Neil Young to release new album Earth via Reprise Records

Neil Young

Neil Young will release a new album, entitled EARTH, on June 17th 2016 via Reprise Records. The album features performances of songs from a range of Young’s albums, including last year’s The Monsanto Years, 1990’s Ragged Glory, and 1970’s After the Gold Rush. The audio was captured during Young’s 2015 tour with The Promise of the Real, fronted by Lukas Nelson (vocals/guitar) and Micah Nelson (guitar, vocals) – Willie Nelson’s sons. The tour included Young performing solo and with the band for a full electric show.

A new take on some of Young’s most beloved songs, EARTH features the live recordings, along with added musical overdubs, as well as sounds of the earth, such as city sounds like car horns, sounds of insects, and animal sounds from bears, birds, crickets, bees, horses, cows – creating a very strange, yet beautiful atmosphere.

“Ninety-eight uninterrupted minutes long, EARTH flows as a collection of 13 songs from throughout my life, songs I have written about living here on our planet together,” says Young. “Our animal kingdom is well represented in the audience as well, and the animals, insects, birds, and mammals actually take over the performances of the songs at times.”

On Friday, May 6th 2016, in Los Angeles between 7:00pm – 9:00pm, The Natural History Museum Los Angeles County will present “An Evening With Neil Young”, as part of their “First Fridays” event series. “First Fridays” is a monthly event at the Natural History Museum that includes live music, DJ sets, and scientific discussions/presentations. For this event, Young will present the first public playback of his upcoming release, EARTH in its entirety in Pono high definition fidelity audio. Young will deliver the opening portion of the program with his insights and explanation of the making of EARTH, and its contents. This will be the first-ever public album preview by Young in his career and the first event of its kind for NHM. For tickets and further details, go to: “First Fridays”.

Coming out one week prior on June 10th are two rare films – the critically acclaimed post-apocalyptic musical comedy Human Highway and the concert feature Rust Never Sleeps- for the first time on DVD and Blu Ray via Reprise Records. Neither film has been available or viewed in years. Human Highway is Young’s 1982 comedy starring Russ Tamblyn, Charlotte Stewart, Dean Stockwell, Dennis Hopper, and Devo, which has been digitally restored for the DVD and Blu Ray release. Rust Never Sleeps isthe full-length feature about Young’s 1978 concert tour and includes such classic young Young’s most popular songs, showcasing classic hits such as “I Am a Child,” featuring Crazy Horse, “Cinnamon Girl,” “Like A Hurricane” and both the acoustic and electric versions of his landmark song “Hey Hey, My My.” Both are currently available for pre-order through Neil Young Store and Amazon.com. Special bundles are available exclusively through Neil Young Store only.

Revised track-listing for EARTH is as follows:

“Mother Earth” (from Ragged Glory)
“Seed Justice” (previously unreleased)
“My Country Home” (from Ragged Glory)
“The Monsanto Years” (from The Monsanto Years)
“Western Hero” (from Sleeps With Angels)
“Vampire Blues” (from On The Beach)
“Hippie Dream” (from Landing On Water)
“After The Gold Rush” (from After The Gold Rush)
“Human Highway” (from Comes a Time)
“Big Box” (from The Monsanto Years)
“People Want to Hear About Love” (from The Monsanto Years)
“Wolf Moon” (from The Monsanto Years)
“Love & Only Love” (from Ragged Glory)

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Neil Young to release Live At The Cellar Door from six-show stand in 1970

Neil Young
Neil Young will release Live At The Cellar Door, the latest in his Archives Performance Series, on December 10, 2013 on Reprise Records.

Neil Young

NEIL YOUNG TO RELEASE LIVE AT THE CELLAR DOOR ON DECEMBER 10TH ON REPRISE RECORDS

LIVE ALBUM COLLECTS PERFORMANCES FROM YOUNG’S SIX-SHOW STAND AT THE INTIMATE WASHINGTON D.C., VENUE IN 1970

Neil Young will release Live At The Cellar Door, the latest in his Archives Performance Series, on December 10, 2013 on Reprise Records.

The album collects recordings made during Young’s intimate six-show solo stand at The Cellar Door in Washington D.C. between November 30th and December 2nd, 1970, a few months after Reprise released his classic third solo album After The Gold Rush in August.

