As part of an upcoming tribute album benefitting the Bridge School, Eddie Vedder and Stephen Marley have performed new versions of two Neil Young classics from the Harvest LP.
What’s become a Pearl Jam staple, along with “Rockin’ in the Free World,” the now 60-year old Vedder has covered “The Needle and The Damage Done,” Young’s emotional 1972 composition concerning heroin addiction. Eddie performs the cover with an acoustic guitar and a vocal performance that’s distinctly reminiscent of Young’s soft, quivering tenor.
In Young’s ode to the caretaker of the Northern California ranch he purchased in the early Seventies, Marley transformed “Old Man” into turned in a reggae-infused version.
Along with Courtney Barnett’s rendition of “Lotta Love” and Chris Pierce’s interpretation of “Southern Man,” Vedder’s “The Needle and the Damage Done” and Marley’s “Old Man” are included in Heart of Gold: The Songs of Neil Young, following that drops on April 25.
Scheduled to be the first volume of a two-LP project, the upcoming compilation also features Young covers by Fiona Apple, Mumford & Sons, Brandi Carlile, Sharon Van Etten, Lumineers, Steve Earle, and the Doobie Brothers with Allison Russell.
Proceeds from Heart of Gold will benefit the Bridge School, which Young’s late ex-wife Pegi co-founded to help individuals with severe speech and physical impairments. Between 1986 and 2016, Young held an annual benefit concert benefiting the Bridge School.
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Author: Al Denté
Photo: Michele Boccamazzo