Neil Young - Time Fades Away Tour (2018)

BROADCAST RECORDING FROM 1973 S TIME FADES AWAY TOUR Following the success of Neil Young s 1972 album Harvest, a new tour with The Stray Gators - to be augmented by Danny Whitten - had been planned, but it became apparent during rehearsals that Whitten could not function due to drug abuse. On November 18, 1972, shortly after he was fired from the tour preparations, Whitten was found dead of an apparent overdose. On the tour, Young struggled with his voice and the performance of drummer Kenny Buttrey, a noted Nashville session musician who was unaccustomed to performing in the rock milieu, was deemed sub-standard. Buttrey was eventually replaced by former CSNY drummer Johnny Barbata, while David Crosby and Graham Nash contributed rhythm guitar and backing vocals to the final dates of the tour. The album assembled in the aftermath of the tour, Time Fades Away, was released in October 1973, and has often been described by Young as my least favourite record"; it was not officially released on CD until 2017. But, despite Young s disappointment with the new release, the album did contain a number of truly great songs, and this CD, recorded for FM radio broadcast on the tour from which the album was compiled, on 28th January 73, features three of the record s very finest cuts, including the title track plus Don t Be Denied and Last Dance . The rest of the show features Young classics from previous albums, his unreleased tribute to Joni Mitchell, Sweet Joni , and two numbers that would be included on his next album, 1975 s Tonight s The Night , written largely for Danny Whitten.