Neil Young’s reactor album – a live performance analysis

1) Opera Star – 68 known performances. This classic garage rock anthem was a staple of, appropriately, the fall 1986 “Rusted Out Garage” tour, where the Horse were billed as the "3rd best garage band ever." Opera Star worked perfectly in this setting, becoming one of the highlights of the mammoth setlist for this tour. It's live debut came almost five years after its official release, a somewhat rare occurrence for Young who often performs live material in advance of recording it in the studio (in some cases this gap has been measured in decades!). Predictably retained in the setlist when a much scaled down version of the R.O.G. tour hit Europe the following spring. That was it, somewhat surprisingly, until an out of the blue one-off during the Summer 2001 European CH tour.

2) Surfer Joe & Moe the Sleaze – 10 known performances. Speaking of live debut lag times, this overlooked gem didn’t pop up until the beginning of the 1987 European CH tour, ultimately appearing 7 more times. Undoubtedly this song was known to very few of the attendees on this troubled tour and has since achieved cult status with some fans. Surfer Joe's legend never was heard from again, save for two stealth warm-up shows in late 1990 in preparation for the Winter 1991 Ragged Glory tour with CH. These warm-up shows are some of the most amazing CH shows ever: nearly 3 hours long, 20 songs, many of them epic length, and featuring the live debuts of "T-Bone" (discussed more below) and yet another lost classic, "Dangerbird" which laid dormant until 1996 when Neil & the Horse unleashed it on an unsuspecting world.

3) T-Bone – 2 known performances. One of Neil's strangest songs ever: a killer, massive guitar hook - which instantly sounds like about 20 other Neil songs - and an idiotic mantra of "got no mashed potatoes / ain’t got no t-bone" that goes on for 8 gloriously stupid minutes. Godfather of grunge, indeed. Played only at the 2 1990 warm-up shows mentioned previously, the second of which, at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz, was fortunately preserved for posterity by a savvy field recorder.

4) Get Back On It – no known live performances.

5) Southern Pacific – 106 known performances. A true classic, representing the intersection of 2 of Neil's greatest passions: music and trains. First appeared as a foot-stompin' IH hoedown, where it became an instant highlight. Appeared in every phase of the IH era, from the first club shows in the summer of 1984 to the large-scale outdoor gigs in late summer 1985. Went into hibernation for almost 14 years when it became one of the many stunners on the 1999 solo tour. The ’99 solo versions were exquisitely performed and emotionally powerful.

6) Motor City – 70 known performances. Another country flavored song that first appeared at the 1980 "Bread and Roses" festival. Regularly performed solo on the 1983 Shocking Pinks tour. Its pro-America themes resonated especially well during the height of the Reagan era so it wasn't terribly surprising to see it show up as an IH number, where it appeared often during 1984. Last known performances were during an interesting tour of Oceania in February/March 1985 with a hybrid band of CH and IH members.

7) Rapid Transit - no known live performances, although Neil diddled a bit on his guitar in response to a request at one of the amazing "secret" afternoon solo performances on the 1997 H.O.R.D.E. tour.

8) Shots - 10 known performances. Few NY songs have undergone a transformation like this one. Only known performances were during the legendary residency at the Boarding House in San Francisco in May 1978. Performing in front of 350 very lucky souls, these shows were all professionally recorded - the basic tracks of 3 songs from Rust Never Sleeps come from these shows. By the time Young got this to the studio 3 years later, it had become almost unrecognizable from the fragile solo acoustic versions, somehow mutating into the noisy blow-out that ends the album.

Review: Golden Smog - 7/27/02 - 400 Bar - Mpls, MN

Sometimes it is possible to go back in time...

Only the second Golden Smog show in the last 3-1/2 years, this was a "semi-stealth" gig, ostensibly a birthday party for Eva Mosey, a longtime scenester here in Mpls and a familiar face at many local gigs dating back some 20 years. Tweedy wasn't in the line-up although, interestingly, Wilco will be playing here on Tuesday. Who knows what might have happened if the Wilco tour schedule was slightly different. Tweedy's spirit was evoked during the encore when they did Roger Miller's "Dang Me" which was sung by Jeff in 95/96. The drumming was handled more than capably by the newest Golden Smogger, Peter Anderson, currently of Iffy and Kraig Johnson's The Program, and formerly of Polara. Peter is a _great_ drummer - suffice it to say he is a proud addition to the stellar line-up of Golden Smog drummers that has included the likes of Chris Mars, Noah Levy, Dave Pirner and Jody "Fucking" Stevens.

No keyboards were set-up and there was a minimum of instrument swapping. Marc Perlman and Kraig Johnson switched between bass and guitar a few times, but that was about it. There was an extremely rare Perlman lead vocal showcase when he stepped up to the mic with only a tambourine and belted out a cool, sexy "Love is the Drug." Standing right at the front of the stage it was funny to see all the girls swooning when Mr. Cool started shaking his moneymaker!

The setlist was nearly all covers, but still near-perfection IMO. Imagine one of those thrilling early 1996 Smog shows - minus the Tweedy contributions of course - and you'll have some idea of the vibe. It was like hopping in a time capsule and reliving a great tour that you thought was gone forever. The reliance on covers - including a number of ancient GS chestnuts - even evoked hazy but fond memories of those legendary pre-Tweedy Golden Smog shows when they really were a boozy, ad hoc side project, not a "real" band. Hell, 4 of the 5 songs from friggin' _On Golden Smog_ were played, which by itself almost guarantees that you're in for a memorable night.

Each main songwriter did one original song, otherwise it was jukebox flashback time. Highlights included an achingly beautiful "Backstreet Girl" (cue: much more female swooning) and a blistering reading of T. Rex's "Buick MacKane," one of my all-time fave GS covers. A potent "Signed D.C." was especially nice to hear given that we've got an Arthur Lee / Love show coming up next week. Guest star / honorary Smogger Jim Boquist, looking lean and dapper in his Merle Haggard t-shirt, did the vocal honors on a nice version of "Almost Cut My Hair," which was followed by a stomping "Revolution Blues," completing a memorable CSNY / NY 1-2 punch. "Johnny Riverside" (aka Bill Sullivan, 400 Bar owner / honorary Smogger) ripped thru "Cowboy Song," which ended with a very authentic Thin Lizzy-style twin guitar rave-up featuring Gary and Danny.
Photo-op of the night: for the encore Kraigy came out with a white t-shirt that said (front) "Who the fuck is Gary Louris?" and (back) "Really...who the fuck is Gary Louris?"

The crowd was surprisingly modest considering the momentous occasion (and $5 cover). I guess this show was further off the radar screen than I thought.

It all went down something like this:
Easy To Be Hard
Son
Glad and Sorry
Signed D.C.
Guitar Man
Ill Fated
Fooled Around and Fell in Love
Looking Forward to Seeing You
Photograph
Backstreet Girl
Love is the Drug (Marc Perlman - lead vocals)
You're So Vain
I Don't Care
Cowboy Song (Bill Sullivan - lead vocals)
Buick MacKane
Almost Cut My Hair (Jim Boquist - lead vocals)
Revolution Blues
ENCORE
Spooky
Until You Came Along
Dang Me