Neil Young - Archives, Vol. 2: Disc 9 - Look Out For My Love (1975-1976)

Reprise Records: 2020

Full confession: the period between Zuma and Rust Never Sleeps is mostly a blank for yours truly. Granted, only two albums came out in that time (well, two and a half, but I'll get to that), with only two songs from them considered 'Essential Rustie Material'. One of them is the guitar epic Like A Hurricane, which I already have on the live album Weld, so no point in getting the scattershot American Stars 'n Bars just for that. The other is the country-leaning Comes A Time, from the album of the same name. I don't have that, but am not in any real hurry to ever get it. The tune's fine, just not on my 'must have' list, much less the record it comes from.

Disc nine of Archives, Vol. 2 doesn't reach quite that far though, capping this collection off in 1976. The first few tunes that open things are more Crazy Horse songs that likely would have featured on the vaporware album Chrome Dreams, including Like A Hurricane. Following that are two love songs, Lotta Love, and Look Out For My Love. The most surprising thing about these, at least for me, is they actually sound different from each other, Lotta Love more a loungy tune while Look Out For My Love inching closer to country.

Actually-actually, what's really surprising is Look Out For My Love was chosen for the title of this disc, and not just because Like A Hurricane is the more obvious choice. No, it's odd because this disc heavily features songs from the short-lived pairing between him and Stephen Stills, The Stills-Young Band.

Yep, despite quite the on-again, off-again musical relationship, the former Buffalo Springfield lads decided to give it another go in the studio. Story goes Mr. Stills was already in the works with a solo joint of his own, then had Neil over to hear some of the songs. Neil apparently got quite inspired with the tunes, such that he abandoned a tour with Crazy Horse to work with Stephen. Harsh, bro, but hey, maybe some truly kinetic jams would emerge from these sessions to rival even their work with Crosby and Nash. They even brought them in for some backing tracks, perhaps leading to a full-on CSNY reunion, but it was not to be, Stills and Young scrubbing their voices from the finished product. Harsh, bro, but hey, at least the forthcoming tour featuring Stephen and Neil would lead to some dynamite guitar action to hear. Except in typical Neil fashion, he flaked on his friend mid-tour, with one of the most classic kiss-off notes left behind. HARSH, bro!

As for the resultant songs, they're mostly pleasant rock, some leaning blues, some leaning country, but all sounding quite clean and polished compared to most of Neil's body of work. So much so, that songs like Ocean Girl and Midnight On The Bay could even be considered... *sigh* Yacht Rock. Of course Neil did a Yacht Rock.

Neil Young - Archives, Vol. 2: Disc 8 - Dume (1975)

Reprise Records: 2020

So I thought I would be skipping this disc as well. I mean, just look at the cover art: it's basically Zuma all over again, and indeed, eight of that album's nine songs appear on here. Yet that's only half of the musical content contained within, the rest versions of songs that wouldn't be heard in LP form until at least Rust Never Sleeps. And even then, we get different versions here, so wholly unique items exclusive to Archives, Vol. 2. Welp, guess that settles that.

If you've been keeping up with your handy-dandy Neil Young time-line mega-diary, you'd know this was about the point where his long-time backing band of Crazy Horse finally found themselves a worthy successor to the fallen Danny Whitten. Like, don't get me wrong, Nils Lofgren was a fine stand-in for the time he was there, but the musical wonderkid was a bit too talented to be playing rhythm guitar in an unabashed, undeniably average garage rock band.

Frank “Poncho” Sampedro, however, fit perfectly snug into the roll, in large part to already being a massive fan of the group's '60s work with Neil. Intimately familiar with their classics such that he could easily jam away with Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina, all he had to do was prove himself to the mighty Young as well, which he done did while the boys partied the nights away in Malibu. Guess that's why Archives has titled this disc Dume, the name of the other cove and beach in that region. The more famous one, of course, being Zuma Beach. What, did you think the 1975 album was titled that because of something Aztecan related? Haha, who'd ever think that? *cough*

Seriously though, such a connection to Aztecs and Incans makes sense, what with Neil going off on about mystical danger birds and killer conquistadors. He may have felt a full album of such material would have been overkill though, so songs like Ride My Llama and Pocahontas got the axe in favour of more tunes about break-ups like Don't Cry No Tears and Stupid Girl. I don't know what's crazier though: that such songs wouldn't officially appear again for several years, and then only as folk versions, or that Powderfinger wouldn't either. Okay, so it wouldn't have fit on Zuma, but couldn't it have been rescued for American Stars 'n Bars? Decade? Heck, Comes A Time, if nothing else but for the LOLs?

