THE DUCKS : HIGH FLYIN'

 

Disc One (51:55)

  1. I am a Dreamer
  2. Younger Days
  3. Gypsey Wedding
  4. Are You Ready for the Country?
  5. Hold on Boys
  6. My My My (Poor Man)
  7. I'm Tore Down
  8. Hey Now
  9. Wide Eyed and Willing
  10. Truckin' Man
  11. Sail Away
  12. Gone Dead Train
  13. Silver Wings

Disc Two (55:14)

  1. Human Highway
  2. Your Love
  3. I'm Ready
  4. Little Wing
  5. Car Tune
  6. Windward Passage
  7. Leaving Us Now
  8. Mr. Soul
  9. Two Riders
  10. Honky Tonk Man
  11. Sailor Man
  12. Silver Wings

Label : Shakey Pictures Records

Venue : The Steamship + Crossroads Club + Veterans Auditorium + The Catalyst, Santa Cruz, California, USA

Recording Date : August 1977

Release Date : April 14, 2023

Review (AllMusic) : Neil Young has never been especially interested in the way the music industry expects artists to operate, preferring to trust his gut rather than fretting about career expectations. It's not hard to imagine Young saying to hell with it and joining a bar band rather than dealing with the annoyances of rock stardom, and he did just that for a while in 1977. That year, he impulsively joined a fledgling band called the Ducks, featuring Bob Mosley of Moby Grape on bass, noted songwriter Jeff Blackburn on guitar, and Johnny Craviotto, who worked with Ry Cooder and Arlo Guthrie, on drums. While Young was the most famous person on board, he was not the leader; all four Ducks took turns singing lead, Mosley and Blackburn wrote most of the songs, and they were content to play bars and clubs in their native Santa Cruz, California, doing two sets a night and charging a three-dollar cover at the door. With someone as famous as Young in the lineup, this could only stay a secret for so long, especially since the Ducks were playing two or three nights a week, and the grand experiment was over in three months, with only a few bootleg tapes to confirm it ever happened. Thankfully, Young obsessively documents his activities, and he had a mobile recording truck tape some Ducks gigs in August 1977. Forty-five years later, he pulled the reels out of his vault and compiled a Ducks album, 2023's High Flyin'. The Ducks were a bar band in the same way NRBQ were a bar band -- their mix of country rock, blues, and tough, straight-ahead rock & roll was rooted in the classics without getting mired in clichés. While they had good, unpretentious fun on-stage, they also had impressive chops and a catalog of fine material, and the energy of seeing a group this good in a funky, intimate setting was not lost on their audiences. Young seems to be having a ball not having to be the star of the show, and his guitar work is excellent, ripping out solos in his unmistakable style but also buzzing along beside Blackburn. He also takes the opportunity to rework some of his classic tunes, with a gutsy tear through "Mr. Soul" a highlight of this set. Mosley and Blackburn's originals are good enough to stand up to comparison to Young's, and Mosley seemingly taught some of the tricks of Moby Grape's glorious harmonies to his fellow Ducks, feeling rougher but no less satisfying. Mosley and Craviotto are a superb rhythm section, too, knowing when to groove and when to push the music into fifth gear. It's a shame the Ducks didn't have the chance to mature and cut a studio album, because they clearly had talent and potential to spare, but there's no shame in being a truly great bar band, and High Flyin' shows the Ducks were something special for just three bucks.

Review (Tinnitist) : “This previously unreleased live compilation is the first official release by The Ducks — a short-lived Santa Cruz group that Neil Young played with for seven weeks in 1977. The Ducks featured Neil (guitar, harmonica and vocals), Bob Mosely (bass and vocals), Jeff Blackburn (guitar and vocals) and Johnny Craviotto (drums). Mosely was an original member of Bay Area band Moby Grape; Blackburn had previously fronted his own band and co-wrote Neil’s classic track My My Hey Hey (Out of the Blue). The band played several shows in Santa Cruz and other California venues during two months in 1977, and this 25-track live album features highlights from those shows. The set lists were very democratic, with each member of the band taking the lead in turn. Five Neil Young songs are showcased, including a rocking version of Mr. Soul, plus beautiful renditions of Are You Ready For The Country, Little Wing, Sail Away and Human Highway.”