Crazy Horse allows Neil Young to get in touch with his inner angst; the Stray Gator lets him explore the outer beauty of his melodies. Just one spin through Tuscaloosa and it’s only too obvious. Recorded during a February 5, 1973 concert at the University Of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and initially issued through the Neil Young Archives subscription-based streaming service, the 11-track disc is a significant and historical sampler from a location with a unique connection.
A year before the concert in Tuscaloosa, the singer and songwriter’s Harvest album went to the top of charts, becoming his best-selling record. One of its songs, “Alabama,” coyly admonishes the state by asking, “What’s going wrong?” Never one to turn away from confrontation, Young played it in Tuscaloosa and included it on this set. Of course, Lynyrd Skynyrd would weigh in on Neil Young in “Sweet Home Alabama” in 1974, fueling speculation about the Canadian’s relationship with the deep Southern state. These days, with Alabama mired in political controversy, it seems more relevant than ever.
Tuscaloosa begins with a dedication to Richard Nixon as “Here We Are In The Years” from Young’s 1968 self-titled debut album sleepily follows. Though he would facetiously skewer the president for his role in the Kent State shootings in “Campaigner” years later, there was apparently a renewed feeling of tongue-in-cheek optimism for the maligned leader who would resign his term within the year amidst the Watergate scandal. The irony isn’t lost on any one.
With warm, solitary renditions of “After The Gold Rush” and “Out On The Weekend” out of the way, the Stray Gators — Ben Keith on pedal steel and vocals, plus Jack Nitzsche on keyboards, bassist Tim Drummond and drummers Kenny Buttrey (later replaced by Johnny Barbata) — wander into the mix, introducing a sweet and soothing undertow to “Harvest” (more precisely “Harvest Moon” nearly 20 years before its release), as well as “Old Man” and “Heart Of Gold” from the Harvest album.
Unbeknownst to the audience at the time, “Time Fades Away” and “Don’t Be Denied” would appear on a new album of live songs recorded just a few weeks after the Tuscaloosa show called Time Fades Away. Though Young was displeased with the tour overall, which delayed a CD release of Time Fades Away until 2017, he apparently came around to the versions selected for Tuscaloosa, which the singer has said is “as close as to Time Fades Away II that we’ll get.” As the two strongest songs on Time Fades Away, their inclusion here validates their place in the esteemed Neil Young songbook. As a stellar part of the Neil Young Archives, Tuscaloosa as a whole ups the ante for subsequent collections.
~ Shawn Perry
