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54 posts tagged Neil Young
Video: Beck, Neil Young: “Pocahontas”
Neil Young let the world enjoy his annual Bridge School Benefit concert tonight in real time by streaming sets from Beck, Eddie Vedder, Arcade Fire and others via an official webcast. The show goes on tomorrow, but a few of the evening’s highlights have already arrived: Beck covering Rust Never Sleeps classic “Pocahontas” with a surprise guest appearance by the Godfather of Grunge himself (above) and Régine Chassagne joining Vedder for “Tonight You Belong To Me,” now added to our summer roundup of the 1926 duet here. Update: Arcade Fire just played “Helpless” and Mumford & Sons played “Dance Dance Dance,” both with Neil (all clips after the jump).
Arcade Fire - “Helpless”
Mumford & Sons - “Dance Dance Dance”
There have been a number of books written about the life of Neil Young (most notably, perhaps, Jimmy McDonough’s Shakey), but now Young has put Buffalo Springfield reunion dates on hold to pen an autobiography. Tentatively titled Waging Heavy Peace and due next fall, the book will cover “pretty much everything — growing up, music, life,” publisher David Rosenthal told ArtsBeat, adding: “I am astounded at his memory for detail.” Update: We now have a quote from Neil himself on the project:
I felt like writing books fit me like a glove,” Young said in a statement. “I started and I just kept going. That’s the way my Daddy used to do it on his old Underwood up in the attic. He said, ‘Just keep writing, you never know what will turn up.
Watch: Buffalo Springfield Rock Bonnaroo – “Mr. Soul”
Just in case there was any doubt that the newly reunited Buffalo Springfield would still sound vital and inspired after a 43-year live hiatus, our pal Jason at Speakers in Code drove hundreds of miles and waited for six hours at Bonnaroo this weekend to bring us this thrilling glimpse at the front-row experience of a 2k11 gig by Neil Young and Co. Rock out with 1967 classic “Mr. Soul” above. Meanwhile, Stephen Stills, Young, and Richie Furay have 30 more dates lined up for the fall.
Neil Young Releases Vintage “Amber Jean” Video
Most of the dozen cuts off Neil Young’s new live archival LP, A Treasure, will arrive next week packaged alongside fresh video footage from their mid-’80s tours — making the process of producing an official clip to promote the set seamless for the living legend and friends. Enter “Amber Jean,” a previously unreleased, pretty folk-rock ditty that opens the record, performed above on television show Nashville Now by Young and his band, the International Harvesters, in September of 1984 (h/t Culture Bully).
Crosby, Nash, Fallon Cover “Party In the U.S.A.” Video
The last time Jimmy Fallon brought out his spot-on Neil Young impression, he was joined by Bruce Springsteen, who — at the request of the Boss’ manager, Jon Landau — dressed up as his 1970s self, for an unlikely take on Willow Smith’s “Whip My Hair.” Now Fallon’s Young is back for an even more surreal (if that’s possible) tween pop cover: Miley Cyrus hit “Party In the U.S.A.” with harmony vocals by CSNY’s David Crosby and Graham Nash. Watch CNF above.
One of the many moments that cemented Neil Young’s legendary status in my mind was when the Godfather of Grunge was sued in 1984 by his label at the time, Geffen Records, for allegedly making “uncharacteristic and uncommercial music.” During this period, Young fearlessly shifted from making rockabilly records (Everybody’s Rockin’) to a truly bizarre electronic LP (Trans) to old-school country (Old Ways). Now Young and his mid-’80s live band, the International Harvesters, will revisit this period for an archival live album called A Treasure.
Thrasher’s Wheat reports that the 12-track effort features “songs recorded during Young’s 1984-1985 U.S. tour and contains five previously unreleased songs. Among those, Grey Riders’ will be the first track serviced to radio.” The International Harvesters include the late, great slide guitarist Ben Keith, fiddle player Rufus Thibodeaux, piano legends Spooner Oldham and Hargus “Pig” Robbins, drummer Karl Himmel, and bassists Tim Drummond and Joe Allen.
A Treasure will arrive on Blu-ray, vinyl, deluxe CD, MP3, and more, alongside original video from the performances on the appropriate format. For a preview of what’s to come, check out a clip of Young discussing the project — alongside the tracklist — below:
Video: Tom Waits Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Speech + Performance
In which Neil Young inducts fellow 24B hero Tom Waits into Cleveland’s esteemed Rock Hall of Fame before turning the microphone over to the great troubadour himself for an acceptance speech that includes memories of Lightnin’ Hopkins, a touching dedication to his family, and two musical performances accompanied by his longtime collaborator/one of the best guitarists alive, Marc Ribot (the Young-featuring “Get Behind the Mule” rendition has yet to surface). An inspiring moment for Waits and excellent collection of clips to boot, though it’s only made me more hungry for that new LP he has in the works.
(Via CoS)
Phosphorescent Cover Neil Young - “Are You Ready for the Country?”
Leave it up to Phosphorescent to make me second guess “Are You Ready for the Country?” being only my 10th favorite cut off Neil Young’s undeniable 10-track 1972 album, Harvest. Be it The Beatles, Willie, Bob Dylan, or — perhaps their most comfortable fit — Neil Young, Matt Houck and friends know their way around a timeless tune. Above, a fine homage to Neil’s barn-rocking Stray Gators.
(via Mojo, via Aquarium Drunkard)
While watching Thom Yorke discuss his longtime obsession with Neil Young tonight (via a chat with the BBC from a few years back), I got to thinking about Radiohead’s surprise cover of After the Gold Rush cut “Tell Me Why” at the Hollywood Bowl in 2008, as well as Yorke’s multiple performances of the title track off that 1970 classic record, beginning with his 2002 Bridge School Benefit rendition mentioned in the Q&A. As it turns out, though, there are 3 more Young songs that Yorke has applied his similarly high-register vocal range to with Radiohead over the years, and, fortunately, listenable clips are readily available. So I can’t help but share multiple versions of one of my favorite bands of all time covering 5 timeless tunes by one of my favorite solo artists of all time below (alongside the aforementioned interview):
As if Tom Waits getting inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next month wasn’t a cool enough news story already, it just got an epic injection via the addition of another NorCal-based icon to the ceremony: Neil Young will do the honors of providing the speech for Waits’ induction, Rolling Stone reports. The event’s other notable induction speakers will include Elton John for Leon Russell, Paul Simon for Neil Diamond, Rob Zombie for Alice Cooper, John Legend for Dr. John, and Bette Midler for legendary singer/Phil Spector collaborator Darlene Love.