I bought this from a charity shop almost a year ago, and don't think I'd listened to it, until now, As I've mentioned, I have a huge number of Neil Young albums - not because I'm a mega fan, but because he's so prolific, and they're often a quid in charity shops.
This is a 2006 release of a 1970 gig, part of a series of live releases, a series which releases it's 30th CD tomorrow. I'll wait until I see it second hand. This sort of Americana / country rock generally isn’t my thing, but I’ll always make an exception for Neil Young.
Opener, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere rocks along nicely, a great song, but Winterlong is much more of a country rock plod. Down By The River is another trademark Young sound, this eleven minute version replete with lots of guitar riffing and noodling, at which Crazy Horse always excelled. But the next two songs, Wonderin’ and Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown (written and sung by Danny Whitten) are bang average and it’s left to another in-your-face extended guitar solo on Cowgirl In The Sand to deliver some life back to this album.
It’s a good listen, but the highlights for me are the two extended songs with the band sounding so tight. Sadly the rest is listenable, enjoyable even, but quickly forgettable.
3* - a solid live performance, well recorded.
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