Supposedly, such songs may have ended up on another of Neil's tantalizing lost albums, Chrome Dreams. Makes sense, between this and material in the next disc in Archives, Vol. 2 having plenty 'nuff for another LP. T'was not to be though, thus wonderful songs like Hawaii, Born To Run, Kansas, and Too Far Gone would go unheard for decades (save the odd concert bootleg). Man, guess Rusties should be thankful Ride My Llama, Pocahontas and Powderfinger only took a 'brief' half-decade to appear on Rust Never Sleeps.

Neil Young - Archives, Vol. 2: Disc 7 - Homegrown (1974-1975)

Reprise Records: 2020

This album was pencilled in for a release after On The Beach. Pre-hype from those who'd heard it thought it would be just the record to resuscitate Neil's career back to his Harvest glory. Bold claims, and maybe words that should have been left unspoken in Mr. Young's presence, as at the eleventh hour, he pulled it from publication, going with the two-year old Tonight's The Night instead.

The long-held reasoning behind this is due to the fact both were played back-to-back off the same reel of tape. Comparing the two, Neil felt Tonight's The Night was the stronger collection of songs, and perhaps he's right in that regard. As time's passed, however, with more music from this era of his career emerging, a clearer picture's formed. As the previous disc in this Archives collection can attest, Neil's relationship woes were at an all-time low, songs almost exclusively being written about his feelings over Carrie Snodgress' absence. Some of these were strong enough to consider studio time with, with a backing band, proper LP roll-out, and everything.

Swell beans, but gosh, these are still quite personal and emotionally raw, aren't they? Like, at least the songs in Tonight's The Night also dealt with broader topics of living life on the skids, not just about the tragic deaths of friends. Maybe best to shelve Homegrown for a little while longer, let it sit while those emotional wounds heal some. See if you're feeling the same after, and if it's really such a good idea to let the world get this close to one's broken heart. And wait... and wait... and, oh, hi, fine lady, your name's Pegi, you say? Life moves on.

Still, it's undeniable that Homegrown would have made for a fascinating companion piece to Harvest, had it been released back when. Heck, it still could serve as such, should you choose to listen to them back to back. With songs like Out On The Weekend, Harvest, Heart Of Gold, and A Man Needs A Maid, you can glean a sense of growing puppy-love from Neil, a whirlwind relationship on the rise. Homegrown, meanwhile, is the inevitable break-up, bitter and despondent. I didn't say it was a happy companion piece.

Musically, we're in familiar territory as Harvest, with slide-guitarist Ben Keith and bassist Tim Drummond from The Stray Gators on hand. There's a couple more rocky country jams on here (Vacancy), some talking about weed (We Don't Smoke It No More, the titular cut ...yeah man, feckin' 'home-grown' *anxious pat of the head*). Elsewhere, White Line, a song that remained unpublished until 1990's Ragged Glory, is given the gentle acoustic go here, while Star Of Bethlehem with Emmylou Harris would appear much sooner on American Stars 'n Bars. And smack in the middle is Florida, an... abstract spoken-word bit? Huh, just when you thought you'd heard Neil Young do every style of music under the sun (and beyond!), he throws in something leftfield like this. What's next, Yacht Rock?

Neil Young - Archives, Vol. 2: Disc 6 - The Old Homestead (1974)

Reprise Records: 2020

Despite the rather jovial start to the Tonight's The Night tour, it didn't take long for things to go just as sour as the Harvest tour. Unsurprisingly, poor ol' Shakey grew even more despondent, retreating back to the studio with some pals, took a bunch of supplements called 'honey slides' (surely up on Erowid, if you're curious), and came out with On The Beach, an album that goes about as deep into the 'ditch' as you'll ever hear. Yeah, it has some peppy tunes like the Crazy Horse regular Walk On and the 'rawker' Revolution Blues. Gads though, Motion Pictures, On The Beach, Ambulance Blues... does that poor violin ever sound like a sad, howling hound dog.

