Neil Young has dabbled in folk, country and country rock at various stages during his long and distinguished musical career, but the straightest country music he cut on a record was the 1985 album Old Ways. This move saw him infuriate his then label Geffen Records, who had already rejected a previous country effort in 1982 and then had to contend with Young releasing a rockabilly album, Everybody’s Rockin’ in 1983. Eventually they sued him for making “unrepresentative music” in 1984 by which point he’d already been touring and recording with a band of veteran Nashville sidemen dubbed the International Harvesters.
Twelve songs from this 1984-1985 tour are documented on this release, the latest from Young’s archives series. The album itself has a fairly consistent good ol’ time honky-tonk sound with warm and playful performances throughout. A Treasure features five previously unreleased tracks, a cover version, plus excellent takes on older tracks such as Are You Ready for the Country and Flying on the Ground is Wrong, as well as radical overhauls of two tracks off the Re-Ac-Tor album with Crazy Horse, Southern Pacific and Motor City.
The album kicks off with Amber Jean, a song Young wrote for his daughter. It sets out the stall for the majority of the album with its foot stomping country swing and a joyous fiddle break from Cajun music veteran Rufus Thibodeaux, a recurring and always welcome feature on the album. The band then launches into a rocked up version of Are You Ready for the Country? off Young’s 1972 Harvest. The pace then settles down a bit for the album’s sole cover song, It Might Have Been before several songs of free-spirited, lively, chugging country. Listening to these cuts, which include Soul of a Woman, Let Your Fingers Do the Walking, and the Buffalo Springfield song Flying on the Ground is Wrong, it’s easy to picture the audience getting in the spirit and dancing away to these numbers.
The album takes a more downbeat tone for the final three tracks with Southern Pacific telling the story of a retired rail worker and the ballad Nothing is Perfect which contains a bittersweet message. The closing track is the previously unreleased Grey Riders, a brooding hard rocking track that would be more at home on a Crazy Horse album.
A Treasure is a very good album overall and a truly enjoyable listen if you don’t mind real country music done well. The International Harvesters were a first-rate group of musicians, in terms of technical proficiency probably the best Young ever played with. Even for old timers who’ve seen it all they inject a lot of energy, passion, and enthusiasm into the tunes they play and it really brings a smile to the face at times. A Treasure is a refreshing, joyous, lively album and certainly a pleasure to listen to.
Grade: A