"It sucks! It’s just a fucking racket. I get totally lost when I’m playing guitar. I’ll just play a melody over and over again and change the tone, bend a string, do all that. But I’m totally engrossed in what I’m doing. At one with it. But I suck!I have melodies, and I have a sense of rhythm and drive. But it’s not about me, anyway-it’s about the whole band. It’s about everybody being there at once. When I play I’m listening for everything, trying to drive it all with my guitar. My guitar is the whole fucking band." Neil Young, Guitar World, October 2009

Down by the River, like Neil, is a chameleon. It can whisper, scream, lull, or explode into a flash of blinding light. This compilation pulls together some of its seminal performances and, hopefully, reveals that a song, though just strictly chords and lyrics, can become something new and vibrant each time it’s performed. The guitars in the electric versions are full of the violence inherent in a song about "the dark side coming through too bright." The solo acoustic renditions with the mournful harmonica, by contrast, evoke the loneliness of a man with "no one on my side." Side 1 starts with the intro and solo performance in Philly, 1992. I love that little in-joke, too. Neil, you funnee. Then it’s back to New Orleans with the International Harvesters-nine, twenty-seven, eighty-four. That original intro is about as ominous as you can get for DBTR. The 27 minute performance with Pancho and the MGs reminds us that Neil’s songs work in just about any configuration and can mesmerize for hours. And just when we think we’ve heard it all, Neil performs this 40+ year old song in a way we’d never imagine. Side 2 opens with the Danny Whitten (RIP) led Crazy Horse backing Neil in the original incarnation of DBTR. It’s kind of a rock-jazz guitar workout. Danny’s rhythm is subtle, insistent, and the perfect contract to Neil’s staccato bursts of electric firepower. By the time Pancho had taken Danny’s place in Crazy Horse, DBTR had become a melodic maelstrom of guitars and drums. In this 1976 performance from Osaka, however, check out the lovely lead fill during the dropped lyrics in the final chorus. Those little surprises are what I love about live music. Ben Keith was known for his soaring pedal steel that, in so many ways, shaped Neil’s "sound" but he was actually an amazing multi-instrumentalist. The majestic London 6-27-09 performance features one of Neil’s most ferocious leads-primarily because Ben’s rhythm guitar pushes Neil to a place he doesn’t go very often. This rendition is a tribute to Ben Keith-check out the interplay between him and Neil during the second guitar break. Extraordinary. In that same vein, Phish pushes Neil to that place during the 1998 Farm Aid performance. We close with the gorgeous 3-20-99 Oakland performance. The high, lonely sound of the harmonica imbues the song with the melancholy and regret you don’t hear in those electric versions.

I compiled these performances for my personal enjoyment, and share them for the same reason. I urge you to seek out the original performances (they should still all be still available). Thank you so much to the original tapers and uploaders. And, of course, thanks, Neil.

Lineage: All recordings obtained from DIME > WAV > CD-R > FLAC (8) > DIME
Notes on SQ: All Audience Recordings, the SQ is Excellent throughout.
Convert to lossy for personal use only
NOT FOR SALE-SHARE FREELY
Please support this artist-purchase official recordings, attend his/her performances regularly, and visit the websites.
www.neilyoung.com
www.thrasherswheat.org

Neil Young
Down by the River-A Live Compilation

Side 1

01. 1992-03-23, Philadelphia (solo acoustic)
02. 1984-09-27, New Orleans (intro)
03. 1984-09-27, New Orleans (w/The International Harvesters)
04. 2002-05-18, Nürburgring (w/Pancho and the MGs)
05. 2010-05-24, Washington, DC (solo electric)

Side 2

01. 1970-02-25, Cincinnati (w/Crazy Horse)
02. 1976-03-05, Osaka (w/Crazy Horse)
03. 2009-06-27, London (w/The Electric Band)
04. 1998-10-03, Tinley Park (w/Phish)
05. 1999-10-20, Oakland (solo acoustic)