Neil Young - "Too Far Gone"

Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts, Richmond VA, 2025-08-10

Just over a month ago, Terry, Drew, Bill, Bill's son, and I went to see Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts at the new Allianz Amphitheater in Richmond. As much as I'm a big fan of his, this was the first time I had seen Neil Young.  I would have preferred to have seen him with Crazy Horse, but with Frank Sampedro now retired and Nils Lofgren currently out, I'm not sure it would have really been the same.  The Chrome Hearts played well enough, so I can't really complain. 

With someone like Neil Young, whose discography spans almost 60 years, choosing which songs to play, and not play, is always an issue.  His setlist in Richmond was good, and contained many of my favorites ("Cowgirl in the Sand", "Fuckin' Up", "Southern Man", "Like a Hurricane") and none of my least favorite  songs (e.g., "When You Dance I Can Really Love").  When I returned home, Danette asked an interesting question: "What song do you wish he had played?"  I've thought about it, and there were several candidates: "Over and Over", "Words", "Barstool Blues", "Down by the River", etc.  All great songs, to be sure, but I've finally decided that I would have liked to have heard "Too Far Gone".  

Apparently performed frequently in concert starting in 1976, a studio version did not appear until 1989's excellent "Freedom".  It's a song that I played often in college, since bittersweet, poignant, and captures the essence of a situationship that I first hinted at in my review of "American Weekend".  

"Too Far Gone": studio version, MTV Unplugged 1989* 

We had to sit in the mulch & bushes since the lawn was completely filled.

Terry can fall asleep anywhere, anytime. 

* I remember seeing this on TV in either 1990 or 1991. I thought it was on SNL, but I've just been able to verify that it was on MTV Unplugged. 

Bob Mould - "Workbook" (LP Review)

We're nearing the end of Pride Month and the LP I'm choosing to mark this year's with Bob Mould's first solo LP, 1989's "Workbook".  I haven't listened to this LP in I'm not sure how many years, but I was  recently reminded of it when Bonnie was showing me something on her phone (some kind of photo collage function or something) and the built-in sound effect was the instrumental "Sunspots", the first song on this LP.

I was a huge Husker Du fan in college, but they broke up in 1988, not long after I learned of them.  I purchased his second LP, 1990's "Black Sheets of Rain", while I was still in Blacksburg, but it wasn't until the mid 90s that I bought his debut LP at Plan 9 Records in Richmond.  Conventional wisdom is that "Workbook" is almost folk, whereas "Black Sheets of Rain" was a return to the heavier sound of Husker Du.  As I listen to "Workbook" in 2020, I think the lighter, folk influence, while present, is over emphasized.  Yes, there's a cello and acoustic guitar, but this is still a heavy, angry LP.   It might not be as good as SST Husker Du, but it's arguably better than Warner Brothers Husker Du.

Even though I have it on CD, the first five songs (presumably, side 1 of the LP) are extraordinary, but the second half of the LP is less distinguished.  There are no bad songs on the LP, but it just doesn't close as strongly as it opens: "Sunspots" (a simple yet beautiful instrumental), "Wishing Well" (great riff, solo), "Heartbreak a Stranger" (perhaps my personal favorite on this LP?), "See a Little Light" (pure pop magic), and "Poison Years" (his diss track for Grant Hart).

So what's the connection to Pride Month?  It's now well-known that Bob Mould is gay, but I probably did not know this until the mid or even late 90s.  His homosexuality is not necessarrily part of his musical identity, but I bring this up as an example of how things have changed about how much we know about the artists we follow (as well as our changing attitudes regarding sexuality: I can understand why a gay man in a punk/metal band in the 80s did not want to be out).  In the 80s and into the 90s, if friends introduced me to the music and I liked it, I bought the LPs.  I never really spent much time with Rolling Stone, Spin, or other music magazines, so when Spin effectively outed him in 1994, I missed it.  Now, with Wikipedia, social media, etc., for better or worse, the distance is reduced between artists and their artistic output.  Today, I know more about the personal details of artists I don't like than I knew in the 80s about artists I loved.

