Neil Young – Sugar Mountain – Live At Canterbury House 1968

It’s hard to give an opinion on this album, because there are two ways to look at it. As an historical document, this collection is precious. A nervous, youthful Young relates the tales of the drugs and diners brought his career to life. He even discusses the tuning of his guitar, calling his demodal tuning a bit of a fad. He’s funny, thoughtful and unguarded, making the disc a fun listen.

That said, from a pure musical perspective, this disc falls way short of it’s older brother, Live at Massey Hall. The setlist features far fewer of the songs that made Young famous, for starters. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it does make the album a bit less accessible. There’s a reason many of these songs have become forgotten to history. Frankly, from one of folk-rock’s greatest writers, these songs illustrate how far he grew in just a few years.

The notable exception, of course, is the title track. Sugar Mountain is one of Young’s finest songs. Still in his early 20′s when he wrote it, Young demonstrated for the first time is uncanny ability to observe the fleeting nature of youth. In 1968, he predicted the many aging hippies that would come to define the Peter Pan nature of his generation. It was this very perspective that allowed him to later write “Old Man,” one of the highlights of his cannon.

Finally, there is also an annoying tape hiss; a constant reminder that this is a document, rather than an album.