Neil Young: Sugar Mountain Live at the Canterbury House 1968

Neil Young, one of the most beloved singer songwriters of the last 60 and one of the legends in the pantheon of classic rock musicians, whether he’s putting out noise filled pre-grunge rock or putting out introspective and depressing folk songs or even putting out electronic albums (yes he has done that) there is a reason why they call him the chameleon of rock n roll. The rock world has been buzzing about Neil a lot lately he just announced that he is finally going to release his much talked about live box set. And fans are still raving about his protest album released a few years back. And with this classic live cd/dvd release he’s showing no signs of burning out or fading away.
Sugar Mountain gives us a very fascinating glimpse at a very un heard era of Neil, recorded in 1968 with Neil almost 23 and liberated from the musical shackles that Stephen Stills and Buffalo Springfield put him in we see Neil very unsure of himself, this is apparent in his in between song dialog. Sugar Mountain is full of the beauty that Neil exhibits in his performances playing Mr Soul his Buffalo Springfield signature song and then going into the beautiful Expecting to Fly, another Buffalo Springfield tune.
The albums title track Sugar Mountain which is a LP B side but often celebrated by fans is a flawless performance the entire album is a treasure however although Neil’s performance during the show is amazing one of the major flaws of this CD is a the sound quality, there is a constant hiss throughout the whole CD and one of the biggest disappointments of this album is the so called “DVD” which is really just a still shot of Neil with the concert while the audio plays.
Despite the false advertising this album is still a great album and it really shows us how great a performer Neil is even before all his success he knew how to work an audience and this release certainly shows that. If you’re a fan of Neil then your definitely going to want this album and its also perfect for anyone who doesn’t know all that much about Neil but want a good intro to where Neil got his start from.

Score 4/5