I have only a fraction of his considerable post-Husker Du discography, but rediscovering "Workbook" has been a joyful experience for me.  If you're not familiar with it, you should check it out.

Standout tracks: "Sunspots", "Wishing Well", "Heartbreak a Stranger", "See a Little Light", "Poison Years", "Compositions for Young and Old", "Dreaming I Am", "Whichever Way the Wind Blows"

Skip 'em tracks: none

Final score: 8/10

Galaxie 500 - "Rain" (the song remains the same)

The last release from Galaxie 500 before they broke up was the single "Rain",  recorded live in 1989 at NYC's iconic CBGB and then released in 1990.  Galaxie 500's choice of covers were always impeccable (see my review of their "Peel Sessions" LP), and their version of "Rain" is no different.  "Rain" is probably the most famous B-side (the A-side was "Paperback Writer") from The Beatles canon, and was recorded during the "Revolver" sessions (the non-LP single came out a few months before "Revolver" was released).  With backwards vocals at the end of the track, "Rain" nicely captures the band in transition from their earlier jangle pop to their later psychedelic sound.  They also recorded three different "promotional films" for this song (what we now call "music videos") -- quite an investment for a B-side. 

Galaxie 500 successfully captures the essence of the original, albeit with a heavier sound courtesy of the live recording.  Their original 7" single was limited to 500 copies and featured "Rain" as the A-side and the B-side featured a live version of "Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste", the Jonathan Richmond/Modern Lovers cover from their first LP.  Given the rarity of this single, you're more likely to have heard the concatenated version from the posthumously released LP "Uncollected".  Unfortunately, I'm not aware of a studio recording of "Rain" by Galaxie 500.

Galaxie 500: "Rain / Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste"(mp3)

The Beatles: "Rain" -- video 1, video 2, video 3 (link suggestions welcome)


N.B.   I've been meaning to feature this song for a while, but the rainy start to our time at Ocean Isle Beach, NC has made this especially appropriate.  A rainy day at the beach still beats a sunny day at work...

I can show you
That when it starts to rain
Everything's the same
I can show you
I can show you

Rain, I don't mind
Shine, the weather's fine

Stevie Wonder - "Higher Ground" (forgotten song)

The Super Bowl was last weekend, and the half time show was Bruno Mars with The Red Hot Chili Peppers guesting.  Bruno Mars did a fine job, but...  he's not really my thing.  I doubt Bruno is losing any sleep over this since, being old enough to rent a car,  I'm not his target demographic.  I also suppose that's why the Chili Peppers were brought in for a guest spot.

Sadly, they only did one song, "Give It Away", and while that is certainly their most popular song, I was hoping that Stevie Wonder would be a surprise guest...

When I recently said that "Singles -- 45s and Under" was standard issue in college, well the Chili Pepper's 1989 LP "Mother's Milk" might have been #2 on the list.  The first single from that LP, and the song that really made them popular, was a cover of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground", which first appeared on his 1973 LP "Innervisions". 

And even if Stevie couldn't make the Super Bowl (note that he's been at the recent Grammys and the Beatle's Tribute concert), including Stevie Wonder via a cover would have better united Bruno Mars and the Chili Peppers.  In summary, not a bad half time show (although ending on a ballad was anti-climatic) but omitting "Higher Ground" felt like a missed opportunity. 

Stevie Wonder - "Higher Ground", live 1974
Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Higher Ground"


P.S.  Flea has admitted that, like the Broncos, they didn't really play.

Galaxie 500 - "Peel Sessions" (LP Review)

I think I've run out of words to describe how much I love Galaxie 500, the hazy, dreamy, nearly-shoegazing Boston band whose existence completely overlapped with my college years (1987-1991).   Unfortunately, this short career left us with only three studio LPs and a posthumously extended discography, most of which I would recommend only to hard-core fans such as myself. 

