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Bluenote Café is a live album by Canadian / American singer-songwriter Neil Young, released on November 13, 2015, on Reprise. The album is volume eleven in Young's Archives Performance Series, and features performances from Young's 1987–88 American tours with the Bluenotes, with whom he recorded his seventeenth studio album, This Note's for You.

Bluenote Café
Live album by Neil Young
Released	November 13, 2015 (2015-11-13)
Recorded	November 1987 – August 1988
Genre	Blues rock, jump blues, heartland rock
Length	146:24
Label	Reprise
Neil Young chronology
The Monsanto Years (2015) Bluenote Café (2015) Earth (2016)
Archives Performance Series chronology
PS09: A Treasure (2011) PS11: Bluenote Café (2015) PS11.5: Way Down in the Rust Bucket (2021)

Aside from live versions of This Note's for You songs, the album features a number of songs that were not released at the time; "Welcome to the Big Room", "Bad News Comes to Town", "Crime of the Heart" and "Doghouse" make their first appearances on any official Neil Young release ("Doghouse" was covered in 2011 by Young's then-wife Pegi on her album Bracing for Impact). Two of the album's tracks, "This Note's for You" and "Ain't It the Truth," previously appeared on the compilation album Lucky Thirteen.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	75/100[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Exclaim!	4/10[2]
Rolling Stone	[3]
The Independent	[4]
AllMusic	[5]
American Songwriter	[6]
PopMatters	[7]
Classic Rock Magazine	[8]
The Irish Times	[9]

The album received positive reviews, and holds a score of 75 out of 100 on Metacritic, indicating "generally favourable reviews".[1] Chris Gerard of PopMatters gave the album nine stars out of ten, stating: "Bluenote Café is essential Neil Young, further evidence that Young's 80s work has more value than many would expect or admit."[7] Conversely, in a brief negative review, Daniel Sylvester of Exclaim! wrote that "even die-hard fans will find this as nothing more than a masochistic curiosity."[2] In a three-star review, Will Hermes of Rolling Stone said that "[these] live recordings from the late Eighties illuminate and (partly) redeem one of Neil Young's stranger eras".[3] In a highly positive four-and-a-half-star review, Hal Horowitz of American Songwriter wrote that "even diehard Neil Young fans may not fully appreciate this offshoot in his bulging catalog. But this remarkably vibrant and immediate live compilation shows that Young took this side road very seriously and it was more than just a forgettable, momentary quirk in his diverse and winding career."[6]

Track listing

Disc 1

1. "Welcome to the Big Room" (Recorded on location at Mountain View Theater, Mountain View, California – 1987-11-07) – 7:31
2. "Don't Take Your Love Away From Me" (The Fillmore, San Francisco, California – 1987-11-12) – 9:30
3. "This Note's for You" (The Palace, Hollywood, CA – 1988-04-13) – 5:24
4. "Ten Men Workin'" (The World, New York City, New York – 1988-04-18) – 8:27
5. "Life in the City" (The World, New York City, New York – 1988-04-18) – 3:55
6. "Hello Lonely Woman" (The World, New York City, New York – 1988-04-18) – 4:46
7. "Soul of a Woman" (The World, New York City, New York – 1988-04-18) – 5:57
8. "Married Man" (The World, New York City, New York – 1988-04-21) – 3:07
9. "Bad News Comes to Town" (Agora Ballroom, Cleveland, Ohio – 1988-04-23) – 8:00
10. "Ain't It the Truth" (Agora Ballroom, Cleveland, Ohio – 1988-04-23) – 7:30
11. "One Thing" (Agora Ballroom, Cleveland, Ohio – 1988-04-23) – 6:41
12. "Twilight" (Agora Ballroom, Cleveland, Ohio – 1988-04-23) – 8:03

Disc 2

13. "I'm Goin'" (CNE, Toronto, Ontario, Canada – 1988-08-18) – 5:35
14. "Ordinary People" (Lake Compounce, Bristol, Connecticut – 1988-08-23) – 12:50
15. "Crime in the City" (Jones Beach, Wantagh, New York – 1988-08-27) – 7:22
16. "Crime of the Heart" (Pier 84, New York City, New York – 1988-08-30) – 5:36
17. "Welcome Rap" (Pier 84, New York City, New York – 1988-08-30) – 0:36
18. "Doghouse" (Pier 84, New York City, New York – 1988-08-30) – 4:08
19. "Fool for Your Love" (Pier 84, New York City, New York – 1988-08-30) – 4:20
20. "Encore Rap" (Pier 84, New York City, New York – 1988-08-30) – 0:25
21. "On the Way Home" (Poplar Creek Music Theatre, Hoffman Estates, Illinois – 1988-08-16) – 3:01
22. "Sunny Inside" (Pier 84, New York City, New York – 1988-08-30) – 3:44
23. "Tonight's the Night" (Pier 84, New York City, New York – 1988-08-30) – 19:26

Personnel

• Neil Young – vocals, guitar, harmonica
• Rick Rosas – bass (except disc 1: tracks 1–2)
• Chad Cromwell – drums (except disc 1: tracks 1–2)
• Frank Sampedro – keyboards, guitar, backing vocals
• Steve Lawrence – lead tenor saxophone, keyboards, backing vocals
• Ben Keith – alto saxophone
• Larry Cragg – baritone saxophone
• Claude Cailliet – trombone, backing vocals
• Tom Bray – trumpet
• John Fumo – trumpet
• Billy Talbot – bass (disc 1: tracks 1–2 only)
• Ralph Molina – drums (disc 1: tracks 1–2 only)

Charts

Chart (2015)	Peak position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[10]	23
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[10]	17
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[10]	54
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[10]	21
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[11]	35
French Albums (SNEP)[10]	84
Irish Albums (IRMA)[12]	39
Italian Albums (FIMI)[10]	55
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[10]	24
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[10]	86
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[10]	55
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[10]	52
UK Albums (OCC)[13]	39
US Billboard 200[14]	89

References

External links

• Pop Matters## album review
• Ultimate Classic Rock album review

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