Ummagumma

Fifty years ago this year, three albums came out that deserve more than silence from me. I didn't blog about them on their actual anniversary dates—not because I didn't listen to them, but because I wrote two books and am about to publish another. I listened to Tonight's the Night , Zuma , and Eagles' One of These Nights more than once in their turn. The tunes were churning over in my head for days and weeks after. So here they are, three rather incredible records from 1975 that shaped the sound of that year and, in different ways, shaped me. The story of why Tonight's the Night finally came out in June 1975 starts with a listening party at Neil's ranch early that year. He'd finished Homegrown , a clean, mostly acoustic album about his breakup with Carrie Snodgress, and it was ready to go. He invited some friends over to hear it, and (supposedly) at the end of the night someone suggested they play the Tonight's the Night tapes that had been sitting...

The outer art work for Ragged Glory - Smell the Horse .  1990/2023. Avery gifted me Ragged Glory - Smell the Horse by Neil Young and Crazy Horse as part of my Christmas.  I have had it on my amazon wishlist since before it was released in 2023.  But I never bought it.  I have the original CD of Ragged Glory (about 60 minutes of music) from 1990.  I have really enjoyed listening to it for decades, especially "Country Home" and "Love and Only Love."  Both are awesome songs.   Neil re-released the album complete with some outstanding bonus material included as a two disc set as part of his massive, on-going Archives project.  I was in no particular hurry to get it.  It made sense to give it as a list option for my daughter to "surprise" me with during the holidays.  As it turned out, the "surprise" was she got me everything on my list.   My interest in it was greatly heightened when I discovered the song "Interstate" on Vol...

Time to close out 2024 with various things that were on my mind throughout the year that I didn't write about. As several posts throughout the year suggest, it was another great year to explore music, particularly classical music. I discovered someone new in African-American composer Brain Nabors. His Pulse from 2019 really caught my attention. This piece lasts for almost 12 and a half minutes and is lively, even playful, almost optimistic but most certainly confident. There's little conflict or dissonance to be heard though it is clearly contemporary and relevant. Though performed more or less continually, Pulse consists of the classic three-part structure with the first two parts containing most of the rhythmic drive of the work. Part three is much softer and more tranquil, ending with the uttermost peace and rest. A wonderful few minutes of music that I returned to several times during the course of the year. It is inspirational to me. How lucky I am to have ...

The Limited Deluxe Neil Young Archives: Volume 3.  The stylish heavy box contains a visual guide resembling a file cabinet drawer, a box that opens in the middle with little black doors on each side containing 11 audio "discs" with 198 songs and 5 Blu-rays with 11 films.  Each little door is magnetic and shuts firmly and easily.  There's a lengthy "records" ledge containing hundreds of rare photos, memorabilia and handwritten lyrics.  The book is open to a page with the black and white photo on the left and the first page of the Shocking Pinks section on the right.  I ordered my Limited Deluxe Edition of the Neil Young Archives: Volume 3 (1976 – 1987) as soon as I received an email on the upcoming release in late July. It arrived in early September. I was excited to get it. Volume 1 arrived in 2009 and I had to wait until 2021 for Volume 2 . I was hoping it wouldn't take another dozen years for the next to appear. Happily it only took three, I'm ...