But that's not true for the 2005 LP "Peel Sessions", which collects two, four song sessions from 1989 and 1990 for the legendary BBC Radio 1 show by John Peel.  This live-in-the-studio LP has excellent sound quality (unlike the live LP "Copenhagen"), offers three "new" cover songs not available on other LPs, and subtly different arrangements of some of their classic songs.  I don't think these sessions were available previous to be released in 2005.  Peel Sessions are an interesting format: you have four songs (or about ~20 minutes) to showcase yourself, and this limited amount of time forces you to economically pick representative songs.  On the other hand, if you just do your "greatest hits" then haven't offered the audience something new.  Galaxie 500 understood this: notice how their quintessential song, "Tugboat", does not appear?

The real highlight here are the three "new" songs.  Galaxie 500 always had a tradition of showing how smart they were with their meticulous selection of covers.  Of course their standard Jonathan Richmond cover "Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste" is present (I think few would argue that Galaxie 500 now owns this song, not Richmond), but they also turn in inspired interpretations of "Submission" (Sex Pistols), "Final Day" (Young Marble Giants), and "Moonshot" (Buffy Sainte-Marie).  Sure you've heard of the Pistols, but "Submission" is an inspired choice; YMG was influential but not famous, and ask your hippie parents about BSM (the Pistols *and* Buffy Sainte-Marie?!  genius.).

I'm going to break with the standard LP review format and just list all eight tracks and claim them all as "standouts" (and obviously there are no tracks to skip).  The first four are from the October 1990 session and the last four are from the September 1989 session:

1. Submission
2. Final Day
3. When Will You Come Home
4. Moonshot
5. Flowers
6. Blue Thunder
7. Decomposing Trees
8. Don't Let Our Youth Go to Waste

Bonus links to the original versions:

• Sex Pistols: Submission
• Young Marble Giants: Final Day
• Buffy Sainte-Marie: Moonshot
• Jonathan Richmond & the Modern Lovers: Don't Let Our Youth Go to Waste

Final score: 9/10.  While there are only three "new" songs, this is an LP I can easily recommend to those not already familiar with Galaxie 500. 

Julee Cruise - "Floating Into the Night" (LP Review)

To most people, Julee Cruise will remind them of the TV series "Twin Peaks", but I didn't watch much TV in college when the series was on. But this music does remind me of my senior year of college, when I and my roommates Terry, Jason, and Frey would stay up all hours of the night drinking beer and playing Hearts and Spades. It didn't do much for our studies, but we became expert at shooting the moon and going under with almost any hand. Of course we'd listen to music as we played, and this LP was a constant favorite for all four of us. Individually we all had substantial CD collections and together we had maybe 15 linear feet of CDs, which was quite a lot at the time. I'm not sure who had this CD (Jason?), but I quickly purchased my copy after moving out.

Simply put, "Floating Into the Night" is one of the best LPs of all time, featuring the perfect collaboration between Julee Cruise (vocals), Angelo Badalamenti (composer), and David Lynch (lyricist). Badalamenti has composed many soundtracks for Lynch, and the collaboration with Cruise actually began with the song "Mysteries of Love" for the film "Blue Velvet". That song lead to them recording a full LP's worth of songs, culminating in the 1989 release of "Floating Into the Night", prior to the release of Twin Peaks (90-91).

If you're familiar with Lynch's films, you know that they are surreal, dream-like, and often deal with dark, disturbing themes and images. Badalamenti's dream/lounge arrangements perfectly complement Lynch's imagery but the real surprise is Lynch's lyrics, which depict scenes which are best described as bittersweet, bucolic, Rockwellian, nostalgic, and child-like. The lyrics juxtaposed with the foreboding soundscapes makes the entire experience that much more powerful. Consider the closing lyrics to "Rocking Back Inside My Heart":

Do you remember our picnic lunch?
We both went up to the lake
And then we walked among the pines
The birds sang out a song for us
We had a fire when we came back
And your smile was beautiful
You touched my cheek and you kissed me
At night we went for a stroll
The wind blew our hair
The fire made us warm
The wind blew the waves
Out on the lake
We heard the owl in a nearby tree.
I thought our love would last forever.

Simple enough, but when combined with the music they become quite unsettling in an unexpected way.

