Neil Young's 'Doom Trilogy'

[Mike Boom]

The sound of tequila and honey slides .

[Matt Wilson]

Makes you wonder what else he pretends to like.

[Goat Boy]

[clive gash]

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/ne ... ight-live/

Seems, following Hitchhiker, Neil’s giving the fans what they want.

[bobzilla77]

I
That allows him to make On The Beach as the third work in a row that was that way, and by then, he's no longer aggressively pissing anyone off or getting punchdrunk, he just doesn't CARE. Talk about a vibe captured on vinyl... of side two is just sublime. Low to the ground. like a hovercraft flying a quarter inch above land and holding it there for a long time. None of the cocaine cowboys of Laurel Canyon were ever laid back in quite that way... On The Beach is more like laid out.

On the Beach is the second album like that. Tonight's the Night is the third.

TTN was recorded in 1973 but held back until 1975

Right, which makes OTB the last work chronologically if you count by creation date rather than release date.

Something occurred to me as I was listening to Ambulance Blues this weekend. This line stuck out to me:

I guess I'll call it sickness gone
It's hard to say the meaning of this song
'An ambulance can only go so fast
It's easy to get buried in the past
When you try to make a good thing last

We now know he's about to get up out of the ditch, get the Horse back together and make Zuma. Maybe that line, coming in the last song of the last "Doom" album, is a hint that he's coming out of it.

But in reality, there is actually a fourth album in the Doom Trilogy, one we have never heard.

Homegrown was supposed to be released in 1975, and though a handful of the songs have been performed live, the studio versions have never circulated. But based on what I've heard, it's a naked breakup album with Carrie Snodgress, really sad. Maybe so sad, he couldn't stand the idea of ever having to perform those songs or talk about them. Or maybe he's saved by Rick Danko, who comes over for a listening party one night, hears the "soon to be released" Homegrown followed by the "shelved" Tonight's The Night, which is on the same tape, and tells Neil "you gotta put out the raw one."

[Matt Wilson]

Yep, all true. There's even supposedly a rawer (is that a word, "rawer," or is it "more raw?" As an English teacher, I'm going with "rawer") version of Tonight's the Night, more harrowing than the released one. But to be honest, I've never really felt that the LPs is that intense to begin with.

I really like Zuma too by the way.

[`]

TFA all the way for me.

Has any major artist ever had the balls to risk alienating vast tranches of his audience by following up two mega-selling LPs with a live album of unfamiliar songs, several of which many fans/listeners find downbeat to the point of being inaccessible?

With the opening for the record at the top rather than at the side of its sleeve, even the record's cover is deliberately contrary.

The fact that NY makes listeners search this album out by seemingly only ever including it in expensive multi-disc collectors sets would indicate it holds a special place in his extra-ornery body of work.

[Mike Boom]

Something occurred to me as I was listening to Ambulance Blues this weekend. This line stuck out to me:

I guess I'll call it sickness gone
It's hard to say the meaning of this song
'An ambulance can only go so fast
It's easy to get buried in the past
When you try to make a good thing last

We now know he's about to get up out of the ditch, get the Horse back together and make Zuma. Maybe that line, coming in the last song of the last "Doom" album, is a hint that he's coming out of it

Yeah, its very much a morning after album, like the comedown from Tonights the Night, and Ambulance Blues must be just about his best song in my book, very Dylanesque. Also what a great album cover, all the detail of the newspaper and the Coors can, I seem to remember the original vinyl had a fold out poster inside with notes on the back.

[harvey k-tel]

I seem to remember the original vinyl had a fold out poster inside with notes on the back.

I'm pretty certain also that the inner sleeves (where the actual LP is kept, and which no one really ever looks at) of original and/or early pressings were printed with the pattern from the underside of the beach umbrella. Which is a nice touch.

[BARON CORNY DOG]

Mine has the pattern on the inside of the sleeve.

I’ve been looking for an original of that poster (which was a large promotional poster, I think) since about 1996. If you see one, let me know. The internet is full of smaller reprints, but an original is pretty elusive.

[harvey k-tel]

Mine has the pattern on the inside of the sleeve.

I thought mine did, but the last time I played it I discovered it didn't. I must've been remembering an old room-mate's copy, I guess.

[Snarfyguy]

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/neil-young-roxy-tonights-the-night-live/

Seems, following Hitchhiker, Neil’s giving the fans what they want.

