NEIL YOUNG – DREAMIN’ MAN LIVE ’92

Neil’s been digging through his ranch unearthing and releasing random live recordings for his Archives project for a while now – this, number four in the series, is a killer. As usual, the sound quality of the live recording is rich and present, and the material – a complete solo rendition of the Harvest Moon album – is inspired. One of his more meditative and country-folk tinged albums, Harvest Moon was deceptively accessible at the time which led some of his hardcore fans to feel he’d “softened up” – but as always there is an undercurrent of dark humour to these gentle songs that nails it. “From Marylin to Madonna,” he sings in Hank To Hendrix, “I always loved your style – now we’re headed for the big divorce – California Style”. Neil’s sense of deep reservation is weirdly comforting – “the same thing that makes you live, will kill you in the end.” Natural Beauty is a haunting meditation at 11 minutes, and the familiar thunderous low notes in that down-tuned dreadnought guitar at times sends shivers down the spine. Leaving aside the Trans album, Neil can do no wrong.

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