TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

Well Neil Young appears to be well and on form, the new album sounds like a good one and a movie to follow.

Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 11:30 GMT    Evening Coconut
Reporter: CS
Topic: Neil Young debutes material from "Prairie Wind" album
Neil Young debuted material from his panoramic "Prairie Wind" album to an appreciative audience last night (Aug. 18) at the first of two shows at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium. The set is due Sept. 27 via Reprise.

As previously reported, the invitation-only (save for a few radio station giveaways) Ryman shows are being filmed by director Jonathan Demme for a concert film to be released by Paramount Classics in theaters and on DVD at a date to be determined. The film will be executive produced by Clinica Estetica and Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman's Playtone.

The near-capacity crowd was treated to a nearly three-hour performance by Young, his first lengthy stage work since recovering from brain surgery to repair an aneurysm last spring. Relaxed and confident, Young engaged in amiable between-song stage patter, name-checking Hank Williams, Faron Young, Nicolette Larson, Vassar Clements and Rufus Thibodeaux.

Referring to the venerated Ryman as a "church of all kinds," Young delivered stirring renditions of the new songs, conveyed in a sparse, acoustic-based style reminiscent of such classic albums as "Harvest" and "Comes a Time."

He was backed brilliantly by such longtime collaborators as keyboardist Spooner Oldham, pedal steel guitarist Ben Keith, drummers Chad Cromwell and Karl Himmel, bassist Rick Rosas, and guitarist Grant Boatwright, along with Clinton Gregory on fiddle, horn players Tom McGinley and Jimmy Sharp, vocalists Pegi Young, Diana DeWitt, Gary Pigg and Anthony Crawford and special guest Emmylou Harris on guitar and vocals.

At times more than 30 musicians were on the fabled Ryman stage, but the focus was on Young, who sang and played with authority the album's sprawling themes of family, love, nostalgia and spirituality. Highlights included the anthemic "The Painter" and "No Wonder" (with Keith's haunting electric dobro), as well as more personal cuts like the wistful "Here For you" and bluesy paternal ode in the title cut.

After a first set of all new material, the second set dug into the back catalog for such favorites as "I Am a Child," "Heart of Gold," "Old Man," "The Needle and the Damage Done" and "Comes a Time." Also of a note were a rare performance of the hound dog homage "Old King" (preceded by a rambling but strangely touching intro about Young's dog Elvis) and a show-closing "One of These Days."



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I think I would be happy just to sit in the Ryman and drink in the atmosphere... but this sounds like it was a great night.

It's Neil - bet the album never gets released, but a forty minute set of trans-grunge-psychobilly is out shortly instead  ;D Good to hear the old boy is out rouster doustering again. Much more power to his increasingly creaky elbows.  :) :)

Neil Young eh. Sorry but i never got on that bus. Think i missed the connection somewhere and ended up at talent cause that man sings like someone grating cheese through a vest. In my humble opinion he sucks and the best thing C,S,N ever did was to dump him after the second album.

Randle, he's a nut. Surely that endears him to you?

Or, alternately, the best thing they ever did was ask him to join for the second album....

Skirky you have obviously never heard the first album then. I'll wager my 'Sweet Judy Blue Eyes' against 'Helpless' any day

Randle, I honour and treasure the first CSN album. Sadly, they didn't do "Suite..." in Brighton on the last tour (possibly because Stills wasn't quite capable of reaching the fretboard over that gut of his, or possibly couldn't remember - or play - the chords any more). However I'd kill to seem 'em duelling out on Down By The River, refreshing Ohio or even passing through Long May You Run before a quick encore of Through My Sails. Young is to CSN(Y) what Thompson is to Fairport - a well-aimed kick to the bottom and a welcome, albeit harsh-voiced, maverick influence. You always need someone to grate the cheese.   8)
Oh go on...your go... ;D



nerk  :-X

I'm thinking Young is to C,S N what Bez was to the Happy Mondays or what Ringo was to The Beatles. The only thing i think Mr. Young did that was any worth was 'The needle and the damage done' and i have to listen to that one whilst wearing a hat.

Neil Young is a bit wacky at times but does give CSN a dose of fresh air, as Graham Nash said "he has the songs" I've seen CSN with and without and the difference is amazing, Stephen Stills actually manages to show some fire, he raises the bar for them, the vocals are better and the tension on stage is tangible. The sets tend to lenghten though I think it was over three close to four hours the last time I saw them with everything thrown in from Dark Star to 8 Miles High.

Neil Young's voice however can be questionable like Dylan's maybe that's why they call him Shakey. Live he is a tour de force on record it can be hit and miss sometimes but definitely more hit.

He can be forgiven much for his role in Buffalo Springfield.

He is also promising archive releases now he has resigned to Reprise.

Saturday, Aug 20, 2005  Email this to a friend
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Neil Young unveils new CD Prairie Wind at Nashville show

 
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Neil Young. (CP/Aaron Harris) 
 
NASHVILLE (CP) - Sharing stories about becoming an "empty-nester" as well as reflections on his recently departed father, Neil Young closed a two- night concert here with an intensely personal and moving performance.
"It sure is great to be here with all of you," said the Toronto-born singer, looking dapper in a crisp grey suit and white western hat, during Friday night's concert at the majestic Ryman Auditorium in North America's country music capitol.

