Zharth's Music Log
Week 37: Arc Celebration
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Preface: Once upon a time, a community of Neil Young fans named Rusties redesignated April 1 "Arc Day", in celebration of the 35 minute electric feedback experiment that Neil Young released along with the heavy live album Weld in 1991. Ever since, Neil Young fans have spent April 1 blaring Arc loud and proud, to the detriment of neighbors everywhere. This week we'll join in the festivities by exploring some great live tracks from Neil's career, in addition to Arc itself.
Monday (3/31/08): Last Dance [Time Fades Away, 1973]
Comments: "Wake up, it's a Monday morning!" Time Fades Away is one of those curious live-albums-of-all-new-material-that-doesn't-exist-in-studio-recorded-form. And despite the performances sounding pretty raw, they are very powerful, and it's a shame that this album is still yet to be officially released on CD.
Tuesday (4/01/08): Arc [Arc, 1991]
Comments: Here it is, folks. Play it loud, play it proud. And remember, there's no such thing as "turning it down".
Wednesday (4/02/08): Cowgirl In The Sand [Live At The Fillmore East, 1970]
Comments: This song remains one of my favorite rock songs of all time. It puts you in a trance, but the energy behind the jamming is so powerful. The way it continues on and on, with seemingly no end - it's beautiful in its distress. Here we hear an amazing live version from the early days, when the song was still fresh, with Crazy Horse's original guitarist, Danny Whitten, backing up Neil's feverish intensity.
Thursday (4/03/08): Words [Journey Through The Past, 1972]
Comments: From the unreleased Journey Through The Past soundtrack, here is what seems to be a preliminary take on the epic song that, in my own personal opinion, lifts the overrated album Harvest from an acoustic bore-fest to something interesting. This is a fascinating track if you already know the Harvest version of the song.
Friday (4/04/08): Like A Hurricane [Weld, 1991]
Comments: Here's another one of Neil Young's greatest rock epics, which is just as good live as it was in the studio. When I got the chance to see Neil Young live on the Greendale tour, I was disappointed that he didn't play this song, because before the show, I saw the winged keyboard they use on this song hanging in the rafters. But they never used it. That's okay, though, it was still an amazing show.
Saturday (4/05/08): Love To Burn [Way Down In The Rust Bucket, recorded 1990]
Comments: Neil Young introduced two excellent new jams - Love To Burn, and Love And Only Love - on his 1990 album with Crazy Horse, Ragged Glory, as well as the subsequent tour and live album, Weld (which birthed Arc). Here we have the former of those two jams in an extended version. Enjoy!
Sunday (4/06/08): Danger Bird [Year of the Horse, 1997]
Comments: Speaking of the Greendale tour, this track comes from a late (almost one year late) Greendale show that I acquired on DVD at an acclaimed bootleg* shop in Tokyo (yes, in Japan). This track is from the "antiques" set following the Greendale performance, and is an awesome overlooked gem from Zuma - a Crazy Horse album from the '70s that, aside from the track Cortez The Killer, is largely overlooked.
*As of 2024, I'm adding playlists to these old themes, and in the interest of accessibility, I'm replacing some of the bootlegs I originally shared this week with comparable tracks from officially released albums. This version of Danger Bird comes from Crazy Horse's underrated late '90s tour in support of the album Broken Arrow.