A few years ago I wrote a blog essay explaining how I had acquired a reel-to-reel dub of two Buffalo Springfield acetates in 1971. They had come from then-WBCN legend Charles Laquidera. He had prepared the tape for me at the station's top recording speed, 15 ips.

I had asked for the first acetate, the extended, 9 1/2-minute "Bluebird," which I learned years later was the best-quality version that had never circulated.

But Charles was generous enough to also include a dub of a second acetate, Neil Young's "Down to the Wire." Neil had included the song on his "Decades" compilation in 1977. This acetate, though was an entirely different mix, rowdier, with additional background vocals and lead guitar, and a song-ending explosion.

I digitized the "Bluebird" acetate in late 2003 and set aside "Down to the Wire," not realizing then how rare it was.

These last two weeks I've been digging out my reel-to-reels and came across Charles' tape. And so, 53 years later, "Down to the Wire" has finally been digitized, and here it is.

My blog essay is here:

https://donzblog.home.blog/2019/01/23...