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Jul 26, 2019 Web Exclusive By Timothy Michalik

The timing is of course coincidental, but just as the madness surrounding Alabama and hyper-restrictive reproductive rights surfaced, Neil Young released another album from his supposedly endless archive—his time the live document Tuscaloosa, recorded at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa in 1973. Here Young is joined by the Stray Gators—the band comprised of Tim Drummond, Kenny Buttrey, Jack Nitzsche, and Ben Keith, who joined him in recording Harvest and Time Fades Away—for an otherwise politically innocent (if not aesthetically top-notch) live recording,

If you come to Tuscaloosa expecting a wild, intergalactic ride in the vain of Crazy Horse, this is not for you—every guitar solo is restrained, and the typical 10-minute instrumental meanderings Young and the Horse are known for are entirely absent. Tuscaloosa is most reflective of the Harvest sessions—hushed, phlegmatic, more arrangement-oriented than anything else.

Tuscaloosa caters to Young’s mellow and choosey side—the sparse rendition of “After the Gold Rush” manifests as a more emotional cut of one of Young’s best compositions, while the full-band affair of “Harvest” possesses a twangier bounce than the studio version found on Harvest. These differences are not subtle. Tuscaloosa is the ideal live representation of a Neil Young that is often acclaimed but typically dismissed among popular music discourse—the patient, honey-voiced Canadian troubadour, not the gravely, barebones, brown-acid psychedelia of the ‘70s, driving down the 405 in a ‘59 Continental. Like the saccharine ease of “Old Man,” or the jittery jounce of “Time Fades Away,” Tuscaloosa exposes Young’s multiple, bizarre—if not comically fascinating—personalities, dipping into deep cuts while still catering to his pop-friendly roots. (www.neilyoungarchives.com)

Author rating: 8/10