| Identifier | 5255037 |
| Created At | Tue May 23 2023 23:54:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) |
| Media Type | SHN |
| Media Count | 4 |
| Note | For a lenghy, track-by-track discussion of the music on "Rock 'n' Roll Cowboy," read the
book "Neil Young: Love to Burn: Thirty Years of Speaking Out, 1966-1996" by Paul Williams. Hardcover and paperback publisher: Omnibus Press, October 1997. It's out of print, but used copies can still be found. __________________________________ FROM OLD GREY CAT: Rock 'n' Roll Cowboy - (Great Dane 9407/ABCD) disc one: Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing, Birds, Cowgirl in the Sand, Tell Me Why, Only Love Can Break Your Heart, Everybody's Alone, A Man Needs a Maid/Heart of Gold, Out on the Weekend, Love In Mind, Dance Dance Dance, Cripple Creek Ferry, L.A., Soldier, Harvest, Sweet Joni, Tonight's the Night disc two: Pardon My Heart, On the Beach, Traces, Human Highway, Love Art Blues, Hawaiian Sunrise, Like a Hurricane, Stringman, Evening Coconut, Long May You Run, Southern Man, Give Me Strength, Comes a Time, Sail Away, Lady Wingshot, Shots, Downtown disc three: If You Got Love, Transformer Man, My Boy, Old Ways, Kinda Fonda Wanda, Gonna Rock Forever, Touch the Night, Amber Jean, Let Your Fingers Do the Talking, Helpless, Down by the River, Interstate, Grey Riders, Nothing Is Perfect, Southern Pacific disc four: Mideast Vacation, Road of Plenty (El Dorado), Computer Age, Bad News, Ordinary People, Rockin' in the Free World, Winterlong, Silver and Gold, Campaigner, Homefires, Only Love Can Break Your Heart, Mr. Soul, Separate Ways, Philadelphia A friend recently read through these reviews and chuckled. "You make me want to own all of these," she commented. "You're so enthusiastic!" Which is true; I am nothing if not enthusiastic when it comes to music in general and Neil Young's music in specific. With that in mind, Rock 'n' Roll Cowboy is a rich, if frustrating, listening experience. Released by the Italian Great Dane record label a few years back, it's a four-disc set that collects various Neil live performances, spanning from his Springfield days to his Grammy Award show performance of "Philadelphia" in 1994. Among the many treats: "Sweet Joni," a 1973 piano-based paean to Joni Mitchell apparently only performed once. It's a fragile song with fragile lyrics, perhaps in keeping with its subject. Other highlights include several Stills-Young Band run-throughs, especially "Southern Man" which features some scintillating guitar solos from both Stills and Young. Say what you will about Stills' songwriting abilities, but there's no denying his prowess with a six-string. He's one of the best around--always was, always will be. Other highlights include the unreleased songs "Everybody's Alone," "Traces," "Love Art Blues," "Give Me Strength," "Lady Wingshot," "If You Got Love," "Gonna Rock Forever," "Amber Jean," "Let Your Fingers Do the Talking," "Grey Riders," "Nothing is Perfect," "Ordinary People," "Silver and Gold," "Homefires" and "Separate Ways." Add in several reworked versions of known quantities, such as the Saturday Night Live debut of "Rockin' in the Free World," "Shots" (performed acoustically from San Francisco's Boarding House) and "Helpless" (a stunning take from Neil & the International Harvester's Austin City Limits appearance in 1984) and "Stringman," recorded in London in 1976, and you have enough for a two-album set--a great one at that, especially if 20-bit remastering and/or HDCD technology is employed to clean up the sound. "To clean up the sound." Hmmm. Therein lies the rub, folks. Thanks to this collection's breadth--in total, 63 songs taken from upwards of 40 concerts--the sound quality ranges from the near-atrocious to excellent. A good example of this are the trio of songs ("Traces," "Human Highway," and "Human Highway") taken from CSNY's 1974 performance at the Coliseum in Seattle. It sounds like the audio equivalent of sludge--except, of course, for the harmonies which do come through. Thus, as I said at the outset, this is a rich, if frustrating, experience. Let's hope that many of its treasured are found in better form on the Archives when/if that multi-CD set is released. One other comment: The accompanying booklet to Rock 'n' Roll Cowboy is excellent, far surpassing many liner notes to legitimate boxed sets, featuring a well-written overview of Neil's career as well as a track-by-track commentary AND complete tour schedule from Neil's 1968/69 solo tour through to his 1993 jaunt with Booker T. & the MGs. While it doesn't tip the scale as far as the set's rating, it does much of what the set itself does, collecting many of Neil's comments and observations on many of his songs. Despite its sound lapses, until the Archives are released--and possibly even then--this is a true "essential." (A+) |
