Song of the Week - Love and Only Love by Neil Young

With Crazy Horse.

A Letter Home by Neil Young

Neil Young and Jack White were on the Tonight Show a few weeks ago talking about their new project. White had restored a 1947 Voice-A-Graph recording booth and he and Young had recorded an album using it. The Voice-A-Graph booth, large enough for one person to fit in, was designed for people to be able to record their own 45 RPM records.

Young released a boxed set from the recording session on May 27th, which I understand is already sold out. My daughter had bought me a copy as soon as I had mentioned the Tonight Show appearance and gave it to me for Father's Day.  Here's the package.

The box is made to look like a battered cardboard box that you've been keeping your memories in for the past 50 years. The photograph of Neil in the booth, is actually taped to the box with packing tape.

Inside there are 2 vinyl LPs. These are pressed on heavy vinyl. One of them as the direct feed from the Voice-A-Graph the other has a 'cleaned-up' version. I have a record player but I will probably never actually play these.

There is a 32-page booklet with lyrics, credits and photos of Young and White.

There is a CD and a DVD. The DVD has a video of each song as Young recorded it stuffed into the booth with his guitar and harmonica.  The CD contains all the songs, directly off the machine. Very lo-fi and full of hiss and noise from the turntable motor. In 1947, people were probably amazed at these recordings, but frankly, they are hard to listen to. The box also came with a offer of a digital download of the 'cleaned-up" versions. Much easier on the ears.

And finally,

seven, clear vinyl double-sided discs containing the 14 tracks. These are what the discs recorded on the machine look like.

So, the packaging is great, how is the music?  As anyone who has followed this blog knows, I am a big Neil Young fan. I like this a lot. As mentioned, the recordings are spare. Neil on his guitar and his voice. A little harmonica here and there and some piano. Some backup vocals from Jack White.  The recordings are apparently complete takes. Young misses a chord here and there, sometimes blows a bit too hard on the harmonica, and his voice cracks a bit. It's like he is playing these just for me, in my living room.

 The song are all covers. Neil explained on The Tonight Show that these are all songs that always meant a lot to him. There are some great songs here, some of them not well known. My favorites are "Changes" by Phil Ochs, "Needle of Death" by Burt Jansch, "Girl of the North Country" by Bob Dylan, "Reason to Believe" by Tim Harden and "My Hometown" by Bruce Springsteen.

Neil Young will be 69 years old this November. In my opinion, if this was the last recording he ever made, it would be a good one to go out on.

Song of the Week - In The Hour Of Not Quite Rain by Buffallo Springfield

From their final album Last Time Around, Richie Furay's reflective song, "In The Hour Of Not Quite Rain".

Buffalo Springfield was an amazingly talented group of people and was always one of my favorite bands. They produced three enormously influential albums in 3 years (1966-1968) but the individual members are responsible for hundreds of albums either individually or in various combinations with each other.

My top 4 solo musical artists

I've been reading Neil Young's autobiography, Waging Heavy Peace, but more about that later. I've been a fan of Young's for almost as long as he's been performing and own nearly everything he's released. It made me think about other artists who I like a lot. And an idea for a post was born.  You have to take inspiration where you find it.

I've put Neil Young at the top of this list but the next 4 are in arbitrary order.

Neil Young

The sharp-eyed among you will have noticed that this album cover makes up part of the heading for the blog. The first Neil Young song that I ever heard was probably "Mr. Soul" on Buffalo Springfield's 1967 album Buffalo Springfield Again, but it's this album, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere that really turned me onto Neil. Released May 14, 1969, this is actually Neil's second solo album. The first, simply called Neil Young was badly produced and didn't sell well. It's also a great album but I didn't know about it until later. On Everybody Knows... Songs like "Cinnamon Girl", "Cowgirl in the Sand" and "Down By The River" just blew me away. I've only seen Young perform twice, once during his "Live Rust" tour back in 1980 or so, and more recently on his "Le Noise" tour.

