„I’m like a singer on the stage
With the golden lights and liquid rage
Down from the mountains to the sea
Cool running love keeps cleansing me“
1
„Will To Love“ is an absolutely sublime love song by Neil Young, and one of two highlights („Like A Hurricane“ being the other one) of his otherwise not-so-great album American Stars ‚n‘ Bars. As far as the recording of „Will To Love“ goes, according to Neil (in an excerpt from the Shakey biography), Neil recorded himself by the fireplace playing the song on his acoustic guitar (supposedly on a crappy boom box!). Then Neil and his long-time companion David Briggs ended up in a studio, and for one crazy session, Neil overdubbed himself playing all kinds on instruments (bass, electric guitar, vibes, even drums). So what you hear on the album is a combo of Neil by the fireplace and odd goings on in the studio.
2
In an early edition of „Klanghorizonte“ at the Deutschlandfunk I played a remix of the song, with the help of a good sound engineer. I always thought this song could easily last „forever“, so we mixed a version in which the original song was played three times in a row, with the suggestion of a rare extended version. To blur the impression of simple repetition, we added, between the two endings and two „new“ beginnings, slightly treated synth notes from Brian Eno‘s Discreet Music and those „windharp“ noises from the opening passage of Jan Garbarek‘s album Dis. Both sounds (from two classics!) perfectly merged with the overall atmosphere of that jewel of a song. And, in regards to the „extended version“, what ya wanna more than to have Eno, ECM, and Neil Young in one track of thirty minutes of timelessness?!