Neil Young will finally publish his 1970s bootlegs

Neil Young will finally release his 1973 gig with the Santa Monica Flyers and a 1977 gig with the Ducks.

On April 14, years after hinting they were going to release, Neil Young finally released two 1970s concert bootlegs. The first, High Flyin’, is a series of recordings from his 1977 summer club tour in Santa Monica, California, with the Ducks, a kind of supergroup consisting of bassist Bob Mosley of Moby Grape, guitarist Jeff Blackburn and drummer Johnny Craviotto . You can listen to a preview of “ Little Wing » ici.

The Ducks never played outside of Santa Cruz, and the four members took turns singing. Their sets only featured a few Young originals, including ” Mr. Soul », « Sail Away » et « Long May You Run ». « I’m just playing my roleYoung told a reporter at the time. This band isn’t just me and a few other guys supporting me… it kinda reminds me of when I was in Buffalo Springfield. »

Under The Rainbow, meanwhile, was recorded on November 5, 1973, at the Rainbow Theater in London, England. This is the tour Tonight’s the Nightwhere Young is backed by the Santa Monica Flyers, which includes guitarist Nils Lofgren, pedal steel guitarist Ben Keith, and the Crazy Horse rhythm section of drummer Ralph Molina and bassist Billy Talbot.

The tour takes place just a year after the success of Harvest turned Young into a superstar, but he recently lost Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten and roadie Bruce Berry to heroin overdoses and is in deep mourning. Concerts are notorious for being messy and boozy, and most of the tracks are taken from Tonight’s The Night, which will not be released for over a year. ” People were booing every nightLofgren tells Rolling Stone. They were furious. They were shouting ‘Play’Old Man’ ! Where are the tubes? We don’t want that! »

To make matters worse, the Eagles opened every night with crowd-pleasing hits like “ Take It Easy » et « Desperado ». Melody Maker spoke on behalf of many fans by captioning “ Go Home Neil Young ! » « I paid £2.50 to see Neil Young and walked away with a love/hate relationshipwrote a fan, Hating Neil Young, but loving the Eagles… All I can say is the rumors must be true. The real Neil Young is dead. »

When the audience becomes particularly hostile, Young promises to play ” something you’ve all heard before “. He then plays a second time Tonight’s The Night », the opening track of the concert. There were even nights when he played it three times. ” It was completely crazyrecalls Lofgren. He’d start banging on the piano and yelling that Bruce Berry was selling his guitar and injecting it into his arm. I would jump on the piano, start banging it and play the guitar with my teeth while Neil launched into this improvised rap poetry. It was a healing and commiserating experience as we tried to come to terms with the fact that all of our friends and heroes were starting to die. »

Young played a series of lucrative arena dates in America earlier that year. Big offers are starting to roll in for a reunion tour of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. For Elliott Roberts, Young’s manager, spending time performing in theaters in England was simply madness. ” After each show Elliot would grab Neil and take him to the back of the bussays Lofgren. Everyone was drinking tequila and smoking Thai weed. He was like, ‘Neil, listen! There, I can find you a car. I can take you to Heathrow. I can take us back to the United States. You can do Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young shows and make millions of dollars. This is madness. You’re gonna lose $10,000 to stay here for a few weeks. What are you doing ? This is madness ! »

From Lofgren’s recollection, producer David Briggs would often step in at this time. ” He grabbed Elliot and said, “Get away from my singer!” this Lofgren. “That’s wonderful. It’s a powerful thing. It’s art ! Do not touch it. Don’t you know what we’re doing here?” »

Sadly they didn’t have the foresight to record this art, which means the only way to hear any of these UK shows Tonight’s the Night was through bootlegs. Luckily super fan Pete Long (author of the indispensable Young Ghosts On The Road) recorded the Rainbow concert. His recording is the source of Under The Rainbow. « This is great, great, great news.this Lofgren. This tour blew me away. I’m glad someone had a tape that Neil and his team were able to edit. It is simply fabulous. (Here’s a recording of ” Human Highway from the show).

In 2018, Lofgren joined Crazy Horse after guitarist Frank “Poncho” Sampedro retired, reuniting him with Talbot and Molina for the first time since the tour. Tonight’s The Night. The new Crazy Horse line-up has recorded three albums with Young (Colorado in 2019, Barn in 2021 and World Record in 2022), but has only performed seven concerts due to the pandemic.

On March 31, the Crazy Horse leaves All Roads Lead Home. This is a collection of songs written and recorded by Lofgren, Molina and Talbot. It was created largely without Young, although he did contribute the title ” Song of the Seasons ».

Here is the full track list for High Flyin’ et Somewhere Under The Rainbow.

The Ducks’ High Flyin’
Side 1
I Am a Dreamer
Younger Days
Gypsy Wedding
Are You Ready For The Country?
Hold On Boys

Side 2
My My My (Poor Man)
I’m Tore Down
Hey Now
Wide Eyed and Willing
Truckin’ Man

Side 3
Sail Away
Gone Dead Train
Silver Wings

Side 4
Human Highway
Your Love
I’m Ready
Little Wing
Car Tune

Side 5
Windward Passage
Leaving Us Now
Mr. Soul

Side 6
Two Riders
Honky Tonk Man
Sailor Man
Silver Wings

Somewhere Under The Rainbow
Side 1
1. Tonight’s The Night
2. Mellow My Mind
3. World On A String
4. Speakin’ Out
5. Albuquerque

Side 2
1. New Mom
2. Roll Another Number (For The Road)
3. Tired Eyes
4. Tonight’s The Night – Part II

Side 3
1. Flying On The Ground Is Wrong
2. Human Highway
3. Helpless

Side 4
1. Don’t Be Denied
2. Cowgirl In The Sand

Andy Greene

Translated by the editor