Leonard Cohen

Undoubtedly, the first Leonard Cohen song I heard was "Suzanne" from Cohen's first album, Songs of Leonard Cohen released in December 1967. My parents bought me a record player for Christmas in 1967, and I think this album was one of the first I bought for myself. Songs like "Master Song" and "The Stranger Song" were like nothing I had ever heard before, certainly like nothing being played on the radio. I own just about everything that he has released. I've only seen him in concert once, in a small theater, appearing solo.




Kate Bush

Released in September 1985, Hounds of Love is actually her 5th album but I had never heard of her until a friend gave me a mix tape with "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)" on it probably in 1988. By then the album was hard to find and I had to settle for a cassette tape version. I love this entire album. I eventually acquired her earlier albums and nearly everything she released since.  She took a long break from recording (1993-2005) but her return album Aerial was worth the wait. I have not seen her in person as she doesn't like to travel and has never performed in the US.  There are a lot of other female artists I like (Judy Collins, Joni Mitchell, Tory Amos to name a few) but only Kate Bush has held for me for such a long period of time.

Bruce Springsteen

The first Bruce Springsteen song I ever heard was "Spirit In The Night" from the January 1973 Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. As far as sales went, the single was not a success but I loved it the first time I heard it and still love it today. I bought the album as soon as I could find it. I lived in Philadelphia then, and Bruce was heavily played and promoted by the city's one "progressive" station, WMMR. Bruce's best work, in my opinion, are his songs that tell stories and every song here, from "Lost In The Flood" to "For You" tells a great story. In fact, "For You" is all tied up in my memory with a girl I was dating at the time.  I've only seen him perform live once, in a Jersey bar called Uncle Al's Earlton Lounge. He was with the full E-Street band and the performance was just stunning. I will confess that I fell out of love with Springsteen after Born In The USA but I've come back and even acquired the albums I missed.

I had fully intended this to include 5 artists, but as I was putting it together I realized there wasn't a fifth artist who, for me, made such an impact as these 4. People like Bob Dylan, David Bowie, and the aforementioned Tory Amos come close. And of course there are bands (The Beatles, Steely Dan, Yes) who do rise to that level, but that's another post.

And as I finish this up, Neil Young's "Words (Between The Lines of Age)" comes up on iTunes.

Someone and someone were down by the pond
Looking for something to plant in the lawn
Out in the fields they were turning the soil
I'm sitting here hoping this water will boil

When I look through the window and out on the road
They're bringing me presents and saying hello
Singing words, words between the lines of age
Words, words between the lines of age

If I was a junkman selling you cars
Washing your windows and shining your stars
Thinking your mind was my own in a dream
What would you wonder and how would it seem?

Living in castles a bit at a time
The king started laughing and talking in rhyme
Singing words, words between the lines of age
Words, words between the lines of age

This song came out in 1972, over 40 years ago and I never tire of hearing it.

Song of the Week - I'm The Ocean by Neil Young

This song if from Neil's 1995 album Mirrorball. It's one of my favorite Neil tunes. There were a couple of live performances on YouTube but they were of poor quality. So here's just the audio from the album. I threw in the words as a bonus.



I'm an accident, I was driving way too fast
Couldn't stop though so I let the moment last
I'm for rollin', I'm for tossin' in my sleep
It's not guilt though, it's not the company I keep

People my age, they don't do the things I do
They go somewhere while I run away with you
I got my friends and I got my children too
I got her love, she's got my love too

I can't hear you but I feel the things you say
I can't see you but I see what's in my way
Now I'm floatin' 'cause I'm not tied to the ground
Words I've spoken seem to leave a hollow sound

On the long plain see the rider in the night
See the chieftain, see the braves in cool moonlight
Who will love them when they take another life?
Who will hold them when they tremble from the knife?

