Record Details - RecordDB

Record ID 2106

Artist Neil Young

Title Live At Canterbury House 1968

Field / Genre Acoustic

Year Recorded 1968

Label Reprise

Pressing Aus

Rating ****

Discs 1

Media CD/DVD

Date Bought 4 Mar 2011

Cost ¤14.00

Cover Name —

Review Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968 the third installment from Neil Young's Archives -- although through some weird filing system this is Vol. 00, possibly because this dates before either of the previously released volumes in Archives Performance Series -- culls highlights from Neil Young's two shows at Canterbury House in Ann Arbor, MI on November 9 and 10, 1968. Like its two predecessors in the Archives series, the concerts captured on Sugar Mountain are legendary among Neil Young collectors, in this case because of the gentle, tentative version of the title track that showed up on Decade -- prior to this, the only official release from the concert. At first glance, Sugar Mountain might seem similar to Live at Massey Hall 1971, as they're both solo acoustic sets, but the tenor of the two shows is quite different. Massey Hall captured Neil in full flight, just before the release of Harvest, whereas the concerts on Sugar Mountain were just a month or two shy of the release of his first solo album. He had hits with Buffalo Springfield -- much of the set list leans heavily on Springfield songs, such as "Mr. Soul," "Expecting to Fly," "Birds," "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing," and "Broken Arrow" -- but he had yet to prove himself as a solo artist, so the endearing tentative quality of his performances shouldn't come as a surprise, and yet it does: Young's reputation as a steely renegade often suggests that he never second-guesses his moves. Neil doesn't second-guess here but he is fragile and human, telling stories (sometimes at considerable length) before sliding into these delicate songs, wryly lamenting that he should have some happy songs to sing before testing out the melody for "Winterlong," stopping short because the song isn't quite written yet. It's a marvelously intimate performance, unguarded and open-hearted, unique in its delicate touch: it's Neil Young before the myth crystallized, and listening to it anew, it's easy to fall in love with him all over again.— Stephen Thomas Erlewine<hr/>Neil Young has always sounded simultaneously young and old. His creaky voice conveys innocence, but it also feels wise and nostalgic, as if its fault lines developed over centuries. That's why, in his mid-twenties, Young could get away with singing that he was a lot like an old man—it sure sounded like the truth. On most of Young's recordings, the balance between age and youth skews toward the former. He experienced so much so early—reaching success at age 21 with Buffalo Springfield, then quickly launching a prolific solo career—that wisdom was branded on him immediately. By the time people even knew who Young was, he sounded more like a wily veteran than a green youngster.Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968 offers a chance to hear Young with the scales tipped the other direction. It's taken from his first two post-Buffalo Springfield solo acoustic concerts, performed in a ministry on the University of Michigan campus. Unheard until now, these shows have gained legend due to one song from them, "Sugar Mountain", popping up on B-sides and the Decade compilation. Made just weeks before the release of his self-titled debut and only a few days short of his 23rd birthday, this recording reveals an eager, nervous version of Young—a version that existed briefly, soon gone in the flash of his subsequent solo success.Not that he was uncomfortable on stage. Young had played to bigger crowds as part of Buffalo Springfield, whose success he gently mocks in between songs, scoffing at their huge amps and, as he puts it, "ra-ta-ta-ta" stage act. But he had yet to prove himself alone, and the weight of a public solo debut adds a little more quiver to his voice, a little more self-deprecation to his rambling stories.In fact, Young was reportedly terrified, in part because he feared he didn't have enough material to sustain a full performance. Of the 13 songs included here, nearly half were previously recorded with Buffalo Springfield. To compensate, Young fills each gap with jittery, candid banter. "Nothing I say up here is a lie," he claims with a stutter. "I never ever have told a lie onstage." His true stories are consistently endearing, covering everything from taking "diet pills" to get through his previous life as a bookstore clerk, to writing Buffalo Springfield songs while stuck at a diner at 4 a.m., to learning what residuals are and buying a classic car with them.The songs on Sugar Mountain are delivered with similar earnestness and vulnerability. After an introducer admits that the audience is larger than expected, Young offers a fragile version of "On the Way Home", his timid chords and cracking voice besting the speedier version found on the final Buffalo Springfield album, Last Time Around. Later, he sings "The Loner" in a bashful near-whisper, and the delicate guitar of "If I Could Have Her Tonight" alternates between approach and retreat. As things progress, Young's confidence grows, culminating in the "The Old Laughing Lady", which hits a rushing peak of forceful strums.Musically, Sugar Mountain isn't Young's best live solo album. On that count, it's outshined by another recent archival release, the Massey Hall performance that happened three years later, and sounds much bolder and wider-ranging. But as a portrait of this ageless artist as a truly young man, Sugar Mountain is an invaluable document—and a pretty compelling one, too.— Marc Masters, Pitchfork

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