Aside from a brief appearance at last month's Live 8 in Barrie, Ont., the shows marked Young's proper return to the stage since his life- threatening brain aneurysm last March.

Captured by filmmaker Jonathan Demme for a feature-length documentary to be released next year, the concerts were a chance for the 59-year-old Young to unveil material from his upcoming album, Prairie Wind.

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Tickets to the event were hard to come by. Organizers said about 700 were given away, mostly to film, music and media folk with only a very few for contest winners.

"I was freaking out when I heard about the concert," exclaimed 21-year- old Katie Austin, a local university student who won a radio contest. "I love Neil Young so much. He's the only living rock star that I've wanted to see. I thought I was never going to get the chance."

Young didn't disappoint. He devoted the first half of the three-hour show to the new album, which contains healthy doses of gospel and blues.

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Themes included Young's Canadian upbringing, religion, old friendships, and on a lighter note, Elvis Presley. After a 15-minute intermission, he turned to his classic catalogue performing goodies like Harvest Moon, The Needle and The Damage Done, Heart of Gold, and Old Man.

Between songs, Young took time to share intimate stories. The most moving yarns were about his late "daddy" Scott Young, an acclaimed Canadian journalist and author who passed away in June.

"In the last part of his life he had dementia," said Young of his father who lived and died in Kingston, Ont. "It's something else to see your loved ones living in the moment."

He then launched into Prairie Wind, a bluesy number where he sings, "Trying to remember what my daddy said/Before too much time took away his head."

In Far From Home the singer does just that, recounting childhood memories of sitting on his dad's knee learning to play the ukulele.

"That song means a lot to me," said Young afterwards, revealing that he occasionally starts crying in the middle of it. "It's a family thing."

Young switched between his piano and guitar - a prized possession, he told the crowd, because it originally belonged to Hank Williams.

 
"I was lucky enough . . . to purchase this guitar 35 years ago," he said.

The venue, an old wood church with ornate stained-glass windows and worn pew seating, echoed Young's nostalgic mood.

Originally built as a tabernacle, Ryman Auditorium was home to the Grand Ole Opry between 1943 and 1974.

Director Demme, who won an Oscar for Silence of the Lambs, wisely chose a sparse stage which showed off the musicians and the 113-year-old auditorium.

Joining the rock legend on stage was an impressive group of musicians including Emmylou Harris, the Fisk University Jubilee Singers, pedal steel guitarist Ben Keith, keyboardist Spooner Oldham, a string section and a three-piece horn outfit.


Despite Young's reflective mood, the night was far from being overly sombre and sentimental.

Young was in a jovial mood, cracking jokes with the audience between songs as crewmen shuffled instruments and adjusted camera equipment.

"We're in limbo now folks. You'll notice we do this all night," he said while he waited for the workers to finish.

He also poked fun at his age, at one point suggesting that his greying hair had all fallen out while shifting his Stetson hat.

In introducing Here For You from Prairie Wind, he joked about having invented a new category of music - the "empty-nester song," he called it.

The gentle song was inspired by his 21-year-old daughter, who is entering her final year of college in the fall, explained Young.

"It's a new genre," he said. "They might even have a new radio station."

Prairie Wind is due out on Sept. 27. Longtime fans will be in for another treat next year as Young is scheduled to release a treasure trove of archival material from the past 40 years including a slew of unreleased songs.



Give me one duff Neil Young album and I'll find you 20 useless Stills/Crosby/Nash albums...


 

It's not often that I disagree with you Randle mate, but this time......What are you saying :o :o
Neil Young = genius :)

Have another listen with older and wiser ears Randle, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised ;)

Mic

Looks like im in the minority here. Result ;D

And this years Wooden Spoon Award goes tooooooooo


Randlepmcmurphy !!!!!!


you are a one ;D

Mic ;)

What happened I've never known you give up so easily ;D

Good.  Another Neil Young album! 

And as I have two copys of American Stars & Bars, if any one wants the spare one just send me an IM.  Its yours for a stamped addressed jiffy bag.

Mark

Mark do you realize a stamp is TWENTY FIVE PENCE !!!!!!!. What else do i get ?

Ahh but I know you only want to burn it!  So you can't have it!

I'm was just of to a Bob Dylan cant sing convention, but it is double booked with a "Who is Brian Wilson meeting!" ;D

Mark

Touche ;)

The Stars n Bars offer is now closed.

Times take on the new album: "a unified theory of Neil"

CRITIC'S CHOICE

Because He's Still Young at Heart

For 30 years, it's been the same question: Which Neil? The lumber-shredding, screeching Canadian eagle of vengeance? The willfully weird but kind of dull experimenter? The acoustic guy? This time it's just Good Neil. Neil Young, 59, started making Prairie Wind, out Sept. 27, his (lordy) 31st album, a week before he had brain surgery--a nice p.r. detail but also a legit reason for him to think about mortality and drift back to his days on the Canadian steppe. There's politics and religion too, as well as some of Nashville's best musicians, though it's not really a country album. It's more a unified theory of Neil, and his timing couldn't be better. --J.T.