Immersive sound, incredible songs, hearing an artist work their way through soon to be classics…listening to Neil Young in this context was revelatory the first time I hear Live At Massey Hall 1971 when it was first released. It was the first Neil Young record I ever bought, and the album that made me a fan despite knowing so many of his songs via the osmosis of his omnipresence on radio thoughout the 70s, 80s, and even the 90s. It’s a fragile album of immense power, for me one of the pinnacles of the singer-songwriter experience. Passionate, political, personal…all the “P”s are represented on this classic document.

Dividing his time between his guitar and piano, it’s a complete solo show, with Young starting off with a lovely cover of “On The Way Home”, followed by “Tell Me Why” and a brief request to not take pictures (see, even in 1971 artists found it annoying during shows) before announcing this is a new song he’s working on. The guitar chimes and instantly “Old Man” shows how sometimes genius springs fully formed.

Young’s vocals during the chorus are breath-taking and tear inducing. The crowd responds similarly, rapturously applauding despite the fact that many of the songs presented here are new and unfamiliar to audiences at the time. Young moves to piano next for a sublime version of “Journey Through The Past” and hearing him in such an intimate session (the set is beautifully recorded and produced by David Briggs) unlocks so many subtleties in his playing. Hearing these tracks so naked and unadorned you can hear his fingers slide against the strings, hear where he takes his breaths, how hard he hits the piano. The fragility of a song like “A Man Needs a Maid”, here brand new to audiences and blended with “Heart of Gold” (Harvest wouldn’t come out for another year) shines through in such a setting, as does the incredible melodic choices Young makes in “Cowgirl In The Sand” and his masterful control of his guitar: there are some perfectly bent notes and percussive rhythms folded wonderfully in such as way it’s hard for me to imagine it any differently.

With 17 songs and almost every single early classic you can imagine – “The Needle And The Damage Done”, “Ohio”, and Down By The River” make their way in towards the end of the set, it’s a moment of inescapable art trapped in amber. Live at Massey Hall 1971 is for me the bar all other live albums try and fail to clear.