Live Rust (1979)

While this is slightly redundant to the film of Rust Never Sleeps, there’s more of an effort here to present the best performances from the tour instead of one unbroken performance. As such, it’s become a favorite of fans and aside from Decade, the way many people got to know Neil. I don’t remember if my dad had this record, but he definitely had a cassette recording of it, so maybe a friend taped it for him. I borrowed it for awhile, I remember.

What strikes me right away about the beginning acoustic section is that “Thrasher” is sadly omitted. That’s a shame, it’s becoming one of my favorite songs through this discography adventure. The second thing that strikes me is how good this version of “Comes a Time” is. Stripped down to just Neil, the song loses the somewhat schmaltzy veneer of the album version (despite that being Comes a Time’s best song). Something I noticed during the film is that the performance of “After the Gold Rush” is a lot brisker than the album. I think it fits the general vibe of this performance and gets you ready for the fast pace of “My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue).”

Speaking of which, something to remember is that these performances predate the release of the album Rust Never Sleeps, so it’s the first time the audience has heard some of these songs. You can tell because the crowd doesn’t cheer during the opening chords, but do cheer when he gets to the lines about “rock n roll can never die…” Neil debuting new songs on tours is very much a part of the conversation with this “Rust” trilogy. It’s why I outlined the timeline in that album review. It’s something he’s been chasing his whole career: how to capture the sound and feeling of a live performance. Playing new songs live and then removing audience noise for an album release is very Neil.

I love the way the Woodstock stage announcements bleed into the beginning of a truly beautiful “The Needle and the Damage Done.” It’s very poignant, framing Woodstock as a bit of nadir. It’s really hard to resist “Lotta Love” in any form. What a catchy little tune. Following it up with “let’s play some rock n roll” is “Sedan Delivery,” a song I’ve talked about not loving before. Mercifully “Welfare Mothers” doesn’t appear here.

“Powderfinger” and “Cortez the Killer” was always my favorite 1-2 punch of this set. While I’ve come to love that acoustic “Powderfinger” from Hitchhiker, it’s undeniable it works great electric. As I talked about there, the electric version gets more and more desperate as the situation in the song becomes more dire. Neil’s vocal work here sells that story. Starting out with a laidback twang, by the time we get to the finale, you can hear the mounting despair as his voice breaks slightly in certain passages. After an hour of gentle folk songs and fast garage rock, this song signals the point at which the show becomes truly cinematic. Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina are the unsung heroes as well. Those “oooohhhs” really elevate the song through the second half.

One of my favorite songs begins to take on its legendary status with this release. “Cortez the Killer” is similar to its Zuma version, but there’s something more strung out about it that lends an aura of anguish to the song. I don’t love the added backing vocals to it or the bizarre reggae stylings, but man, the guitar work is incredible. As I mentioned in that Zuma review, I really love what he does with the guitar on live renditions where the notes kind of skip across the “he came dancing across the water” refrain. I just don’t know why he has to inject the reggae inflections to the vocal. Weird choice.

Classic rendition of “Like a Hurricane” here. I think the audience would know this song as American Stars ‘n’ Bars would have been released the year before. However…this song works so well in the live environment, I’m sure it blew people away. I think about this melody often. I love the way his voice melts off in certain places to create the impression he really is getting blow away. Nice bit of musicianship there.

Like the film, we end on the heavy and distorted “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)” and the emotional “Tonight’s the Night.” Both songs’ lethal anger resonates in opposite directions. The former is a full frontal assault spelling out the pressure of rock n roll, while the former almost pleads with you to understand the danger. It’s not a coincidence these are the two encores. It’s almost as if Neil was saying “if you want more, I’m going to make sure you understand what this is about and what we do to bring it to you.”

Thanks for indulging me in this Rust breakdown. Despite these being stellar moments for Neil, I’m excited to move past them into somewhat uncharted territory for me with Neil: the 1980s. He gets weird and I honestly haven’t heard much of it. I was introduced to him just as the 90s were starting and my filter was new 90s releases and the 70s releases my dad had.

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