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| Roland Dielh's superb portrait makes one of Neil's best covers. I've added the new title so it doesn't get confused with what you already have. |
The beautiful Expecting To Fly from Buffalo Springfield Again sounds like it was expecting to fly into another album entirely, because it was. Recorded with Jack Nitzsche and session musicians for Neil's first solo album, it had zero input from the band, because they weren't invited and weren't there. Neil had his own album to do. When the song got diverted into the Springfield album Richie Furay added aftermarket vox, possibly to make it less obvious that it's not a Springfield track at all. So bringing this song home is the starting point for a more satisfying, better-performing solo debut.
Nitzsche's String Quartet, as attractive and evocative as it is, goes into the wood chipper. Young had no involvement in its composition or performance, and it's basically the sound of Nitzsche cutting himself a slice of the publishing pie. Good for him, but not necessarily good for the album - Young had already contributed his own, superior, Western-themed instrumental anyway, the charming Emperor Of Wyoming.
Also kicked to the curb is the unendurable Last Trip To Tulsa, nine minutes and change of Neil hunched over open mic. This very nearly tuneless dirge closes the album on an epic downer, the musical equivalent of staring into an empty glass (something he'd do more of). I'm betting tone arms were skipping nationwide after the realisation that ten minutes could be better spent than sitting still for this. Way to kill a buzz, and way to kill an album. If you like this, you like Neil too much.
Contemporary songs that (bafflingly - but this is Neil) didn't make the cut are seamlessly integrated into this re-imagining of an album that might have been a first tier debut. Like Harvester, I've avoided that tacked-on bonus tracks approach, and again, there's no filler.
This post funded in part by The Foundation Funding Finding Foundation, a non-profit organisation finding foundation funding since the Ford administration.
"Hey, Fatso!" writes Nibsy The Newsboy from the Flatbush Correctional Facility, "what happened to them good ol' Stealth Links? Gee whiz, the guys an' me had a riot figgerin' out where you put them furshlugginer download links!"
ReplyDeleteWell, Nibsy, there's one embedded in your charming message, and thank you for using crayon!
Here's an Unstealth Link from 4/5g© Geriatrix that got swept away in a climate change tsunami:
ReplyDelete"Here is Crashing Dream and I've added the Rain Parade - Last Stop On The Underground EP as well. https://workupload.com/archive/pV3gyNn2jA"
(I've heard the Crashing Dream remaster and it sounds exactly the same as the edition I already have. What we need is the remix the band is planning ...)
More from Geriatrix:
Delete"The Isle seems to have transmogrified back to 2023. odd, that. anyway, here's a review of a Rain Parade gig which took place in the future. I wish I could have been there but I foolishly chose that date to book a train trip to the Dordogne. https://allmusicmagazine.com/last-rays-of-a-dying-sun-the-rain-parade-at-night-and-day-cafe-manchester-sun-16th-june/"
FAQ:
ReplyDelete"What is a Stealth Link©, Farq?"
It's a real, actual, live link to a download host cunningly disguised as an element of the text. Could be a word, a letter, punctuation ...
"Well, yeah, but why?"
It encourages involvement, or not. It may discourage involvement. I really haven't thought this through.
Farq, I don't discourage easily, but here we are. Did find the Stealth Link©, however, even without your cryptic clue(s).
ReplyDeleteThe first?
DeleteOh fuck....
DeleteSudge langwidge!
DeleteThis is great - I always hated Last Trip To Tulsa. Coincidentally I was working on a very similar project myself, now respectfully shelved.
ReplyDeleteBTW have you heard Prof Stoned's version of the album? It's a rip of the original version which NY rejected. Nothing wrong with the way yours sounds - I only mention it because the end of Here We Are In The Years (which I've noticed fades out in your version) was much better before the remix ballsed it up. It doesn't seem to be on the Prof's site any more but here's HWAITY:
https://workupload.com/file/dbhyAx6Bp5m
Apologies to the Prof for mp3-ing his pristine HD FLAC.
