
Ric Albano

Buffalo Springfield

October 24, 2011

by Classic Rock Review with One Comment Album Reviews

Buy Buffalo Springfield

Buffalo Springfield was a very unique rock band. On the one hand, they were loaded with young talent who played together for a very short time in the late sixties before ultimately splitting in several directions and forming some of the top folk-rock acts of the seventies, making Buffalo Springfield tremendously influential in this respect. On the other hand, their actual output was good but far from spectacular and yet they’ve been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame where many superior artists have not, making Buffalo Springfield tremendously overrated in that respect. Similarly, their 1966 self-titled debut album contains many of the same macro traits of the band itself, a pleasant listen throughout but lacking anything really unique or breakthrough that would make it a top-level “classic”.

The story of how the group came together is quite entertaining and legendary. Steven Stills was a talented session musician who had tried out unsuccessfully for the Monkees in the summer of 1966. While that band was formed to cash in on the success of the Beatles, producer Barry Friedman wanted to assemble a further band in the folk-rock vein of the Byrds, and assured Stills a contract if he could assemble an adequate band. Stills recruited an ex-band mate, guitarist Richie Furay. One day Friedman, Stills, and Furay were stuck in traffic on Sunset Boulevard when Stills recognized Neil Young driving a black hearse in the opposite lanes. Stills had met Young a year earlier in northern Canada and was deeply impressed by his talent. After making an illegal u-turn and chasing Young down, they pleasantly discovered that he had come to L.A. with bassist Bruce Palmer to try and form a band. With the addition of drummer Dewey Martin, Buffalo Springfield was formed and through late 1966, the band wrote and recorded songs for their debut album.

Buffalo Springfield by Buffalo Springfield
Released: December 5, 1966 (Atco Original) Produced by: Charles Greene & Brian Stone Recorded: Los Angeles, July-September, 1966
Side One	Side Two
For What It’s Worth Go And Say Goodbye Sit Down I Think I Love You Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing Hot Dusty Roads Everybody’s Wrong	Flying On the Ground Is Wrong Burned Do I Have to Come Right and Say It Leave Out of My Mind Pay the Price
Band Musicians
Steven Stills – Guitars, Keyboards, Vocals Rich Furay – Guitars, Vocals Neil Young – Guitars, Harmonica, Piano, Vocals Bruce Palmer – Bass Dewey Martin – Drums, Vocals

Buffalo Springfield was originally released in mono, but when the single “For What It’s Worth” became a hit, the album was re-released in stereo with that song replacing “Baby Don’t Scold Me”, which was never released in a stereo version. All songs were written either by Stills or Young, but record executives insisted that Furay sing the bulk of Young’s compositions because they found Young’s voice “too weird”. Young did sing a few songs on side two, one average song called “Burned” and a better, quasi-psychedelic song, with heavily processed guitars and thick harmonies Called “Out Of My Mind”.

Some of the highlights of the first side include Still’s “Sit Down I Think I Love You”, with a nicely mixed rhythm, moderate beat, and harmonized vocals, and Young’s “Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing”, sung by Furay, a softer song which leans towards the sound of the Rascals. “Flying On the Ground Is Wrong”, also sung by Furay, has the approach of a traditional love song with beauty and style, while “Leave” has a rockabilly vibe, with a constant lead guitar and nice chords changes in the verses.

But without a doubt, “For What It’s Worth” is the true highlight of the album. It was written by Stills after he witnessed a protest by young people over a Sunset Strip nightclub being closed down, and the police reaction that the protest sparked. The song itself is excellent in its simplicity, with a two chord, rotating pattern understated by the minimal use of acoustic, rhythm guitar, bass, and kick drum and accented by the sharp, single note lead guitar, which is the signature of the song. Stills vocals are perfect for this song and Young breaks in with some fine echoed lead guitar during the later verses. The song went on to become a top ten hit by March 1967, and would be their most popular song as a group.

Buffalo Springfield would produce two more albums before disbanding in 1968. During that time Palmer was arrested and deported back to Canada and was replaced by Jim Messina who would later go on to be one half of the seventies hit-makers Loggins and Messina. Rich Furay would go on to form the pop band Poco, while Steven Stills formed the classic trio Crosby, Stills and Nash. Neil Young went on to have a tremendous solo career as well as occasionally joining up with that trio making it Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1966 albums.