Neil Young
Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968

THE REVIEW

Here's finally another release from Neil Young's "Archives" series.

The CD contains the essence of two concerts held on November 9 and 10, 1968, at the Canterbury House in Michigan. This period is quite interesting: Young was fresh off the (in some ways) controversial successes with Buffalo Springfield and needed to "build" a new career or at least a different way to present himself.

He embarked on a brief solo tour, completely acoustic. With just a guitar, Neil presented to an (probably) not very large audience, songs from his still limited songbook, in perfect folk style, in the manner of the already famous and acclaimed Dylan.

Therefore, on the CD, you can enjoy "raw" versions of Buffalo Springfield era tracks like "On The Way Home," "Mr. Soul," "Broken Arrow," or the psychedelic (in its lyrics) "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing," (dedicated to a school friend of his suffering from multiple sclerosis) and still raw versions of future hits, at the time still unreleased, like "The Last Trip To Tulsa," "The Old Laughing Lady," "The Loner," or a touching performance of "Birds," later in "After The Goldrush."

What can I say! A remarkable record that shows us the Loner in one of the very early stages of his solo career.

The tracks are played in a very simple and direct manner, without frills or virtuosity and the singing, in my opinion perhaps a bit too subdued, has a definite emotional impact.

In the overall mood (even if I would have preferred to hear a full concert) that vein of subtle melancholy and sadness surfaces, typical of Young, a vein that will accompany him to our days and that finds its culmination in masterpieces such as "Harvest," "Tonight's The Night," or "On The Beach," just to name a few. A rather "strange" way of singing for the standards of the time, also due to a very unique voice, yet able to capture and transpose the listener between dream and reality, between the sophistication of a tottering metaphor and the raw and uncut image (see "The Last Trip To Tulsa").

This is also the dualistic way of perceiving Young's work: acoustic and electric, color and black and white, the sparkling light of rock and country and the almost mystical twilight of ballads.

In short, a very interesting record (the third archival release) from a historical perspective, to understand the genesis of one of the most prolific and original singer-songwriters in rock history.

The songs are also published in a DVD version, where I presume they will be accompanied by images from that era.

Here's the track list:

 Emcee Intro / On The Way Home / Songwriting Rap / Mr. Soul / Recording Rap / Expecting To Fly / The Last Trip To Tulsa / Bookstore Rap / The Loner /

 I Used Rap / Birds / Winterlong (excerpt) Out Of My Mind (Intro) / Out Of My Mind / If I Could Have Her Tonight / Classical Gap Rap / Sugar Mountain (Intro)

 / Sugar Mountain / I've Been Waiting For You / Song Rap / Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing / Tuning Rap & The Old Laughing Lady (Intro)  

/ The Old Laughing Lady / Broken Arrow