120. Scott McCaughey Discusses Neil Young, Tonight's the Night

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Scott McCaughey (The Minus 5, Young Fresh Fellows, Filthy Friends, The Baseball Project, The No Ones, R.E.M.) returns to the show (he first appeared on episode 9) to discuss Neil Young’s Tonight’s the Night. Scott talks about what the album means to him, how Neil Young conveyed a sense of fun on the album despite its tragic themes, and his own experience with hearing the songs performed live. Scott also talks about the new No Ones and Minus 5 albums and the upcoming Baseball Project album, Grand Salami Time.

Scott made a reference to the Neil Young Archives, and they’re definitely worth checking out: https://neilyoungarchives.com/.

Here are just some of the places you can find Scott on social media:

@ScottMcMinus5 on Twitter

@the_minus_5 on Instagram

@BaseballProject on Twitter and  Instagram

The Minus 5 on Facebook

And a couple of places to find Scott’s music:

https://scottthehoople.bandcamp.com/

https://www.yeproc.com/artists/the-minus-5/

Al is on Twitter at @almelchiorBB, and this show has accounts on Twitter and Instagram at @youmealbum. Be sure to follow @youmealbum to find out in advance about upcoming guests and featured albums for this podcast.

Subscribe for free to You, Me and An Album: The Newsletter and participate in weekly chats about this podcast’s featured albums! https://youmealbum.substack.com/

If you are interested in supporting this podcast, please check out the show’s Patreon site, https://www.patreon.com/youmealbum. Your contributions are greatly appreciated and keep this show going.

1:18 Scott joins the show

1:28 It’s hard to keep track of all of Scott’s bands

2:59 Scott has three releases coming out within a few weeks of each other

4:59 Why Scott hasn’t recorded any covers from Tonight’s the Night

6:58 Scott talks about Mike McCready’s contributions to his first Neil Young covers album

11:12 Al has never quite “gotten” Neil Young

13:16 Scott thinks Al’s Genesis fandom explains a lot about his ambivalence about Neil Young

20:00 Scott says Tonight’s the Night is Neil Young’s most emotionally intense album

22:19 Scott can listen to Tonight’s the Night anytime

25:44 Neil Young made a huge impression on Scott when he was a teen

27:27 Scott talks about the career trajectory that led Neil Young to make Tonight’s the Night

31:45 Why are there two versions of the title track on the album?

35:15 Scott talks about the inclusion of the tracks not recorded at SIR

Discussion of other tracks from the album:

41:07 Tired Eyes

46:34 Albuquerque

48:51 Roll Another Number

53:03 Neil Young’s live album from The Roxy exemplifies the fun that he and his band had playing songs from Tonight’s the Night

55:11 Scott and Al note the variety of musical styles on Tonight’s the Night

57:31 Scott references a track with Joni Mitchell posted to Neil Young Archives

58:49 Scott sees the album as ultimately about the importance of friends and music

1:00:44 This episode could have been about Jenny Lewis instead

1:03:26 Scott talks about his upcoming No Ones tour

1:05:03 The new Baseball Project album was several years in the making

1:09:12 Will there be a new Filthy Friends album? (Plus some Sleater-Kinney news)

Outro is from “Hitchhiker” by The Minus 5.

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