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NYFAQ Diaries: A Journey Through The Past Of Neil Young's Videos

May 11th 2012 09:43

After a two year journey of blood, sweat, tears, and more all-nighters writing furiously until the sun came up than I care to remember, my first full-length book as a music journalist was finally released this week.

Neil Young FAQ is part of Backbeat Books "FAQ Series" artist guides designed to enlighten the reader on "everything left to know" about the featured subject. In addition to my just released Neil Young book, the series also features FAQ books on everyone from the Beatles and the Beach Boys, to Lucille Ball and the Three Stooges -- an eclectic mix of talent to be sure.

In the case of Neil Young FAQ, the book promises to reveal "Everything Left to Know About the Iconic and Mercurial Rocker," including obscure facts about such mythical, unreleased recordings as Homegrown, Chrome Dreams, Toast and Oceanside, Countryside, as well as the most intimate details on the recording sessions behind such legendary albums as Harvest, Tonight's The Night and Rust Never Sleeps.

But one of the most interesting chapters in the book deals with Neil Young's concert videos over the years. While such critically acclaimed concert films as Rust Never Sleeps and Heart Of Gold are well known to Neil Young fans, there are also a equal number of lesser-known, out-of-print Neil Young concert performances that deserve to find an audience.

For my own first book-signing event in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood on June 1, I have decided to include some of these rare videos in my presentation. All proceeds from book sales at this event will go to benefit the The Bridge School.

But for those who can't be there, here is a quick preview of what we will be showing that night:

Down By The River (from ABC-TV's Music Scene With David Steinberg, 1969)

The never before seen cover shot of Neil Young FAQ by Jeff Allen, is taken from this performance at the taping of the very first episode for this short-lived 1969 concert series for ABC-TV. It is a rare performance of Young's "Down By The River" by Crosby Stills Nash & Young, with the original rhythm section of bassist Greg Reeves and drummer Dallas Taylor. The guitar exchanges between Stills and Young here -- though shorter than usual -- more than live up to the legend of the musical fireworks these two were so noted for at the time. Neil is particularly intense here.

Sample And Hold (From Neil Young In Berlin 1983)

This now rare video from the 1983 Trans tour of Europe is revealing for a number of reasons. First, it shows one of the first uses of the multi-ramped staging which later became the norm for stadium shows by the likes of U2. But perhaps most interestingly, it also shows an audience stunned by what they were seeing. While a few diehards in the audience can be seen clapping their hands, most of those in the first few rows seem to sit in a flabbergasted sort of silence at the sight of Neil Young and Nils Lofgren -- who look particularly hilarious in their eighties shades and teased, Jefferson Starship hair -- performing "Sample And Hold" through a vocoder.

The guitar bits are still pretty fierce, though.

Like A Hurricane (From Neil Young In Berlin 1983)

From the same show, this one is mostly noteworthy for the hilarity which ensues when Neil's eighties new wave tie gets tangled up in his guitar during the solo (which is still as incendiary as ever). Ever the pro, Neil simply slings said tie over his shoulder.

Hey, Hey, My, My (from Neil Young & Crazy Horse's Weld

The biggest reason I like this video so much is because of the audience shots. In between Neil's blistering guitar solos here, see if you can pick out such characters as "Buck-tooth girl," "Chinese hippie headband guy," and "Microsoft guy" grooving to Neil and Crazy Horse. I'm just bummed I couldn't find a YouTube video of "Fuckin' Up" from the same show, which features the equally unforgettable "air-drummer guy" and the frat boys in ties sitting with the guy in army fatigues.

That stuff is absolutely priceless.

Neil Young FAQ is available for purchase both through the publisher Backbeat, and at internet booksellers like Amazon.com.

It will also available in retail stores May 22.

You can follow Neil Young FAQ on Twitter and friend us on Facebook

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Posted By: Glen Boyd - Category: No Category

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Donovan And The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame

April 13th 2012 01:37

With all the media attention surrounding Axl Rose thumbing his nose at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this week, it’s been a little sad to see the induction of 2012 fellow honoree Donovan Leitch become swallowed up in the hoopla. It’s too bad, because in many ways, Donovan’s influence upon several generations of rock and roll musicians has been much more far reaching than that of Guns n’ Roses.

