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Somewhere Under the Rainbow 1973
Somewhere Under the Rainbow 1973 in Bloomington, MN
Current price: $17.59
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Size: CD
Recorded at London's Rainbow Theater in November of 1973,
Somewhere Under the Rainbow
captures
Neil Young
at the height of the
Tonight's the Night
era, having finished that tumultuous album just months earlier and already taking the material to the stage.
The Santa Monica Flyers
,
Neil
's backing band on this tour, consisted of pedal steel player
Ben Keith
, bassist
Billy Talbot
, drummer
Ralph Molina
, and
Nils Lofgren
jumping between piano, guitar, and even occasional accordion. As with so many of the entries in
's Official Bootleg Series,
circulated as a rough audience recorded bootleg for decades before this official release, and professional mastering can only polish the raw sound quality to a certain point. For this kind of live document, the imperfections are part of the charm. Though boomy renditions of "Albuquerque" and "Mellow My Mind" sound like they're transmitting from the other side of a football field, there's a warm gelling of the vocals and instruments that doesn't happen with more defined multi-track recordings. Anyone deep enough into the
bootleg rabbit hole is probably already aware of
Roxy Tonight's the Night Live
, a far clearer recording of a club date that happened a few months after the Rainbow gig.
Roxy
has the same backing band and a similar set list, but the two nights carry significantly different energies. While
seems to be in loose, jokey form on both,
tones things down for a string of acoustic numbers that weren't a part of the more rocking
date. This begins with a long, ghostly take on "Tonight's the Night" (the second time in the set the band plays the tune), the
Buffalo Springfield
-era song "Flying on the Ground Is Wrong," the always moving "Helpless," and several others. The night ends with a burning rendition of "Cowgirl in the Sand."
's voice cracks a little, and there's an especially wobbly quality to the way the band moves through the 12-plus-minute jam on the song, but it works with the rest of the set.
manages to feel intimate and hushed even when it's rocking hard and spilling out messily. All of the Official Bootleg Series releases are valuable documents of various phases of
's career, but this one has a personality that sets it apart. ~ Fred Thomas
Somewhere Under the Rainbow
captures
Neil Young
at the height of the
Tonight's the Night
era, having finished that tumultuous album just months earlier and already taking the material to the stage.
The Santa Monica Flyers
,
Neil
's backing band on this tour, consisted of pedal steel player
Ben Keith
, bassist
Billy Talbot
, drummer
Ralph Molina
, and
Nils Lofgren
jumping between piano, guitar, and even occasional accordion. As with so many of the entries in
's Official Bootleg Series,
circulated as a rough audience recorded bootleg for decades before this official release, and professional mastering can only polish the raw sound quality to a certain point. For this kind of live document, the imperfections are part of the charm. Though boomy renditions of "Albuquerque" and "Mellow My Mind" sound like they're transmitting from the other side of a football field, there's a warm gelling of the vocals and instruments that doesn't happen with more defined multi-track recordings. Anyone deep enough into the
bootleg rabbit hole is probably already aware of
Roxy Tonight's the Night Live
, a far clearer recording of a club date that happened a few months after the Rainbow gig.
Roxy
has the same backing band and a similar set list, but the two nights carry significantly different energies. While
seems to be in loose, jokey form on both,
tones things down for a string of acoustic numbers that weren't a part of the more rocking
date. This begins with a long, ghostly take on "Tonight's the Night" (the second time in the set the band plays the tune), the
Buffalo Springfield
-era song "Flying on the Ground Is Wrong," the always moving "Helpless," and several others. The night ends with a burning rendition of "Cowgirl in the Sand."
's voice cracks a little, and there's an especially wobbly quality to the way the band moves through the 12-plus-minute jam on the song, but it works with the rest of the set.
manages to feel intimate and hushed even when it's rocking hard and spilling out messily. All of the Official Bootleg Series releases are valuable documents of various phases of
's career, but this one has a personality that sets it apart. ~ Fred Thomas
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