Neil Young with Crazy Horse: Toast (2LP)

"Toast" has been a long time coming since 2001 and has been repeatedly replaced by other releases. Neil Young about the album: "Toast is an album that stands alone in my collection. Unlike all the others, Toast was so sad that I couldn't release it. I just skipped it and made another album instead. I couldn't handle it at the time. 2001. John Coltrane, one of my heroes, was making some music in the 'Toast' studio at the time. Maybe it was called 'Coast' at the time, maybe not. The name changed back and forth a few times. It was on the mission in SF. The back door opened onto an alley. It was so stuffy in there that we left the door open until one day we saw rats coming and going. After that we just went outside for a smoke. The music in Toast is about a relationship. In many relationships that go wrong, there's a time, long before the break-up, when it dawns on one of them, maybe both, that it's over. This was that time. The sound is gritty and dark, but not in a bad way. Fat. From the first note, you can feel the sadness that permeates the recording. This song with the chorus 'Don't say you love me' is called 'Quit'. The next song, a kind of Deep Purple hit, is called 'Standing in the Light'. 'I don't wanna to get personal, or have you put me on the spot' is the first line. Followed by 'Goin Home', these songs paint a landscape in which time plays no role - because everything is going down the drain. A woman is lost in her car. The dark city surrounds her - past, present and future. It's a scary place. You are the judge. Then the scene shifts to a religious man who has just lost his job. He turns his back on Jesus. He can't cut down trees anymore. He is a woodcutter. Finally, the 'Gate of Love' beckons with 'background noises in a changing sky'. I had forgotten these songs, put them out of my mind and moved on with my life. It has to be said that Crazy Horse show a depth here that I've never seen or heard before. The greatest group I've ever met. This is a high point. Where they let me go, where they took me, was incredible. I couldn't stay. Then, 'I want to shake your hand, Mr. Disappointment.' I see you now, eye to eye. Cloudy and dark. There's no mistaking it. How can you be so real and intangible? So we continued on our way down. 'She's a healer'. But not this time. It's toast."