Then the scene changes to a religious guy who just lost his job. The dark city surrounds her – past present and future. Followed by “Goin Home,” these songs paint a landscape where time doesn’t matter – because everything is going south. That song, with its refrain, ”Don’t say you love me”, is called “Quit.” The next one, sort of like a 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 opening line. From the first note, you can feel the sadness that permeates the recording. The sound is murky and dark, but not in a bad way. That go bad, a time long before the break up, where it dawns on one of the people, maybe both, that it’s over. The music of Toast is about a relationship. After that, we just went outside for a smoke. It was so stuffy in there that we left the door open until one day we saw rats coming in and out.
The name changed a few times back and forth. It may have been called ‘Coast’ then, but maybe not. John Coltrane, one of my heroes, made some music at Toast studio back in the day. I just skipped it and went on to do another album in its place. Unlike any other, Toast was so sad that I couldn’t put it out. Toast is an album that stands on its own in my collection.
In March 2021, Young posted a message on his website detailing the circumstances surrounding the reocording and subsequent shelving of Toast. The Toast tracks “How Ya’ Doin?” and “Boom Boom Boom” are believed to have never been performed live by Young.
The other three songs on Toast are completely unreleased. Different recordings of four of the songs on Toast appeared on Are You Passionate?, which was recorded with Booker T. Also part of the sessions were Crazy Horse drummer Ralph Molina, bassist Billy Talbot and former guitarist Frank “Poncho” Sampedro. Originally by recorded by Neil Young in 20 at Toast studio in San Francisco with co-producer John Hanlon, the album was held back in favor of 2002’s Are You Passionate?. Neil Young & Crazy Horse’s “lost” album, Toast, has finally been released. Read on for more insight into the records we have all queued up to spin. This week we highlight new albums by Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Delicate Steve, Journey, Magic Beans and Phantom Blues Band. Each week Release Day Picks profiles new LPs and EPs Team JamBase will be checking out on release day Friday.