All due respect to Axl and that Slash guy he seems so hell-bent on ignoring, but the Gunners made one truly great album in Appetite For Destruction, before disintegrating before our eyes in the usual fog of over-inflated ego and rock star excess. Donovan, on the other hand, can claim a legacy that has touched both the lives and the artistry of rock legends from the Beatles and Dylan, to Jeff Beck and Led Zeppelin, and beyond.

The fact that Donovan’s name isn’t spoken so much in the same breath as those guys — at least not these days, anyway — doesn’t change the historical facts. In fact, you could call Donovan’s story something like rock ‘n’ roll’s own version of the movie Forrest Gump.

If you reference old pictures of the Sgt. Pepper-period Beatles taking up with the Maharishi in the 1960s, you’ll find Donovan’s smiling face right alongside the Fab Four, the Beach Boys, Mia Farrow and the rest in most, if not all of them. Rumor even has it that during those heady days at the transcendental meditation ashram, Donovan taught George Harrison some of his folkie, finger-picking guitar technique.

In D.A. Pennebaker’s Don’t Look Back, the famous documentary film of Bob Dylan’s 1965 British tour, there is an early scene where Dylan can be seen asking “Who is this Donovan?”

Dylan then goes on to label the then still-rising Scottish folk-rock star as “my next target.” When a record executive arrives at Dylan’s hotel to hand him an award, Dylan refuses it, saying instead to “give it to Donovan.” Reportedly, Dylan eventually came around to Donovan’s music.

Several of Donovan’s early recordings — mainly after Clive Davis signed him to Epic Records — also feature a who’s who of rock royalty, including what went on to be two of rock’s most celebrated bands. Jimmy Page is featured on several Donovan singles, and on at least one of them, “Hurdy Gurdy Man,” he is backed by all of what would become Led Zeppelin (Page, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham) with the sole exception of Robert Plant.

Likewise, on the song “Bababajagal (Love Is Hot),” Donovan is backed by the original Jeff Beck Group (Beck on guitar, Ronnie Wood on bass, Mickey Waller on drums, and session keyboard great Nicky Hopkins). The only guy missing is Rod Stewart.

These great songs, along with all of his most memorable sides both for Epic and his original label Pye Records, are represented on The Essential Donovan — a comprehensive 36-song collection of Donovan’s seminal period of 1965-73. Included are everything from his earliest, folkier songs like “Catch The Wind” and “Colours” to the mid-1960s, Mickie Most produced psychedelic pop of songs like “Sunshine Superman,” “Wear Your Love Like Heaven,” “Mellow Yellow” and “Atlantis.”

It is on these latter songs in particular, where Donovan’s gift for simple, but effective folk-pop melodies — aided greatly by Most’s widely criticized at the time ear for a commercially appealing hook — is most evident. Mickie Most was actually the best producer someone like Donovan could have asked for at the time.

Donovan’s unique ability for topical, but simply phrased lyrics which addressed the socially turbulent issues of the day, without clouding them with the ambiguity of, for example, Dylan, likewise shows why — at least briefly — he was the more commercially consistent artist. Taking a cue from of one of his own greatest influences, Pete Seeger, Donovan seemed to uniquely understand the genius of making your lyrical point simply, but effectively.

In addition to the hits, The Essential Donovan — due out on April 17, 2012, from Legacy Recordings — also features a number of deeper cuts, including gems like “Season Of The Witch,” which has been famously covered by artists ranging from the great version heard on the legendary Super Session album featuring Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper and Stephen Stills, to latter day artists like Courtney Love and Hole. Several previously unreleased recordings, including live versions of “Sunny Goodge Street” and “Sand And Foam” (from a 1967 Anaheim concert), are also included here. The deluxe package also features extensive liner notes from Donovan himself, as well as a scholarly essay from Anthony DeCurtis.

Of course, as the 1960s came to a close, so did Donovan’s most fertile period as a commercially viable artist. He did enjoy a brief, modest comeback in the early 1970s — which oddly enough, was manifested in the first post-psychedelic wave of glam-rock. Both David Bowie and Marc Bolan modeled their earliest folk-rock recordings on the Donovan blueprint.

Bolan was probably the most obvious about it. His elfin stature and acoustic space-pop during the Tyrannosaurus Rex period, was for all practical purposes nothing more than a modernized update of Donovan’s psychedelic pop.

