Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Neil Young, Shakey Pictures Records/Reprise Records 2018.
Songs For Judy is a collection of live acoustic performances taken from Neil Young’s November 1976 solo tour of America and it features 22 songs recorded at various cities along the tour route.
Young had spent much of that year travelling around the world with Crazy Horse and by the end he was exhausted and in need of recharging his batteries.
Now most of us would take a break, put the guitar away, and do something completely different. Neil on the other hand set out on a solo tour where he trialed many songs that would not surface in recorded form for many years.
One of those tracks is No One Seems To Know, which would not see the light of day until now.
The raw versions of the tracks on Songs For Judy reflect an artist unafraid to let the songs stand on their own feet.
They are completely unvarnished by superfluous backing instrumentation, harmony vocals and clever production. They would either find breath and their own shape or they would fade away.
Neil Young is a prolific writer and songs written in this period would come into focus briefly and then seemingly disappear only to resurface again sometime later.
White Line and Give Me Strength are such examples of finding the light in 1990 and 2017 respectively.
It’s also fascinating to hear Neil revisit some of his very early catalogue from his Springfield days. Mr. Soul (‘67), Here We Are (‘68), and The Losing End (‘69) are lovely.
Young accompanies himself on guitar, piano, and banjo and engages with the audience throughout the concert.
The album is delightful and thoroughly engaging because of its intimacy, simplicity, and honesty.
In this over complicated world it’s nice to hear an artist stripped back to the bare essentials putting the focus squarely on the songs.