I've already covered most of this in my review of On The Beach though, so let's skip that particular disc in Archives, Vol. 2, and move onto disc number six, The Old Homestead (1974). Seems things just kept getting worse for Mr. Young, his relationship with Carrie Snodgress crumbling as well. Makes sense that he'd start writing a pile of songs dealing with his feelings on the matter, using his own studio to record acoustic versions of them. Never mind if he ever intended to release them to a wider audience, there was at least some cathartic release in performing them to an audience of a few behind a mixing board.

A handful of these songs did emerge down the line. Blues-rocker The Old Homestead cropped up on the relatively forgotten Hawks & Doves. The laid-back country vibe of Deep Forbidden Lake earned a spot on the Decade retrospective. Moody acoustic number Bad News Comes To Town got a big-band blues cover during Neil's This Note's For You period. Still, most sat in his archives, untouched, unloved, mostly hidden from the world. It's quite possible these songs cut just a bit too deep into the emotional wounds he was feeling at the time, old scars he really didn't want revisiting, much less making known to a wider audience that was already rather invasive into his erratic activities.

Which makes Neil's decision to join with Crosby, Stills & Nash again for a massive American tour all the more strange. Maybe he thought 'getting back with the boys' was what he needed to knock him out of his funk, but while he was gung-ho about it during rehearsals, he turned right back into 'The Loner' while they went out on the road. Which may have been just as well, since by all accounts, 'the Doom Tour' (as Crosby put it) was a debauchery mess, if not financially successful – performing in stadiums would do that. A couple recordings from that tour appear on this disc, but it's clear Neil doesn't want it to be a focus of this collection.

By the end of The Old Homestead, the vibe does seem to be turning around a little, some regained confidence and peppier mood permeating the final clutch of songs. Neil wasn't quite done with the tunes of relationship woes, however, piecing together what would become one of his long-lost albums...

Neil Young - Archives, Vol. 2: Disc 4 - Roxy: Tonight's The Night Live (1973)

Reprise Records: 2018/2020

We're entering prime 'ditch' territory here, folks.

I'm sure we all know the story up to this point now. Harvest tour, a mess. Fame and fortune, found wanting. Close friends, dying of dope overdoses. Neil, trying to deal with it all, retreated to a make-shift L.A. studio with some of his musician buddies, where they drank hard liquor and played music to their fallen comrades, resulting in the album Tonight's The Night. As Archives, Vol. 2 presents everything in chronological order, it makes sense those sessions being the third disc in the set, despite the actual album not coming out for a couple years later. I've already reviewed it though, so let's skip ahead to disc number four, Roxy: Tonight's The Night Live (1973).

Why review a live album of songs I've already talked about? The fact this was even unearthed is a talking point, by g'ar! Despite some of these tunes becoming staples in Mr. Young's future concerts, they were all unknown to a wider public at this point. There were no lead singles, no album in support, and those who were coming in to see Neil Young in concert had to be even more confused than those who went to the Harvest shows. At least he'd still play favourites like Old Man and Heart Of Gold among the newer, unreleased ditties like Time Fades Away and Don't Be Denied. You didn't even get that with this tour. I'm sure it's exactly as Neil preferred it. Heck, I'm not even sure he intended this to turn into a tour that stretched into the U.K., the songs just a tad too intimate, personal, and raw for international audiences unfamiliar with the material.

Still, if this live set is any indication, things at least started on a positive note. The Roxy Theatre on the Sunset Strip had just re-opened under new ownership, including future label mogul David Geffen. It hadn't quite shaken off its former strip club atmosphere though, so the bluesy, down-and-out, skuzzy vibe that permeates Tonight's The Night fit snuggly with the joint. Possibly feeling inspired by the setting, Neil morphed into a caricature of the sort of Orange County (or Miami Beach) lounge lizard who'd host such an establishment. No longer the charming, folksy warbler of country-rock hits, he was a downtrodden, washed-up grease-ball only a mother could love. Andy Kaufman would have loved it, if he'd seen it.

