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Weld (2 disc set)

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Well, obviously the tour resulting in this CD is long over, but this is your best shot at going to this particular Neil Young concert. He blows you away right from the start (as does the band) but by the time the Dylan classic 'Blowin' in the wind' is played inside out in a truly amazing rendering of this song, he grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go anymore. This is a CLASSIC rock album, although Live Rust is more famous. Trust me, this is Live Rust tenfold. Cortez the Killer, Crime in the City, Powderfinger... it's all here. But you will be coming back to Blowin' in the Wind, just like me. Recorded on the verge of the Gulfwar, Young gets angry and gets the song done in just the right way. Think about what could have happened in the Gulf War, close your eyes and set the volume to 12. This is not a song, this is a work of Art, deserving to belong in every self respecting rock collection. Impressive.

On the one hand this is one of the finest live documents of a performer's work ever recorded. In fact, it may be the best live 2 disc set aside from Young's own 'Live Rust' and Eric Claptons 'Derek and the Dominos - Live At the Fillmore' release. Even without the visual imagery of the 'Weld' video, the nuances that made 'this' Neil Young the 'Godfather of Grunge' can be appreciated through the audible record alone. In particular are the extreme, even by Neil Young standards, use of distortion and feedback, especially in the extended endings of songs. Neil was even inspired by his opening act, Sonic Youth, to string together a number of these finale's into the curious, experimental 'Arc' disc. You may need to garner a taste for such voluminous summations since virtually all of the songs on 'Weld' are punctuated in this manner. On the upside, there is certainly nothing lackluster about the way Young and Crazy Horse are addressing their catalog here. It's pedal to the metal all the way.

The track selection is another story. The setlists detailed on the 'Sugar Mountain' website reveal that on their 1991 tour Young and Crazy Horse offered little variation from one performance to the next. One setlist appears to have been rigidly adhered to. What you're hearing on 'Weld' is pretty much what everyone who attended a concert from this tour heard. But one can certainly take exception with some of the songs Young chose for the shows. While most people who attend a Neil and the Horse concert probably expect to hear certain classics, such as 'Like a Hurricane' and 'Cinnamon Girl', alternate versions of these tracks are readily available on a number of releases. Had Young introduced some variation in the setlist, performances of tracks such as 'Drive Back', 'Southern Pacific', and 'Alabama', he could have filled in those relatively rare performances nicely on these discs in lieu of 'Cortez the Killer', 'Tonight's the Night', 'Welfare Mothers', and 'Hey Hey My My'. Young has such an extensive catalog that releases such as this, and even his 2000 'Live At Red Rocks' disc (both of which feature performances of 'Powderfinger' and 'Tonight's the Night'), render some tracks superfluous for Young's more dedicated fans.

What makes 'Weld' special, however, are the stunning performances of more recent Young compositions, in particular 'Crime In the City', 'Love and Only Love', 'Rockin' In the Free World', 'Mansion On the Hill', 'F*!#IN Up', 'Farmer John', and 'Love To Burn', all of which are better live (and in the case of 'Crime and the City', electrified) than their studio counterparts. It has always been the case with Young and Crazy Horse that taking off whatever polish a studio affords them, 'reducing' the band to their garage-rock sound, enhances their appeal. There is also an electrified, Jimi Hendrix styled version of Bob Dylan's 'Blowin' In the Wind', and the final encore, which Young refers to as "some more trash", 'Roll Another Number', perhaps designed to bring the crowd down from the high-decibel rush Young had rolled over them before sending them on their way.

The new numbers are nicely mixed with the older material across the two discs. It's a particularly nice compilation of Young's work for people who don't own many of his discs. It's also essential to the rabid collector, however, for the great versions of Young's late 1980's production. So while the discriminating collector may disagree with the track selections, perhaps Neil the DJ knows best. He created a 2-disc work that balances the appeal for his new and old fans alike, proving once again that his acumen on the stage extends into the marketplace.

