neil young

truth rating: ZERO Pinnochios

It’s not an especially chatty book; there aren’t long recreated conversations. But every subject is handled with careful introspection, detail and real feeling. We’re in Gordon’s head as she figures out the world around her. There’s an early Sly Stone song called “Plastic Jim” where he describes a phony poser: “Plastic Jim / Will give you a conversation / To avoid a situation / That needs contemplation.” There’s no plastic here. Even when the material verges on Forrest Gump territory, full of celebrity cameos — during one short stretch in the late ’60s and early ’70s, she’s dating Danny Elfman in high school, then hanging out with Bruce Berry, the roadie whose overdose inspired Neil Young to write “Tonight’s the Night” — it never feels forced or showy. She’s clear on how the people around served her as artistic inspirations, sparking her ideas and giving her the confidence to ­express herself.

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/books/review/kim-gordons-girl-in-a-band.html

sorry, to be clear: a Truth Rating of Zero Pinnochios is equivalent to a 100% truth factor

lol that took me a minute to figure out

there are all sorts of truth systems

ZERO PINOCCHIOS WITH THEIR PANTS ON FIRE!

it's very simple. there are 4 pinnochios with very long noses. But none of their pants are on fire, so

there are four pinocchios but none of them got no t bone

Pinocchio, Marlon Brando, and me

(pretend I got that order right)

(pretend I got that order right)

50th anniversary 'Harvest' box set just announced.

will it be released before or after Ragged Glory II/Smell The Horse ?

That looks like the late Joe Cole in the NY/SY twitter photo.

Eldorado cost me $25 at the time. I've always been fascinated by the choice of formats it was available in. CD-only in Japan (makes sense), vinyl-only in Australia (WTF? OK, Neil).

― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, March 17, 2021 3:20 PM (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink

shakey's selling his El Dorado represses at a bargain then!

I just got this used for only $10. (The new CD re-issue seems to have substantially deflated the market value of that original CD pressing.)

I stumbled on my CD copy about 5 or 6 years ago for $18, which I thought was a huge bargain. That said, I'm glad it's in circulation again, it's a killer EP.

I only wish Neil would release the original version of "Box Car" - that's the only Times Square track that hasn't been properly released.

FWIW, here's the disc I made based on a Japanese bootleg of that rough-sounding acetate. I pieced it together from official sources, but I also made two changes for my own listening preferences - I subbed in the electric version of "Crime in the City" from Bluenote Café (the definitive version of that song IMHO - "I got thrown out of Bible school / For givin' a finger to the preacher") and also replaced "Someday" with "No More." I never understood why Neil included "Someday" - he perversely derided it as one of his Perry Como tracks even before it was released.

1. El Dorado
2. No More
3. Crime In The City (Sixty To Zero) - live, electric 1988 version
4. Box Car
5. Don't Cry - unedited version from the El Dorado EP
6. Heavy Love
7. Wrecking Ball
8. Cocaine Eyes
9. On Broadway

Bonus tracks:

10. Rockin' In The Free World - from the Saturday Night Live: 25 Years of Music DVD
11. Needle And The Damage Done - from the 1989 Saturday Night Live broadcast
12. No More - from SNL25: Saturday Night Live, The Musical Performances, Volume 2

Yeah, that's a strong (and dark!) album there — though I do have a soft spot for "Someday" ... At some point Neil put up a "sneak preview" of "Fuckin' Up" recorded with the SNL 89 band (I think) that would fit right in there, too.

I know - even without my tweaks, I always thought Times Square was like THE album to showcase the appropriately named "Old Black." I'll have to find that preview of "Fuckin' Up" - I'm still waiting for him to follow through on that promise to put those sessions out in their entirety.

still waiting for him to follow through on that promise

honestly, this could be appended to the thread title

I too dig "Someday." I wasn't crazy about it at first; the tinkly arrangement grated initially, but I soon realized it was perfect for the bleakness of the third verse.

yeah, that verse is incredible — "smog might turn to stars ..." kind of brutal.

tyler, apologies if I've already missed it, but will you be reviewing World Record anywhere?

not a review, but I just interviewed Billy Talbot yesterday! I'm slowly working my way up to Neil, haha. Should be up on Aquarium Drunkard towards the end of the month.

nice

still waiting for him to follow through on that promise

Neil Young & Promise of the Release

I prefer that touring lineup over BDSM & Young

^^50 Shades of Neil

xp - nice! can't wait to see that interview

Crazy Horse Glamour Shot, 1994 pic.twitter.com/AY1JJ5iY9h

— QueenCityJamz (@QueenCityJamz) November 11, 2022

How do you do, fellow kids?

Harvest Time gets a couple of theatrical showings here next month--have to skip the first, so lucky I can catch the second.