Likewise, Bowie’s pre-Ziggy period — particularly on the Space Oddity and Hunky Dory albums — owes more than a little to Donovan’s more subtle form of 1960s androgyny. In America, Alice Cooper went even further — enlisting Donovan himself as a guest vocalist for the title track of his own breakthrough to the commercial big-leagues, the Billion Dollar Babies album. The Alice Cooper rub was also likely a contributing factor in Donovan’s last modest commercial hit, 1973's Cosmic Wheels album.

Subsequent comeback attempts like the early-1990s, Rick Rubin produced Sutras album, mostly came and went with little commercial fanfare from the general record-buying public.

Times had obviously changed — hell, by this time, people didn’t even buy their music in record stores anymore.

But Donovan’s influence remains as strong as ever. It is most evident today in the modern folkish psychedelia you hear on records by artists like Devendra Banhart, Fleet Foxes, and even the Shins — none of whom could have ever even existed, if Donovan hadn’t paved the way before them. The artistic tie which binds artists like these, is their unique ability for simple, yet universally understood artistic understatement. Donovan was the original master of that.

And when John Mellencamp — another longtime admirer — inducts Donovan Leitch into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this weekend, you can be sure that Donovan himself will accept the honor with all of his usual quiet dignity and unassuming grace.

Axl Rose might want to take note.

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Posted By: Glen Boyd - Category: No Category

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Wrecking Ball Tour Preview: Springsteen's New E Street Big Band

March 15th 2012 06:49

Bruce Springsteen has just notched his tenth US #1 album -- knocking off the previously unstoppable juggernaut that is Adele, no less -- on the Billboard charts. But with the kickoff for the massive Wrecking Ball world tour just around the corner, there are probably just as many burning questions in the minds of Boss fans, as there are answers.

Some of these were put to rest with Springsteen's amazing two hour set last week at New York's legendary Apollo Theater, which was also broadcast live over Sirius Satellite Radio (a similar warmup gig is scheduled for later this week at the South By Southwest industry confab in Austin, Texas).

By most accounts, the newly expanded E Street Band sounded as tight as ever at the Apollo. The horn section added an element of sweet soul music to the otherwise downcast lyrical mood of some of Springsteen's new songs. Perhaps most importantly -- and in probably the biggest question mark hanging over the room that night -- it sounds like young Jake Clemons is going to do just fine, filling those size twelve shoes that the Big Man left behind.

But just how is this new "E Street Big Band" -- a group that includes so many guys onstage, one could really liken it more to a small orchestra -- going to translate to audiences, once it moves out of the small theaters, and into the big arenas and stadiums?

Fortunately for us, there are a few precedents for this. The most recent example of Springsteen touring with this large an ensemble, would be the Seeger Sessions tour. In addition to the new band featuring a few carryover guys from that era, the songs on Wrecking Ball also incorporate some of the rawer folk elements from its namesake album. On that tour, the Seeger Sessions Band also created a hell of a joyous racket, even if it was of a slightly different color than the "big noise" the E Street Band is so famous in rattling arena rafters for.

Springsteen has also previously utilized a full horn section working in concert with the E Street Band. The last time he did this was on 1988's Tunnel of Love Express Tour, and the results were pretty spectacular there. On that tour, the more austere tone of the songs from Tunnel -- which foretold the real life soap opera of Springsteen's first marriage disintegrating, even as he was shacked up with then backup singer Patti Scialfa out on the road -- gave way to concerts that were often more like an old school R&B revue.

Doubt this? Just check out the clip below from the 1988 Tunnel tour in Europe -- an uproarious cover of John Lee Hooker's "Boom, Boom," complete with a full compliment of blaring horns.

Perhaps owing to the venue (or "Temple Of Soul," as Bruce himself put it), a lot of the same sweet sounding soul carried over to last week's show at the Apollo, which blended the songs from Wrecking Ball with great R&B covers by everyone from Sam & Dave to Smokey Robinson. Bruce also re-introduced one of the more personal elements from his original performances back in the 1970s with the E Street Band -- the place where he really first made his reputation as the greatest live act in rock -- that hasn't been seen all that much since then.

During both "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" and a cover of Smokey's "The Way You Do The Things You Do," Bruce ventured out into the crowd. Longtime fans will particularly remember that back on the Darkness tour, Bruce would routinely do this almost every night, usually by about the third or fourth song. Here at the Apollo, Bruce takes this "personal approach" to a new level, that at one point had me fearing a little for his safety.

Check out the video below. Starting at right about the 7:00 mark, the way he is seen precariously dangling from the second balcony will remind you more of an old ECW wrestling match, than a rock concert.

