Kosmik Radiation Radio - Nov 11, 2011 Playlist

CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Neil Young & Crazy Horse "American Stars & Bars" 1977 (Canada/USA)

Neil Young turns 66 years old on Saturday, and as he is the most frequently played living artist on the Kosmik Radiation Show (#2 overall behind the late Frank Zappa), it has become something of a tradition to feature Neil every November. This week's classic album is one of the many flawed masterpieces Young released in the 1970's; much of this material was originally going to appear on a double album to be entitled Chrome Dreams, though he changed his mind and that record was never released (though to add to the perversity, in 2007 he released an album called Chrome Dreams II.) Stars & Bars is mostly notable for two epic cuts which take up most of the second side: the well-known Crazy Horse jam "Like A Hurricane", and the mysterious "Will To Love" which is a solo acoustic recording steeped in lo-fi ambience (the basic track is a cassette recording of Neil playing in a cabin to the crackle of a noisy wood burning stove). Other highlights include the single "Hey Babe" (which should have topped the pop charts, but for some reason missed the top 40 completely) and the Horse's horticultural stomper "Homegrown".
By the late 1970's disco had dislodged Neil's moody country rock from pop radio, but he still scored a couple hits when his "backup" singers recorded their own versions of his songs: "Love Is A Rose" by Linda Ronstadt and "Lotta Love" by Nicolette Larson. Here is Neil with Crazy Horse (featuring Poncho Sampedro on a "flying" Vox Stringman organ that resembles the bird cartoon on the cover of the Zuma album) playing the most famous tune from this album: "Like A Hurricane" (from Neil's high concept 1979 concert film Rust Never Sleeps). The would-be title track to another legendary unreleased Young album of the 1970's also turned up on Stars & Bars: "Homegrown", performed here by his mid-1980's "country" band The International Harvesters (a live album of Neil with the Harvesters was just released this year).

(N) = New Release

Artist	Song	Album	Year (label)	Country
Eric Burdon & The Animals	Sky Pilot (parts 1 & 2)	The Twain Shall Meet	1968	UK
Dragontears	Masters Of War (Bob Dylan)	Tambourine Freak Machine	2008	Denmark
Funkadelic	March To The Witch's Castle	Cosmic Slop	1973	USA
Neil Young & Graham Nash	War Song	A-side 7" single (Neil Young Archives Vol. 1 box set)	1972	Canada/UK

Neil Young & Crazy Horse	Hey Babe	American Stars & Bars CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK	1977	Canada/USA
Neil Young	Will To Love	American Stars & Bars CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK	1977	Canada
Neil Young & Crazy Horse	Like A Hurricane	American Stars & Bars CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK	1977	Canada/USA
Neil Young	Goin' Back	Comes A Time	1978	Canada

Joni Mitchell	That Song About The Midway	Clouds	1969	Canada
Deer Tick	Clownin' Around	Divine Providence (N)	2011 (Partisan)	USA
Thee Oh Sees	AA Warm Breeze	Castlemania (N)	2011 (In The Red)	USA
5-Track & Glass Goblins	Space Angel	Lost Soul Island	2006	USA
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks	Brain Gallop	Mirror Traffic (N)	2011 (Matador)	USA

Moon Of Ostara	The Star Child pt. 2	The Star Child pts 1-4 (N - preview of forthcoming release)	2011 (to be released on 4Zero)	UK
Annapurna Illusion	Long Wandering	Life Is An Illusion (N)	2011 (Rocket)	France
Guzzo Pinc & The Longsleeves	Lyn Jones	The Clap (N)	2011 (Free Agent)	USA
Psychedelic Horseshit	Dead On Arrival	Laced (N)	2011 (FatCat)	USA
Dave World	Black Gold (Oil) Street Mix	Black Gold (Oil) Street Mix (N - CD single)	2011 (self release)	USA

The Grateful Dead	The Eleven Jam (studio outtake)	Aoxomoxoa (bonus track on The Golden Road box set)	rec. 1968, rel. 2001	USA
Eleventh Dream Day	Bomb The Mars Hotel	Beet	1989	USA

Gentle Giant	Pantagruel's Nativity	Acquiring The Taste	1971	UK
Caravan	Where But For Caravan Would I?	Caravan	1968	UK
Van der Graaf Generator	Man-Erg	Pawn Hearts	1971	UK

Van der Graaf Generator	Snake Oil	A Grounding In Numbers (N)	2011 (Esoteric)	UK