Live At Massey Hall 1971 (2007)

As After the Gold Rush was hitting the record shops, several things were happening in Neil’s life. His divorce from Susan Acevedo was amongst the biggest, but a close second was his purchase of a ranch he dubbed Broken Arrow. Nestled deep in the Redwood mountains outside San Francisco, this would be his home and frequent recording spot for the next forty years. Somewhere in this same time period, he hurt his back and had to go into traction. It was in this state that he met the actress Carrie Snodgress and fell in love. Then he embarked a solo acoustic tour with a small crew at the beginning of 1971 to support his just released album. It was a tumultuous time but also a productive one, starting a period where songs just kept appearing out of him, debuting in sets and on hand anytime someone wanted to go the studio. And on January 1971, David Briggs would beautifully him record Neil at Massey Hall in Toronto. Of all the archival releases to come out of Neil Young Archives, this is my favorite.

Fully ten of the eighteen songs played that night in Toronto would have been new to the audience. Half of those would appear on Harvest. One song had never been released on record until this archival release in 2007. Others would show up on various album after Harvest. For most of the rest of 1971, Neil would be recovering and not have an album release. Since embarking on a solo career, he had released albums at a regular cadence. Briggs argued this live recording should have been his next record. However, Neil had laid down a few takes of songs in a studio that he was excited about and wanted to pursue that. This is perhaps the first “lost” album of many in Neil’s career. In an alternate reality, this was the album that debuted Harvest songs and that album didn’t materialize in the same way. What could have been, huh?

In Jimmy McDonough’s Shakey, there are numerous passages where Briggs talks about his process for recording. It essentially amounts to not embellishing the sound at all and just recording it as straight as possible (one notable quote involved him asking for a console diagram and asking if he could patch a cable so that it completely bypasses the console). And as “On the Way Home” starts, you can hear what he’s talking about. It sounds like you are in the room with Neil, front row, scant feet away. The sound is so crisp and pure, it sounds lifelike. Starting with a Buffalo Springfield song shows how Neil is still a little unsure of his songwriting and hasn’t quite become the star he will become after Harvest. That said, he isn’t shy about admonishing the crowd when they interrupt his concentration during “Tell Me Why,” a lovely version of what would then be a new song. This leads to an extended introduction to “Old Man,” a song this crowd would have never heard before but would soon become one of his most recognizable songs. The Harvest songs that appear throughout Massey Hall are lovingly stripped back and this spare “Old Man” hits me a little harder than the studio version.

“Helpless” is one of my favorite Neil songs and this might be my favorite version. I remember when Massey Hall came out in 2007, I would just play this version over and over. It’s fragile and beautiful and gets an astounding response from the crowd (this crowd loves any mention of Canada). Another incredible moment is the medley of “A Man Needs a Maid” and “Heart of Gold,” which is the original way that Neil would perform these two Harvest songs. There’s something intwined about these songs in his head. They are both searching, both slightly desperate, but the former is sad and mournful, while the latter is more upbeat and hopeful. In some ways, they are about Susan and Carrie (Carrie is pointedly described in the former), the end of one relationship and the beginning of a new one. Can you imagine sitting in this small Canadian music hall and hearing an early version (on piano) of a song that would soon overwhelm the airwaves and change the trajectory of Neil’s career?

I love when Neil takes one of his long Crazy Horse epics and reduces them to a smaller acoustic (or piano) performance. This version of “Cowgirl in the Sand” shows just how deft of a guitar player Neil is. I love his acoustic style and sound. It’s unlike anyone else. Subtle and complex and the same time, with powerful strumming and delicate picking. When I first heard this album, I was so unfamiliar with “Bad Fog of Loneliness,” I thought it had just been on an album from this period I hadn’t heard. Nope, it had never appeared on an official release until Massey Hall in 2007. That didn’t stop me from humming and reciting it in my head constantly afterwards. It’s one of those gems that have come out of the Archives (there’s also a studio version recorded with the Stray Gators that appears in the Harvest outtakes). As he comically relates in the introduction, it was a song he originally wrote to debut on the Johnny Cash Show. The appearance was canceled and this song never got that big debut. Just another great and obscure piece of Neil songwriting.

While this entire performance is incredible, there’s just a few more songs I want to mention. “Ohio” with CSNY would have taken over the airwaves the prior year. While that recording is a classic and I enjoy electric versions of the song, there’s something equally intense about Neil’s solo version of it. He played it a number of times on solo tours during this period. You don’t get that searing Gretsch guitar sound, but it hits just as hard. The resounding applause demonstrates that. The encores start with a bit of cacophony as the crowd shouts out suggestions and quickly recognize “Down by the River,” another epic that takes on a different life in shorter, acoustic version. It’s played more mournfully than the distraught electric jam. When played with Crazy Horse, Neil sounds like he’s losing his mind, but in a solo performance you hear the regret in the lyrics more clearly. “Dance Dance Dance” has become another one of my favorites. I just love this epic stomp. “Everybody makes noise on that” gets the crowd going (in relative time) and just feels like Neil is singing for every single person in the hall.

So yeah, I feel like Massey Hall is an essential release from Neil. If you want to just listen to Neil solo playing a number of classic songs, you can’t go wrong with this gorgeous recording. Thank you, David Briggs.

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