Down By The River triple-whammy

On heavy rotation chez moi at the moment is Neil Young’s ‘Live at Massey Hall’ album, the second in his much anticipated (by me at least) Archive Performance series. Roll on the 8CD box set. If you’re a fan of Neil Young you’ve probably got this already but for those in the dark, this release is of a 1971 Toronto show which took place after the release of After The Goldrush and before the release of Harvest. It is generally agreed that it should have been released in its own right at the time, but for whatever reason it is only now seeing the light of day. Highlight for me is the version of ‘Down By The River’. Unlike the many versions of this song Neil Young has done over the years, this one features just Neil, his acoustic guitar and his whiny voice. I love it. Neil can often overdo this song. I have a few 17+ minute versions with Crazy Horse and umpteen squealy guitar solos. I also have a 31 minute version somewhere that you need to hear once before having a long lie down. But it’s still one of my favourite Neil Young songs, and has been covered to great effect by many artists including…

Buddy Miles. Buddy’s version is more soulful than the original. It features some Isley Brothers-esque guitar (check out that sustain!), some wah-wah and some jazz tastic Fender rhodesy keyboards. At 6.15, you might think it goes on a bit, but not as long as….

Roy Buchanan‘s version. Just short of 9 minutes it features some trademark 70’s lead guitar, Gimme Shelter-copying female backing singers and a vocal track that sounds like the Eagles on sleeping pills. Oooh sha la la the weather. She can take me over the rainbow, send me away. Like, laid back man! Here it is.

Joey Gregorash does my favourite version.  It’s faster than the original, features scrubbed acoustic guitars, bongos and an angry wasp in a jar electric guitar sound. Dig it! Here! A fellow Canadian (like Neil Young, also from Winnipeg) Joey covered Down By The River in 1971. It was never intended for release until some sharp-eared record company executive thought the better of it. The radio stations then picked up on it and in classic style decided to play ‘Down By The River’ instead of Joey’s new single. Eventually the record company were forced to rush release an edited version of the album track and Joey’s 15 minutes of fame were complete. Add that to yer Wikipedia and smoke it!