| Source Info | various |
| Trades Allowed |
Performance
| Neil Young 1994-??-?? Rock 'N' Roll Cowboy: A Life on the Road 1966/1994, Various, Various | |
|---|---|
| Set 1 | Disc 1
01 - Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing (Buffalo Springfield: Whittier High School 1966) 02 - Birds (CSNY: Big Sur Folk Festival 69-09-13) 03 - Cowgirl In The Sand (Fillmore East, New York 70-03-07 [2nd show]) 04 - Tell Me Why (CSNY: Fillmore East, New York 70-06-03) 05 - Only Love Can Break Your Heart (CSNY: Fillmore East, New York 70-06-03) 06 - Everybody's Alone (KQED-TV rehearsals, Los Angeles 70-12-xx) 07 - A Man Needs A Maid/Heart Of Gold (Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford 71-01-22) 08 - Out On The Weekend (BBC TV Studios, London 71-02-23) 09 - Love In Mind (BBC TV Studios, London 71-02-23) 10 - Dance, Dance, Dance (BBC TV Studios, London 71-02-23) 11 - Cripple Creek Ferry (Carnegie Hall, New York 73-02-21) 12 - L.A. (Carnegie Hall, New York 73-02-21) 13 - Soldier (Carnegie Hall, New York 73-02-21) 14 - Harvest (Scope Arena, Norfolk 73- 01-29) 15 - Sweet Joni (Civic Auditorium, Bakersfield 73-03-20) 16 - Tonight's The Night (Queen's College, New York 73-11-15 [2nd show]) 17 - Tired Eyes (Queen's College, New York 73-11-15 [2nd show]) Disc 2 01 - Pardon My Heart (Bottom Line, New York 74-05-16) 02 - On The Beach (Bottom Line, New York 74-05-16) 03 - Traces (CSNY: The Coliseum, Seattle 74-07-09) 04 - Human Highway (CSNY: The Coliseum, Seattle 74-07-09) 05 - Love Art Blues (CSNY: The Coliseum, Seattle 74-07-09) 06 - Hawaiian Sunrise (CSNY: Roosevelt Raceway, Westbury 74-09-08) 07 - Like A Hurricane (Festival Hall, Osaka 76-03-05) 08 - Stringman (Hammersmith Odeon, London 76-03-31) 09 - Evening Coconut (Stills-Young Band: Civic Centre, Springfield 76-06-27) 10 - Long May Your Run (Stills-Young Band: Civic Centre, Providence 76-07-07) 11 - Southern Man (Stills-Young Band: Civic Centre, Providence 76-07-07) 12 - Give Me Strength (The Auditorium, Chicago 76-11-15) 13 - Comes A Time (The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 77-08-27) 14 - Sail Away (The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 77-08-27) 15 - Lady Wingshot (Bicentennial Park, Miami 77-11-12) 16 - Shots (Boarding House, San Francisco 78-05-24) 17 - Come On Baby Let's Go Downtown (Civic Centre, Providence 78-09-25) Disc 3 01 - If You Got Love (Scandinavium, Gothenburg 82-10-08) 02 - Transformer Man (Scandinavium, Gothenburg 82-10-08) 03 - My Boy (Palmer Auditorium, Austin 83-01-14) 04 - Kinda Fonda Wanda (Cal Expo Amphitheatre, Sacramento 83-07-26) 05 - Rock Forever (The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 84-02-07 2nd show) 06 - Touch The Night (The Catalyst, Santa Cruz 84-02-07 2nd show) 07 - Amber Jean (Austin City Limits TV, Austin 84-09-25) 08 - Good Phone (Austin City Limits TV, Austin 84-09-25) 09 - Helpless (Austin City Limits TV, Austin 84-09-25) 10 - Down By The River (Austin City Limits TV, Austin 84-09-25) 11 - Interstate (Farm Aid EP; USA 1985) 12 - Grey Riders (Farm Aid EP; USA 1985) 13 - Nothin' Is Perfect (Farm Aid EP; USA 1985) 14 - Southern Pacific (Farm Aid EP; USA 1985) Disc 4 01 - Mideast Vacation (Tough On Toxic Benefit, Long Beach 86-08-28) 02 - Road Of Plenty (Metropolitan Centre, Minneapolis 86-10-17) 03 - Computer Age (Palatrussardi, Milan 87-05-05) 04 - Bad News (Poplar Creek Music Theatre, Hoffman Estates 88-08-16) 05 - Ordinary People (Jones Beach, Wantaugh 88-08-27) 06 - Rockin' In The Free World (Saturday Night Live TV, New York 89-09-30) 07 - Winterlong (Ahoy Sportpaleis, Rotterdam 89-12-13) 08 - Silver And Gold (Civic Centre, Santa Monica 90-03-31) 09 - Campaigner (Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo 91-03-16) 10 - Homefires (Orpheum Theatre, Boston 92-03-20) 11 - Only Love Can Break Your Heart (Children's Health Fund Benefit, Los Angeles 93-03-01) 12 - Mr. Soul (Ahoy Sportpaleis, Rotterdam 93-07-05) 13 - Separate Ways (Torhout Festival 93-07-03) 14 - Philadelphia (Academy Awards, Los Angeles 94-03-21) |
| Set 2 | |
| Set 3 | |
| Comment | |