Reprise

Neil Young had just released his third solo album After the Gold Rush a few months before he played Carnegie Hall in December of 1970, where he offered up a new set of introspective songs that were relatively toned down when compared to the stomping full-band jamming of 1969's Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. This would just be the beginning of a run of classic albums that continued throughout the '70s, and both sides of Young's musical personality -- the hushed and patient songwriter side, and the side that tended toward rugged rock -- were integral to how that peerless run played out. Young appeared alone on-stage at Carnegie Hall, playing stripped-down versions of his songs on acoustic guitar and piano to an audience so rapt they remained completely silent even as he took his time tuning the guitar and bantering between songs. He played two nights at Carnegie Hall, and while audience recordings of the second show found their way onto various bootlegs over the years, no bootlegs were ever made of the first night. Carnegie Hall 1970 offers the first public release of multi-track recordings from that first night, finding Young in rare form and delivering a diverse set list that included material from his records up to that point, as well as tunes that hadn't been released yet. Songs that were raging and blusterous on record, like "Cinnamon Girl," "Southern Man," and "Cowgirl in the Sand," are mysterious and tender in their solo renditions, peeling away the distortion and guitar heroics to expose the lingering melancholy and aching beauty that so often lie at the core of Young's songwriting. Already, folksy acoustic songs like "Tell Me Why," and the piano-based "Birds" take on an even more marked intimacy on Carnegie Hall 1970. Young's legendarily quaky voice conveys the loneliness, hope, loss, and appreciation of his lyrics with a profound impact when he stands alone with a single instrument. Die-hard fans will want to listen closely to versions of "See the Sky About to Rain," "Old Man," and "Bad Fog of Loneliness," all of which had yet to be recorded and commercially released at the time of these performances. It speaks to the creative streak Young was in the thick of at that time (and would continue in various forms for the majority of his career) that he was already tired of playing his groundbreaking songs that were only a few years old and was eager to get the next ones out. Any Young completist will need Carnegie Hall 1970, but it's a special performance that can be appreciated by more casual listeners as well. Alone at the microphone, the purity, simplicity, and one-of-a-kind magic of some of Neil Young's best songs come into view in a way that's undeniable. © Fred Thomas /TiVo

It is positively spooky how consistently interesting Lindsey Buckingham's 30-year solo career has been. For a musician whose core creative philosophy seems rooted in the way art emerges from dramatic chaos, his own output—both within and without Fleetwood Mac—always manages to be immediately familiar and completely surprising. And although it's been ten years since his last proper solo album, his 2017 collaboration with Christine McVie (featuring Mick Fleetwood and John McVie) felt more like "Buckingham with guests" than the "Fleetwood Mac without Stevie Nicks" album the lineup suggested, as it leaned heavily on Buckingham's unique vocal and guitar phrasings. However, when confronted with a true Lindsey Buckingham solo effort—as in, "written, performed, and produced by"—it's abundantly clear just how differently he thinks when left to his own devices. For a man who turns 72 in October, 2021, and is among the most famous rock musicians alive, it's remarkable just how weird and fearless he still is. The tenor and textures here are uniquely his, as is the distinct approach to multi-tracked self-harmonies, drum machine programming, and slightly off-kilter layers of instrumentation that evoke a mood that somehow is both claustrophobic and exploratory. It's an "in-the-box" sound that's less rock-oriented than 2011's Seeds We Sow (Buckingham calls it "pop," but it most definitely is not, despite how catchy some of the tunes are here), and more aligned with the coke-sheen new wave he was making on Mirage and Law and Order in the early '80s. And while a cut like "Blind Love" blatantly revisits the drum pattern of "Trouble," Buckingham has reconfigured the approach into something stranger and much more introspective here. Frenetic harmonies and digidrum patterns on a track like "Swan Song" show an artist in anxious conversation with himself. Some may be a bit disappointed that there's not a tremendous amount of guitar here, but when it does show up, it's mightily impressive; Buckingham flexes his fingerpicking skills on the glitchy and melodic "I Don't Mind" and the, er, electric "Power Down," both brisk reminders of what an underrated and unique player he is. Of course, it's not the '80s anymore, and for an artist exiled from the band that made him famous and looking at his eighth decade on the planet, it's probably not surprising that the lyrics here can get a little melancholy. "On the Wrong Side" is an explicit exploration of old age, but in typical Buckingham fashion, it's a bit askew and maybe a little cynical, while the more direct and melancholy "Dancing," closes the album out on a somber note of poetic reflection. © Jason Ferguson/Qobuz

