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NEIL YOUNG : RED ROCKS LIVE - FRIENDS + RELATIVES |
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Label : Warner Reprise Venue : Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, Colorado, USA Recording Date : September 19 + 20, 2000 Length : 122 minutes Release Date : 2000 NTSC : 16:9 Review (AllMusic) : Over the years, Neil Young has issued probably more in-concert home videos than any other popular music artist, and he's wasting no time with the DVD format, issuing his second DVD of 2000, Friends & Relatives: Red Rocks Live. Whereas Silver & Gold was a mellow, solo, all-acoustic set, Red Rocks Live is the opposite -- Neil is joined by, well, friends and relatives (Booker T bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn, longtime pedal steel guitarist Ben Keith, Muscle Shoals veteran Spooner Oldham on piano, session drummer Jim Keltner, and Young's wife Pegi and sister Astrid on vocals), and focuses primarily on amplified rock & roll. While it's not as primal or electrifyingly loud as his work with Crazy Horse, Young definitely appears to be having a good time, focusing on his more laid-back rock & roll tunes (as he and his band battle a wicked rainstorm at the scenic outdoor venue throughout). Longtime fans will welcome the re-insertion of such old forgotten nuggets as "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere," "Motorcycle Mama," "Walk On," "Winterlong," "Words," "World on a String," "Mellow My Mind," and "Bad Fog of Loneliness," as well as more recent favs as "Harvest Moon," "Razor Love," and a previously unheard song, "Fool for Your Love." But like most other Neil videos (Weld, Year of the Horse, etc.), the centerpiece is the haunting tale of drugs and death, "Tonight's the Night," which is stripped back down to its original basic structure, as Young puts down his trusty old black Les Paul in favor of the piano. Another highlight proves to an extended reading of the early Crazy Horse jamfest "Cowgirl in the Sand," in which Young rips it up on the six-string. Friends & Relatives: Red Rocks Live is a fine memento of Neil Young's summer 2000 tour. |