What can you say about this record that hasn't already been said?- It's a gem in Neil's catalogue, that somehow has never had a proper re-issue / cd release?
- That it was the "commercial suicide" album after Harvest?
Well, it was Neil laying out his stall. Saying "I'll do what I want"... given a crossroads he'll take the least obvious or most difficult path.
Recorded live, mainly on a 1973 tour, this followed up the massive Harvest album of 1972. This was not the obvious way to go. As himself said "'Heart of Gold' put me in the middle of the road. Traveling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch." Rather than playing his well known stuff, this tour showcased new material, to the dismay of audiences. The resulting album was hated by critics.
Neil himself also wasn't keen saying "I think it's the worst record I ever made - but as a documentary of what was happening to me, it was a great record." Indeed it had been a bad time, Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten was going to play 2nd guitar on this tour but had died of an overdose.
There's reams and reams of stuff written about this album, so I won't go on. Apparently a release was scheduled in the 90s, but it was pulled. So allegedly CD bootlegs of this lp are taken from the 90s "test pressing". It's all surrounded in mystery really, the original was apparently "...Mastered 16-Track Direct To Disc (acetate) by Computer". Straight to disk, in other words no master tape?! How did they do the 90s proposed CD then? Or did they do it at all. Is the 90s "test pressing" a fan produced bootleg mastered from 8-Track tape? Hmm...
Either way, the petition (!) came to nothing & there's been no re-release. It does contain one of his best, and most autobiographical tracks "Don't Be Denied". So don't wait for someone cooler than me to recommend it.
Don't Be Denied
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