erasing clouds
 

Neil Young, Live at Massey Hall 1971

by paul r jaissle

The idea of Neil Young as a shape-shifting, almost restless artist has become an intrinsic part of his appeal as a musician: watching him experiment in the myriad textures and modes of rock and roll expression is as much a part of his art as the music itself. Whether it’s his quiet, impressionistic form of acoustic folk or his freeform guitar/white noise excursions with Crazy Horse, Young has become the definition of experimental rock while at the same time remaining a dependable anchor of tradition. Of course, this understanding of Neil Young is the result of decades documented maturation through his records. It is the result of seeing the same artist produce both Comes a Time AND Trans, both On the Beach AND Arc. The protean figure we know recognize as Neil Young has been self-defined by refusing to be pigeonholed or pinned down.

It is important to remember (and ultimately forget) this history when first listening to Live at Massey Hall 1971, the second release in his continuing Neil Young Archives Performance Series. This album showcases Young before becoming the legendary artist we now know. Where, he is a popular folk rock figure whose jumps from the chart-topping success of CSNY to the sloppy garage rock of Crazy Horse have not yet become accepted as his artistic modus operandi.

Legend (all stories surrounding Neil Young should be regarded as legends) has it that Young’s producer David Briggs tried to convince Young to release this live set as the follow-up to After The Gold Rush. Young had already begun cutting tracks for Harvest and never listened to the Massey Hall performance. The disagreement led to a rift between the two friends for years. Unfortunately, Briggs had passed away by the time Young finally heard the tapes while compiling material for the long rumored Archives project. It is this anachronism that makes Massey Hall so interesting: hearing ‘Old Man’ as a new song, ‘Heart Of Gold’ performed on piano as a bridge part in the middle of ‘A Man Needs A Maid’. In fact, the material that would eventually end up on Harvest is among the best on the album since it is stripped of the over-wrought production that weighted that album down. ‘Heart Of Gold’ in particular feels much different on piano and hearing it here breathes new live into a song that you’ve heard a thousand times.

The other standouts are acoustic versions of ‘Cowgirl In The Sand’ and ‘Down By The River’; songs that fueled 10 minute plus guitar work outs on last year’s Crazy Horse Live At The Fillmore 1970. Here, they are re-imagined as dark, minor-key ballads proving that Young is more than a rocker who plays folk (or a folkie who tries to rock), but as a master of different textures and moods capable of moving easily from genre to genre without falling into simple, predictable models. The same treatment also serves well for CSNY’s ‘Ohio’, which is served much better here without the histrionics of the original version forcing the emotions that are inherent in the lyrical treatment of the subject matter.

The then new songs performed here would either end up recorded for later albums or simply forgotten. As for the former, we have a solo piano version of ‘See The Sky About To Rain’, a song that later showed up on 1974’s On The Beach, as well as ‘Journey Through The Past’, which was featured on the soundtrack album for the film of the same name. As for forgotten gems, we have ‘Bad Fog Of Loneliness’, which Young wrote for his appearance on The Johnny Cash Show that was eventually canceled. ‘Bad Fog’ was recorded for the Harvest album, but left off the final release, which is good since it’s likely the song’s gentle, minor-key gloom would have been overwhelmed by that album’s production. Another forgotten song is the happy, jumpy ‘Dance Dance Dance’ that offers a loose, casual end to his set.

It is impossible to predict how Young’s career would have progressed had this live set been released back in 1971: Harvest was his commercial breakout that cemented Young as a successful musician. But, Live At Massey Hall is a major artistic achievement: a reminder of the great potential that Young did, and still does, possess as a songwriter. This is a portrait of a young man as an artist, an artist whose career and mythology continues to build on the qualities already apparent on that night 36 years ago when he recorded these songs.

Live At Massey Hall 1971 is available with a DVD containing era live footage (not actually recorded at Massey Hall) as well as a number of features about the show and the upcoming Archives release. The concert footage itself is dark and interspersed with footage taken from home movies of Young at the time. It’s not really a concert movie, but rather an impressionistic presentation of the mood captured on the live disc. Personally, and as a massive Neil Young fanatic, I think it’s worth the few extra bucks to see what a solo acoustic live show at the time looked like.


this month's issue
archive
about erasing clouds
links
contact
     

Copyright (c) 2007 erasing clouds