Neil Young/NY,USA 1989

Is this an unreleased soundboard? Or is it an outtake from a radio broadcast? It’s an on-sound image that makes you mistaken, but in fact it’s an audience recording. The intro of the first song, “My My, Hey Hey,” is so close that you might mistake it for a “soundboard.” It’s surprising that the sound is so close at a live performance of singing and playing. Neil Young’s 1989 summer solo tour has not released a complete sound source other than the pro-shot video of Jones Beach, and the official video “Freedom” was also an excerpt from New York and Jones Beach the day after this Saratoga Springs performance. Moreover, this tour is a selection of songs that is easy to understand like a best album, and the pre-release “Rockin’ In The Free World” is played twice at the beginning and end. The image of this tour is that the set list has little change, but this day is different. This is because two very rare songs, “Winterlong” and “Barstool Blues,” were played. Both songs have few opportunities to be performed live, but the acoustic version played by Neil on guitar and vocals is already a rare treat. In particular, “Barstool Blues” performed with Ben Keith and Frank Sampedro is a wonderful performance, and it’s a shame that it was only performed on this day and the next day. Moreover, if these precious performances can be heard with ultra-clear sound quality like a sound board, this release will be a delight for fans. In the ideal balance of recording the performance is recorded realistically without being buried in the realism unique to audience recording, exactly three months have passed since the Tiananmen Square incident that caused a commotion around the world at the time, and with the memory of that incident still fresh, Neil’s heavy performance of “Ohio” dedicated to “Chinese students” is conveyed realistically. The realism in this scene is also truly wonderful. And the tape speed, which was the only drawback of this excellent sound source, was accurately adjusted, and the recording was made in an extremely easy-to-listen-to state. These outstanding sound quality and rare performances make this a very attractive recording, and a surprising new recording from the 1989 solo tour, which had not been released for a long time, has been released. Live at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY. USA 4th September 1989 TRULY PERFECT SOUND Disc 1 1. My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue) 2. Rockin’In The Free World 3. Sugar Mountain 4. Winterlong 5. Someday 6. Helpless 7. Pocahontas 8. Crime In The City 9. This Old House (with Ben Keith) 10. Barstool Blues (with Ben Keith & Frank Sampedro) 11. Too Far Gone (with Ben Keith & Frank Sampedro) Disc 2 1. Roll Another Number (with Ben Keith & Frank Sampedro) 2. This Note’s For You 3. The Needle And The Domage Done 4. No More 5. After The Gold Rush 6. Heart Of Gold 7. Ohio 8. Rockin’In The Free World 9. Powderfinger Neil Young – Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Piano, Harmonica Frank Sampedro – Guitar, Mandolin, Vocals Ben Keith – Dobro, Keyboards, Vocals