Weld
,
Neil Young
's two-hour-plus double-CD chronicle of his 1991 Ragged Glory/Smell the Horse Tour with
Crazy Horse
, was received with only mild enthusiasm from
Young
's fans and
rock
critics, perhaps because it seemed redundant. Such warhorses as
"Like a Hurricane"
and
"Cortez the Killer"
were making their fourth appearances on a
album, and the five songs from the
Ragged Glory
album were basically unchanged from their studio versions. Containing only 16 tracks, the album's songs averaged over seven and a half minutes in length, and that length was given over to extended guitar improvisations, which often were filled with feedback and distortion. Where
's previous double live album,
Live Rust
, which bore some similarities to this one, was a career retrospective including some acoustic numbers,
was all electric
with
. The one previously unreleased song was a Gulf War-era cover of
Bob Dylan
's
"Blowin' in the Wind,"
complete with gunshots and exploding bombs. In retrospect,
seems like an excellent expression of one part of
's musical persona, putting some of his best
hard rock
material onto one album. [Initially,
was released in a 25,000 copy limited-edition called
Arc Weld
(
Reprise
26746) containing a third disc made up of guitar feedback and called "Arc."] ~ William Ruhlmann