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.
Sunday, December 15, 2002
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