Another thing about the upcoming tour that has a lot of Springsteen's more hardcore fans speculating out loud, is what the setlists are going to look like. While I do have some (but not a lot) of sympathy for the way some fans tend to obsess about this, I also have little patience for those who take this obsession to the extreme. I've been waiting to see my own favorite Bruce song, "The Price You Pay," performed live for a second time since the first time I saw him do it on The River tour back in 1980. But remind me sometime to tell you about the music blogger I know, who once wrote a concert review that devoted considerable space to how he turned his back on Springsteen when he had the audacity to perform "Waiting On A Sunny Day."

Hey, it's not one of my favorites either. Even so, not cool. At the same time, I have to admit that I much prefer the "anything goes" nature of Springsteen's recent tours for the Magic and Working On A Dream albums, over the more static approach taken on the tour behind The Rising, for example.

I only saw two shows on the Magic tour -- on back to back nights in Seattle and Portland. But on each night, the setlists were wildly different, and loaded with rarely played songs like "Trapped" and "Lost In The Flood." By contrast, I caught multiple shows for The Rising, in venues ranging from Vancouver B.C. to New Jersey, and the only significant difference with any of them came when he busted out the ultra-rare "Janey Don't You Lose Heart" at Giants Stadium.

Although I suspect that things will change once this tour makes the jump to stadiums -- the shows should be longer than two hours, for one thing -- Springsteen seemed to be sticking to a pretty strict setlist last week at the Apollo. Despite the aforementioned soul covers, the focus was definitely on Wrecking Ball, much the same way as The Rising shows (at least the ones I saw) honed in on that album. That said, if every show I see this tour (which I expect will be several) starts the same way as this one, you'll hear no further complaints from me.

The funniest thing about this clip of course, is that of all the songs Bruce name checks in that over-the-top intro -- "Dancing In The Dark," "Born To Run" and "Hungry Heart" -- he didn't play a single one of them that night. But most likely I'm just splitting unnecessary hairs here.

Of the more familiar songs Springsteen did play at the Apollo -- stuff like "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out," "Badlands" and "Thunder Road" -- you have to figure that Jake Clemons is still just getting his feet wet, which would also explain why there weren't as many of the "hits" played as usual. By the time, Jake finally does bust out something like "Jungleland" for example -- which I fully expect will happen at some point on this tour -- there are going to be a lot of fans in attendance holding their collective breaths.

The ghost of Jake's uncle, Clarence "Big Man" Clemons, still hangs just about that heavy over the Wrecking Ball tour.

It's going to be a bit of a learning curve for Jake I suspect. In the meantime, if the Apollo show was any indication, Springsteen's audience seems to be warming to him. And the rest of the guys in the horn section have got his back, just in case.

It's Boss Time, baby. See ya' out at the shows this year.

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Posted By: Glen Boyd - Category: No Category

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Mott The Who? The Ballad of Ian Hunter, Mick Ronson, and What Might Have Been

March 2nd 2012 10:17

Music DVD Review: Ian Hunter Band (Featuring Mick Ronson) - Live At Rockpalast (2012)

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Posted By: Glen Boyd - Category: No Category

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Wrecking Ball Preview: Bruce Springsteen's Songs For The New Depression

February 25th 2012 02:36

Bruce Springsteen's much-anticipated new studio album Wrecking Ball is -- much as all the advance hype has suggested -- a somewhat radical left turn for the artist, both musically and quite literally in the case of the lyrics. But it is also nowhere near the huge departure some of those early dispatches from the recording studio may have led some to believe.

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Posted By: Glen Boyd - Category: No Category

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Some Afterthoughts On This Year's Grammys

February 16th 2012 13:03

So, is it too late to talk about the Grammys? Maybe. Well okay, make that probably.

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Posted By: Glen Boyd - Category: No Category

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The Boss Is Back: New Single, Album And More

January 19th 2012 11:41

The Boss Is Back.

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Posted By: Glen Boyd - Category: No Category

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2012 Tour Preview: Who Rules The Road?

January 7th 2012 00:56

Barely a week into the new year, and 2012 is already shaping up to be a potentially huge one for the concert industry. Step aside Lady Gaga, because it looks like classic rock and legacy bands are going to rule the road in 2012. Among the biggest tickets already confirmed for an arena near you sometime in 2012, are the Van Halen reunion and a long awaited Radiohead tour.