Below you can read the story of the theft of his own record
Neil Young walks into a record shop and steals “his” bootleg
It is 1972 and this year Neil Young releases one of his best records: Harvest. One afternoon Neil Young, then 27 yaers old, walks into a record shop to browse the shelves with the intention of buying some vinyl to add to his collection. Like any other music lover, Neil Young asks the guy who works in the shop for help and together they start browsing the shelves without knowing exactly what to look for.
Among the records, some bootlegs pop out. Suddenly a bootleg of his own music falls into his hands and the cold falls between the two. The boy knows very well that the sales is forbidden but he certainly did not imagine being "face to face" with the musician himself. He justifies that he is just an employee and "unloads" the problem to the owner, who is currently away.
Neil thinks about it for a moment. Then he takes the disc (the bootleg with his music) and walks out the store without paying. He doesn't care if the seller calls the police, that's "his stuff" and, from his point of view, it's not a theft at all as the record is "pirated" and cannot be sold, it has been stolen from him and then takes it back.
The new Neil Young entries in the Official Bootleg Series—Royce Hall, I’m happy that y’all came down (Dorothy Chandler Pavillion), and Citizen Kane Jr Blues (The Bottom Line).
The first singles are available to stream in hi-res right here on NYA, and you can watch the official music videos for each tune on their respective infocards.
The deeply oxidized rusties among you will have heard these shows before—they never sounded this sublime, so I hope you dig them all over again—but what excites me about this series is the opportunity people will have to sit down with these recordings for the first time. No need to dig around seedy corners of the internet or time travel to the kind of bygone record store that might keep this kind of thing under the counter with the other less-than-legal wares.
So, without further delay, I invite you to get into that under-the-counter mood: light one up (local ordinances permitting), head on over to the Official Bootleg Series playlist for a perfectly legal listening experience, and click yourself through to the Greedy Hand to buy some bootlegs.
OBS 3: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
(Los Angeles: February 1, 1971)
On the Way Home
Tell Me Why
Old Man
Journey Through the Past
Cowgirl in the Sand
Heart of Gold
A Man Needs a Maid
Sugar Mountain
Don’t Let It Bring You Down
Love in Mind
The Needle and the Damage Done
Ohio
See the Sky About to Rain
I Am a Child
Dance Dance Dance
OBS 4: Royce Hall
(Los Angeles: January 30, 1971)
On the Way Home
Tell Me Why
Old Man
Journey Through the Past
Cowgirl in the Sand
Heart of Gold
A Man Needs a Maid
See the Sky About to Rain
Sugar Mountain
Don’t Let It Bring You Down
Love in Mind
The Needle and the Damage Done
Ohio
Down by the River
Dance Dance Dance
I Am a Child
OBS 5: Citizen Kane Jr. Blues (Live The Bottom Line)
(NYC: May 16, 1974)
Pushed It Over The End
Long May You Run
Greensleeves
Ambulance Blues
Helpless
Revolution Blues
On the Beach
Roll Another Number (For the Road)
Motion Pictu
