YouTube: Neil Young, "Austin City Limits," the BEST fucking version of "Down By The River" EVER.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB5bGDPJakE

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[Bennyboy]

1. Nope sorry.....

But this one is the best http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YK_XPZ_Xhg Phish and Neil Young. Two incredible guitar players just shredding it up big time...And the bottom end is jusjt stupendous......

[Amerigo Vespucci]

2. No, I stand by my pick...

...I watched the Phish clip when you posted it previously, and it is mighty indeed, but it's all about context.

The clip I posted is from Austin City Limits, Neil's "Old Ways" set with the "International Harvesters."

It was basically an hour of cow-poke Neil, and he whipped out that amazing version of Down By The River, and the "be on my side, be on my side, be on my side" bit SLAYS me, and it's just prime Neil, without guests.

I see the Phish thing as "something else" and the Austin City Limits clip as "Neil."

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[Bennyboy]

3. Fair enough...There are lots of "Neils'.....

And I love everyone of them. I love the "Rust Never sleeps" version too (I was there so that might make me like it a bit more...)

But the one with phish is so good. Shred city.....

[Capn Sunshine]

4. Nope Nope Sorry sorry

Gotta be Crazy Horse. Don't seem to find any good ones on Youtube, but without Crazy Horse there's a nuance missing that I can't explain.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

5. It's a combination of two things...

...one, NOBODY expected that song at the end of the "Old Ways" set. Second, it's the repeated "be on my side" vocal with bursts of lead guitar from "Ol Black" until he finally just SPRAYS.

The original...and the album it came from, "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere"...were turning point, life-changing moments for me.

But I remember watching that "Austin City Limits" show the night it was broadcast, and it just blew my mind. Near the end of his miserable "Geffen Decade," it reminded me of why I became a Neil Young fan in the first place.

I know exactly what you mean by the Crazy Horse "nuance"...if you listen to Danny Whitten and Neil on the original, it's free-form improv that is still somehow in lock-step synchronicity.

Here is the "Archives" Live @ The Fillmore performance of the song with the Danny Whitten-era Crazy Horse (unfortunately broken into two parts on YouTube):

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1gktunVx-M

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScmJKvkCosg

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