After "Ragged Glory," one of the all time great rock guitar albums, Young and his sometime mates took to the road and pumped up the volume. New songs and old alike get a bludgeoning that is high energy if not always the best way to hear them. What gives the record its immediacy is that it was recorded during the Gulf War. The highlight comes when, over sounds of automatic gunfire and explosions, Neil shouts the lyrics to Dylan's anti-war classic "Blowin' in the Wind" while strumming a singular electric guitar note with fury. This is Neil at his angriest, and there are simply no quiet moments. A solid live album from a great artist.

Weld is the strongest live album from Neil Young & Crazy Horse. Although their previous live album Live Rust is also very good, Weld is more raw and intense and features stronger performances. This was recorded while the U.S. troops were at war in Iraq during 1990-91 and the music featured here was very reflective of the nation's mood at the time.

Many of the tunes on Weld had already appeared on Live Rust such as "Powderfinger", "Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black}", "Tonight's The Night", "Like A Hurricane", and "Cinnamon Girl." However, the performances of these tracks on Weld are grittier and grungier. There are five tracks here from their excellent Ragged Glory album with the best being "Love To Burn", "Farmer John", and "Love And Only Love." Disc 1 is the slightly stronger disc, containing a feedback heavy version of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' In The Wind" and killer versions of "Welfare Mothers" and "Crime In The City" with the latter being much better than the studio track on the Freedom album. Disc 2 contains decent versions of "Rockin' In The Free World" and "Roll Another Number." This album, along with Ragged Glory, pointed towards the grunge music that dominated the early 90's. Highly recommended to fans of Neil's work with Crazy Horse as this is clearly the best thing next to seeing them live.

Neil broke out of his 80's slump with a couple of great albums, "Freedom" and "Ragged Glory." The subsequent tour with Crazy Horse yielded the double live album "Weld". There is none of the sensitive singer/songwriter Neil on this disc. It is all the loud, distorted Neil. To set the tone on this tour, the opening acts were Sonic Youth and Social Distortion. That might have scared away some of the old hippies in the crowd. But those that remained were rewarded by hippie Neil protesting the Persian Gulf War with a haunting version of Dylan's "Blowing In the Wind". This disc features new versions of several classic songs that also appear on "Live Rust", including "Hey Hey My My", "Cortez the Killer", and "Like A Hurricane". There are also live versions of some songs that helped break the 80's slump like "Rockin' In The Free World" and "Mansion on the Hill". Neil and the band really jam on two great "love" songs from his "Ragged Glory" disc, "Love and Only Love" and "Love To Burn". This is the stuff that got people calling him the Godfather of Grunge.

Once sued by Geffen Records for delivering "uncommercial" records, Canadian Neil Percival Young has never really sought stardom. He has always followed his instincts, even when they told him to put out an album of feedback noise, yet he has also produced a body of work which, in terms of depth and influence, is second only to Bob Dylan.
And nobody but nobody, not even His Bobness himself, will leave behind a musical legacy as diverse as that of Neil Young.

No techno or rockabilly here, though. "Weld" is a furious two hours of blistering hard rock, courtesy of Neil Young and his legendary 70s backing band Crazy Horse.
Screaming with distortion and vibrating overdrive, "Weld" gathers sixteen powerful songs, averaging 7½ minutes in lenght, on two discs.
Young's then-current albums "Freedom" (1989) and "Ragged Glory" (1990) are represented by "Mansion On The Hill", "Crime In The City" (in a much harder rocking version than the studio one), "Farmer John", "F**kin' Up", and the classic "Rockin' In The Free World", and from his masterpiece "Rust Never Sleeps" comes "Cortez The Killer", "Welfare Mothers" and one of the best songs of Neil Young's forty-year career, the epic "Powderfinger", which burns with two riveting solos from Young himself.

He also covers "Blowin' In The Wind", complete with the sounds of an air raid siren, gunfire and bombs going off, and the result is quite majestic.
There's an impressive 14-minute guitar extravaganza built around "Like A Hurricane". A great "Love And Only Love". And the final song on disc two is a wonderfully rough, yet melodic rendition of the superb "Roll Another Number".