The smaller venue also provided the perfect vibe for the music, Neil far more personable and interactive with the crowd, all the while backed by his A-team of associated musicians. Dubbed The Santa Monica Flyers, you had the remaining Crazy Horse members on rhythm, wonderkid Nils Lofgren on piano and guitar, and dependable Ben Keith on slide guitar. All had been in lock-step with these tunes since their creation, so rolled into the Roxy quite polished in performing them. And even if no one in the audience knew them, they all seemed at least hype enough being part of the Roxy's grand opening to indulge Neil's dalliance from the norm. All in all, a fun night out, this performance, even if the subject matter remains bleak as all Hell.

Neil Young with The Stray Gators - Archives, Vol. 2: Disc 2 - Tuscaloosa (1973)

Reprise Records: 2019/2020

The Archives series is a continuous project, segments coming out with great frequency. In typical Neil Young fashion though, it remains an erratic one. Instead of a steady, chronological re-telling of his discography, it's made massive time-jumps with each release of the Performance Series. Confounding things further are additional items released after they should have been properly sequenced, relegating them to x.5 in their numerical order.

Example: Live At The Cellar Door, a show recorded between the Live At The Fillmore East and Live At Massey Hall sessions, is designated PS02.5. This is all very dorky, OCD-levels of going about re-issuing one's discography, but it does leave some tantalizing hints of what else might come out, especially when there's a six volume gap between Live At Massey Hall and A Treasure (the country shindiggin' tour of Old Ways).

Cagey marketing aside, there's a more practical reason why some of these archival performances come out in non-chronological order: they're harder to resuscitate than others. Or put another way, even though Tuscaloosa (1973) was always intended to be volume four of the Performance Series, getting a good remastering of those recordings was apparently a herculean effort.

This is from the Harvest tour with The Stray Gators that went down as one of the most disastrous tours from Neil's long career, one that started on a rather bleak note when their practice sessions with Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten wasn't turning out, got sent home and promptly overdosed. Those arenas were already sold out though, folks eager to hear hits like Heart Of Gold live. So hit the road Neil and the Gators did, though not before financial wrangling added even more sourness to the proceedings. Throw in Mr. Young's insistence at playing new material over Harvest songs as the tour progressed, and it lurched to an unsatisfying end once the American portion was completed, a European stretch cancelled.

As fascinating as it would be to hear those shows, Tuscaloosa wisely gives us a glimpse of the tour in its earlier days, when things hadn't quite gone to such shite. Even then, there was only so much audio they could cobble, portions of it apparently going unrecorded.

So we get a couple solo acoustic numbers to open up, then it's right into the Harvest tunes with the Gators. The opening salvo of Out On The Weekend and Harvest sound great, the live energy vastly improved over the studio versions. Old Man and Heart Of Gold are as they are, but it soon settles in that, as professional as the Gators are as a backing band, that's all they are. Neil really wants to coax a little Crazy Horse out of these Nashville pros, but it just isn't happening.

The set ends off with Don't Be Denied, somewhat of a harbinger of things to come. Neil goes autobiographical, his voice gets harrowed and raw, and the music fades away, in doing so jettisoning the traditional post-song applause of a live album, the audience disappearing before us.

Neil Young - Archives, Vol. 2: Disc 1 - Everybody's Alone (1972-1973)

Reprise Records: 2020

Aw shit, here we go again...

Like, you knew this was inevitable. It was only a matter of time before Neil Young put out another Archives collection. It's why, despite the various, unearthed items that had recently come out from this period of his career, I let them pass by, fully expecting them to appear within this box-set. And for sure I'm gonna' review Every. Single. CD. that's included here, mwa-ha-hah! Okay, I'll probably skip on discs that are heavy on material from the albums I've already reviewed (Tonight's The Night, On The Beach, Zuma), because who needs redundant reviews like that? There's already ten discs on Archives Vol. 2 - gotta' cut corners wherever I can.

