For the collector of 'all things Neil Young'
This release is unofficial, unauthorised and often referred to as a bootleg release. Australia pumped out a number of these during the 1990's, the 'Banana" label being one of them.
The recordings are all live performances and the quality is NOT of the same standard as an official release.
So why bother (I hear you asking with one eye closed and standing on one leg unsteadily)
While NOT condoning music theft (the copying of officially released music which robs the label and artist of their income) we did use to 'obtain' these purely to hear the artist performing 'warts and all', no studio sterilisation of the sound, no edits, no polishing of the music ... often these recordings were sourced "on stage" straight from the mixing desk(s) into a portable DAT recorder (remember them?)
See any specific comments about audio quality of THIS release below....
NEIL YOUNG - Anthology Volume 3
Banana (Australia)
Cat# BAN-010-C
1993
Australian release
CD case, front cover and rear insert are all in very good condition
CD media is very good condition, visually inspected under a bright white halogen light source and I can see NO scratches or marks on the media at all. I then played the ENTIRE release, every song, and there are NO issues with playback on any track
ALL TRACKS ARE LIVE RECORDINGS AND APPEAR TO BE PRIMARILY FROM THE ONE LIVE PERFORMANCE IN USA BUT THE SPECIFIC CONCERT(S) ARE UNKNOWN
Sound quality is "acceptable" for general listening, if anything the high end is a bit lacking and the low end sounds a bit "muddy". The mixing is fairly even although the vocals tend to be overwhelmed by the percussion at times.
Just to mention a couple of "interesting points" - Hey Hey My My (Out Of The Blue) has some interesting alternative guitar playing, Heart Of Gold and Hey Hey My My (Into The Black) are both very nice sounding tracks but oh dear what is that "thump thump thump"? - Kick drum or Neil's foot tapping the floor! The editing between tracks 13 & 14 is a bit 'rough' and track 14 "This Old House", is a great meaningful song (especially in the current times of mortgage financial stress) but probably the worst sound quality too. It's not terrible but noticeably lacking high end and a bit "boomy"
Audience appreciation (clapping and "yeah hah's") can be heard between songs but not overwhelming. Not a lot of "audience chat back" from Neil was included on the release - shame....
TRACKS: Mr Soul, When You Dance I Can Really Love, Drive Back, My My Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue), Like A Hurricane, Computer Age, Heart Of Gold, Hey Hey My My (Into The Black), The Old Laughing Lady, Eldorado - Acoustic version, This Note's For You, Ohio, Rockin' In The Free World, The Old House, Harvest Moon
Instead of an audio or music clip, I decided to include this interesting encounter between Neil and a retail record store staff member relating to a bootleg (run time 14+ minutes)