Of the many unique gems found on Live At The Cellar Door, a rare solo version of “Cinnamon Girl” performed on piano rather than guitar is a particular treasure for Neil fans (the full band version appears on Young’s 1969 second solo album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere).

The album, which features Young performing on acoustic guitar and piano, includes tracks that are interesting for several reasons, such as stunning live versions of songs that appeared on After The Gold Rush (“Tell Me Why,” “Only Love Can Break Your Heart,” “Birds,” “Don’t Let It Bring You Down” and the title track) and solo performances of the Buffalo Springfield songs “Expecting To Fly” (from their 1967 second album Buffalo Springfield Again), “I Am A Child” (from their third and final album Last Time Around and Young’s 1977 Decade compilation), and “Flying On The Ground Is Wrong,” from their 1966 self-titled debut.

In addition, Live At The Cellar Door features early, raw performances of songs that wouldn’t appear until subsequent Young albums, including the rarity “Bad Fog Of Loneliness” (which appears on Live At Massey Hall ’71 – released in 2007– but was previously unreleased until the studio band version was included on Archives Vol. 1 1963-1972) and “Old Man” (released two years later on 1972’s Harvest album). “Down By The River,” also from Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, rounds out the spectacular set.

Live At The Cellar Door was recorded by Henry Lewy and produced by Young.

As with Young’s previous releases in the Archives series, Live At The Cellar Door will be released digitally, on CD, and on 180-gram vinyl (mastered by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering and pressed at Pallas in Germany).

The track-listing for Live At The Cellar Door is as follows:

Side One:
Tell Me Why
Only Love Can Break Your Heart
After The Gold Rush
Expecting To Fly
Bad Fog Of Loneliness
Old Man
Birds

Side Two:
Don’t Let It Bring You Down
See The Sky About To Rain
Cinnamon Girl
I Am A Child
Down By The River
Flying On The Ground Is Wrong

For the latest music, tour dates and more, please go to:

Neil Young Official Website

Glastonbury 2009 review: White Lies, Lilly Allen, Neil Young

Neil Young

Hooray!! It’s the festival for sofa louches again this weekend. Yes, this time all over the world via the internet, TV and radio, ladies and gentlemen, Glastonbury is here again …

Neil Young

Hooray!! It’s the festival for sofa louches again this weekend. Yes, this time all over the world via the internet, TV and radio, ladies and gentlemen, Glastonbury is here again.

So there’s no need to go trudging through the swamps and bogs of Pilton to see some obscure musical act in the middle of nowhere. Now we can view the whole thing on our TVs at home or in the car or anywhere I suppose.

Once I’ve digested the usual morsels of the day, I gather up a clutch of lagers from the fridge and then tune the box to the good old BBC for what I hope to be an evening of quality alternative entertainment. The first band I saw on Friday was White Lies. They were nice. Pretty tunes for a pretty evening. The highlight of their set had to be the Bruce Springsteen cover of “Dancing In The Dark”.

Then I pressed the red button as they so often tell you to do, and was confronted by Lady Ga Ga in her glittery world of confuser gender. Playing through all of her current favorites. I think “Poker Face” is mine.

Lilly Allen, God bless her, she is turning into quite the young festival princess and being as she has been coming to this place since she was a child, I suppose she has some sort of right to the title. Her set is fun, with Lilly wearing a purple cat suite and purple wig, flirting with the audience as she entertains everybody by playing all of her hits.

For my money, and to be honest, there isn’t a lot of it, Neil Young is the saviour of the night. This man is one of the last living legends left on this planet and he really brings it to the table tonight.

Mighty is the word you would have to use to describe Neil Young’s presence on stage. The last song of his set was “A Day In The Life”, a Beatles cover. Well you have to see the performance. He ends up tearing the strings from his guitar whilst still playing it. My words will not do this great man justice, so you will just have to check out his live performance to understand what I am saying!

Watch “A Day In The Life” video on YouTube

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Neil Young Official Website

By: Dave Tommo

Neil Young live at London Hammersmith Apollo review

So I was rockin’ in the free world last night (March 5, 2008) with my parents as we headed to London to check out Neil Young. I was turned onto Young by my parents who are huge fans and who were keen to share him with me. Having worked my way through his back catalogue I was captivated by Young’s delicate, almost feminine voice and political leanings, so was only too ready to see him live. Consistently name checked as one of the artists to see before you die, the opportunity was a great privilege.

