Tuscaloosa

"The tour supporting 1972's Harvest, Neil Young's first stab at mainstream popularity, was a notoriously ragged and largely unsatisfying affair. Neil is said to have held back reissuing the resulting album from it, Time Fades Away, on CD for decades because it brought back bad memories. Tuscaloosa, an archival live recording with his Stray Gators group from one show on that jaunt, makes an unexpected appearance as Young continues his vault-clearing ... Hardcore followers might be enticed by hearing more from these often scraggly shows, but overall it's a disappointing if sporadically enjoyable historical document. Surely Young has better material to unleash".

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"It would be wrong to look at Tuscaloosa as the flip side of Time Fades Away, as in its own way, it's also an album that confronts grief and emotional struggle. The difference is, on Time Fades Away, those emotions were presented loud and clear. Tuscaloosa is warmer, more engaging, and captures Young and the Stray Gators on a great night (and boasts a cleaner recording and mix), but even in the cheeriest bits, there's a dark shadow in this music that's subtle but eloquent. Time Fades Away was the drunken wake and Tuscaloosa is the family's memorial service - and they're both important parts of the story of Neil Young in 1973".

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"der [er] rigtig god kommunikation med bandet i denne glasklare optagelse fra februar 1973, i et sammendrag der starter med et par stærke solo-numre, inden Stray Gators viser potentialet som dyre hired guns fra country-miljøet i Nashville ... Fem sange fra Harvest bliver luftet til stor jubel, samt et par endnu ældre og koemmende, mens Neil Young griner med sit publikum - ja, nærmest vrøvler omkring Heart of Gold's reklame-potentiale ... Altså en udgivelse, der giver denne Young-periode flere nuancer. Og alt i alt en mere fokuseret arkivoptagelse end sidste års Roxy: Tonights The Night (optaget senere i 1973, men med nyt band) selv om en hel koncert havde lunet i stedet for dette sammendrag".

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