Feature of the Week (3/18/12) The Ditch Trilogy

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cortez the killer
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Re: Feature of the Week (3/18/12) The Ditch Trilogy

Post by cortez the killer »

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"Doom Tour" box set slated for an early 2013 release
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dime in the gutter
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Re: Feature of the Week (3/18/12) The Ditch Trilogy

Post by dime in the gutter »

courtesy of aquarium drunkard.

neil young and the santa monica flyers in manchester. 1973.

tonight's the night tour.

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http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2013/03/19/neil-young-the-santa-monica-flyers-manchester-england-1973/

cortez the killer wrote:
As they hit the road, Neil named the band the Santa Monica Flyers. The band looked like a ragtag collection of homeless misfits. Neil’s outfit for the tour consisted of a white Tinkerbell “Topanga All-Stars” t-shirt, patched jeans, a scruffy beard, a pair of Polaroid Cool-Ray 420 Fastback shades, and a thrift-store seersucker sport coat. For most of the shows, Neil would cryptically announce, “Welcome to Miami Beach, ladies and gentlemen. Everything is cheaper than it looks.” The tour was unlike anything Neil had done before. The stage was adorned by a bunch of kitschy props including a sickly-looking palm tree (taken form the S.I.R. entryway) with a forty-watt bulb attached to it, a wooden Indian (stolen from a Santa Monica arts-and-crafts shop), platform glitter boots surrounding Neil’s grand piano, and beach baggies. During the performances Neil would smoke joints thrown on stage by the audience and take swigs from a gallon jug of Cuervo Gold he would pass down to the front row. According to Lofgren, “The mood live was completely different. There was an angry edge the original recording didn’t have. We were all pissed off about losin’ a couple of people close to us and it all came out.” However, he wasn’t nearly as depressed or self-destructive as he had been on the TFA tour. Snodgress reflected on the tour, “That passion, that hunger, that rock and roll release . . . watchin’ musicians get swept right up in it. Neil didn’t belong in that world. Tonight’s the Night was the beginning of the end for my life with Neil.” Looking back on the tour, Neil commented, “I was havin’ a fantastic time. It was dark but it was good. That was a band with a reason. We were on a mission. That’s maybe as artistic a performance as I’ve given. I think there was more drama in Tonight’s the Night because I knew what I was doing to the audience. But the audience didn’t know if I knew what I was doing. I was drunk outta my mind on that tour. Hey - you don’t play bad when you’re drunk, you just play real slow. You don’t give a shit. Really don’t give a shit. I was fucking with the audience. From what I understand, the way rock and roll unfolded with Johnny Rotten and the punk movement - that kind of audience abuse - kinda started with that tour. I have no idea where the concept came from. Somebody else musta done it first, we all know that, whether it was Jerry Lee Lewis or Little Richard, somebody shit on the audience first.”

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cortez the killer
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Re: Feature of the Week (3/18/12) The Ditch Trilogy

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Thanks for the heads up. I just went over to The Drunkard and downloaded the show.
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cortez the killer
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Re: Feature of the Week (3/18/12) The Ditch Trilogy

Post by cortez the killer »

dime in the gutter wrote:is there any video out there from times fades away or ttn tours?


This just popped up on YouTube. Neil took a brief break from his TTN tour in the Fall of '73 to get together with ol' buddies Crosby, Stills & Nash for a couple of reunion shows. I'm sorry. I don't know the words. Fuckin' Stills.
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Re: Feature of the Week (3/18/12) The Ditch Trilogy

Post by Steve French »

I bought TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT based on this thread. I like it a lot.

Thanks big boy.
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cortez the killer
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Re: Feature of the Week (3/18/12) The Ditch Trilogy

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Steve French wrote:I bought TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT based on this thread. I like it a lot.

Thanks big boy.

Heh, heh.
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Clams
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Re: Feature of the Week (3/18/12) The Ditch Trilogy

Post by Clams »

From the A.V. Club:
Image
On The Ditch Trilogy, Neil Young’s success collided with personal chaos

From an outsider’s perspective, it probably looked like Neil Young had it made in the shade in those early months of 1972. In the last few years he entered into serious relationship with Hollywood actress Carrie Snodgress and had a son; he’d raked in a boatload of cash with the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and he had just released the most commercially successful album of his entire career. It seemed like he should have been living it up on cloud nine. But Young was actually on the verge of spiraling out into a private hell that would take over his life for the next three years.

