Prolific as ever, and it should not be surprising. Neil Young appears to be on a roll when it comes to live works, album releases, and remastering. From a Glastonbury Festival headliner slot to a series of releases, both contemporary with Big Change to archival with Oceanside Countryside. Coastal, the upcoming album accompanying a documentary of the same name, treads the line between the now and the past. Just two years on from the recording, but time moves fast; an artist is already tired of works which were released only some months before. A thrilling performance of Vampire Blues teases what should be a remarkable collection of performances, a series of vibrations which will go a long way in convincing people to hear Young live. Not as though they would need convincing, but here is a wonderful example of Young as an artist with command of the stage.
That silence from the crowd is the sound of mesmerised attendees. A shot of feedback which roars over the top of the guitar work is heard, too. But it does not detract from a tremendous, stripped-back performance of Vampire Blues. Where it may sound as though the instrumentals are awry, short-changed even, it does capture Young in brilliant vocal form. In those moments of instrumental explosiveness is where creativity rages; at least it does for Young. Vampire Blues is a classic of his discography, and while this live performance for Coastal may not do much for newcomers or even seasoned listeners, it does provide a slice of the stage for home listening. But so too does Rust Never Sleeps, and that album is as tight as it gets for live efforts from Young. Better still, there is a slate of live material, bootleg or otherwise, already out there.
In its current form, Vampire Blues is just a snippet of sound, a crashing and loud piece which does not stand for much more than that boisterous explosion. That feedback may deafen the more sonically sensitive. Those with noise-cancelling headphones have been warned. Before and After offers a lot more, incomplete or otherwise. Where Coastal may be another release under the Young banner, its rather haphazard quality and seemingly artificially generated cover are not at all hallmarks for success. But even then, there is a beauty contained in this snippet, a raw and identifiable sound which is controlled so well by Young. It may be a tad erratic here but it captures the thrilling feeling of his live sets, detailed so well in better, earlier releases.
Where it may be a hard sell, Coastal and Vampire Blues sounds like a shot of solid fun. An accompaniment to a documentary on Young in recent years, and that is no common project. Revel in it, but accept the hang-ups of a song which feels as though it is cut way too short. Vampire Blues may offer an appealingly brief listen, but it is just a slice of what Young can do on stage. There are other, better live options out there for those who want to hear that quality on stage – and Coastal does not guarantee a series of strong performances. That is no knock at Young, but an acceptance of what a soundtrack album is meant to do. A solid enough listen, but not much in here is worth returning to.
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