Reviews of Neil Young AlbumsIn 2004 Rustie, Mike "Expecting 2 Fly" Cordova posted a series of articles on his experience listening to all of Neil Young's albums in chronological order. Here is one in the series. For a complete listing, see Albums in Order reviews.
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 2004 14:51:36 -0800 (PST) What a heavenly treat to listen to S&G today!
I gotta admit, there is a part of me that thinks I did a
disservice to myself by not only going to many of the
concerts at which these songs were first played, but also
by trading for tape after tape of the '99 tour in which
Neil played these all of these songs. As a result, I was
actually kind of tired of the songs when the album came
out. Listening today after not playing it too much in the
last 4.5 years gave it a fresh new start for me; Silver
And Gold is a wonderful Neil Young album.
It starts out with Good To See You which is one of the
songs that I saw Neil debut for the first time live
anywhere (the others are Buffalo Springfield Again,
Distant Camera, and Without Rings.) I thought GTSY was ok
as a live number but it ironically really comes alive for
me in the studio version. I really dig that pump organ
part that Spooner Oldham plays. The title track is song
number two on the album just like EKTIN, ATGR, Harvest,
CAT and the Reprise label is the classic old orange one
and the deluxe version I got has a large lyric sheet to go
along with the album. Anyway, Silver and Gold is a song I
first heard in 1984; I saw it in Costa Mesa California
where Neil and the IH played it for the second time ever.
I also had several live versions from the 80s plus a
couple of studio outtake tracks from the Old Ways
sessions. This one was is just Neil himself in the studio.
He had in his mind at some point that this album would be
like that throughout. I think the working title of the
album was "Acoustica". But I digress.
The song Silver And Gold as
featured on this album is not as bouncy or upbeat as some
of the other versions, but it definitely has its charms
and definitely feels more intimate than those other takes.
Daddy Went Walkin' enjoyable in this album version as is
Buffalo Springfield Again. I remember regarding that
second song that I had been very, very disappointed that
Neil was a no-show at the Buffalo Springfield Hall Of Fame induction. I
think it would have meant the world to the late Bruce
Palmer and to the others if Neil had attended and
especially if they could have pulled off a performance.
Ironically, that's the theme of this song too and it just
seemed for me to make the Hall Of Fame snub more painful.
I do believe Neil played The Great Divide only once in the
'99 tour. That performance was very nice, but the one on
the album is even better. Lovely tune. Horseshoe man was
first played in the warm up gigs for the cancelled Euro
tour of '97 (Neil also played the still-unreleased Modern
Love and Out Of Control which is on the CSNY album Looking
Forward at that gig.) My favorite version is the one on
this album. As a matter of fact, I generally like the
album versions of the S&G songs better than the live
versions. I don't know why that is and I realize that is
not a universal sentiment.
Red Sun is splendid and it's
fantastic to hear Emmylou singing here with Neil on record
for the first time, I think, since Star Of Bethlehem which
I believe was recorded around 1974. Distant Camera...wow.
It seems like yesterday I was at '98 Bridge watching a
bearded Neil Young singing this song in public for the
first time ever. I found myself today really looking
forward to hearing this one as the album played. I
obviously need to listen to this album much, much more.
Razor Love is another song that dates from the early 80's.
I like all the versions I've heard of this song including
the one on this album.
Without Rings is special in many ways. It's a great closer
for the album. It's sung in a voice not many times used by
Neil. I think it's just Neil himself, one of the original
"Acoustica" tracks. And on a personal note, it's the first
song I had ever seen Neil debut for the first time in
public; this was Bridge School Benefit 1997 day one. I
think in an overview of great Neil Young songs from all of
his career, this one would rank right up there as one of
the greatest. For me, anyway.
As you can tell, I very much enjoyed listening to Silver
And Gold today.
Mike - Expecting To Fly
From: Mike Cordova
To: rust@rustlist.org
Subject: Albums in order: Silver And Gold
For more of Expecting To Fly's reviews, see the Albums in Order series.
Neil Young - Thrasher's Wheat Archives: A Fan's Un Official Pages