BS: The title song, one of the album's most jagged and discomforting, tells the story of Bruce Berry, a friend of Young's who - the lyric states - "died, out on the mainline". Who was he?
NY: Bruce Berry was a roadie - he used to take care of Steve's (Steve Stills) and my guitars and amps.
BS: That line about his dying comes out and just hits you, someone noted.
NY: Yeah … those mixes were a little unorthodox. Like it's real music. Sometimes I'd be on mic and sometimes I'd be two feet off it. Sometimes I'd be lookin' around the room and singin' back off mic … we'd have to bring it way back up in the mix to get it. And you can hear the echo in the room. We were all on stage at SIR just playing, with the PA system and everything, just like a live thing.
NY: I got tired of … I think what was in my mind when I made that record was I just didn't feel like a lonely figure with a guitar or whatever it is that people see me as sometimes. I didn't feel that laid back – I just didn't feel that way. So I thought I'd just forget about all that … wipe it out. Be as aggressive and as abrasive as I could to leave an effect, a long-term effect, that things change radically sometimes, it's good to point that out.
Neil Young
Bud Scoppa/NME
June 1975
Myriad Convention Center Arena, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
Neil Young with The Stray Gators
L.A. Time Fades Away
1977
SESSION
House/Trancas, Malibu, CA
Neil Young
Bad News Comes To Town Bite The Bullet Hey Babe Hold Back The Tears Long May You Run Motorcycle Mama Peace Of Mind Saddle Up The Palomino Star Of Bethlehem Sweet Lara Larue The Old Country Waltz