By the way, listening to "Love/Art Blues III" and "We Don't Smoke It No More" back to back makes so much sense. They were really having fun during the last minutes of the year.
Anyone else much prefer this version of Through My Sails to the one on Zuma? Just stunning. Also, kind of an odd choice to include both versions of Pardon My Heart? The new version basically the same Zuma track without the added vocals/guitar solo
yeah but the vocals and guitar are so well recorded. it's nice to have the intimacy of just neil in your ears.
I prefer this "new" version of "Through My Sails" too. As for "Pardon My Heart", this is how he recorded it in 1974, before being reworked for "Zuma" a year later. The track lists on NYA show that he considered many of these "Homegrown outtakes" for "Zuma".
I'm less begrudging the new version of Pardon My Heart (which I now prefer) than Neil including the Zuma take here when they're both so similar
The full Bakersfield show, including “Sweet Joni” is on the bootleg “Last Album”. I’ll do a comparison later on.
it's interesting too how often water is brought up in neil's lyrics. he sings about beaches, shore lines, sails, floating, the ocean, etc. "on this noisy shore" "i'm standing on the shoreline/it's so fine out there"
someone should write a book or indie film about neil's 1974. the pathos would be oscar-worthy. i'm also spamming posts here because no one i know IRL would truly appreciate the sheer brilliance of the old homestead disc. no one would be able to sit through a conversation where i say "and this is the song he wrote after the CSNY tour finished and he tried to hide out in europe for a while before going to the pyramids." no one would care that you can see the break between where he wants to make it work (l.a. girls and ocean boys), where he's numb and sad (frozen man), and where he says screw this (the old homestead). this disc is the revelation i knew it would be.
I think there’s definitely still confusion, ALL of Archives Vol 2 can be streamed RIGHT NOW for anyone. No need to purchase the physical box set. Visit neilyoungarchives.com and subscribe for either $1.99 a month or $19.99 a year. The latter to me is the best value. Very cheap, now that all this beautiful, unreleased music is unleashed to the world. It’s not Spotify or Apple Music, but NYA gets exclusives on a regular basis. You can even do so on your phone - download the Neil Young Archives app and you can subscribe from there, Happy listening!!
I do like how it shows how Neil's songs can evolve in his recorded work, even if ever so slightly. Also I like both versions of "Through My Sails." I'll always have a space for the twilight vibe the Zuma/CSNY version had with its lilting harmonies and instrumentation, but this solo version is pretty great, too.
I bought a year long subscription this spring in anticipation of this very moment I could not be happier, I have listened to Dume, Odeon Budokan, and now playing The Old Homestead All I can say is WOW
Me too. Bought my year long subscription in March, soon as the timeline for this year was published on NYA. "Homegrown", "Archives 2", "Rust Bucket", "Young Shakespeare"... Bought it immediately!
That's all fine and good you're so happy. However, it does tic me off the only people to get their boxes this weekend lived in California. Not shipping actual product until release day is asinine. BTW I don't download never have and never will. I have the codes but to me they mean nothing but a bunch of 1s and 0s.
The only woman who can compete with Carrie Snodgress on the "great songs written about them" category is Pattie Boyd, and she had three guys write songs about her, while Carrie only had one
Great post, I will have to wait longer for my set being in Canada but I have listened to it in its entirety thanks to the Hi-rez downloads which took a whole 10 - 15 minutes of my time to download (and 20 GB of space on the computer). So I am all caught up with Neil stuff (including the Greendale set) and will wait patiently for delivery in the next few weeks. Everyone stay safe and enjoy this music.
Then share your code with someone who can't afford it. I'm sure it would take a matter of seconds to get rid of it and do a good deed at the same time.