Life (Neil Young & Crazy Horse album)

Infobox Album |
Name = Life
Type = Album
Artist = Neil Young & Crazy Horse


Released = June 30, 1987
Recorded = November 18-19, 1986
Universal Amphitheatre, Universal City, CA, and later at Record One, Los Angeles
Genre = Rock
Length = 40:40
Label = Geffen
Producer = Neil Young & David Briggs, Jack Nitzsche on track 9
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:1nkzu3r5an8k link]
Chronology = Neil Young
Last album = "Landing on Water"
(1986)
This album = "Life"
(1987)
Next album = "This Note's for You"
(1988)

"Life" is a 1987 album by Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Young's first with his erstwhile backing band since 1981's Re-ac-tor.

The first three tracks all handle the topic of world politics, and ponder the role of the United States in the world. "Long Walk Home," for example, empathizes with troops under deployment overseas. Though in response to the foreign policy issues of the time (Beirut, Qaddafi), Young found new meaning in these songs in the context of the war on terror and the occupation of Iraq. During his "Freedom of Speech" tour in support of "Living with War", Young posted videos of these three songs on his website, [http://www.neilyoung.com/lwwtoday/index.html] . The "Mideast Vacation" and "Long Walk Home" videos were later released on the DVD included with the album "". The performances are from his 1986 tour with Crazy Horse and are labeled as being "From "Neil Young Archives" Volume 3," a highly anticipated but perennially unreleased series of box sets chronicling Young's career.

Most of the album was recorded live in concert at the Universal Amphitheatre in Universal City, CA on November 18 and 19, 1986. "Mideast Vacation", "Around The World" and "When Your Lonely Heart Breaks" were recorded on the 18th, "Inca Queen", "Too Lonely" and "Prisoners Of Rock 'N' Roll" were recorded on the 19th. "Long Walk Home" is a mix of recordings from both these dates. cite book |last=Long|first=Pete|title= Ghosts On The Road |id=ISBN 0-9526517-3-4|pages=p.215-216]

This was Young's last release on the Geffen label. The title and cover portray Young a prisoner of his own music. The number 5 is scratched into the wall of his jail cell - the very number of albums Young would release under Geffen Records.

Track listing

All songs written by Neil Young.
# "Mideast Vacation" – 4:21
# "Long Walk Home" – 4:56
# "Around the World" – 5:26
# "Inca Queen" – 7:56
# "Too Lonely" – 2:48
# "Prisoners of Rock 'N' Roll" – 3:12
# "Cryin' Eyes" – 2:52
# "When Your Lonely Heart Breaks" – 5:16
# "We Never Danced" – 3:37

Personnel

*Neil Young - guitar, harmonica, keyboards
*Crazy Horse
*:Poncho Sampedro - guitar, keyboards
*:Ralph Molina - Ludwig drums
*:Billy Talbot - bass

References