Originally published in The Aquarian Weekly
January 7, 2009
Neil Young
Sugar Mountain: Live at
Canterbury House 1968
Reprise Records
How do you
interest the public
in purchasing
an upcoming ten
disc set of
Neil YoungÕs archival
material? One
good way to
market that
package would be
to whet the
appetite of the fans
with a taste
of vintage Young.
And so the
release of this solo
acoustic set,
recorded at a small
club in Ann
Arbor, from 1968.
This album is
so good that IÕm
already saving
my pennies for
the release of
Archive, which will
take place on
February 24. While
earlier
releases of live shows at
the Fillmore
East and Massey
Hall will
apparently be included
in the Archive
package, this gem
will not.
The recording
captures Neil
Young at a
time when he was just
out of the
Buffalo Springfield, and
on the verge
of releasing his first
solo album. He
uses the occasion
to reclaim a
number of the
Springfield
songs that he wrote,
and to unveil
songs that will
appear on the
upcoming Neil
Young album.
Interspersed
among the
beautifully sung and
played songs,
we are treated
to stories
that reflect an artist
who is still
wide-eyed and
innocent. At
first I thought that
YoungÕs
charming patter would
get old after
a couple of listens,
but thatÕs not
the case. Besides,
you can
program the spoken
portions out
if you so choose.
There was a
time in my life that
Neil YoungÕs
music was
everything to
me. Though I
continue to
enjoy his music, that
feeling faded
at some point in my
life. This
album serves to remind
me what I
loved about him in the
first place.
In A Word: Memorable
Grade: A
—by Ken Shane