Baby, baby, sing with me somehow (Unplugged - Neil Young)

Member Name: The Operator

Product:	Unplugged - Neil Young
Date:	13/12/01 (128 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Not everybody likes him

Disadvantages: See above

I want to share with you; this is what this is all about you see so, continuing a recent line of "what's on The Operator's car stereo (disconcertingly, the one and same stereo as featured on local billboard advertising as having just been ripped out of a car.) this week" and which also features as being slipped regularly between the organ of my travails' smiling lips (er...the cd slot on the iMac), I thought I'd share with you my opinion, for what it's worth, on this bunch of stuff from the wispy barnetted wailing Canuck.

OK, Neil Young potted history. Born in Toronto, moved to Winnipeg (aha - Crash Test Dummies country, I was right then. Winnipeg = Manchester). Formed high school bands, met bass slapper Bruce Palmer, Stephen Stills and Joni Mitchell. Back to Toronto, several small bands and then after driving to LA in the Neil Young hearse, bam! he along with Stills, Palmer and Richie Furay, formed Buffalo Springfield. They were responsible for "Mr.Soul", "Broken Arrow" and "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" among others. Then after 3 albums he left. Released a solo album, formed Crazy Horse and oh yes, joined David Crosby, Stephen Stills and the UK's very own Graham Nash debuting on "Deja Vu" in 1970 as CSN & Y. The same year, backed by Crazy Horse and also including wimpy 17 year old guitarist/gymnast Nils Lofgren, he released "After the Goldrush". Him now big star. After 1972's "Harvest" which included the single "Heart of Gold", him now superstar/living legend. He's been a country rocker, dark and unfathomable, quiet, the "Godfather of Grunge" (Wrong - everyone knows that's Bob Mold. Go on, ask me), most of all though, in 35 odd years, he's hardly ever been less than interesting.
You can look the rest up on the unneccessarily complicated unofficial fan site HyperRust, http://hyperrust.org/, which turns the the art o
f information gathering and dissemination into an experience akin to swimming through cheese. If you can stand the appalling navigation, everything's there.

"Unplugged" is part of the series of live recordings made by MTV to showcase the true talent of the artistes. No electric bombast, no hiding behind noisesome distortion. Loads did 'em. Famously Eric Clapton and Nirvana received most plaudits. Because Eric's talent was beyond doubt, it gave him a medium to stretch out in and re-arrange. His version of "Layla" is well, different but no less effective for it; if you own a Gateway PC, you've probably got a DVD clip of it. My dad has and he likes it and he's nearly 70. Likewise Nirvana; take away the noise and where there was the real threat of talentless and coarse plodding, the songs stood up and it proved to be a revelation although a sadly short lived one.
This concert was recorded on Stage 12 of the Universal Studios, Universal City on February 7th, 1993. He'd tried to record one three months earlier but was unhappy and aborted the project. Sometimes, even if you've been doing things for years you still can't get it right on the night.

What of Neil Young then? He's equally at home playing acoustically as he is bludgeoning out screeching riffs as he is oft wont to do at times during the last 20 years or so. His songs are never complicated. They very rarely stretch beyond three chords and if you can master G, C , D and A minor, you've basically got the whole Neil Young canon covered; I can hear parts of west London tuning up already. So how does he exploit this particular format effectively? Basically, he's picked songs which he realises he can do justice to without overtly changing them. There aren't many great surprises here; none of the loud stuff reworked to surprise the eager listener, just nice and simple with those unchallenging chords and that voice and phrasing
providing all the effect. They are for the most part, played straight.

Talent is a curious beast, you know. If I sang like Neil Young I'd get laughed at; if I sang at all I'd get laughed at. Officially a tenor but (yeah, eat your heart out Placido Domingo), really more gelding (not me) but which at best is a nasal whine. On its own, it would be embarrassing and difficult to listen too. If it was yours, you'd sing in the car with the windows shut and the engine revving. I do. It improves with the addition of a few simple strummed chords though and it's here that a curious alchemy takes place.
Listen to him singing his simple undemanding lyrics and you realise that here is a singular talent. Capable of conveying the rawest of emotions such as in "Pocohontas", where native American heritage is reduced to keepsake, "In my little box at the top of the stairs/With my Indian rug and a pipe to share"; to incredible tenderness in an awesome reworking of "Like A Hurricane" a track which first featured on 1977's "American Stars and Bars" and has since become one of his signature numbers, "Before that moment you touched my lips/That perfect feeling when time just slips/Away between us on our foggy trips" which is rendered in between a staggeringly powerful riff, delivered not by overdriven guitar but by a simple pump organ. You can even hear the keys being pressed. Inspired and it works, too.
In fact, that was the song which first really drew me to him. I remember a concert clip on "Whistle Test" before you were born, in which he was playing "Hurricane" . All windblown hair and loud, raucous guitars. Magnificent, it was. Memory's probably playing awful tricks though and it was probably someone completely different like John Cooper Clarke whining about aliens.

Other highlights for me are "The Needle and the Damage Done", which is self explanat
ory, the hauntingly beautiful "Helpless" from which the title is drawn and the poignant "Stringman" about disenchantment and coming to terms with altered values. Don't listen to either when you're a bit melancholic and driving. I can't find a reference to this last track anywhere and judging by the audience reaction, it's a new one on them, too although it was written in 1976. Like most talented artistes, he had a dark period. His was mainly in the late 70s. Personal problems, deaths of close friends and band members from overdoses and the birth of handicapped children all provided grist to the Young mill but the results weren't always favourable. Thankfully he's chosen not to include anything outlandish from this period.

The musicians on the album are all tried and trusted cohorts from throughout his career including Spooner Oldham on piano, Ben Keith on Dobro guitar and Nils Lofgren who plays everything and hopefully stays grounded.

Listen to this album and it won't change your life. It might make you listen to more of his stuff in which case don't be put off if what you hear isn't to your taste. He's so varied in style that there usually is something for everyone. Play it enough though and it will grow on you and with time will become a trusted and valued part of your collection.

Even if you do find it easy to strum along to.


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Reprise Records - 9362-45310-2


The Old Laughing Lady - "Neil Young" (1969)
Mr Soul - "Buffalo Springfield Again" (1967)
World On A String - "Tonight's The Night" (1975)
Pocahontas - "Rust Never Sleeps" (1979)
Stringman - As far as I can see, this is the first outing although written in 1976
Like A Hurricane - "American Stars And Bars" (1977)
The Needle And The Damage Done - "Harvest" - NY and the Str
ay Gators (1972)
Helpless - "Deja Vu" CSN & Y (1970)
Harvest Moon - "Harvest Moon" (1992)
Transformer Man - "Trans" - (1982)
Unknown Legend - "Harvest Moon" (1992)
Look Out For My Love - "Comes a Time" (1978)
Long May You Run - "Long May You Run" The Stills/Young Band (1976)
From Hank To Hendrix - "Harvest Moon" (1992)

There were 5 more songs recorded but not broadcast. The songs left off were: Tonight's The
Night (opening only, grand piano), Sample and Hold, Dreamin' Man, War Of Man, and Winterlong.

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