apologies for P/P2 cross-posting, but I know there are some people out
there who will be interested in this - from sonic net newsflash
Stevie
Neil Young Plans Acoustic
Tour, New Album, Box Set
Folk-rock legend begins solo outing March 3
in Vancouver, preps new album and
multi-CD career retrospective.
The next year in Neil Young's life is shaping up to be
an
unusually prolific period in a career that has spanned
decades
and musical genres.
In addition to a series of live performances by the
iconoclastic
singer/songwriter, there will be an album of new
material and
the first installment of a multi-CD career
retrospective.
Young will kick off a solo acoustic tour March 3 with a
show at
Queen Elizabeth Hall in Vancouver, Canada. The
month-long
string of U.S. West Coast and Canadian dates is being
billed
as "An Evening With Neil Young," according to Elliot
Roberts,
the folk-rocker's long-time manager.
"It will be a mix of some new stuff and older
material," Roberts
said of the tour, which will feature dates in Seattle,
Wash., as
well as Portland, Spokane and Eugene, Ore.
Young also recently re-entered his Northern California
home studio to lay down additional
tracks for his 29th studio LP. The album is currently
untitled and without an official release
date, but Young is expected to debut songs from the
project during his upcoming tour.
Originally due March 23, the new album is on hold until
Young completes work on two new
tracks. Among those who have contributed to the
recording are: bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn,
pedal-steel guitarist/producer Ben Keith, star session
drummer Jim Keltner and
keyboardist/songwriter Spooner Oldham.
Additionally, Young continues work on the first
installment of his long-rumored
career-retrospective box set, according to Warner
Bros./Reprise Records spokesperson Bob
Merlis. "It's not currently scheduled, but we hope to
have it out later this year," Merlis said.
Although Roberts said he couldn't confirm the set will
feature eight CDs, he said that number
was probably accurate. The set is slated to cover
Young's career -- from his work with his
teen-age band the Squires, through his early '60s
group, the Mynah Birds (which also featured
funk-pop idol Rick James), until the end of his stint
with the influential Los Angeles-based
folk-rock band Buffalo Springfield in 1968.
Included among that material will be three CDs of live
material that Roberts said featured
"staggering" performances from the early stages of
Young's solo career. "These are shows
that defined Neil as an artist," Roberts said.
The earliest live disc in the set is from Young's first
appearance at the small Toronto club, The
Riverboat, from the late '60s. That show in Young's
hometown was one of his first live gigs
following his departure from Buffalo Springfield.
The other two performances are from the early '70s,
Roberts said. The second live disc
features a show at the Hammersmith Odeon in London,
England, with Young's hard-rocking
backup band Crazy Horse. The third live CD is from an
appearance at the Massey Hall in
Toronto, recorded just before Young released his
landmark 1972 album Harvest, which
features such classic rock ballads as "Heart of Gold"
(RealAudio excerpt of studio version)
and "Old Man." The show also found Young previewing
material from his 1973 follow-up to
Harvest, Time Fades Away.
"[The third live disc] has all the songs for his next
two [studio] albums in their original form,"
Roberts said, "and the performances are just
staggering." Roberts said Young is hoping to
release the entire set in October.
Young's solo acoustic tour is scheduled through the end
of March, with a date at the
Sacramento, Calif., Opera Hall on March 17 and two
shows at the Pantages Theater in Los
Angeles on March 22 and 23.
-- Gil Kaufman