I always get a lot of perverse pleasure from stomping down the Prof's exquisitely honed needledrops to a street-level @192. I can tell the difference between his mixes and the original, but the difference between (say) @320 and @192 (the Baby Jesus Bitrate) is lost on my ears.
DeleteThank you for this upload, most kind. If it sounds like an improvement, I shall fold it into "Neil, Younger". What intrigues me is exactly why he relinquished Expecting To Fly. It would have been the standout track of any album (ever, if you ax me), and it certainly would have elevated his solo debut. The Buffies could have come up with something else - and Broken Arrow would be the best track on the album.
Where's the like button, Farq?
ReplyDeleteYou just hit it, Fiveguns! How are the emus?
DeleteI don't remember the album title but The Guess Who did a good version of "If Flying On The Ground Is Wrong"
ReplyDeleteThis Time Long Ago is the album.
DeleteBloody hell, he's back, lock up yer daughters.
ReplyDelete"Last Trip To Tulsa" was the best song on the album!
ReplyDeleteMr Dave wears a tinfoil hat except in the shower, where the negative ions form a Kirlian Shield to protect him from alien thought lasers.
DeleteI also like Last Trip To Tulsa. I guess that I like Neil too much. You're right about Expecting to Fly making a great album closer, though. That ending is perfect.
ReplyDeleteThe ending of this version is unique - didja spot it didja huh?
DeleteThat is indeed unique....but not perfect like the real one is.
DeleteThank you! High praise from someone who likes Last Trip To Tulsa!
DeleteJust when you thought the whole thing couldn't get any more confusing, here's a slightly amended version with the original mix of HWAITY (thanks to our friend Easily). There's a prominent organ (oo-er missus!), and a longer fade, which is why it makes the cut here. I don't think it *sounds* any better, in fact I slightly prefer the vocals on the not-original mix, but that long fade is worth having. Talking of which, I've removed the couple of seconds I added to the fade of ETF (a fragment of Jack Nitsche Boot Hill strings, and a funereal drum rattle from Broken Arrow - pretty clever, but as Mr. Fan observes, it's no improvement on perfection).
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/m6Zrvq4Ezkq
Still no answer on why Neil donated this superb song to the Buffies, when he had every right to keep it for his solo album. Anybody?
Well you have to admit it fits pretty well on the Buffs album. Perhaps Neil felt he needed to contribute more to that album and thought ETF was the best choice from what he had ready. But WTF do I know.
ReplyDeleteIt fits beautifully on the Buffs album, and it's the best track. I just wonder what changed Neil's mind, after booking and using studio time and session musicians to record a track for his first solo album. He'd already composed Broken Arrow as a band number, which was another standout track.
DeleteInternet: Engineer Bruce Botnick recalled to Uncut magazine in 2021: "We recorded 'Expecting To Fly' at Sunset Sound. It was basically Neil and the Wrecking Crew. I think we had Carol Kaye on bass, Russ Tillman on rhythm, Hal Blaine on drums and Don Randi on piano. I was doing some work with Jack Nitzsche and he got me in. Jack came in with a full-blown track. I think Neil overdubbed the guitar because that was emotionally such a feel thing."
DeleteNice compilation Farq! Birds and Expecting To Fly fit right in. Not so Sugar Mountain, which sounds out of place in these surroundings. There’s a version of Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere recorded during these first album sessions that’s a better fit. I’ve only seen it available on a Westwood One comp called Neil Young Rarities...
ReplyDeleteI think I've found that Rarities collection on Pirate Bay, but the seeding has flatlined. I'll leave the torrent open - maybe it will spark into life.
DeleteI sort of agree about Sugar Mountain, except for two things: it's such a beautiful, beautiful song, and definitely Younger Neil, that a version of it "should" have been on the album, and 2 (or B); he has a long tradition of including live cuts on studio albums, and it's entirely possible that the tradition could have started here. Last Trip To Tulsa was a live (studio) recording, so I see Sugar Mountain as a far superior replacement for that.
Thanks, John!