Over the last few years Neil Young has released several excellent live albums from the late 1960s and early 1970s, and a couple from later, as well. Cellar Door captures Neil in 1970 performing solo-acoustic shortly after the release of After the Gold Rush, performing at the fan-famous Cellar Door, known as the double entendre from The Needle and the Damage Done ("Caught you knockin' at my cellar door..."). But this was one of the last of Neil's live archive releases to come out (at the time), and I wrote it off as soon as it was announced.
Why? In this stark 13 song tracklist most of these songs have been released not only in *several* live versions already but even from the same time period. After Canterbury House '68, Riverboat '69, Massey Hall '71, and Four Way Street '70, I just didn't feel the need to hear Neil do the same songs, the same way. Out of 13 tracks there's literally not one song on here that hadn't already been released in an acoustic live version.
But I don't mind putting new releases on the backburner. When it comes to my favorite artists, I intentionally let material fall through the cracks so that there'll be new material to explore later. When I got around to Cellar Door it was quite a revelation... holy mother of pearl, this is one of the best live albums I have ever heard!
The sound quality on this recording is out of this world. Does the Cellar Door have preternaturally spectacular acoustics? It sounds more like a live-in-studio recording than a concert venue. It's rich and it's warm and it's so clean. This is truly what it would sound like if Neil was playing for you in your living room; you can even hear him lightly tap his guitar to keep rhythm on Only Love Can Break Your Heart.
It's a more tender, gentler, more intimate record than Neil has perhaps ever recorded. It's an album to listen to while watching the sunset or drinking your morning tea. An unassuming setlist is somewhat empowered by rare interpretations such as Cinnamon Girl and Flying on the Ground is Wrong now reborn as piano ballads instead of being done on the guitar. It's amazing how he can play these same songs so many times and somehow keep doing unique versions of them. Songs like Old Man and Down by The River which have been done so ad nauseum (4 official versions of Old Man, 6 of Down by The River), somehow become genuinely meaningful again in this new setting with Neil's naked delivery.
I'm not sure if this is necessarily Neil Young's best acoustic live album. Canterbury House has long been my favorite with its stark style and adventurous setlist. Cellar Door may do absolute wonders with its material but it still could have had a better stock of material to draw from.
Cellar Door still may be the best, though. Ultimately I don't think any Neil collection would be complete without both Canterbury House and Live at the Cellar Door. But what I can definitely say for Cellar Door is that it's a marvel of intimacy, and it's the best 'album' out of all Neil's acoustic live albums. It's a record that could have come out as a "live studio album" like Rust Never Sleeps, it really works and flows in a perfect way.
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