Neil Young - "Cinnamon Girl"

Some days, you just need good music, irrespective of the age or of the genre. It just has to lighten your mood and make you smile.

This track ticks all of those boxes for me. As a song, it would have sounded out of place upon its original release in 1969, but it sounds perfectly at home in 1995, or 2014 even. The huge guitar sound and drop-tuning would be a fixture of 90s music, but was arguably first used here. And how cool is that one-note guitar solo?

Enjoy this classic slice of Neil Young and Crazy Horse from the end of the 60s.

Cheers

Sunday Sessions: Bachman Turner Overdrive

One of the great things about having a large music collection is that you never get tired of playing the same old albums over and over again. There is so much to choose from that variety is almost automatic and over-exposure is avoided.

One of the drawbacks is that you often forget about a lot of great music at the expense of what ever current thing you're into at that stage.

My employer was gracious enough to give me a day off on Friday, so I spent the day with my wife. During lunch, the video jukebox in the restaurant played a number of great tunes but it played a song by a band that I had not necessarily forgotten about, but had avoided listening to for a long time.

They played a tune by Bachman-Turner Overdrive called "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" which, if ever a commercial radio station ever play a track by BTO, that's the one and only tune they'll play. As I don't listen to commercial radio anymore, I'd avoided that song altogether.

If you were to believe what radio programmers think their audiences like, then you'd believe that Bachman-Turner Overdrive were one hit wonders, based on the amount of times that the aforementioned song is played on their stations. Dig a little deeper and you'll find many a gem that could use some extra attention.

For trainspotters, Bachman-Turner Overdrive were a stridently blue collar, working class rock band who slotted nicely into the 1970s rock scene alongside Status Quo and US southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd, even though BTO were Canadians. Co-Lead singer and guitarist Randy Bachman was a peer of Neil Young and played in one of Neil's first groups "The Squires" before joining Guess Who. Randy's voice is smoother and more soulful, while the other lead singer C.F. (Fred) Turner's voice is quite gruff.

Trawling through the band's back catalog there are plenty of gems, and today I present to you just two.

"Let it Ride" is pretty much the meta-song for a lot of the crap going on in my life at the moment. This live version is performed by a reformation of sorts featuring Randy Bachman and Fred Turner, billed as "Bachman and Turner".



The other track I wanted to share was a simple working class classic, the other big "hit" is ever there was one by BTO, called "Takin' Care of Business". Note that big guitar sound of theirs belting out that riff...



Until next time, ENJOY!

Sunday Sessions: Neil Young and Pearl Jam

In 1993, at the height of the grunge era, the MTV Video Music awards happened and, as expected, a whole heap of alternative rock bands scooped the pool of awards. Pearl Jam don't usually turn up for awards shows, but I'm glad they did this time. They went on stage and performed a song that hadn't been released as of yet, and then, they introduced a special guest...

Once upon a time, Pearl Jam could be intense and fiery, as well as pensive and angsty. In 1993, they were full of sprite and energy. The track they played at the 1993 VMAs was "Animal" which was to appear on their forthcoming second LP "VS". They plowed through the song with their usual fervor, and then they welcome Neil Young to the stage to jam with them. They play Neil's social justice anthem "Rockin' In The Free World", a song from his 1989 LP "Freedom".

It seems like an odd pairing, but in retrospect, Neil had been working semi-regularly with a very grunge-y styled band for about 20 years (by that point) called Crazy Horse. Crazy Horse specialised in massive volume, feedback squalls, long jams and ragged but tight playing. The bands of the 90s grunge movement considered him "The Godfather of Grunge". In this performance, Neil out-grunges Pearl Jam with more noise and feedback than they ever did. The band turned in a solid, thumping performance of the song before Neil puts on a masterclass in amplifier torture that would have made Kurt Cobain jealous. Here's an old troubadour showing the young-uns how it was done, and they loved it.

This pairing was both timely and poignant, as less than 12 months later, the self-deprecating leader of the grunge movement, Kurt Cobain, was quoting lyrics from one of Neil Young's heaviest, grungiest songs ("Hey Hey My My (Into The Black)" from the "Rust Never Sleeps" LP) in his suicide note...

This match-up of young (no pun intended) and old led to a full scale collaboration LP in 1995 called "Mirror Ball" which featured 11 new Neil Young tunes played by Pearl Jam as a backing band. It's too bad that the new material Neil supplied for the album wasn't as strong as "Rockin' In The Free World".

This is Pearl Jam in their prime, playing with a passion that has all but dissipated from the band, both on record and on stage. It's thrilling to watch (it's too bad they didn't play with anywhere near this much energy when I saw them in Sydney in 1998). And then, to see ol' Neil come on and play one of his greatest songs with the band is a real treat. Pearl Jam regularly use this song to close the encore of their stage show. Take a look below.

NOTE: apologies for the poor audio fidelity. The uploader transferred this clip from an old VHS cassette.

Enjoy!