Categories : Music Reviews, Rock + Pop.
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Rating: 4.5/5 Released: March 13, 2007 Reviewer: Trent McMartin |
In the wake of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s break up in 1971, Canadian music legend Neil Young still had yet to establish himself as a solo star in his own right. The former Buffalo Springfield member had released the hit record After the Gold Rush the previous year but was still a year away from the superstardom Harvest would bring him.
The CD/DVD collection Live at Massey Hall, the second release in Young’s Archive Performance Series, offers revealing insight into the pre-Harvest era, giving a glimpse of certain songs in their embryonic stage, many of which would later become some of Young’s most beloved and well-known tunes.
The songs ‘Love in Mind’ and ‘Journey Through the Past’ would end up on 1973’s live album Time Fades Away, ‘See the Sky About to Rain’ later appeared on 1974’s On the Beach and early renditions of ‘Heart of Gold’ and ‘Old Man’ make their live debuts, provoking little response from the Toronto crowd, giving an indication of just how new those soon-to-be mega hits were.
It’s genuinely strange to see Young here: the long, shaggy hair, the plaid shirt, and the thin, youthful face yet unscathed by time. His appearance and demeanor invoke memories of a stoic looking Kurt Cobain at Nirvana’s 1993 MTV Unplugged appearance. And like Cobain, Young was heralded a spokesperson of a generation at a relatively young age. Even here in one of the DVD bonuses, the man in black himself Johnny Cash, eagerly proclaims Young as one of the finest new young songwriters of their time.
Buy Live at Massey Hall from iTunes >> 
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