Neil Young: Hard to Find

I mentioned this CD before, in connection with the Love Art Blues bootleg. It came out in 1994, so I reckon I must have got it at the Neil Young Appreciation Society convention in Birmingham that year. I don't think I bought many bootlegs after that — I just stopped going to the places where you find them.

This is an odd one in that it seems to be semi-legitimate. It has the Westwood One radio logo on it, and the CD says "Not for sale - all rights reserved - unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws - for licensed broadcast use only". I've got another bootleg Neil Young tape somewhere that also said Westwood One on it. Not being in the US, I'm not familiar with their programming, but maybe it includes a lot of live recordings and rarities? Anyway according to this page, the CD currently falls within the £100-250 range when it's available. Like it says on the CD, mine's not for sale.

Here is the tracklisting. The songs from the Neil Young album are the versions from the original release of the album that was withdrawn at Neil's insistence. Johnny Rogan, in Neil Young: Zero to Sixty, suggests that, "a critical listening to the remixed version confirms that the alterations were minimal at best", and I wouldn't disagree with Johnny. There's also an "alternate version" of Everybody Knows this is Nowhere. In Shakey: Neil Young's Biography, Jimmy McDonough writes that this song was originally recorded in the sessions for the first album (Neil Young) before it became the title track of the second album, with Crazy Horse. He says the difference between the two versions shows the value of what Crazy Horse added to Neil's sound. It seems a fairly safe bet that the alternate version here is the earlier one from the Neil Young sessions. Now, you're asking, does anyone really need to read two 600-page Neil Young biographies? Yes.

My favourite tracks, for their historical value, are the 'radio spots' to promote the first three albums. The best one goes: "The album is called Everybody Knows this is Nowhere. You're someone if you dig Neil Young, 'cos he's somewhere, he's what's happening — Neil Young on Reprise Records."