That all sorted? Good. Now, where were we? Ah yes, Mr. Young had just released Harvest, achieving a fame and fortune few could have dreamed of ten years deep into a music career, much less ol' Neil. In fact, he was so flustered with all the success that he kept trying to run away from it, which seemed to have the opposite effect. Part of a break-out rock band? Break away and do folksy solo stuff for a while. Get popular enough to join a super-group and play to crowds of thousands? Buy a ranch to get away from it all. Feel so inspired by your surroundings that you write some of your most heart-felt tunes yet, leading to chart topping albums and tours in sold-out arenas? Well, now things are just getting ridiculous. What must one do to get away from all this success? Drown yourself in a ditch?

That's jumping ahead a little though. Archives, Vol. 2 instead kicks things off in the immediate aftermath of Harvest. Titled Everybody's Alone (1972-1973), it's a sort of mish-mash of demo recordings and previously unreleased material of Neil trying out new and old songs with The Stray Gators, his backing band of Nashville session musicians (save an original recording of future tune Human Highway with Crosby, Stills, & Nash). Some of these would end up on the album Time Fades Away, including previously unreleased versions of The Bridge, L.A., and Time Fades Away (a right hootenanny of a tune!). In fact, I think the only tune that appears as on this disc that also does on that album is Yonder Stands The Sinner.

And you may wonder, why not just include the actual Time Fades Away songs, remastered, like as done on the previous Archives collection? To which I respond, “Have you actually heard the quality of those recordings?” They're not good, infamously recorded as performed live, with little in the way of proper studio tapes or mixing console used in the process. It remains one of the only Neil Young albums to never see an official CD re-issue, Neil either unable or unwilling to polish it for modern ears. It has finally found its way onto streaming services if you're insatiably curious, but you're probably better off with the versions as heard here.

Drowning In Atmospheric Rivers: An EMC Update

I won't front: personally, I'm not directly affected by all the flooding that's happened in my corner of the world. Vancouver-Proper hasn't seen any of the catastrophic damage so many nearby areas have. That doesn't mean there haven't been issues though, as supply chains get disrupted. It's easy to think, that's what we get, having just one route in and out of the Lower Mainland, but we really don't. There are multiple routes, and in years past, when there's been severe weather disruptions, at least one or two of those routes will remain open. That this substantial percipitation managed to knock-out all the routes is almost unprecidented! Throw in the killer combo of re-routing through the States ain't an easy task due to COVID restrictions (not all truck drivers are eligible for border crossings), and you have a logistical nightmare for those who's job it is to handle the movement of goods to local communities. I've had a hectic past couple weeks, is what I'm saying.

That all said, such a work schedule wouldn't have been enough to completely de-rail this blog's productivity for half a month. Nay, the other reason there hasn't been any updates in a while is because the next item in my queue is gonna' take up a significant chunk of time to get through, and I didn't want to split it between two months. Yep, it's another box-set, one where alphabetical stipulation won't let me work around it like the Lucette Bourdin one. Figured I'd wait until November ended, by which hopefully most of the Real World nutiness had cooled off a little. I... can't say it has, but eh, no sense putting this off any longer.

Pentatonik - Anthology

Deviant Records: 1994

I've gathered a fair amount of music from artists as featured on Waveform Records' One A.D., as one is want to do upon discovering a new musical passion. Until now, though, not Pentatonik. While some I accepted as being too hopelessly obscure to ever find (Templeroy, G.O.L.), Mr. Bowring's project didn't seem that rare. Lord Discogs informed me he did have an album out, a double-LP at that! Titled Anthology. With each record side having titles of their own. Including one called Movements. With four parts. Oh dear, is this some pretentious, high-art bollocks, like a William Orbit outing? Not really, no, though I wasn't far off in assuming the 'orbit' influences being involved. Just a bit longer in the name.

Yeah, one can't help but make an Orbital comparison with these tunes. The punchy synth riffs, backing chord stabs, sweeping string swells, and various breakbeats of differing tempos... all sounds you'd associate with the Otford duo. Pentatonik's debut honestly feels like the missing link between Orbital's first two albums, perhaps a Hartnoll brother side-project. Only trouble is Anthology came out in 1994, by which point Orbital were already on to Snivilisation. What might have come off cutting edge but a couple years earlier was already sounding dusty, which wouldn't be a problem if the music wasn't so on-the-nose in this comparison.

