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List Price: $7.98 | | Label: Reprise Records
Salesrank: 139758
Released: November 21, 2000 |
| Our Price: $3.19 |
| Used Price: $1.48 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Road Rock Vol. 1 Track Listing:
1. Cowgirl In The Sand
2. Walk On
3. Fool For Your Love
4. Peace Of Mind
5. Words
6. Motorcycle Mama
7. Tonight's The Night
8. All Along The Watchtower (duet with Chrissie Hynde)
Editorial Review:
This souvenir from Neil Young's Y2K Music in Head tour shines brightest when it reaches what in a vinyl world would have been side two's opening cut: "Words" starts out as a reminder of the depth and genius of Young's Harvest album, and then grows, over the course of its 11 minutes, into a fractured waltz that shows just how nicely a bunch of good old boys and girls can breathe new life into classic rock. Instrumental demons Donald "Duck" Dunn, Spooner Oldham, Jim Keltner, and Ben Keith (along with the Young family backup singers, sister Astrid and wife Pegi) perform similar miracles on "Tonight's the Night," "Cowgirl in the Sand" (18 big minutes!), and a crowd-pleasing "All Along the Watchtower" featuring tour-mate Chrissie Hynde. The shorter cuts are less remarkable, from the previously unreleased "Fool for Your Love" to a draggy "Motorcycle Mama" that barely warrants its four minutes. But when Young and company crank it up on the open highway, rock doesn't get much better than this. -Bill Forman
Road Rock Vol. 1 Reviews:
A great version of Watchtower 
2009-01-16 - All Along the watchtower is one of my all-time favorite songs. There are so many great versions of it. This one is scorching, they make you feel the cold wind blowing ("Outside in the cold distance" - what great lyrics!)
This might be the only duet version. That works. It's not Everly Bros. harmony, but it shouldn't be for this song. ("The wind begins to howl.")
It's powerful, it's kinda dissonant in the full-tilt Crazy Horse way, but it's very listenable. To like this, you gotta like Neil in his Jimi mode, but I like that a lot. I only downloaded the one song. If you like this, you will like Live Rust, which has awesome, classic Neil-as-Jimi.
A thought: How can this be the guy who recorded Live at Canterbury House and at Massey Hall (both great)? The guy who wrote and sang Expecting to Fly? He's amazing.
should have bought the video 
2007-02-24 - Just got an Oppo 970 and HDMI receiver and figured a 5.1 Neil Young concert would be fun. So far as I can tell, the DVD Audio center channel is never used, and the mix sounds like it could use it. Other 5.1 DVD Audio discs seem fine (Jackson Browne "Running on Empty", so just chalk it up to whacky old Neil doin' his thing.
It's not Crazy Horse...but ya know what...that's alright! 
2005-07-07 - Just because Neil isn't being backed by his legendary band, Crazy Horse, doesn't make this a bad album. Yes, it's not like it's predecessor when it comes to live albums (Rust Never Sleeps, Live Rust, Weld) but it goes in the same category as "Unplugged".
Neil has some prominent names performing with him for this tour which include Spooner Oldham on piano, Donald "Duck" Dunn on the bass, and Neil's longtime friend and musician, Ben Kieth on guitar. He is also accomponied by his wife, Pegi, and his half sister Astrid.
This isn't supposed to be a hard-rocking set. It's a toned-down yet equally impressive live album. It includes live rarities (except for Tonight's the Night) with excellent versions of "Cowgirl in the Sand" (first live appearance on an album since the acoustic version found on CSN&Y's Four Way Street), "Words" (my personal favorite) and a peaceful version of "Peace of Mind". All in all, it's a decent album filled with rarely played songs and played with "Friends and Relatives"
I would only recommend this for the "die-hard" fans - because it's not really a good introductory point, instead I'd go with Live Rust, or Weld - then weave your way into something softer, like this.
Volume one is the humble side on this one
2004-11-04 - When I looked at the spine of this CD in my CD tower, I thought this copyright 2000 Reprise Records release must be volume six, V I being close to VI. "Rust Never Sleeps" was one of my favorite video concerts for years, with "Hey Hey, My My" 's great line "Out of the Blue and Into the Black" also showing up on "WELD" by Neil Young and Crazy Horse in another concert CD, back in 1991, with lots of other great songs. This CD sounds like a concert that fills in some gaps, for people who would like to know more than just the big hits. I don't remember when I acquired this, but it is all starting to sound familiar now.
"Tonight's the Night" is the song before the last song on "WELD" and this CD, but I don't see any other simularities, and if I'm going to hear a song more often than the others, at least it is one I really like, even if it sounds like some crazy guy in the crowd is shouting at the end of it. Live recordings have found a number of techniques for suggesting that the audience is reacting to the music. Crazy people shouting sounds like something that the year 2000 had plenty of, and Neil's fan is undoubted not the worst of the lot. Enjoy it, if you can.
Gimme A Break...
2004-04-03 - Seems as if the top 500 "reviewers' here have little to no concept of what's going on, which probably means their top 500 "reviewer" status feeds their ego for personal reasons adding little to zero value to an actual opinion. `Road Rock Vol.1" contains the first time Young has released "Cowgirl in the Sand" live with Reprise. The song itself is one of the many staples on his first 1969 Crazy Horse release, `Everybody Knows this is Nowhere,' and throughout the years he has played it with many different people, in many different settings, and many times the song's feel varies. The 18 plus minute version contained here is just one take of wonderful arrangements and sounds. It starts the album and is worth the price of admission alone. `Words,' another past gem, gets a tasteful treatment from Young, Keith Dunn, Oldham, Keltner, Pegi and Astrid. Is this Young's most solid live Reprise release? No. But it is definitely worth having around in the collection as Young's sound over the years changes from live release to album to who he plays with. It captures the magic of a rock n roll moment many years after it was supposed to rust, a bright evolution, a statement few are unable to quite hear.
