50th anniversary recording of Neil Young’s debut show
Alive recording and concert film of Neil Young’s earliest known performance footage in existence is to be released half a century on from the original show.
The previously unreleased solo album and concert film, entitled Young Shakespeare, will be available for fans to buy from March 26.
Recorded in Stratford, Connecticut, the show captures the artist stripped down to the bare essentials – acoustic guitar, piano, and harmonica.
Just two months after the release of Young’s seminal ‘After the Gold Rush’, he sat down for a performance at The Shakespeare Theater on January 22, 1971. The concert was recorded for presentation on German TV later that year but was not publicly available until now.
The original 50-year-old analogue tapes have been lovingly restored, making available early acoustic recordings of two ‘After the Gold Rush’ songs and beloved favourites such as ‘Ohio’, ‘Cowgirl in the Sand’, ‘Helpless’, ‘Down by the River’ and ‘Sugar Mountain’. It also features early recordings of ‘Old Man’, ‘The Needle and the Damage Done’, ‘A Man Needs a Maid’ and ‘Heart of Gold’, all of which were then over a year away from being released on Young’s classic 1972 album ‘Harvest’.
Young wrote on Neil Young Archives (NYA) that ‘Young Shakespeare’ is, “a more calm performance, without the celebratory atmosphere of Massey Hall, captured live on 16mm. Young Shakespeare is a very special event. To my fans, I say this is the best ever … one of the most pure-sounding acoustic performances we have in the archive.”
‘Young Shakespeare’ is available to pre-order at https://neilyoung.warnerartists.net website. It will be released on vinyl and CD, while the concert film will be released as a standalone DVD. All three formats will be packaged together as a Deluxe Box Set Edition. Everyone who orders any physical format from this link will also receive high-res audio
files of the album.
Fans who pre-order the album will receive an instant download of ‘Tell Me Why’, while additional instant download tracks will follow prior to the album’s release.
These are the tracks that feature on Young Shakespeare ...
‘Tell Me Why’
‘Old Man’
‘The Needle and the Damage Done’
‘Ohio’
‘Dance Dance Dance’ ‘Cowgirl in the Sand’ ‘A Man Needs a Maid / Heart Of Gold’
‘Journey Through the Past’
‘Don’t Let It Bring You Down’
‘Helpless’
‘Down by the River’ ‘Sugar Mountain’
Neil Young Archives is the first totally immersive fan-experience website and remains the only portal for
all things Neil Young.
Only at this website can you find Young’s music in the highest possible digital audio resolution alongside a seemingly infinite store of archival files. It’s also the home of Young’s virtual daily newspaper, The Times Contrarian, and The Hearse Theater, home to rare footage and live-streamed shows.
The Canadian-born singer-songwriter started his musical career in the Sixties, moving to Los Angeles where he teamed up with Stephen Stills, Richay Furay and others in the band Buffalo Springfield.
Years later, he was reunited with Stephen Stills in the band Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young who performed at the famous Woodstock Festival.
In 1974 Neil reunited with Crosby, Stills and Nash for one of the first stadium tours and the largest tour which Neil has ever done.