Neil Young, nugget #776544. With Young Shakespeare, the Loner unearths a stunning concert recorded at the Shakespeare Theater in Stratford, Connecticut on January 22, 1971, three days after the essential Live at Massey Hall 1971 released in 2007, performances from his Journey Through the Past Solo Tour. The Canadian legend’s website boldly declares that Young Shakespeare is better than Massey Hall, describing it as calmer and less flashy, having been recorded in a less prestigious venue than Massey Hall. For Young, it ranks as “the best ever, because it defines the era”. It’s an utterly apt description, with the songs and themes here capturing the dreams and nightmares shared by his generation (he was just 26). The sheer quality of the tracklisting also helps push this album into the legend zone – just read the titles! 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 and Sugar Mountain feature Young’s guitar or piano and utterly perfect vocals. Above all, that stark nudity highlights the power of his lyrics and the beauty of these melodies. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

Green Day's fourth album, Insomniac was originally released in October 1995, following on from Dookie which was released one year previously, and whose monster success (more than twenty-five million copies sold to date) could have sent more than one band off their heads. But, rather than repeating some magic formula and hoping for the same miracle, given that sales of Dookie had already passed ten million, Billie Joe Armstrong and his acolytes did the opposite and refocused, delivering a more aggressive and darker work, in a word: more punk! And the album's themes matched this idea, speaking of alienation, anxiety and drugs. Maybe the idea was also to regain credibility and win back early fans who might have been tempted to desert after Dookie appeared far too popular to be trusted. A savvy critic wrote at the time that Insomniac was to Green Day what In Utero was to Nirvana, after the global success of Nevermind. That is, a return to a darker, harder side. A return to the roots, in short. Bassist Mike Dirnt recalls: "I felt at the time that there was a real urgency to what we were doing. There was a real urgency to stake our claim and say, 'No, we belong here.' It was really important to us to make sure people knew that we weren’t just a flash in the pan..." Billie Joe Armstrong also wanted to press on without asking too many questions: "what I really wanted to do was keep working, and keep writing songs...I didn’t really stop and smell the roses". And here they are again, throwing out fourteen tracks as if they were chopping logs, with no let-up, keeping concentrated. Twenty-five years later, the intensity and concision of each song still works. The lyrics are steeped in pessimism and anger, as on Panic Song with its rather raw worldview: "a sick machine breeding a mass of shit". This track is also inspired by the panic attacks suffered by Billie Joe Armstrong due to her out-of-control anxiety... As an aside, before settling on Insomniac as an album title, Green Day would have preferred Jesus Christ Supermarket. Another aside: note the album cover and its multiple nods to the Dead Kennedys. Indeed, the title of the collage made for the cover by a one Winston Smith is God Told Me to Skin You Alive, a reference to the first words of a song by the Dead Kennedys, I Kill Children (1980). In addition, the image of the dentist used in the collage can also be found in an illustration for the Dead Kennedys' album Plastic Surgery Disasters (1982)... This edition, celebrating Insomniac's 25th anniversary, also includes eight tracks from the album taken from a concert in Prague on 26 March, 1996, showcasing the band's on-stage vigour and energy. © Yan Céh / Qobuz

In 1990, Neil Young made a resounding comeback. With the grunge tsunami about to devastate Planet Rock, Mr. buckskin jacket was celebrated more than ever by the entire English-speaking indie scene. From Pearl Jam/Nirvana to Dinosaur Jr. /Sonic Youth, all saw him as a kind of godfather of punk, the almighty God of grunge. It was the perfect moment for the Loner to reactivate his loudest combo, Crazy Horse, and release a magnificent album of dirty, uncompromising rock'n'roll. It’s an album full of raw guitars and spine-tingling feedback. Title: Ragged Glory. Recorded on November 13 that year at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz, the live Way Down in the Rust Bucket (for die-hards and experts, it’s volume 11.5 of the Performance Series from the Neil Young Archives) documents preparations for the Ragged Glory world tour. It’s an impeccable Cali concert to warm up the new repertoire and revisit some immortal classics (Cinnamon Girl, Don’t Cry No Tears, Sedan Delivery, Like a Hurricane and Cortez the Killer, in a cataclysmic 11-minute version!). Surrounded by drummer Ralph Molina, guitarist Frank Sampedro and bassist Billy Talbot, Neil Young, then 45, was at the top of the raw art form he embodies. This is electric rock’n’roll powered by songs to die for. An essential unreleased archive. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz