Neil Young’s latest offering Live at the Cellar Door offers an intimate glimpse into a fledgling young artist at the peak of his talents. Coming on the heels of past archive releases from this period such as Live at Massey Hall 1971 and containing only one unreleased track, a solo piano rendition of ‘Cinnamon Girl’, you would wonder what it could possibly offer casual audiences. But there is definitely enough here to appeal to those who aren’t ardent fans.
With stints recording with Buffalo Springfield and Crazy Horse behind him, Young was in something of a transitional period. He had yet to establish himself as a creative force, but had huge success working with others and was a star in his own right. Following the mixed reviews of After the Gold Rush Rolling Stone deriding Young for his “adolescent ranting.” Live at the Cellar Door represents a turning point between the flower powered optimism of the 60s and the heady self-indulgence of the 70s. For an artist who would go on to pen songs like ‘The Needle and The Damage Done’, his joyous introduction of the final song as “a song about dope” to the knowing laughter of the crowd sounds strangely eerie. His guitarist Danny Whitten was to pass away of a tragic heroin overdose not soon after.
Recorded in the tiny Cellar Door folk and blues club in Washington DC the pared down arrangements and tiny venue gives the songs a real sense of authenticity. The renditions of classic like ‘Old Man’ and ‘Only Love Can Break Your Heart’ manage to equal the quality of the first recordings, even stripped of all the original instrumentation.
The crowd banter before the final song is as much of an album highlight as any of the music. “You’d be laughing too if this did what you did for a living” he jokes as he plays around on the piano, an instrument he had only recently taught himself, and one not worthy of his humorous self derision. It’s wonderful to see music of this standard, that is so emotionally resonant, being played by someone who rather refreshingly doesn’t take himself too seriously.
Even for an ardent Young fan like myself, the stream of constant melancholy and his characteristic nasal vocals may be found to be grating. Without additional musicians, and only simple acoustic accompaniment, the album can seem, at times, monotone and those who aren’t used to this sort of music may find it initially hard to appreciate.
You could be forgiven for understanding the album as a minor footnote in Neil Young’s vast discography. In reality, it is anything but. It is a little gem. It offers a unique insight into a great artist during a defining time in his career. It is consistently rewarding throughout and contains brilliant arrangements of many of his classic songs. I wouldn’t just recommend this to someone with an interest in Neil Young, or folk music – but to anyone with any interest in music at all.