Can't believe that is coming out on DVD. I used to have it on VHS, thought it was godawful but a cool Neil curiosity at the same time. My niece however loves it, and she lives in a small town where Neil has been spending some time in recent years. She's crossed paths with him a couple times and managed to not invade his personal space or anything but told me that last time she saw him (on the street doing something to his car, maybe filling it up with french fry oil or something) she could not resist and went over and said "Hi, sorry to bother you Mr. Young but I have to just say two words to you - HUMAN HIGHWAY!". She said Neil kind of half smiled back and deadpanned a reply of something like "Wow, yer a bit of a freak aren't ya?". I thought that was hilarious.
There were a few gems in those Geffen albums of the early 80s. In spite of the 80s production, I always rather dug "Life". I remember buying it in 1986 in high school when it first came out so maybe it's a bit of nostalgia. I was just listening to it the other night and ignoring for the moment the prominent production values of the day so to speak, "Inca Queen" still has a cool vibe to it with some killer acoustic work and in spite of the over the top production and weirdness of "Around The World", it still kind of rocks in my book and there is some classic Neil electric work going on in there too. I thought "We Never Danced" was a totally great ballad at the time and still do but wow the 80s production really screamed out after not hearing it for 10+ years! I too haven't really gotten into his work over the past decade. I keep seeing good reviews on most of it though and I'm sure I'll "discover" it about 10 years from now which has been my music M.O. most of my life !
I became a fan with Weld in 1991. I bought maybe 10 albums during the next 10 years, then I stopped following him after seeing him on the 2001 tour. Last year Neil came to my town and I decided to go. Neil put on a show that knocked me out. One of the most amazing shows I've ever seen. I decided to buy his albums and read books about him. Between August 2014 and June 2015 here are my figures: 48 CDs and or DVDs bought 12 books read +100 live shows downloaded and heard. I'm a full blown fan now. Reading opinions on Hoffman I was sad to see how useless Neil became after 1979. I cannot agree with that consensus. Listening to his albums chronologically it is an amazing and bewildering trajectory of an artist who truly "followed his muse". There are highs and lows throughout but the end result is at a such a high level that criticism of his records is just pissing in the wind. Long may Neil run!
The forthcoming 2016 release of the Human Highway movie together with the comments made by Gary Burden at his wife's art show pretty much mean Archives Volumes 2,3,4 and 5 are dead in the water tragically enough. There would be no sense in putting out Human Highway as a stand alone (where it would have combined with Rust Never Sleeps to make up the movie component) in advance of Volume 2 if such a beast was ever going to exist. Reading between the lines of Gary's comments that Vol 1 was expensive to make and therefore had a high retail price we can assume they didn't sell enough to make it profitable.The hold up in later volumes may not have been Neil but the record company unwilling to lose money on the project. I hope I am very wrong as Volume 1 is by far my favourite box set of all time and I have over 150 of them.
Until this movie release nothing from Vol 2 has been released.From Vol 3 we already have A Treasure and Bluenote cafe.I absolutely agree with your premise.
Was Ragged Glory (1990) recorded and mixed digitally? SPARS code is DDD according to discogs ... anyone here know what year Neil went back to analogue? http://www.discogs.com/Neil-Young-Crazy-Horse-Ragged-Glory/release/1596389
I believed that as well until the pretty cool Psychedelic Pill and then again ...until the quite nice (to me) The Monsanto Years . But , as much as I love the guy, I would agree that he has become more than a bit inconsistent. But again....in true Neil Young fashion, it will be Neil who either decides when it's time , or will decide not at all....
Neil will always do exactly what he wants; and there will always be x number of people who still find him interesting and put money in his sack. I sure don't find him interesting anymore, but there's still his old records.
Yes indeed. Even with the misses, the guy will leave a very fine, very impressive catalog and legacy...
Yes,and as long as he is active,and keep touring i will see him live every chance i get. Glad to see he is coming to Europe in the summer.
Yes, I noticed. Happy with the times I've seen him - with Booker T & The MG's, with Pearl Jam, with Crazy Horse, with Ben Keith. All good. Not paying to see him play his Monsanto doodles.
Have you seen the setlists, footage and reviews of the shows he has been playing with The Promise Of The Real recently? You might reconsider. I am very excited to see them in June.
Yes, some interesting setlists; might go if he drops the new material bar one or two songs, but that won't happen I guess. Concert ticket are so expensive at that level it's a small investment nowadays .
I am going to Amsterdam to see him there in July. I read he often plays for hours on his tour with this band,and are happy to pay 80 Euros for more than two hours with Neil.
Landing on Water may be in my NY Top 10, and I prefer it to a few of his acclaimed 70's records. On a somewhat related note, I just discovered Solo Trans film. Hopefully it gets a DVD reissue soon!
Don't know what much I'm drifting off here, but I also like that J.J. Cale uses drum machines on a few albums. I guess my ears are built for timing. I find the timing on those albums wether it is from Young or J.J. to make my soul happy somehow, as I react very much to timing in the music. Maybe badly explained right now (and after a few cognacs)...but I'll say this over a morning coffee any day.
You mean Neil Young In Berlin? I love that title song (don't think it ever came out on any studio album). I had it on VHS originally & was lucky enough to buy it on DVD b4 it went out of print. You can still get it on Amazon/Ebay though. Great backing band for that one!