As I've said though, it matters not what year from whence yonder audibles emit to our contemporary clime's (or something), does it sound any good today? If you can get past the Orbital tone (a mighty task, I cannot deny), it kinda-sorta does, but there's some unfortunate bloat too.

The four-part Movements segment that opens CD1 probably has the most going for it, the first and fourth hitting on some mint, vintage rave vibes. Part 2 goes for the sweeping morning-after feels, while Part 3 treads closer to the domain of Artificial Intelligence experimentation. Unfortunately, save the blissy breaks of About That, the Reworks second half sounds way-dated and under-produced. And frankly, so does Awakenings, the four-track opening of CD2. I suppose Pentatonik Melody is so impossibly twee, you can't help but find it charming, even if that riff wouldn't sound out of place in a happy hardcore jangle.

Fortunately, the Additions portion of Anthology closes things out with the sort of tunes I was hoping to hear from Pentatonik. Green is a groovy little number with nice synth stabs and burbly acid. Real is proper IDM with a skittery, tribal rhythm and pulsating electronics. Detox sounds like a beefier, busier version of Devotion as it appeared on One A.D. And throw in a live version of Movements – Part 4? Sure, may as well.

So, two CDs with only one's worth of memorable music. I've no idea why it was released like this, as Pentatonik certainly wasn't a name that commanded such standing. Did Deviant Records just insist they launch their label with a double-LP? Maybe they thought they had the next Orbital on their hands.

Lucette Bourdin - Ancient Memories

Dark Duck Records/Fantasy Enhancing: 2008/2021

So I got a box of Bourdin.

And you may ask, who is Lucette Bourdin, such that she should have a multi-CD box-set of her music released? Despite having a sizable discography, her music didn't have much presence upon the ambient world. According to Lord Discogs, even her most 'popular' albums only have an average of twenty owners, and seldom branched beyond Earth Mantra and Dark Duck Records (itself a rather obscure print where Stephen Philips releases the bulk of his music). For all intents, it was Lucette's paintings that brought her the most attention, her music more an extension of that.

Someone down at Fantasy Enhancing must be a fan though (it's Lee, isn't it), hence a massive Retrospective Box Set (2005 – 2017) collection. I can't say I was initially interested in springing for it, but some Bandcamp deals came down the line, and I had some spare money to spend (Narrator: he didn't, he really didn't!). And as with that Harold Budd box-set, I'll be reviewing Every. Single. Album in this collection as they come up in my alphabetical queue, starting with this here Ancient Memories.

And now I'm at a bit of a loss in how to approach this. Yeah, Lucette is primarily an ambient composer, so there probably isn't going to be that much variation from album to album. There's gotta be some though, and would serve me well in hearing her development over the years if I'm going to review all of them. Still, listen to all twenty discs, just to get a base of comparison? Who's got time for that? Guess I'll just wing 'em as they come.

So, Ancient Memories. This is a four-track album, with three pieces hovering around the fifteen minute mark. The first, Memories Of The Oolites (the sedimentary rocks?), almost had me worrying I might be in for an abstract, experimental outing, the sort of blippy, droning sounds often associated with such. It soon settles into gentle ambience though, soft, velvety pads gliding along for much of duration, save an occasional return to the initial abstract sounds. Memories Of Chordata (the animal phylum?), however, goes darker and mysterious, almost a pure minimalist drone piece. There is just enough harmonic timbre in the subtle pad work though, keeping it just on this side of ambient music. Memories Of Fitzroya (the Andes Mountains conifer?) is almost atonal in its rhythmic minimalism, but in a nice, calming, meditative way. Quite reminds me of Hybrid Leisureland, or other Japanese ambient composers.

As for the closer Memories Of Acoma (the ancient Pueblo region?), this piece nearly breaches the thirty minute mark. While it certainly has many different passages throughout its runtime, it's primarily performed in such a minimalist, droning matter, much of it can simply pass by without much happening. There are occasional swells, distant echoing harmonies, even rhythmic pulses. Overall, a mysterious sounding piece that moves enough to keep you engaged should you continue paying attention, but doesn't insist upon itself either.