The predominantly male crowd were equally keen – the crowds were heaving to get in, many backs adorned with Neil Young tour T-Shirts of old in tribute to the Canadian legend. The crowd was comprised of many an aging Young acolyte accompanied by their wives, but there were some younger couples present too, which only goes to show the draw this man has across generations. Whatever the age of the audience however, the enthusiasm displayed by the majority of the crowd was infectious. From the minute he stepped on stage he was deluged with requests for songs and cries of ‘We love you Neil!’

The Apollo is a gorgeous venue; it felt rather civilised to take a seat amongst its art deco style interior and take in the surroundings before the artists came on stage. Young’s wife Pegi provided support as people filed in and displayed a beguilingly sweet voice and assured stage presence. However, most people were waiting for the main attraction and Pegi’s performance was akin to musical wallpaper – pleasant enough, but no match for the main act.

The stage itself was decked with scrambled letters which at the end of the gig spelled out Neil, giving it the appearance of a cross between a primary school classroom and motor garage, the latter evidently a nod to Young’s current album ‘Chrome Dreams II’. An artist painted pictures throughout Young’s two sets, all bearing a relation to each song and placed on an artists’ easel for the crowd to admire at the beginning of each track. This was really interesting to watch and a clever and creative idea.

Young himself had an affable stage presence and shuffled about the stage casually, clearly very at ease with himself. His two vastly differing sets gave everyone in the audience a bit of what they fancied: one acoustic and folky set with Young predominantly seated and playing keyboard or guitar in a white suit; the other heavy, energetic and rocky with Young donning a black suit seemingly splattered with paint (and which the artist also painted!).

The acoustic set was lovely and really showcased all that is good about Young’s tremulous, fragile voice – a voice which was the same thirty years ago and still as fresh as it was back then. Comprised mostly of his earlier songs, the highlight of the set was Harvest’s “Old Man” which has added poignancy now it is sung by a 62 year old. “Ambulance Blues”, always a sad song, was also performed with a dignity and respect for his material despite its familiarity; and “Cowgirl in the Sand” was just spellbinding. The whole set was intimate and gentle, with little chat from Neil barring a cheeky wave when an audience member implored him to say something!

The gritty, punkish rock of Young’s second set was in steep contrast to this cosiness and seemed to revive Neil as much as the audience, who stood for many tracks, moving in perfect time to the rhythm of the music with hands punching the air. He’s still got it, that’s for sure!

A stirring “Down By The River” was just incredible, bluesy and dramatic with some brilliant musical performances from his band (including the wife on backing vocals). The band seemed to play as one, and modestly took a backseat to Young’s lead. The sound quality was faultless and he and his band gave tight and confident renditions of all the songs.

Where Young’s voice could seem a little nasal and strained on some of the rockier tracks, this was offset by the way he played guitar, dextrous and full of fervour. Each track was evidence of Young’s unique skill as a guitarist. His every move and gesture displayed utter absorption in and love for his craft. In other words, Young really rocked out.

Notable tracks included the grungy rock of the fun “Dirty Old Man” and the punkish “Hey Hey My My”. I must confess I flagged a little during the twenty minute opus “Ordinary People”, from ‘Chrome Dreams II’. However you couldn’t be churlish and accuse Young of self-indulgence as his passionate performance was further evidence of his musical gift. Plus, he was much more chatty in this half, energised by his pacier songs, and it was lovely to have a little more banter.

All in all this was a great show enjoyed by all – as the rapturous demands for an encore suggested. At over two hours it was great value for money and a wonderful experience. The only issue which mitigated against total pleasure in the evenings performances was the intense heat in the venue.

Two women in nearby rows actually seemed to be nodding off and I can only attribute it to the insane heatwave generated by so many people packed into a venue with absolutely no air conditioning. It actually got unbearable at times and this was a real shame given the otherwise successful night. But to end on a high, as Neil did: Keep on rockin’ in the free world, readers!

Neil Young Official Website

By: Lindsey Davis