brand new long interview with Poncho Sampedro

http://www.uncut.co.uk/blog/the-vie...g-guitarist-poncho-sampedro-most-people-turn-

 

Thanks for posting this. What a fascinating read.

 

Interesting the quote of 100 unreleased Neil Young & Crazy Horse songs and the double unreleased Crazy Horse album with Bluenotes. (I think November 1987, but there was another one recorded on April 1988, without Crazy Horse).

 

Good interview. Not sure I've read or heard any of Neil's colleagues suggesting that he needs someone to call him on his bull$hit. I've seen that sentiment on here all he time.

Also, I has no idea that Rick Rosas died. Has Neil used any bass players other than Rick and Billy in the last few decades?

 

Thanks for posting. Good read.

 

Neil used Donald Dunn when he recorded "Are You Passionate?" in 2002. Donald Dunn was part of Booker T. and The MGs who backed Neil Young on his tour in 1993, while recording "Are You Passionate?" and doing the summer tour in 2002. He plays on "Silver & Gold" (2000) and "Road Rock Vol. 1" (2000), too. Unfortunately Donald Dunn died back in 2012.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_"Duck"_Dunn

 

I think that Dunn made the 2000 tour with Neil, some winter shows in the Europe 2002 and CSNY 2000 & 2002.

 

What did you make of the lyrics?
Are you trying to get me into trouble? Some of them seemed a little too simply descriptive for me, for Neil.
...
It’s like he just described a room or a situation and it wasn’t as magical as some of his other lyrics which make you think it could be your room or your situation. It was just too blatant of a description.

Thanks, Poncho . You nailed it.

 

Last night I dreamt of Sampedro...

 

This and his other comments about Psychedelic Pill were, to me, very interesting observations about the music, Poncho's musical perspective and Neil. I do think you ought to mention the entire quote when you agree with a lack of magic in some of the lyrics [my bold] ; "Some of them seemed a little too simply descriptive for me, for Neil. But other ones, like the songs I mentioned, were great. But a couple of them, I don’t know."

I really like Storytone. On a long flight over North Africa the other day I listened to the entire album a few times and my appreciation for the music and the creative spirit that permeates this album is increasing the more I listen to it. The fact that you can listen to a song like 'All My Dreams' as a 'solo' and an 'orchestral' version is really wonderful. You get different moods, different perspectives. I sort of get what Poncho sez when he is not sure about hearing Neil do big bands - is Neil on a sliding slope towards 'the great American songbook' next ? I happen to like the big band sound on 'Say Hello To Chigaco' but Poncho, I hear ya ! Then again, this also has a 'Solo' version which has a totally different, more melancholy, vibe.

Overall, I think it's a true work of art, it's beautiful, creative and it has many songs which in my view are true Neil young classics (Drive My Car, Glad I Found You, All Those Dreams, Plastic Flowers, Glimmer, Tumbleweeds.....).

 

Yeah, Poncho really nailed a few things I've thought about Neil for awhile. It does sometimes seem that Neil has forgotten that he's a MUSICIAN and now gets a little too involved in his projects. So much so that his music often becomes just another project. Anyway, great interview. We don't often get to hear such candid comments from people who are close to Neil.

 

Frank's been sounding like someone who wants to go home for a while.

I'm shocked that Crazy Horse doesn't have an outfitted bus.

 

This is maybe the ultimate musicians-don't-care-about-audiophile-stuff confession, re Pono:

I said, “Neil, man, that sounds great. But I haven’t listened to a record in probably 20 years.” After that, he never really talked to me about it again. I have this really cool stereo system upstairs, with JBL speakers, but it only works in one speaker, so if I do have to listen to something I listen to them on a DVD player through the TV. I think on a tour once, two summers ago, he came over and he had the whole Pono set up and he had a set of headphones and made Billy wear ‘em, and I wore ‘em and Ralph wore ‘em, and he had a couple of songs on there and we listened to them. It sounded great, it sounded great. But I really don’t know anything about it.

 

Me too. They're legends in their own right. But maybe Neil has to fill his cash sinkholes.

 

yeah I thought the bus story was odd, I didn't like hearing that Neil gave himself far better conditions on the road.

 

Same here.

 

Clearly Neil is the Boss and he gets a better treatment. Neil travels separately with a few of buses, while Crazy Horse sleeping in the hotels. The alternative for the Crazy Horse members should a unique Crazy Horse bus with all the facilities like Neil or the hotels. Crazy Horse have chosen to sleep in the hotels.

 

I think Neil just doesn't trust Billy around water faucets or bunk beds.

 

Poncho played with all Bluenotes/Ten Wen Workin' bands, the unreleased album is a Bluenotes album from '88 without Billy & Ralph.

 

I knew that, but Poncho mentions it between the unreleased Crazy Horse albums. Probably a mistake. Effectively Niko Bolas recorded the 1987 November concerts for an album with Crazy Horse. Neil called Rick Rosas and Chad Cromwell for overdubbing the parts of the rhythm section at the Ranch. A few of these songs are on This Note's For You. The recordings for the November album are mentioned on Shakey and Special Deluxe. I think that the finished album was from the April 1988 recordings.

 

Great read, no nonsense/******** kind of guy.

 

That was the album they all started calling This S--t Don't Sell, right? In Shakey Poncho says something like "We started calling it that and the joke got overplayed...eventually Neil got to thinking, 'Why would I wanna put out an album no one's gonna buy?'" That was the live Bluenotes album...another of the Great Lost Neil Young Albums.

Great interview with Poncho, by the way. Poncho has always struck me as being one of the most "real" people Neil tends to associate with; he tends to be able to speak his mind with Neil with no repercussions (not many people can do that, I don't think). Interesting that he claims that Neil was 'afraid' of David Briggs...equally interesting that twenty years later the loss of Mr Briggs is still being felt.

 

Thanks for posting this long and very detailed interview. I'm only a third finished I have learned as much about Neil as I did from reading his first book.