Neil Young - Live at the Cellar Door

So, yes, Neil week does sort of continue. I finally got around to a proper listen of the latest entry in Neil's ever wonderful, ongoing Archives series. This one gets squished into the first Archives box timeline by being tagged as release "02.5". Which is part of the reason I wasn't exactly chomping at the bits for this release. With already hearing the solo Neil Canterbury House set from 1968 and the 1971 Massey Hall show, did we need yet another solo Neil set from 1970? Let's get delving into the era covered by the next Archives box, when things get nice and weird.

But, truth be told, this is another essential Neil artifact. The disc is compiled from six sets he performed at Washington D.C.'s Cellar Door in late 1970. And, boy, there are some real gems on here. Unsurprisingly he spends some time focusing on the material from After the Gold Rush, released earlier that same year, but he also pulls out some great Buffalo Springfield gems ("Expecting to Fly", "Flying on the Ground is Wrong"). But most interesting, to me anyway, are the stark solo versions of a pair of Crazy Horse fuzzed-out standards, "Cinnamon Girl" (with just Neil on piano) and "Down by the River" (Neil on acoustic guitar). Always interesting to hear these in such a radically different form.

Check out the former below: