On 16th May 1974, Neil Young made a late-night/early-morning surprise guest appearance at New York’s Bottom Line, a Greenwich Village venue which opened the same year and was run by Allan Pepper and Stanley Snadowsky. While the 400 capacity venue only opened a few months prior, it played host to some of the biggest names in music.
Young’s surprise performance took place in the early hours of the morning at 2:15 am, when, following sets by Leon Redbone & Ry Cooder, the host announces their special guest. The recording of the performance was made on a cassette recorder and Young opens with what he calls ‘a quiet song’, which, after pondering for a bit, announces it as”Citizen Kane Jr. Blues”. It would become Pushed It Over The End.
As well as featuring some crowd favourites he also performs several tracks from the yet to be released “On the Beach”, including ‘Ambulance Blues,’ ‘Revolution Blues,’ ‘On the Beach’ and ‘Motion Blues.’ He also serves up a lovely rendition of the traditional folk song Greensleeves.
The bootleg recording became very popular with fans and has had a number of unofficial releases but in 2020, Young announced an Official Bootleg Series: “The first edition of the NYA Official Bootleg Series will contain at least six complete Bootleg Series offerings, the majority of which are from our own master recordings. Produced by the Volume Dealers, these six albums will provide the highest quality listening available.”
This vinyl/cd release was issued on 6 May. While this may not be the highest fidelity offering of the series, it’s far better than you’d expect from a cassette recording as this trailer proves.
Some, but not all, of the banter from the original has been edited which is a bit of shame as that was also part of its allure. The release is available digitally and on CD and Vinyl and on some streaming services including Apple Music.
Tracklisting
- Pushed It Over the End (Live)
- Long May You Run (Live)
- Greensleeves (Live)
- Ambulance Blues (Live)
- Helpless (Live)
- Revolution Blues (Live)
- On the Beach (Live)
- Roll Another Number (For the Road) [Live]
- Motion Pictures (Live)
- Pardon My Heart (Live)
- Dance Dance Dance (Live)
More here: http://www.neilyoung.lnk.to/CitizenKaneJr1974