Spring Break
Neil Young's Sugar Mountain showcases rough, intimate tracks
Joshua Aromin
Issue date: 2/10/09 Section: Entertainment
02/10/10 - Canada has quietly given us things like Canadian bacon and Mounties, but has also given us people like Michael Cera, Neil Young, and even Tommy Chong among others.
Michael Cera is young. Neil Young is not. That's a given. But regardless of his old age, Young is a distinguished figure in music history, and once upon a time, he too was young.
40 years ago, Young played a small-sounding informal show at the Canterbury House in Ann Arbor, Mich. The album, Sugar Mountain - Live at Canterbury House 1968 isn't a golden treasure of Young lore nor is it a must-have, but it's still a pretty solid showing of what Young is all about.
In more recent times, Young can be found sponsoring and helping with work on building a car that can get 100 miles per gallon, but he's still considered to be one of the greatest performers to exist.
Sugar Mountain is not Young's best work by any means, but the album itself is a compilation of some classic songs and features Young telling stories to the audience. While his song choice was limited at the time, a sense of raw musicianship and artistry was captured.
The silence of the crowd while Young performs creates an eerie loneliness that portrays an image of Young by himself on stage with an assortment of different guitars.
While it sounds like Young is just playing for himself, he incorporates a personal camaraderie with the crowd that makes it seem like he's performing for a group of friends.
He tells offbeat stories between songs and acknowledges how he never goes into a show with a set plan for what he's going to perform. Young mentions his work at a bookstore before performing regularly and talks about his experiences with "pills."
Young also warns the audience about the importance of playing in tune and also gets into some technicalities of music by explaining what the D modal scale is.
Though the song choices aren't necessarily the best, Young's sound is great. It's hard to imagine that a man with such a rough and grisly looking face could project such a soft-sounding voice. And today, though 40 years have passed, his voice still sounds the same.
The sound-quality isn't flawless, but considering it's a 40-year-old recording, it's great. However, the set list performed by Young someone detracts from the value of the album as a whole. At times, Young spends too much time talking to the crowd instead of actually performing.
Live at Massey Hall 1971 is a more complete live sampling of Young's work. It's superior to Sugar Mountain in both aspects of sound quality and overall performance. Recorded three years earlier than Massey Hall, Sugar Mountain features an unrefined Neil Young that occasionally sounds uncomfortable playing solo.
Overall, Sugar Mountain should simply be a purchase for established Neil Young fans. For those trying to be introduced to the old man from Canada, Live at Massey Hall 1971 is definitely the way to go.
Michael Cera is young. Neil Young is not. That's a given. But regardless of his old age, Young is a distinguished figure in music history, and once upon a time, he too was young.
40 years ago, Young played a small-sounding informal show at the Canterbury House in Ann Arbor, Mich. The album, Sugar Mountain - Live at Canterbury House 1968 isn't a golden treasure of Young lore nor is it a must-have, but it's still a pretty solid showing of what Young is all about.
In more recent times, Young can be found sponsoring and helping with work on building a car that can get 100 miles per gallon, but he's still considered to be one of the greatest performers to exist.
Sugar Mountain is not Young's best work by any means, but the album itself is a compilation of some classic songs and features Young telling stories to the audience. While his song choice was limited at the time, a sense of raw musicianship and artistry was captured.
The silence of the crowd while Young performs creates an eerie loneliness that portrays an image of Young by himself on stage with an assortment of different guitars.
While it sounds like Young is just playing for himself, he incorporates a personal camaraderie with the crowd that makes it seem like he's performing for a group of friends.
He tells offbeat stories between songs and acknowledges how he never goes into a show with a set plan for what he's going to perform. Young mentions his work at a bookstore before performing regularly and talks about his experiences with "pills."
Young also warns the audience about the importance of playing in tune and also gets into some technicalities of music by explaining what the D modal scale is.
Though the song choices aren't necessarily the best, Young's sound is great. It's hard to imagine that a man with such a rough and grisly looking face could project such a soft-sounding voice. And today, though 40 years have passed, his voice still sounds the same.
The sound-quality isn't flawless, but considering it's a 40-year-old recording, it's great. However, the set list performed by Young someone detracts from the value of the album as a whole. At times, Young spends too much time talking to the crowd instead of actually performing.
Live at Massey Hall 1971 is a more complete live sampling of Young's work. It's superior to Sugar Mountain in both aspects of sound quality and overall performance. Recorded three years earlier than Massey Hall, Sugar Mountain features an unrefined Neil Young that occasionally sounds uncomfortable playing solo.
Overall, Sugar Mountain should simply be a purchase for established Neil Young fans. For those trying to be introduced to the old man from Canada, Live at Massey Hall 1971 is definitely the way to go.