With the possible exception of "Swans", all the songs on this LP are perfect, memorable, and distinct: the horn riff on "Floating", the bass on "Falling", the 50s-era "shu bops" at the end of "I Remember", the swing sound of "Rockin' Back Inside My Heart", sweeping sounds of "Mysteries of Love", the musical surprise at ~3:28 of "Into the Night", the horns of "I Float Alone", the vocals of "The Nightingale", the solemnity of "The World Spins". "Swans" is not bad, but at 2:33 it does not add much to the LP.

Cruise, Badalamenti, and Lynch would all work together again on 1993's "The Voice of Love", and while that is not a bad LP it does not come close to capturing the magic of "Floating Into The Night". Danette says I'm too generous with my perfect scores, but this LP clearly deserves it. Whether it is evokes late nights playing cards, Twin Peaks, or simply nostalgia viewed through the twisted prism of David Lynch, once you've listened to it this LP is not easily forgotten.

Standout songs: "Floating", "Falling", "I Remember", "Rockin' Back Inside My Heart" (live), "Mysteries of Love", "Into the Night", "I Float Alone", "The Nightingale", "The World Spins" (live).

Skip 'em songs: none.

Final score: 10/10.

Bonus links: Entire LP.  Some of the live versions are from the concert film "Industrial Sympony No. 1".

Galaxie 500 - "On Fire" (LP Review)

As I said on my review of "Today", Galaxie 500 "sounds like college" to me, even though I did not learn of them until nearly 10 years later. If there is ever a movie made of that time of my life, songs like "Blue Thunder" or "Snowstorm" should serve as the soundtrack.

"On Fire", Galaxie 500's second LP, is considered by many to be their finest LP. As I said before, I might give that nod to "Today" because it was first, but one could certainly make an argument for "On Fire". "On Fire" continues the sound and concepts introduced with "Today", but with some small advancements such as expanding their minimalist arrangements with additional instruments on some of the songs, as well as bassist Naomi Yang singing on "Another Day".

I would say the quality of the songs of "On Fire" is a little more variable: the best songs are better than anything on "Today", but there are a few songs that while not bad, are also not quite as magical as the others. Every song on "Today" is a gem, but even though none of the songs on "On Fire" are bad, they're not all gems either.

However, the first five songs of "On Fire" is without a doubt their best five song sequence (that's "side 1" if you're rocking the vinyl):

1. "Blue Thunder"
2. "Tell Me"
3. "Snowstorm"
4. "Strange"
5. "When Will You Come Home"

Each is a tour de force, but since "When Will You Come Home" is very similar to "Tugboat" (their first single) thematically and structurally, it deserves special attention:

When, when will you come home?
Watching TV all alone
Watching Kojak on my own
Staring at the wall
And waiting for your call
When, when will you come home?

This is clearly by/for the same person as "Tugboat"...

Past side 1, only "Another Day" and the cover of the George Harrison song "Isn't it a Pity" achieve the same level as the first five, the latter being the closing song on the original release. Fortunately the Rykodisc reissue of "On Fire" includes three excellent bonus songs from the 1990 "Blue Thunder" 12": "Victory Garden", "Ceremony" and "Cold Night". "Cold Night" is a Galaxie 500 original, while the other two are covers: "Victory Garden" is a cover of a Red Krayola song and "Ceremony" is a cover of the Joy Division / New Order song which I have already reviewed.

Standout songs: "Blue Thunder", "Tell Me", "Snowstorm", "Strange", "When Will You Come Home", "Another Day", "Isn't it a Pity", "Ceremony", "Cold Night". (Many of the previous links are live versions; find all the studio LP versions on Grooveshark.)

Skip 'em songs: none.

Final score: 10/10. The original 10 song release would have merited a 9/10, but the three excellent bonus songs push it to a 10/10.

(Various) - "The Bridge: A Tribute to Neil Young" (LP Review )

This review goes out to Daryl, a HS/college friend that turned me on to this LP as well as various others by Neil Young, Bob Dylan and similar artists. "The Bridge: A Tribute to Neil Young" is a 1989 tribute LP released on Caroline Records featuring various artists (mostly 80s college / alternative rock) covering songs originally by Neil Young. The LP supported The Bridge School, which teaches communication skills to children with severe impairments. The Bridge School was co-founded by Neil's wife, Pegi: their two sons have cerebral palsy and their daughter has epilepsy. See also the concert benefit series the "Bridge School Benefit". Neil has said that the prominent use of a vocoder on the commercially unsuccessful "Trans" LP in 1982 was inspired by his efforts to communicate with his son.

