I held out for quite a while before buying this album, on the grounds that I owned its most celebrated tracks, Cinnamon Girl, Down by the River and Cowgirl in the Sand on the Decade collection. I've known those songs so long now, and heard them so many times, that it's hard to bring anything fresh to them as a listener. Which is another way of saying they feel worn out to me — the original recordings anyway, since live performances always bring something new to the jams. But I turned up the volume yesterday afternoon, focused hard, and re-found some of the things that make them special. The "hooooo!" at 2 mins 10 secs into Cinnamon Girl is one such, but mainly it's just how Neil and Crazy Horse manage to keep a foot in two apparently quite different camps: the straightforward 4/4 lead-rhythm-bass-drums rawk form, and the giddy, almost atonal soloing, as though channelling Coltrane or Ayler.
The rest is a mixed bag. The title track I can take or leave, and The Losing End is hokum. Running Dry (Requiem for the Rockets) is the unique treasure of this album, and a real 1969 period piece. Neil's vocal is otherworldly, even by his standards (Jimmy McDonough in Shakey
says it was "most likely Young's first live studio vocal with a band"), and the see-sawing, scraping fiddle is fab. It's also extra poignant because it's by the member of The Rockets who got left behind when Neil annexed the band and rechristened it Crazy Horse.
The dog in the picture on the cover was called Winnipeg. I know people who know that without having to look it up. Indeed I've won quiz prizes by being on their team.
MusicBrainz entry for this album
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