Very enjoyable Neil Young birthday program from WFMU’s Joe Belock. https://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/121440

Happy Bday Neil!

https://www.cbc.ca/music/neil-young-says-he-will-no-longer-tour-unless-the-venues-are-clean-1.6652645

I see you, Morrissey, and I will one-up your demands.

So I guess this means we will likely never see Neil Young tour again, unless he tours farmers markets, which would be cool.

Just picked up World Record today so I haven't had a chance to spin it yet but, lol Neil spreading out a 46 minute album over two CDs. The second disc, consisting of the final two songs, is a whopping 17 minutes.

Did someone tell him spreading out over more CDs helps fidelity too?

Saw a trailer for Harvest Time tonight, looks fantastic. I do wonder if there'll be lots of overlap with Journey Through the Past.

there's some overlap with JTTP on Harvest Time, but plenty of fresh footage and all presented in a much more pleasing fashion than that previous movie. A great watch, really takes you into the famed barn.

That's great to hear, I always hoped there'd be extra footage of Neil sitting on his car hood eating strawberries.

https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2022/11/30/billy-talbot-of-crazy-horse-the-aquarium-drunkard-interview/

That's a great interview, thanks Tyler!

thanks, fun to talk to Billy!

here's a little crazy horse mix I made this week, too: https://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/702450351410954240/through-hills-and-valleys-over-creeks-and-rivers

nice!

I'm going to see Harvest Time at Alamo Drafthouse this weekend. Looks fantastic.

"Chevrolet" is so great.

Don't read this if you want to see Harvest Time cold.

First thing that made me happy: in a theater that seats ~200 (196 to be exact, if I counted rows and columns correctly), I'd guess there were 70 or 80 people there tonight. I've been in a lot of near-empty theaters the last three years, so I thought that was pretty great. (The venue added two more screenings after their first two.)

Towards the end, I started thinking they could have cut maybe 20 minutes: a couple of jam-type things I didn't recognize (not sure if they were actual songs), and when you circle back to "Words" for the fourth time, I thought once again I'd never make it through Peter Jackson's Beatles film. But that was about it.

I questioned returning to "Alabama" a second time (which I love, by the way; I love "Sweet Home Alabama" even more, and love that Neil was smart enough to cry uncle and start playing Skynyrd's song live), but then it cut to CS&Y in the studio laying down backing vocals, and that was great. I thought Stills and Crosby were living under a mountain of cocaine at this point, but they seem perfectly lucid and musically engaged in the film--Stills gets off a good line later where he calls Neil on stealing from himself. I also think Stills in a black cowboy hat is one of the coolest looks ever. I love "Are You Ready for the Country"; I think like "Cripple Creek Ferry" and "Till the Morning Comes," it's one of those throwaways that captures Neil's early-'70s genius as well as anything. The most moving few minutes for me was Neil recording "A Man Needs a Maid" with the London Symphony Orchestra playing right alongside him; I'd probably always taken it for granted that the song was constructed through transcontinental overdubbing. And Neil beaming when they get it right (he was initially unhappy because he thought the LSO was lagging by half-a-second) is beautiful. The two Elliots are both in the film, Mazer and Roberts, though of course not in the same room, because that's never happened. Neil's deadpan intro to the film--the Neil of today--killed me; almost Bidenesque in its rambling, aw-shucks, is-he-losing-his-memory? folksiness. (Funniest line in the film proper was Neil saying the only thing he had to hide from the world was the fact he was a rich hippie.) There's a scene with a kid DJ (or something) in Nashville that's great, including "Maggie May" playing in the background. I so wanted Neil to say something about the song--he does bob his head a couple of times.

I'm glad drugs are minimized; except for maybe Chet Baker in Let's Get Lost, watching someone high on screen has always had minimum appeal for me. Tim Drummond (I think) pulls out his drug paraphernalia at one point, and Neil is clearly high when playing "Out on the Weekend" on the banjo, but I think that's it.

Maybe it was intentional to lead up to "Heart of Gold" and "Old Man" right at the end, but they wait so long, they almost seemed tacked on out of a sense of obligation. I wouldn't have missed them (liked hearing "Journey Through the Past" much more). Only song MIA: "The Needle and the Damage Done." Not sure what that means.

The little bit of Carrie Snodgress is touching. I wanted more, of course.

Oh--Neil's ginormous muttonchop in profile when he plays "Out on the Weekend" is reason enough in and of itself to see the film.

Wish they had provided captions when Neil was talking to the LSO conductor. In the space of a few seconds, did manage to pick up the names of Art Tatum, Ravel, Debussy, Merle Haggard (I might have misremembered that one), and Pink Floyd, who to that point Neil says he hadn't yet heard.

Some excellent new interviews up on YT. A few weeks old at the most. Sorry if these've already been posted. Great to hear him open up about process an his past.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu5qoYtMw94

Something's not right, he's smiling, not scowling.