Neil Young – Sugar Mountain – Live At Canterbury House 1968 (2008/2016) [PonoMusic FLAC 24bit/192kHz]

Neil Young – Sugar Mountain – Live At Canterbury House 1968 (2008/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:10:13 minutes | 2,3 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: PonoMusic | Front Cover | © Reprise Records
Recorded live at Canterbury House, Ann Arbor, MI, November 9 & 10, 1968

Sugar Mountain – Live at Canterbury House 1968 is a live album by Neil Young. On November 8-10, 1968, Young performed three shows at Canterbury House in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This album is compiled from the performances on the 9th and 10th.

This album is Volume 00 in the Archives Performance Series. Since volumes 2 and 3 had already been released, this album, though performed earlier chronologically, is the third release from the Series. The Riverboat 1969, released in The Archives Vol. 1 1963-1972 in 2009, is the fourth Archive Performance Series released but was performed earlier chronologically than volumes 2 and 3.

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. -AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Tracklist:
1 Emcee Intro 0:45
2 On The Way Home 2:51
3 Songwriting Rap 3:12
4 Mr. Soul 3:13
5 Recording Rap 0:30
6 Expecting To Fly 2:38
7 The Last Trip To Tulsa 8:35
8 Bookstore Rap 4:26
9 The Loner 4:41
10 “I Used To…” Rap 0:37
11 Birds 2:16
12 Winterlong (Excerpt) & Out Of My Mind – Intro. 1:38
13 Out Of My Mind 2:07
14 If I Could Have Her Tonight 2:34
15 Classical Gas Rap 0:40
16 Sugar Mountain – Intro. 0:29
17 Sugar Mountain 5:46
18 I’ve Been Waiting For You 2:04
19 Songs Rap 0:37
20 Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing 4:43
21 Tuning Rap & The Old Laughing Lady – Intro. 3:06
22 The Old Laughing Lady 7:25
23 Broken Arrow 5:08