Thursday 22 December 2011

Nils Lofgren - 2 Meter Sessions [Kink FM Amsterdam 2008]

Nils Not Neil

This is an outstanding live broadcast [bootleg] of Nils talking about and singing some songs from his album of that same year The Loner - Nils Sings Neil. There is nothing better than such a solo set: Nils with guitar and piano and vocal - though I'm sure many would claim, obviously, to 'better' that if it was Neil himself, and there are plenty of such solo recordings out there to achieve this. But that's the point. Nils Lofgren pays here a reverential yet never gushing tribute to Neil Young, and the talks between tracks give interesting insights into Lofgren's youthful work with Young on After The Goldrush as well as his admiration for Young as songwriter, especially his early work in Buffalo Springfield. And Nils Lofgren is a brilliant performer, so this collection is simply a winner in so many ways. Easy to find and download. Tracks are:

Wonderin'
Long May You Run
Flying On The Ground Is Wrong
I Am A Child
Don't Cry No Tears
Birds

My favourite anecdote is Lofgren telling us that whilst he played piano on most After The Goldrush tracks, Young played the piano on Birds, but Young gave the credit for all of the piano work to Nils in the album notes, a generosity Lofgren likes to acknowledge but also put right. And this is the one number on this radio studio performance where he plays piano!


No comments:

Post a Comment