Voicemail numbers on an old computer screen
Rows of lovers parked forever in a dream
Screaming sirens echoing across the bay
To the old boats from the city far away

Homeless heroes walk the streets of their hometown
Rows of zeros on a field that's turning brown
They play baseball, they play football under lights
They play card games and we watch them every night

Need distraction, need romance and candlelight
Need random violence, need entertainment tonight
Need the evidence, want the testimony of
Expert witnesses on the brutal crimes of love

I was too tired to see the news when I got home
Pulled the curtain, fell into bed alone
Started dreaming, saw the rider once again
In the doorway where she stood and watched for him

I'm not present, I'm a drug that makes you dream
I'm an aerostar, I'm a cutlass supreme
In the wrong lane trying to turn against the flow
I'm the ocean, I'm the giant undertow

I'm the ocean
I'm the ocean
I'm the giant undertow
I'm the ocean
I'm the giant undertow
I'm the ocean
I'm the ocean
I'm the ocean
I'm the ocean
I'm the ocean
I'm the ocean

Song of the Week - Like A Hurricane by Neil Young

On Facebook, I am in the middle of a Neil Young Challenge. I'm attempting to post a video from every Neil Young album or album in which he has new material. 43 videos in all. This is what I posted yesterday. The song is from his 1977 American Stars 'n' Bars album. This was a mostly forgettable album of studio material he recorded between 1974 and 1977. But among that material is "Like a Hurricane" one of his most well known songs.

Song of the Week - Rockin' in the Free World

Neil Young was honored as the 2010 Musicares Person of the Year. My daughter got me the CD of the benefit concert held to honor him for Father's Day. Neil Young is my favorite singer/songwriter/rock 'n' roller so it was great to see his music being performed by such a range of talented people.

The DVD gets off to a rockin' start with this version of Young's "Rockin' in the Free World" performed by Keith Urban, John Fogerty and Booker T. Jones.

Happy Fourth of July!

Song of the Week - Sign of Love by Neil Young

My wife and I went to see Neil Young on his Twisted Road tour at Jones Hall in Houston on Friday night. It was a solo, but not all acoustic show. Bert Jansch, of long ago Pentangle fame was the opening act.The play list:

1. "My, My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)" from 1979's Rust Never Sleeps. He did this with acoustic guitar. It was a good performance although a little tentative to start. His voice sounded fine.

2. "Tell Me Why" from 1970's After The Gold Rush. A great song, also done acoustic.

3. "Helpless" from the 1970 CSNY album Deja Vu. Also acoustic. So far just really old stuff but the crowd was loving it.

4. "You Never Call". This is a new released piece done on the electric guitar. Kind of a playful song and I liked it.

4. "Peaceful Valley". Another new song on electric. Very good, with an ecological theme.

6. "Love and War". Another new song, this time on acoustic. I really liked this one. These three new songs are all available on YouTube from earlier dates in the tour. The quality isn't real great as they were probably filmed by somebody's cell phone.

7. "Down By The River" from 1969's Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. This as a rocking electric version that brought the house down. You may notice that I have this album in my blog banner. This is probably my first favorite Neil Young song.

8. "Hitchhiker", a new song done electric. I didn't care so much for this one.

9. "Ohio". A 1970 single. A classic CSNY song done electric. While this is still a powerful song to me, I wonder what the younger people (while there were a lot of old guys like me, a sizable portion of the audiance was probably not even born when the Kent State Massacre occurred) think of it.

10. "Sign of Love". Also new. Listen for yourself.



11. "Leia". A new song done on an upright piano. A nice little song about a baby delighting her parents.

12. "After the Gold Rush". Another from 1970's After the Gold Rush. He did this on a keyboard which may have been a calliope. Very haunting.

13. "I Believe in You", also from After the Gold Rush. Done on a grand piano.

14. "Rumblin'" Another electrified new song. It was hard to understand the lyrics on this one but the tune was good.

15. "Cortez The Killer", from 1975's Zuma. High energy electric and well done. It was different than other live versions I've heard. He is a master of the electric guitar and really showed it here.

16. "Cinnamon Girl" from Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. Another high powered electric number and another of my early favorites by him.

This was the last number of his regular set. He came back and did a 2-song encore.

17 "Old Man" from 1972's Harvest. He did this on the acoustic guitar. Another song I've always loved. It's ironic hearing him singing this now as, of course, he's pretty much an old man himself now.

18. "Walk With Me". Another electric new song. I would have preferred some I knew for the last song. I didn't like this all that much. I was hoping for "Like a Hurricane".

All in all, I really enjoyed the show. This is the third time I've seen him in concert. The last time was in 1988, an age ago. He has so much material, it must be difficult for him to pick a set. 8 of the songs were brand new, not released. I was pretty happy with 6 of them and hope to hear them on a record soon. Of the 10 old songs, all were prior to 1980. He did nothing from the vast middle of his career.

