1 Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
2 Winterlong
3 Down By The River
4 Wonderin'
5 Come On Baby Let's Go Downtown
6 Cowgirl In The Sand

From Amazon.com

Great Neil Young Set, TERRIFIC On Vinyl!

 Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)

Review Comments: This is a terrific, highly intense, set of passionately played music. While some complained about not including the entire concert, um, that has always been quite common with regard to concert albums. Very few sets ever came out on vinyl that included the entire concert.

Neil Young not only personally overseen the archive sets that have bee released. He's also a fan of the sound of vinyl. My guess is that he has envisioned these sets to be released on vinyl, making sure that the music length works well with a release on LP. On the other hand, he released his Archives box set knowing it was designed for digital playback.

In any event, those with a good enough vinyl setup will appreciate the richness and musical flow that the vinyl version offers. All of this stuff was recorded analog and it sounds amazing. Those that think that analog is an inferior recording medium needs to listen to the releases in this series. If well recorded and well produced to vinyl, LPs can sound amazing. The vinyl here is quiet, heavy and pressed flat. The music jumps off the groove here, and the large format allows the album photos to impact.

Live at the Fillmore East

 Album Rating: (4 of 5 stars)

Review Comments: Live at the Fillmore East being a live album by Neil and Crazy Horse from 1970 but it was not released until 2006. When it was released it was met with great reviews by the critics and Allmusic and Rolling Stone gave it 4 stars and I agree and I also give this album 4 stars. The sound quality is amazing and it sounds like one is transported back in time and being at the actual concert. 4/5.

Play It Loud

 Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)

Review Comments: I have at least five different bootlegs of this show. This official release is sooo much better sounding. Classic band, classic performance, Danny Whitten dies soon after and it's never the same. Get this disc!

Those guitars.

 Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)

Review Comments: Sure, Cinnamon Girl isn't here, but Down By The River and Cowgirl In The Sand ARE, and they more than make up for whatever was left out. Those guitars, man. Is there anything better than the guitars on these two numbers? No. I could play them every day for the rest of my life and never get tired of them. Hey, maybe I will.

Good, Not Great

 Album Rating: (4 of 5 stars)

Review Comments: I was at this show, so I am thrilled to have this CD, and without any hesitation I also bought a copy for my friend with whom I went to the show, hitchhiking in from CT. This recording comprises selections from one of the most amazing nights of music I have ever experienced - and there have been many - with outstanding sets from the Steve Miller Band (then a new power trio), Miles Davis (a little out of place but an interesting juxtaposition, precisely what Bill Graham tried to achieve with such lineups), and Neil Young, in a transcendent moment, having recently established himself as a major artist.

This CD captures some of that transcendence, especially in "Cowgirl In The Sand," but it could have been so much more. This is only about half the set, and key songs like "Cinnamon Girl" and "The Loner" have been omitted. Other reviewers mention these and other songs were left off because of the lower sound quality of their recording. I wish the producers of this album would not have been so fussy. I would rather have had a recording of the complete performance, warts and all. The vast majority of fans of live rock recordings are willing to forgive such inconsistencies in quality in order to have the complete performance. I wish the producers of this type of recording would understand this, after having seen and heard these pleas for decades.

That said, it's great to listen to this CD and hear what I heard so many years ago. Three of these songs, "Winterlong," "Wonderin'," and "Come On Baby Let's Go Downtown," are new to me (well, pretty much - it's been forty years) and are revelations. "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere," not really the best song from the album of the same name, is solidly performed here. "Down By the River" seems a little tentative compared to the album version, but "Cowgirls In The Sand" burns, and when they're done the band has nothing left. This album reminds me of the album "East-West Live" by The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, put out by their keyboardist Mark Naftalin a dozen years ago. That featured three different versions of that classic jam, which gave listeners an opportunity to experience part of the piece's evolution. It demystified the "original" version from the band's second album, but furthermore illuminated the piece. Whatever version of a performance of a musical composition is originally released enters the public consciousness and becomes known as the definitive version; "East-West Live" and similarly this version of "Cowgirls In The Sand" stand as reasonable alternates to the "definitive" version everybody knows. And everybody knows this is nowhere, though it's a great place to visit.