Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Marc Ford and Phil Jones, Robust recordings 2023.
Marc Ford and Phil Jones are two experienced musicians, (guitarist Black Crowes and drummer Tom Petty respectively), whose love of Neil Young songs has been turned into a very good six track EP.
The songs they cover are early ones: Look Out Joe (from the album Times Fade Away 1973), LA (from Tonight’s The Night ’75), Southern Man (from After The Gold Rush ’70), Don’t Cry No Tears, and Barstool Blues (from Zuma ’75), and Albuquerque (from Tonight’s The Night ’75) .
Their covers are excellent and they’ve resisted the urge to too radically alter the original versions.
I often prefer artists to be bold in their reinterpretations but in this case, I applaud their decision to be more conservative.
It’s interesting that I could still hear Neil Young in these new versions.
He’s a remarkable songwriter and such an idiosyncratic performer that it’s often hard to divorce him from his songs.
Neil Young’s songs have been covered by a vast array of artists of varying genres but it’s not often that you come across versions that are so true to the originals.
To the best of my knowledge Marc and Phil played most, if not all, of the instruments on the album as well as recording and producing it.
They’ve done a good job because the EP is delightfully crisp and rich in sound.
They’ve kept it simple and largely unadorned and consequently that places the emphasis squarely where it should be, on the tremendous songs.
The standout tracks are the opener, Look Out Joe, Southern Man, and the magnificent Albuquerque, although every track is great.
I’m not sure which of the two musicians sung Albuquerque but you’d swear that they invited Neil himself into the studio to do the vocal.
If you’re a Neil Young fan then I’m sure you are going to enjoy this EP.
It’s available through Bandcamp.
