Reprise RecordsLast month saw the release of the archival Neil Young & Crazy Horse concert album and video Way Down in the Rust Bucket, which documents a November 1990 show at the Santa Cruz, California, club The Catalyst.
The concert featured Neil and his famed backing group playing three sets, and included most of the tunes from their then-new album Ragged Glory, plus classics such as “Cinnamon Girl,” “Like a Hurricane” and “Cortez the Killer,” and several deep cuts.
Longtime Crazy Horse guitarist Frank “Poncho” Sampedro, who retired from the band in 2014, tells ABC Audio that playing that concert “was a pleasure.”
“Neil was playing guitar great…That’s why I think it’s one of the best Crazy Horse records ever,” Sampedro gushes. “Neil shines.”
Poncho says the concert was organized because the band had been rehearsing for over a month at Young’s San Francisco-area ranch for the upcoming Ragged Glory trek, and the album’s co-producer, David Briggs, felt that they needed to “get in front of people [and] just play these songs before the tour starts.”
Sampedro points out that The Catalyst was almost like a hometown gig for Young and Crazy Horse.
“[W]e knew everybody there. They all live in the area. We see ’em when we go out to eat. We see ’em at the bars,” he recalls. “And…when the show ended, I didn’t go out to a bus and drive away. I went to the bar with my buddies, and we hung out and we had a good time.”
Way Down in the Rust Bucket is available in digital formats, as a two-CD set, a four-LP package and a deluxe box set containing the CDs, the LPs and a DVD.
Here’s the Way Down in the Rust Bucket track listing:
“Country Home”
“Surfer Joe and Moe the Sleaze”
“Love to Burn”
“Days That Used to Be”
“Bite the Bullet”
“Cinnamon Girl”
“Farmer John”
“Cowgirl in the Sand”*
“Over and Over”
“Danger Bird”
“Don’t Cry No Tears”
“Sedan Delivery”
“Roll Another Number (For the Road)”
“F***in’ Up”
“T-Bone”
“Homegrown”
“Mansion on the Hill”
“Like a Hurricane”
“Love and Only Love”
“Cortez the Killer”
* = exclusive to the DVD.
By Matt Friedlander
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