Description
Neil Young’s 1973 “Time Fades Away” is one of the most remarkable live albums ever recorded.
Certainly at the time of release, it was almost unprecedented for an artist to release a live concert recording of previously unreleased material.
“Time Fades Away” is the first installment of the trio of albums known as the “Ditch Trilogy” along with his two other early 1970’s materpieces Tonight’s The Night and On The Beach. The edgy moody darkness of recording and brilliantly erratic song selection offer the portrait of the artist undergoing a deep catharsis and unraveling simultaneously.
Released in 1973 following the massive success of the multi-platinum selling Harvest, fans were definitely expecting those folkie mellow hit tunes like “Heart of Gold”. While fans did hear such Harvest favorites as “Heart of Gold”‘s sunny optimism, they also heard more than just a laid back vibe. Listeners got raw emotional lyrics and high amplification electric guitar. This was not the Neil Young music they were expecting to hear when they purchased their tickets.
In the often quoted hand written liner notes of Decade, Neil writes:
“‘Heart of Gold’ put me in the middle of the road. Traveling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch.”