Neil Young’s foothold in the musician circles of Topanga, Laurel Canyon, and Hollywood are well documented.

This is what the writing's like on Pitchfork?

But thanks, I'll be interested in hearing that recording.

[joels344]

I like them the entire trilogy pretty well, but On The Beach tops them all and it’s honestly among my favorite Neil Young records.

[Mike Boom]

But in reality, there is actually a fourth album in the Doom Trilogy, one we have never heard.

Homegrown was supposed to be released in 1975, and though a handful of the songs have been performed live, the studio versions have never circulated. But based on what I've heard, it's a naked breakup album with Carrie Snodgress, really sad. Maybe so sad, he couldn't stand the idea of ever having to perform those songs or talk about them. Or maybe he's saved by Rick Danko, who comes over for a listening party one night, hears the "soon to be released" Homegrown followed by the "shelved" Tonight's The Night, which is on the same tape, and tells Neil "you gotta put out the raw one."

From what I can tell Homegrown was going to come from some of these -

Homegrown
Vacancy
Homefires
Try
Love-Art Blues
Frozen Man
Separate Ways
Daughters
We Don't Smoke It
White Line
Give Me Strength
Star of Bethlehem
Deep Forbidden Lake
Love is a Rose
Little Wing
The Old Homestead
Pardon My Heart
Bad News
Kansas

Anyone know if there any of the Homegrown versions of these tracks are up on the Archives site ?

[Matt Wilson]

Weren't some of those songs supposed to be on the CSNY 1974 album?

[Mike Boom]

Weren't some of those songs supposed to be on the CSNY 1974 album?

Quite possibly, I haven't found a definitive list of what was supposed to be on Homegrown.

Human Highway, Pushed It Over The End, Traces and Through My Sails I think were slated for the CSNY album.

[Matt Wilson]

He does "Love-Art Blues" on the CSNY 1974 live box as well. Don't know it that makes it a CSNY song though.

[bobzilla77]

But in reality, there is actually a fourth album in the Doom Trilogy, one we have never heard.

Homegrown was supposed to be released in 1975, and though a handful of the songs have been performed live, the studio versions have never circulated. But based on what I've heard, it's a naked breakup album with Carrie Snodgress, really sad. Maybe so sad, he couldn't stand the idea of ever having to perform those songs or talk about them. Or maybe he's saved by Rick Danko, who comes over for a listening party one night, hears the "soon to be released" Homegrown followed by the "shelved" Tonight's The Night, which is on the same tape, and tells Neil "you gotta put out the raw one."

From what I can tell Homegrown was going to come from some of these -

Homegrown
Vacancy
Homefires
Try
Love-Art Blues
Frozen Man
Separate Ways
Daughters
We Don't Smoke It
White Line
Give Me Strength
Star of Bethlehem
Deep Forbidden Lake
Love is a Rose
Little Wing
The Old Homestead
Pardon My Heart
Bad News
Kansas

Anyone know if there any of the Homegrown versions of these tracks are up on the Archives site ?

That looks about right to me too - but were Mexico, Sad Movies and No One Seems To Know part of the mix as well? More unreleased songs from roughly the same period. Oddly he started doing many of them live on his 2007-08 tour.

There is a blank page for "Homegrown (unreleased album)" on the Archives timeline in 1975, but o song list and no recordings.

[Mike Boom]

That looks about right to me too - but were Mexico, Sad Movies and No One Seems To Know part of the mix as well? More unreleased songs from roughly the same period. Oddly he started doing many of them live on his 2007-08 tour.

There is a blank page for "Homegrown (unreleased album)" on the Archives timeline in 1975, but o song list and no recordings.

I think there was also Mexico , Kansas , Hawaiin Sunrise and Florida from around that time, and he was also tinkering with a water themed album, not sure about Sad Movies or No One Seems To Know.

Yeah, I didn't realize the Archives are still free and have been poking around the last week or so, I think its really well done - I like the way you can actually view a decent size album cover, but as you say, it currently lacks any unreleased stuff, which I guess is coming once there is a fee to join and they will have a separate stand alone release like the live at the Roxy,

[bobzilla77]

I'm not sure they actually will release any of that stuff on the Archives without giving it a physical prodcut. Maybe all those post-its are his "to-do list" and they would show up there once released. As of Saturday, TTN Live at the Roxy was not available, although all the songs were listed.