SOUNDTRACK: NEIL YOUNG AND THE INTERNATIONAL HARVESTERS-A Treasure [NY Archives 09] (2011).
Continuing with the randomly numbered Archive releases, Neil Young has released A Treasure, the sixth release (which is labelled #09) in the Performance Series. This is with the Neil Young band called the International Harvesters.
I had never even heard of this iteration of a Neil Young band–they toured during 1984/5 for the Old Ways album. This is an album that I barely knew but is one that Sarah loved, so this one is more for her than me. The band is a very country band–fiddles and slide guitars and all that. Neil’s even got a twang in his voice. But even with that, (it’s not my music of choice), this album has a lot of great stuff on it (including five previously unreleased songs).
There are a number of real country songs on this disc–“Amber Jean” and “It Might Have Been” are straight-up country. Although “Are You Ready for the Country” (which has some major country trappings like that fiddle solo) is actually a bit more of a countrified Neil Young song than a country song per se. “Nothing is Perfect” is a kind of group sing along. The kind of song that you might hear at the end of the night at a pub.
Despite this being the Old Ways tour, there are only two songs from that album here. “Bound for Glory” is the song I knew best from this era. And it is indeed a very country song (that steel pedal guitar!). “Back to the Country” is the other one, and it, too is a true country song.
“Let Your Fingers Do the Walking” and “Flying on the Ground is Wrong” are different takes on country songs. The funny thing is that “Flying” (which was originally a Buffalo Springfield song) has a very Neil Young guitar progression built in, during the “I miss you” parts. He does this very simple chord progression which he uses quite a lot in his songs.
“Motor City” is (another) song about cars. He may have more songs about cars than Springsteen. This one is all about his old cars and how “there’s too many Toyotas on the road.” It’s super catchy, even as I listen to it in my Prius. “Southern Pacific” is another song that gets a good honky tonk treatment. It’s seven minutes long with lots of solo. This is the kind of country-style music I prefer and this one is great with wonderful runs from the fiddles. Both of these songs appeared on Neil’s Re*Ac*Tor album.
“Soul of a Woman” is more of a blues song, with some country inflections. And the final song “Grey Riders” is a wonderful stomping track. It has a great riff and the strings really complement the song. After all of that country, this song has some awesome screaming guitars on it. And if you like your Neil rocking, it is absolutely worth it for this song.
The newspaper article that’s included with the set refers to a show during this tour and, not to grouse about a record, but the show it describes sounds awesome–a few old Neil classics at the end of the set which really whetted my appetite for some of those other songs with this band. But this seems to be a truncated version of that set list. Nevertheless, as I said, this isn’t my favorite era of Neil’s music, but the band sounds really great. And these songs shine very nicely. It’s an enjoyable and unexpected addition to his archives.
[READ: October 20, 2011] Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever
I managed to get on the promotional mailing list for this book and so in addition to the free pencils (awesome!) and posters (3 in my son’s room), I also received an email update about the release almost daily.
I was a little less than 100% happy with the previous Wimpy book. I liked it, but I didn’t love it as much as the first couple. But man, this one came roaring back on all cylinders and it is one of the best in the series.
Three things really work to make this one so great:
One: the return to school and a host of new school-related problems. Although it’s funnier for me since my son is in school now, the issues are general enough that anyone can really laugh about them.
Two: the return of Rowley. I feel like he was sorely missed when he and Greg were fighting. He’s not a great character on his own, but he rubs Greg the wrong way enough to bring out some great humor.
Three: The increasing power of Manny. I don’t understand Manny at all, I don’t even know how old he is. He’s like a really really tiny kid, which makes me think that he’s a baby. And yet he is so smart and totally has the run of the family. That has been obvious in the past with the tantrums he threw to get what he wanted, but now he is combining his evil genius with a sophisticated mind to really wreak havoc on the Heffley household (he changes passwords all over the house, for instance).
So this book is all about Christmas break and snow (hence the title). I love that it starts with the Heffley version of Elf on a Shelf (but this one is even more creepy because it’s a homemade doll from Greg’s mom’s childhood). (more…)
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