Young Young

Neil Young's Live At Massey Hall 1971 CD is a wonderful peek back in time, when a young Young was bursting with creativity. This is Young a few years removed from the defunct Buffalo Springfield (my first concert at the age of 11 was the farewell tour of Eric Burdon and the Animals and the Buffalo Springfield) and is an acoustical wonder.

Many of the seventeen songs were, at that time, unreleased, including "Old Man," "There's a World," "A Man Needs a Maid, " "Heart of Gold" and "The Needle and the Damage Done." Though much of the concert and CD point knowingly to the future, it opens and closes with two Buffalo Springfield songs. The first track is a dynamite version of "On the Way Home" sung with that incredible sweet and pure voice Young possessed when he was 25, and the ending second ovation is "I am a Child."

I like the way these two looks back wrap around the "Harvest" to come and the acoustic versions of Crazy Horse hits like "Cowgirls in the Sand" and "Down by the River." Young also does a wonderful version of his political anthem "Ohio."

The quality of the live recording is amazingly clear and rich as Neil moves back and forth from guitar to piano. His intros to some of the songs are illuminating, particularly "Old Man" and "The Needle and the Damage Done." This is one of the best "live" CDs in my collection and well worth adding to yours.