It seems that there’s a steady stream of Neil Young live and solo recordings from 1968-1972 that have been released in the last decade or so (Canterbury House, Massey Hall, Cellar Door, Song For Judy, Young Shakespeare, etc etc), so, why another?
As much as I was hanging out for a bootleg that was recorded sometime between 1974-1990, the more I listen to this Carnegie Hall show, the more I realise he was fucking on that night: crisp falsetto and the best live acoustic playing I recall out of these live recordings.
The setlist or the performance schtick doesn’t seem too different from those of the other recordings from the era (early outings of Harvest tracks, the ol’ Sugar Mountain sing-a-long, bagging out the crowd for not clapping along in time, self-deprecating quips about his piano playing) but other moments that will satisfy the heads (weird guitar digressions on Cowgirl In The Sand and by far the most cooked yet fitting version of After The Gold Rush I’ve ever heard).
No secret I’m a Neil fanboy, but didn’t expect to enjoy this one as much as I am!
-Mitch (Repressed Records)