Song of the Week - Sample and Hold by Neil Young

I have 8,049 songs on iTunes. This is one of them.

This song is from Neil's 1982 album Trans. In the early 80s, Young was experimenting with synthesizers and this is probably his most extreme use. He is singing through something called a vocoder, which is an electronic instrument used to digitize speech. The other guitarist featured in this video is Nils Lofgren.



Sample and Hold
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Weight: 110
Disposition: Even
Mood Code: Rotary Adjustable

I need a unit to sample and hold
But not the angry one
A new design, new design.

I need a unit to sample and hold
But not the lonely one
A new design, new design.

I need a unit to sample and hold
But not the lonely one
A new design, new design.

Sample and hold.

We'll send it out right away
Satisfaction guaranteed.
Please specify
The color of skin and eye
We know you'll be happy.

Don't hesitate to give us a call
We know you'll be satisfied
When you energize
And see your unit come alive
We know you'll be happy.

I need a unit to sample and hold
But not the lonely one, the lonely one, the lonely one
Sample and hold.
Weight: 110.

Perfection in every details
Fabricated from the curl of the hair
To the tip of the nail
Because our units never fail
We know you'll be happy.

I need a unit to sample and hold.

Don't hesitate to give us a call
We know you'll be satisfied
When you energize
And see your unit come alive
We know you'll be happy.

I need a unit to sample and hold.

We know you'll be happy 110
We know you'll be happy
We know you'll be happy.

But not the lonely one
A new design, new design
Perfection in every detail, new design
Sample and hold.

Song of the Week - Heart of Gold by Neil Young

I have 6,985 songs on iTunes. This is one of them.

This song is from Neil's 1972 album Harvest, one of his best and I think, one of the best albums of all time. In 1972, I lived on Long Island for 6 months working at a co-op job while attending Drexel University. I had taken my stereo with me and purchased this album while there. It was one of the few records I had to listen to so I listened to it all the time. I don't often post two videos in the same post but I found a live version from 1971 and another from 2008. This period encompasses most of my adult life and I still love this song.

Song of the Week - All Along The Watchtower

I was looking for something else and stumbled on this. Two of my favorite performers doing one of my favorite songs. Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen teaming up for the Bob Dylan (by way of Jimi Hendrix) song All Along the Watchtower. This past Friday the final season of Battlestar Gallactica started. If you're a fan of that show, you know the connection to this song. "There's gotta be some way outta here..."



There must be some kind of way out of here
Said the joker to the thief
Theres too much confusion
I cant get no relief
Businessman they drink my wine
Plow men dig my earth
None will level on the line
Nobody of it is worth
Hey hey

No reason to get excited
The thief he kindly spoke
There are many here among us
Who feel that life is but a joke but uh
But you and I weve been through that
And this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now
The hours getting late
Hey

Hey

All along the watchtower
Princes kept the view
While all the women came and went
Bare-foot servants to, but huh
Outside in the cold distance
A wild cat did growl
Two riders were approachin
And the wind began to howl
Hey

Song of the Week - Hey Hey My My (Into the Black)

Neil Young first recorded this song on his Rust Never Sleeps album around 1980. This was followed up by the Live Rust tour album. Over the years, a typical Neil Young show has an acoustic portion and an electric portion. He wrote two versions of this song. "My My Hey Hey (Into the Blue)" is acoustic and "Hey Hey My My (Into the Black)" is electric. The songs have slightly different lyrics but both are about the fleeting fame of the rock and roll star. As Neil says acoustically "It's better to burn out then to fade away". Electrically he says "It's better to burn out, 'cause rust never sleeps".



Hey hey, my my
Rock and roll can never die
There's more to the picture
Than meets the eye.
Hey hey, my my.

Out of the blue and into the black
You pay for this, but they give you that
And once you're gone, you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black.

The king is gone but he's not forgotten
Is this the story of johnny rotten?
It's better to burn out 'cause rust never sleeps
The king is gone but he's not forgotten.

Hey hey, my my
Rock and roll can never die
There's more to the picture
Than meets the eye.