1971 Toronto Massey Hall Concert Next Up in Archives Series

From Globe and Mail (Canada) comes word that a January 19, 1971 concert at Toronto's Massey Hall will be the next release in the Archives Series.

March 13 is the scheduled release date.

From press release, Neil says:

"This is the album that should have come out between 'After The Gold Rush' and 'Harvest'. David Briggs, my producer, was adamant that this should be the record, but I was very excited about the takes we got on 'Harvest,' and wanted 'Harvest' out. David disagreed. As I listen to this today, I can see why."

From a review of the 1971 concert by Globe and Mail's Jack Batten:

"All of a sudden, without anyone (except a million kids) noticing, Neil Young of Winnipeg and Toronto has arrived as a major pop star, someone to reckon with on the rich, heady, crowd-drawing level of James Taylor. If you don't believe it, you should have been at Massey Hall last night where he played two concerts for sell-out houses of mostly young people who were there not merely to listen but to worship.

"From the opening ovation to the closing and standing ovations, the audience was positively adulatory, rewarding Young with constant bursts of clapping for every trivial move, from sipping water to announcing new songs, a fact I mention not merely because the handclapping was by itself a drag but also because it constantly intruded on any close relationship between Young and the best part of his audience. . . ."

"His songwriting isn't his strongest talent. (His lovely clean voice is.) He does have a knack for writing one- and two-liners that stick in the head, and occasionally, as in a new song he sang about a hired man on his ranch, he comes up with numbers that sustain a mood for their entire duration. . . ."

The tracklisting for the CD is not available yet. Here's the setlist from the Massey Hall show: Here's the tracklisting:

01 On The Way Home
02 Tell Me Why
03 Old Man
04 Journey Through The Past
05 Helpless
06 Love In Mind
07 A Man Needs A Maid / Heart Of Gold
08 Cowgirl In The Sand
09 Don't Let It Bring You Down
10 There's A World
11 Bad Fog Of Loneliness
12 The Needle And The Damage Done
13 Ohio
14 See The Sky About To Rain
15 Down By The River
16 Dance, Dance, Dance
17 I Am A Child

Pre-Order from Amazon.comLive at Massey Hall (Support Thrasher's Wheat. Thanks!)

Also, see Sneak Preview of Live at Massey Hall

More on the first installment of The Archives: Fillmore East.