“Lonely
Weekend”, Neil Young with The Stray Gators, Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto,
Canada, 15th January 1973.
Set-list:
Disc One:
1.
On the Way Home
2.
Tell Me Why
3.
L.A.
4.
Journey Through the Past
5.
Borrowed Tune
6.
Out on the Weekend
7.
Harvest
8.
Old Man
Disc Two: ()
9.
Heart of Gold
10.
Lonely Weekend
11.
New Mama
12.
Alabama
13.
Last Dance
14.
Don't Be Denied
15.
Cinnamon Girl
16.
Lookout Joe
17.
Southern Man
Notes:
Complete show: Yes
Musicians: Neil Young: vocals, guitar, keyboards,
harmonica. Ben Keith: pedal steel guitar, vocals. Jack Nitzsche: keyboards. Tim
Drummond: bass. Kenny Buttrey: drums
CD quality: fine, seamless copy of a good, clear recording.
Sound quality:
Remarks:
The Old Grey Cat had this to say about his wonderful concert –
In retrospect, 1973 may well be one of
the most important years in Neil's artistic development. Following Danny
Whitten's overdose death in November '72, which occurred after Neil sent him
home from rehearsals for the upcoming tour, a shaken Neil regrouped with The
Stray Gators, and launched a three-month tour that was deemed ramshackle by the
rock press and many fans enchanted with the mega-hit Harvest
LP. The sets were generally short--75 minutes or so--and the songs themselves
were unkempt, fraying at the edges. By tour's end, with Neil's voice by then
ravaged, David Crosby and Graham Nash flew in to provide assistance--the result
of which can be heard on the live album which resulted from that tour, Time Fades Away. Neil has always characterized that album as an
"honest" album--it documented "where he was at" at the
time. It also contains stark, powerful songs that speak universal truths about
the human condition.. They're plaintive, raw, the kind of material that isn't
readily accessible. Time Fades Away itself is part of the
three album arc that includes Tonight's the Night and On the Beach, and is an important chapter in Neil's
evolution. That it hasn't been released on CD as yet is a shame.
Lonely Weekend and Last
Dance document two nights from what became the "Time
Fades Away" tour. Six days separate Neil's maiden Maple Leaf Garden
concert in Toronto (1/15/73) and the appearance at New York's Carnegie Hall, on
Jan. 21st in 1973. Lonely Weekend's set-list includes
"Journey Through the Past" coupled with "Borrowed Tune,"
and an electric set that rocks: "Alabama," "Last Dance,"
"Don't Be Denied," "Cinnamon Girl," "Lookout Joe"
and "Southern Man" cap the night in fine form. Last Dance
continues the pace unabated, adding in such live rarities as "Cripple
Creek Ferry," "Here We Are in the Years" and
"Soldier." The not-so-rare "The Loner" is another treat;
Neil and the Stray Gators' "cook," to use an aged expression.
Both boots suffer the same relative
flaw, however--they're audience tapes and, as a result, the sonics are a bit
flat. That said, they're actually above average as far as audience tapes go and
more than listenable. One's no better than the other, but neither is worse,
either.
1973 didn't end with those shows, of
course. By early summer he'd regrouped with CSN to record an album tentatively
named Human Highway. The project collapsed soon thereafter due to ego
conflicts (for a hint of what might have been, check out Winterland
Reunion) and by August Neil was back working with the surviving members of
Crazy Horse and Nils Lofgren, who sat in on guitar. Remember, too, that Bruce
Berry (a CSNY roadie) died that year from smack. When Neil and the guys
gathered at the recording studio, they'd drink tequila until the mood was
right--and then stare into the abyss.
Or something to that effect. The
acetate for the Tonight's the Night Neil originally planned to
release--but shelved instead--has come to light in recent years. My is titled Broken
Arrow (not to be confused with the 1996 studio album of the same name) and
comes coupled with an acoustic BBC performance from 1971. The first thing to
understand is that it's not the same album as the Tonight's the Night
released in 1975. Check out the lineup for starters: "Tonight's the
Night," "Mellow My Mind," "Roll Another Number,"
"Tired Eyes," "Speakin' Out," "Walk On,"
"For the Turnstiles," "Bad Fog of Loneliness," "New
Mama," "Winterlong," "Borrowed Tune" and "Traces."
It's interesting, not necessarily weaker than the released version's but--to
me--nowhere near as intense. Maybe it's the lack of "Come on Baby Let's Go
Downtown" and the second "Tonight's the Night," the fact that
the second half of this set, save for "Borrowed Tune," isn't really
connected to the tragedies of 1973 per se. They're good songs, don't get me
wrong, and Neil and the band do bring them all justice--"Bad Fog" and
"Winterlong" both chug along rather nicely in the arrangements here
and "Traces" is one of the best unreleased tracks in Neil's arsenal.
At the same time, the songs also steal from the overall impact of the album's
overt theme concerning willful and not so willfull self-destruction.
As a CD recording of an 25-year-old
acetate (a vinyl test-pressing), there's plenty of pops, crackles and hiss
here. In other words, the sound isn't very good. Of the three CDs reviewed
here, it's the one I'd least recommend to casual or new fans but the one I'd
first suggest to fanatics.
Following that recording session, Neil
did what he seems to do on a frequent basis: He hit the road. But if the concerts
in the early part of the year were deemed "ramshackle," these shows
were--well, damned weird. "Welcome to Miami Beach," he'd proclaim
between songs. The songs, of course, were from the--at the time--unreleased Tonight's
the Night. As Rock
'n' Roll Can Never Die, which documents the November 3rd Manchester,
England show, shows, he'd launch into the new material with ... controlled
abandon. It's interesting to listen to; for one, unlike the acetate, the song
cycle is much more in tune with the official product, with only "Borrowed
Tune," "C'mon Baby Let's Go Downtown," and "Lookout
Joe" missing and the other songs, while presented in a slightly different
order, having the impact that acetate does not. The show also lays doubt to
Neil's alleged lack of coherence ... listened to from a distance of 24 years,
and minus the visuals, he sounds in full control of both his faculties and his
art--even when he's heckled from the audience! "It's great to be a rock
'n' roll star," he says leading up to an intense rendition of "Don't
Be Denied."
Don't be denied, indeed. (A)