This Note's For You (1988)

Out of the Geffen years and Neil is still working in different styles. He started doing small blues sets during the 1987 tours and apparently the audience reaction was really encouraging, so he pulled in the Everybody’s Rockin’ horn section and worked on this album alongside a couple tours with the same band. This was one of the albums I bought when I got into Neil around 1990. It had a reputation because of the “This Note’s For You” song and music video, a very in your face repudiation of corporate sponsorship. The video parodies a series of commercials featuring popular recording artists, specifically Michael Jackson, who’s shown with his hair catching on fire. MTV infamously banned the song under pressure from Jackson’s lawyers. Of course, this just made people want the video more, and MTV relented, eventually giving it Best Video of the Year.

In a lot of ways, this album is just as strange as the Geffen experiments, not sounding like Neil’s most popular albums with no real mainstays featured here. Outside of the year or two he toured for this album, many of these songs never were performed again. It’s definitely just as much a concept album as the Geffen albums, but with one key difference: Neil really sounds genuine on this album. There’s no feeling of him thumbing his nose at the record label or doing this to prove a point. He was just really into blues at this particular moment.

Years later, I’m very underwhelmed by the album as a whole, especially the upbeat stuff, which comprises the majority of it. It’s well made, the blues guitar is incredible, and Neil feels sincere on it, a marked improvement over previous 80s albums. The final song “One Thing” in particular is great, just very soulful and beautiful, riding a laid back vibe to get lost in. In retrospect, the best songs are the quietest ones, like “Twilight” and its evocative guitar/saxophone duels. Another really lovely song. That said, I’m not going to do a track by track rundown on this because there is a much better version of this album out there. I really want to talk about the incredible Bluenote Cafe live album.

Top 3:

1. One Thing
2. Twilight
3. Coupe de Ville

Cut song: Married Man

Released in 2015, Bluenote Cafe is comprised of recordings from two different tours in 1987-1988 and I think it’s probably what Neil wanted the album to sound like. It’s certainly much more vibrant and lively to me, like the swinging club atmosphere that inspired him to record the album. Looking at the dates, it appears some of these live recordings precede the studio recordings. It’s surprising Neil didn’t just use live recordings as the album release then, since that’s a common method for him. Hearing this live album, I wish he had. It’s incredible. If you feel a little unimpressed with the studio album, definitely seek this out…especially if you are a fan of On The Beach and Tonight’s The Night. This is like a horn-laden sequel to that low slung lounge lizard rock in the best ways possible. It’s less doom and gloom, less sleazy, but has the same full and funky tone. I’m really taken with it and it’s going in my Neil Young canon from now on. It’s very long with 23 tracks so I’m going to just pick out a few.

One highlight is “Ordinary People,” a song Neil recorded during the album sessions but held back until Chrome Dreams II. The full song is 18 minutes long but is about 13 minutes here. Somewhere it was described as “‘Cortez the Killer’ with horns” and that description hints at its epic feel, not its theme. It is a cutting condemnation of how corruption hits the common people the most and serves as a poetic ode to people struggling against this. Given Neil’s dalliance with Reagan through the 80s, the song displays a pretty thorough takedown of trickle-down economics by example. It’s quite remarkable, one of the best Neil songs I’ve never heard before (since I’ve never heard Chrome Dreams II and am holding off until it’s time comes in this review series). Neil’s guitar playing is immaculate and he trades licks with the saxophone in dueling fashion that elevates this song even more. He really pours all of his skill into both the writing and guitar playing here. Exciting to find a new gem like this after the Geffen years.

I do enjoy the talking guitar thing he does on “This Note’s For You” here. It takes a purposely hokey guitar and gives it a fun onstage energy that the studio version lacks.

Another cool song here is the upbeat but shorter “Crime in the City” (soon to be a much more acoustic track on Freedom). This has long been one of my favorite Neil songs and it’s very hard for me to reconcile this fast, electric version of it with the wonderful Freedom track. Even the version on Weld isn’t as hard driving as this. Somewhere there exists the near 20 minute “full” version of this song, with additional verses…apparently slated for Archives Vol. III.

Further cementing this as a sequel to the Ditch Trilogy era, the live album ends with a very drawn out (20 minutes!) “Tonight’s the Night.” Admittedly this regularly closes a lot of Neil shows, but the version here is unique in how it fits in with the blues surroundings. It takes on an even more menacing tone with this particular band. You can hear the hush come over the crowd through the lengthy intro. When the dam finally breaks, you are treated to Neil’s guitar sliding all over the horn backed rhythm section. This is a great version of a classic song and a perfect capper.

Apparently this was going to come out as a companion to the studio album, but was shelved for some reason (typical Neil), but I’m glad it was finally released. It puts this chapter of Neil’s history into context and makes the case that Neil is a true bluesman.

Top 3:

1. Ordinary People
2. Tonight’s the Night
3. This Note’s For You

Cut song: Married Man