Several of these songs have been released live before, but that doesn't change the fact that "Weld" is one of the most awesome rock records of the 90s. The guitars sizzle and shimmer like you won't believe, and somehow Neil Young's fragile wail of a voice is just right for these furious hard rock arrangements.

A must-have for any self-respecting Neil Young-fan, and a good place for the curious listener to discover why the Neil Young / Crazy Horse-combination was (and is) so highly esteemed.

In the search for live Neil, there's the mellow "Unplugged", the noisier and better "Live Rust", and this electric rocker. "Weld" is far from perfect, but that's exactly what makes it so good. It's loud, sometimes sloppy, and it's the band and Neil in all their foot-stompin' glory. It's also a good mix of hits as well as obscure songs. Disc one gives us the great and lengthy "Crime In The City", Dylans "Blowin' In The Wind", the spicey "Cinnamon Girl", and "F*ckin' Up", which Pearl Jam has covered well. Disc two has the classic "Cortez The Killer", "Roll Another Number", "Rockin' In The Free World", and "Powderfinger", a song I've heard Cowboy Junkies do. There's no doubt Neil Young has two essential sides to his music. "Harvest" is one side, this is the other.

Well I haven't got too much time to write this review and to be honest I probably need about 4 days. Listening to this record was like taking your favourite song, putting it on continous playback and never being bored of it. In short, it's raw, electric, exciting and Neil Young. From start to finish. And it's great.

This album catches him at his live best, complete with a great Crazy Horse line up. Hot on the heels of the release of Ragged Glory, this tour notably contains a list of songs from that particular album. Which isn't a bad thing, but it's the classics such as Hey Hey My My, Crime In the City, Cinnamon Girl, Rockin In The Free World and Like A Hurricane which stand out the most. But only cos we know those quite well now. The great thing about a Neil Young gig is you never know how each song is going to pan out. It sounds as though the band have never played the songs before, and as a result there is an incredible raw feel to them.

To conclude? A fantastic run through the hits catalogue played with a brash of urgency that only Neil Young can muster. They don't make guitar music like they used to anymore...............

There is just no other artist that sings like Neil Young, that plays a guitar like Neil Young, or that covers so many various styles as Neil Young -- from gentle country rock (exemplified by his latest film Heart of Gold) to the angriest and hardest grunge. Weld showcases Young & Crazy Horse at their hardest, loudest, and grungiest. Young's extended distortion drenched guitar solos are riveting and jaw-dropping. Young unleashed. But be forewarned, this album is not for the faint of heart. It must be played loud!

The most popular live album of Neil Young is 1979's "Live Rust" but in truth "Weld" (2 CDs, 16 tracks, 121 min.) is the better and showcases Neil Young and Crazy Horse at their peak in concert. Touring behind the then-just released "Ragged Glory" album, this is Neil in all-out grunge mode.

CD1 (8 tracks, 54 min.) starts off with "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)", of course also found on "Live Rust". But things start cooking with "Crime in the City". The Dylan cover "Blowin' In the Wind" is a slowed-down version of the original, and in my opinion it just doesn't work well. Not surprisingly there are 5 songs from the "Ragged Glory" album on this live set. "Love to Burn" and "Mansion on the Hill" are terrific. CD2 (8 tracks, 67 min.) is even better, starting with a scorching "Cortez the Killer". "Ragged Glory" tracks "Love and Only Love" and "Farmer John" are standouts. The 13 min. "Like a Hurricane" is the peak of this set, with Neil's guitar solos going forever, just fab. For good measure we get a superb "Tonight's the Night" after that.

Four years after "Weld", Neil would outgrunge the grunge with "Mirror Ball", but "Weld" is as good a testament to his grunge period as anything else. Early pressings of "Weld" came with a bonus disc "Arc", an incomprehensible 33 min. track of continuous guitar feedback workout, not unlike Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music". It's not for everyone, but worth checking out. I've seen Neil live a number of times over the years, but unfortunately not on the "Weld" tour. This is a superb live set. Highly recommended!