Neil Young Review: Live at Massey Hall

Neil Young is going through his musical archives and releasing material, which is great news for his fans. Last year he released "Live at the Fillmore East", which showcased him with Crazy Horse circa 1970. This year's release is "Live at Massey Hall" which is from a performance in Toronto in 1971.

Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones was once asked if fans knew "Stairway to Heaven" was a special song the first time they heard it. To which Jones replied - no, they were bored and wanted to hear "Whole Lotta Love".

One of many reasons this collection is interesting because it contains songs from Harvest, before the release of the multi-platinum album. While fans greeted songs from After the Gold Rush warmly, many songs that are now classics were being heard for the first time.

Here is the set list:

1 On The Way Home
2 Tell Me Why
3 Old Man
4 Journey Through The Past
5 Helpless
6 Love In Mind
7 A Man Needs A Maid
8 Cowgirl In The Sand
9 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

"On the Way Home" gets treated like the CSNY version on 4-Way Street, rather than the bouncy Buffalo Springfield version. This is an acoustic set, so "Cowgirl in the Sand" and "Down by the River" do not have their familiar Crazy Horse sound but instead have more emphasis on the lyrics. This works especially well on "Cowgirl".

In addition to unreleased performances that would later end up on Harvest this collection includes tracks that would later debut on Time Fades Away and On The Beach. This is the set from which the live song "The Needle and the Damage Done" from Harvest is culled.

Neil is especially chatty with his audience and he explains early on that he's written a lot of new material that he is going to play. He also talks about Johnny Cash, Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor.

The sound quality on this live performance is first rate. Neil seems invigorated playing in front of a Canadian audience and it is fascinating to hear the original versions of classic songs. "Old Man" in particular stands out, with the live version being similar yet distinctively different than the studio version.

This is a must have addition for Neil Young fans and serves as a nice compilation for those who prefer Neil's acoustic side. You can purchase the 17-track release for $16.83 from various online outlets. Or you can go to the site I told you about last week and spend just $2.29 for the same thing.

Either way pick it up - it is a great record.