With his fourth solo record, Harvest, Neil Young hit upon the kind of success that every artist dreams of achieving. The multi-platinum best seller—with a No. 1 hit, “Heart Of Gold”—almost perfectly synthesized the popular singer-songwriter movement underway in Southern California. By the time the full scope of that album’s success became apparent, Young wanted to have nothing to do with it. Looking back on it just five years later, he wrote in the liner notes to the Decades box set that the experience “put me in the middle of the road. Traveling there soon became a bore, so I headed for the ditch. A rougher ride but I saw more interesting people there.”

* * * *
Read the whole article here: http://www.avclub.com/article/ditch-tri ... ona-217898
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Bill in CT
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Re: Feature of the Week (3/18/12) The Ditch Trilogy

Post by Bill in CT »

Clams wrote:From the A.V. Club:
Image
On The Ditch Trilogy, Neil Young’s success collided with personal chaos

From an outsider’s perspective, it probably looked like Neil Young had it made in the shade in those early months of 1972. In the last few years he entered into serious relationship with Hollywood actress Carrie Snodgress and had a son; he’d raked in a boatload of cash with the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and he had just released the most commercially successful album of his entire career. It seemed like he should have been living it up on cloud nine. But Young was actually on the verge of spiraling out into a private hell that would take over his life for the next three years.

With his fourth solo record, Harvest, Neil Young hit upon the kind of success that every artist dreams of achieving. The multi-platinum best seller—with a No. 1 hit, “Heart Of Gold”—almost perfectly synthesized the popular singer-songwriter movement underway in Southern California. By the time the full scope of that album’s success became apparent, Young wanted to have nothing to do with it. Looking back on it just five years later, he wrote in the liner notes to the Decades box set that the experience “put me in the middle of the road. Traveling there soon became a bore, so I headed for the ditch. A rougher ride but I saw more interesting people there.”

* * * *
Read the whole article here: http://www.avclub.com/article/ditch-tri ... ona-217898
This is a terrific article but it makes one notable mistake. It says that when Neil put Crazy Horse back together in 1975, Nils Lofgren replaced Danny Whitten on guitar. It was actually Frank "Poncho" Sampedro who replaced Danny Whitten.
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cortez the killer
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Re: Feature of the Week (3/18/12) The Ditch Trilogy

Post by cortez the killer »

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Roxy - Tonight’s the Night Live Slated for RSD Release

Welcome to Miami Beach, ladies and gentlemen. Everything is cheaper than it looks.
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chuckrh
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Re: Feature of the Week (3/18/12) The Ditch Trilogy

Post by chuckrh »

can't wait for this! that being said, on the beach is 1 of my favorite records ever. i bought the dvd audio when it came out & its stunning.

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Clams
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Re: Feature of the Week (3/18/12) The Ditch Trilogy

Post by Clams »

The Ditch is back! Aquarium Drunkard chimes in on Homegrown, which comes out on Friday
Homegrown, on the other hand, has remained unreleased (though a few of its songs made it out via other lps and rare live performances). And yet to some collaborators, writers and close friends, it’s one of Neil’s finest, most nuanced works. Biographer Jimmy McDonough claimed that “to hear Homegrown in its entirety is to hear Neil Young at his best.” Precious few listeners have been given the chance—until now. At long last, Homegrown isn’t just a hypothetical. It’s a real record.

Does it live up to the hype? Well, yeah. Young was close to infallible throughout the 1970s, great songs pouring out of him at an alarming rate. Homegrown is a worthy addition to the songwriter’s famed “Ditch” period, sharing with those other lps a heavy sense of loneliness, loss and heartache (as well as some of the boozy joy). But it’s a distinct effort, too, filled with its own melancholy and mystery. It’s a masterpiece.
https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2020/06/15 ... D2SE7DDWJg
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Re: Feature of the Week (3/18/12) The Ditch Trilogy

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Glad I hit this thread. Ordered Homegrown and am trying to temper expectations.
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Re: Feature of the Week (3/18/12) The Ditch Trilogy

Post by chuckrh »

schlanky wrote:
Tue Jun 16, 2020 9:03 pm
Glad I hit this thread. Ordered Homegrown and am trying to temper expectations.
It's real good. If it weren't for the Dylan album would be record of the week. Neil probably doesn't mind being one upped by Bob.