As I explained in an earlier review I really like covers, so naturally I like tribute LPs. The only problem with tribute LPs is they often have wildly uneven quality. Some of the artists and/or song choices really work and some don't. While Neil Young's canon is hard to reduce to 15 songs, the only song that is arguably missing is "Heart of Gold " from 1972's "Harvest" . "Heart of Gold" is too popular, and there seems to be an unwritten rule on tribute LPs that nobody wants to cover the artist's most popular song (presumably choosing a more obscure song to cover demonstrates your depth of knowledge).

Lifting the track listing straight from Wikipedia:

1. "Barstool Blues" – Soul Asylum – 2:51
   
2. "Don't Let It Bring You Down" – Victoria Williams – 2:53
   
3. "After the Gold Rush" – The Flaming Lips – 4:14
   
4. "Captain Kennedy" – Nikki Sudden – 4:01
   
5. "Cinnamon Girl" – Loop – 2:50
   
6. "Helpless" – Nick Cave – 4:32
   
7. "Mr. Soul" – Bongwater – 3:30
   
8. "Winterlong" – Pixies – 3:11
   
9. "Computer Age" – Sonic Youth – 5:13
   
10. "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" – Psychic TV – 6:08
    
11. "Lotta Love" – Dinosaur Jr. – 2:41
    
12. "The Needle and the Damage Done"/"Tonight's The Night" – Henry Kaiser – 5:54
    
13. "My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)" by B.A.L.L. – 2:16
    
14. "Words (Between The Lines Of Ages)" by Henry Kaiser – 6:19
    

Tracks 13 and 14 were bonus, CD-only tracks. Listening to them, it is clear why they did not make the cut for the vinyl or tape version of the LP. The LP would have been stronger without track 12 as well: Henry Kaiser's medley of "The Needle and the Damage Done" and "Tonight's the Night". But the worst offender is Victoria Williams providing the guest vocals on "Words", who transforms probably my favorite song from "Harvest" into a shrill, unlistenable wreck of a song. Her version of "Don't Let it Bring You Down" is not very good, but on "Words" she is just terrible.

But the LP provides some truly sublime covers as well, some that arguably transcend the originals. Soul Asylum's version of "Barstool Blues" is up-tempo and brassy and it captures a type of franticness and desperation missing from Zuma's more honky-tonk version. The Pixies do an incredible version of "Winterlong" (released only on the compilation triple LP "Decade"). But Sonic Youth's version of "Computer Age" is the gem of the collection. Sonic Youth has the ability in their cover songs to both honor the original version and at the same time completely make the song their own (cf. their transformation of the protagonist from helpless victim to stalker in "Superstar" on The Carpenters tribute LP "If I Were a Carpenter"). "Computer Age" was released on the above-mentioned "Trans" LP and Sonic Youth reconstructed it from a puzzling vocoder/disco version it into an amazing song. I'm a pretty big fan of Sonic Youth, but I'd also love to see them do a covers LP like Yo La Tengo's "Fakebook".

While the above three songs are probably my favorite on the LP, Bongwater, Nick Cave, Psychic TV and Dinosaur Jr. all do enjoyable versions of their songs as well (note: Dinosaur Jr. went to great lengths to ensure their version of "Lotta Love" sounds nothing like the Nicolette Larson version).

Standout tracks: "Barstool Blues", "Winterlong", "Computer Age", "Helpless", "Mr. Soul", "Only Love Can Break Your Heart", "Lotta Love" (Not many canonical versions since this LP is not well represented online; I welcome suggestions for additional links).

Skip 'em tracks: "The Needle and the Damage Done"/"Tonight's the Night", "My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)", "Words (Between the Lines of Age)"

Final Score: 8/10. This might be the best start-to-finish tribute LP in my collection.