Sugar Mountain - Live At Canterbury House 1968

by

Neil Young

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As the current Chaplain of Canterbury House, I can offer a little bit of history on this performance.

Canterbury House was then and is now the Episcopal campus ministry at the University of Michigan. In 1968 the Chaplains were the Revs. Dan Burke and Martin Bell, and the student House Manager was Ed Reynolds. These three remarkable persons turned Canterbury House into an innovative coffee house ministry, oriented toward those who were turned off to all things establishment, including main-line churches. The stellar musicians who performed here included Joni Mitchell, Richie Havens, Odetta, Tom Rush, Gordon Lightfoot, the Byrds, and Janis Joplin. Many of these concerts were recorded, and the tapes given to the artists. The venue was intimate, as can clearly be heard on this recording of Neil Young's performance here on Saturday, 9 November 1968. This was his first performance as a solo artist after the breakup of Buffalo Springfield, and indeed this recording includes many of the songs that were hits for the group, including "On The Way Home," "Mr. Soul" and "Broken Arrow." All of the songs on this album, stripped to the bare essentials of voice and guitar, demonstrate the purity and simplicity that has made Neil Young a wonderful songwriter for decades. The dialogue on the recording demonstrates a youthful shyness and a natural ability to connect with his audience.

Canterbury House remains to this day a venue for prophetic music. Our concert series features primarily jazz and experimental idioms. Those of us who were young people in 1968, Neil Young included, "can't be twenty on Sugar Mountain" any more; but it's nice to know Sugar Mountain is still there.

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Wonderful music, and beautifully played. Just voice and guitar, and Young is on top of his form. But although the vocals and the guitar are reasonably well recorded, as some reviewer has already pointed out there is a loud hiss throughout the set which is rather bothering and distracting, particularly on the quieter numbers.

It doesn't spoil the fun, but it gets close.

I think it just fair that possible purchasers and fans should be warned.

And as has been said, no video footage on the DVD, which is only audio... but that thing I did know so I can't say I'm disappointed by that.