Neil Young - Sugar Mountain: Live At Canterbury House 1968 (2009)

By Ben Vernel

"Sugar Mountain : Live At Canterbury House 1968" is where it all began, in many ways, for Neil Young.

It was the genesis of his solo career, with the performance occurring just days prior to the release of his debut solo album.

He sits, surrounded by more people than expected (according to the MC in the intro track) strumming his guitar, his voice teetering between melodic and haunting.

And he sits alone...

At a tender twenty three years old, it is a testament to Neil Young's talent and charisma that he was able to hold a crowd spellbound with just a guitar and his voice.

And he really does.

Many people have said many things about Neil Young over his fourty plus year recording career, and I have read a fair bit of it myself.

If I can add anything, it is my own experience of his music.

I grew up on my parent's music – Hendrix, Miles Davis, Muddy Waters, James Taylor, Cat Stevens, The Rolling Stones to name some of their favourites – but once I reached high school age I treated most of it with teenage disdain.

However, Neil Young's album "Harvest" was too amazing to ignore, even for a stubborn teen. His music is poignant, pretty, dark and dirty. It breaks through scene, class, genre, and movement and resonates as only truly great music can.

There is a reverential silence during each track on this album, but the audience are quick to laugh during the conversational interludes.

While I loved the skilful, calming, beautiful acoustic music that is featured on "Sugar Mountain : Live", I found the Raps (as they are designated in the iTunes album information) to be a distraction at best.

Perhaps die hard Neil Young fans would appreciate them more... It is hard to say.

Neil Young talks about the motivations behind songwriting, the experience of working in a bookstore, tuning his guitar, and more.

But lets face it, the real reason you are buying this monster CD/DVD set (the DVD is just extremely high quality audio, not video) is the music.

And you can't see to many people being disappointed.

Neil Young fans will be familiar with most, if not all of the tracks on "Sugar Mountain : Live", but there is a definite, broad appeal to the songs that should resonate with most people.

If you are unfamiliar with the works of Neil Young and enjoy some mellow acoustic stuff, take my advice and buy a track or two on iTunes – perhaps On The Way Home or Broken Arrow.

Put it this way; if you like Bon Iver, you like Neil Young.

... But you will like Young more.

"Sugar Mountain : Live At Canterbury House 1968" is where it all began - a young man playing some great songs in a crowded venue to an appreciative crowd of university students.

And this album captures it perfectly.

RATING: 4.5 out of 5

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