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Re: Feature of the Week (3/18/12) The Ditch Trilogy

Post by schlanky »

I'm loving it so far. Just started second listen. I hear a little of After the Gold Rush and a lot of Harvest (but these are just a little later at night than the songs on Harvest). Florida could have been on "On the Beach." Or a Tom Waits album. I like White Line here better than the version on Ragged Glory.

Neil kept an album in the closet for more than 40 years that was better than anything most other bands ever release.

On a somewhat related note, if anybody can point me to a good download recording of a show from the Psychedelic Pill tour, I'd be interested. I've seen Neil only three times---Ragged Glory Tour in Atlanta, show at a casino in Biloxi in 2010 where we lucked into 2nd row tickets (Allen Toussaint opened!), then Psychedelic Pill tour in Tuscaloosa with Alabama Shakes. When Neil opened with a 13 minute or so version of Love and Only Love, I knew I was in for a good time (and at the same time knew Mrs. Schlanky would not be happy).
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scotto
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Re: Feature of the Week (3/18/12) The Ditch Trilogy

Post by scotto »

So, I think Homegrown is excellent, but I'm a big Neil fan, so no regrets about lack of objectivity.
But!
If this had been released in '75, It probably would have been sandwiched between On the Beach and Tonight's the Night and/or Zuma and likely suffered the same fate as Time Fades Away: Dismissed as a not-quite-Harvest largely acoustic, largely rambling endeavor that doesn't live up to "Heart of Gold" and doesn't rock like Crazy Horse, and would've prompted so many interview questions about the contents that he would have hated it--not the music, but the confession, which is why he shelved it in the first place.
In other words, maybe the right call in 1975 that now benefits from distance and retrospect and later-career veneration.
And I agree that this version of "White Line" is the best.
Glad it's finally out. I love it.

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Re: Feature of the Week (3/18/12) The Ditch Trilogy

Post by Bill in CT »

schlanky wrote:
Fri Jun 19, 2020 8:24 pm
I'm loving it so far. Just started second listen. I hear a little of After the Gold Rush and a lot of Harvest (but these are just a little later at night than the songs on Harvest). Florida could have been on "On the Beach." Or a Tom Waits album. I like White Line here better than the version on Ragged Glory.

Neil kept an album in the closet for more than 40 years that was better than anything most other bands ever release.

On a somewhat related note, if anybody can point me to a good download recording of a show from the Psychedelic Pill tour, I'd be interested. I've seen Neil only three times---Ragged Glory Tour in Atlanta, show at a casino in Biloxi in 2010 where we lucked into 2nd row tickets (Allen Toussaint opened!), then Psychedelic Pill tour in Tuscaloosa with Alabama Shakes. When Neil opened with a 13 minute or so version of Love and Only Love, I knew I was in for a good time (and at the same time knew Mrs. Schlanky would not be happy).
Your show in Tuscaloosa was taped (see link below). I can ask around about where to find a copy if you want that show. I don't know where to download a Neil show as I have never downloaded a live show by any artist in my life.

http://sugarmtn.org/sm_show.php?show=201210250
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Re: Feature of the Week (3/18/12) The Ditch Trilogy

Post by Bill in CT »

My copy of Homegrown arrived on Saturday and I'm loving it. The version of Separate Ways that opens the record is very different from the live versions that Neil played in 1993 with Booker T & the MGs as his backing band. He's also done it live in recent years including with Crazy Horse but I've never seen it. Great song and I hope to catch it someday.
White Line is great acoustic too but I can't say I prefer it to the Ragged Glory version. That is an integral part of what is probably my favorite highway driving album of all time.
It's nice to hear Levon Helm on 2 songs. Other guests include Emmylou Harris and Robbie Robertson.
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Re: Feature of the Week (3/18/12) The Ditch Trilogy

Post by schlanky »

Bill in CT wrote:
Mon Jun 22, 2020 10:16 am

Your show in Tuscaloosa was taped (see link below). I can ask around about where to find a copy if you want that show.

http://sugarmtn.org/sm_show.php?show=201210250
If you happened to run across it somewhere, I'd definitely be interested, but I wouldn't want you to go to any trouble---more of a keep your eyes open kind of thing if you ever see it.
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