Neil Young's Early Years
Neil Young's first few albums or so almost seem like an entity among themselves - a portrait of a young artist already so refined and brilliant, yet with such a career in front of him.
He played in a band called The Squires. Soon, The Squires were no more. He played in a band called the Mynah Birds, alongside Rick James (bitch?). Soon, James became angry at Neil and threw a curse at him, giving him polio. He still walks with a limp. The Mynah Birds were no more.
Of course, his first true success came with Buffalo Springfield. Three facts about Buffalo Springfield: (1) This was Neil's first collaboration with Stephen Stills, a man who would continue to haunt his career like a wart on a dog for years to come. (2) The title of the song isn't "Stop, Hey, What's That Sound?" It's called "For What It's Worth". (3) The band name comes from words on a truck. Words! Words! Between the lines of age! (4) Their first album was titled "Buffalo Springfield" and their second album was creatively titled "Buffalo Springfield Again". Album number two was pretty damn good, so let's discuss it.
"Buffalo Springfield Again" (1967): Thirty-four minutes, and each band member gets his song or three - it's not surprising that Neil's selections stand out. On "Mr. Soul", Neil rips off the Stones better than the Stones, while talking to his self-conscious. In his (almost auto-)biography, "Shakey", Neil says the song was about his bizarre world of seizures, some of which occured onstage. "Expecting to Fly" is an absolutely gorgeous foray into orchestral psychedelic territory - floating, dreamy, trippy. Final song "Broken Arrow", however, is one of the greatest songs I've ever heard - a melody straight from heaven, lyrics straight from Young's brain (oh, such lyrics!), song structure straight from Prog-Island and a time signature straight from 3/4-land.
Of course, while clearly the highlights, Neil's selection aren't the only things that make this album worth stealing/buying: Stills' "A Child's Claim to Fame" has harmonies and a melody great enough to save it from mediocre 60's folk-rock territory, "Everydays" is a fine psychedelic jazz-rock fusion, perhaps sounding more at home on a Canned Heat record. Lastly, "Rock and Roll Woman" is your stop for wannabe-Creedence Clearwater Revival 60's rock, but with harmonies! Act now and get a three-day warranty!
"Neil Young" (self-titled, 1969): As a Neil Young fan/obsessor, it pains me to admit that this debut leans a wee bit towards the...well, boring side of the spectrum. Some might attribute it to the bland production - Neil multitracked all the instruments himself with career long-collaborator Jack Nietszchesehsvee, which certainly distances it from the spontaneity of his Crazy Horse work less than a year later. All this, and dull songs ("Emperor of Wyoming", "If I Could Have Her Tonight", "Here We Are In The Years") hardly separates this from similar singer-songwriter schlock of the era. Saving grace would be the "rockers" of sorts - even if the guitar distortion sounds more like a dishwasher on crack, the melodies and lyrics (and Pixies cover!) still "I've Been Waiting For You" and "The Loner" semi-classics. Still, it's fans-only territory, dit moi.
"Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" (1969): Crazy Horse (Lakota: Thašųka Witko, literally "his-horse is-crazy")[1] (ca. 1840 – September 5, 1877) was a respected war leader of the Oglala Lakota, who fought against the U.S. federal government in an effort to preserve the traditions and values of the Lakota way of life.
The irony is that our hero Neil didn't hit the jackpot `till he got together with a Los Angelos bunch o` psychedelic jammers called The Rockets (formerly a doo-wop group called Danny & The Memories), so underground they may not have even existed! Anyway, Crazy Horse begins here. All the rocking, all the *SQUAWK!* guitar noises, the brilliance, the intensity. Danny Whitten provided the rhythm guitar, and backing vocals, and heroin, proving to be one of the most significant collaborations of this colorful (pink and brown, specifically) career.
Alright, start over: The album's a classic for a reason. An absolutely delicious, immediate fuson of hard rock improvisation and country flavor. It just works. It just screams of spontaneity, of rawness, it begs to be listened to! Neil does what Neil wants to do, goddamnit, and it matters! The songs can be divided into three basic categories (warning: scary list-making ahead):
a) pop-rockers. "Cinnamon Girl" and the title track. You've heard `em before. They rule as much in 2007 as in `69, dudes!
b) hazy, druggy, mildly frightening acoustic ballads. "Running Dry", "The Losing End" and "Round & Round". They all have paranthetical titles that I don't feel like writing. They all slowly groove, ebb and flow in a hazy, country-ish 3/4 fashion (except for ""The Losing End"). They also rule, but in a much more hazy, druggy 3/4 manner.
c) The jams. They rule the most. Am, F, repeat, repeat, repeat. Essentially, Neil wrote rough sketches of songs. Chords and a plaint splatter. The roughest of sketches, to be fair: vague lyrics, simple verses, and anthemic choruses. Both of the songs are rollin` and tumblin` masterpieces, smothered in gritty solos. Allow me to give you an english-translation of one of the greatest guitar solos of all time, "Down By The River":
Duh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh Nuh-nuh Nuh-nuh nuh-nuh Duh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh
Duh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh Nuh-nuh Nuh-nuh nuh-nuh Duh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh
Blaaahh--blaah-blaah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah....
"Cowgirl in the Sand" is an equal rival, and Neil introduced his Old Black (yes, he named his guitar) squawking to the world in style. Seek out "Live at the Fillmore East" for what can be viewed as a live extension of the album, with added Danny Whitten flavor. I really need to stop using the word "flavor" in music reviews.
"After the Gold Rush" (1971): As for my favorite Neil Young record, I go back and forth between this and "Tonight's The Night", generally depending on my mood. "After the Gold Rush" takes the cake for nostalgic flavor (shit, I said "flavor" again) for nostalgic value - I quite clearly remember my dad playing this record (along with other Shakey discs) quite a bit when I was young. The mass appeal is quite clearly due to (1) A+ songwriting and (B) variety. As for songwriting, it really doesn't get any better than the title track. A simplistic, yet utterly perfect piano melody provides the vehicle for Neil Young's dream-description lyrics.
"There were children crying and colors flying all around the chosen one
All in a dream, all in a dream"
I've always considered the verses to represent past/present/future, they I most certainly am not the chosen one. Really, all I know for certain is that the horn solo is flawless.
Oh, and you want flawless? "Tell Me Why" is a flawless folk tune, describing a "dark horse, racing alone". "Criple Creek Ferry" is a flawless Band rip-off. "Birds" is a flawless piano ballad. "Till the Morning Comes" is a flawless black metal anthem. Really, the album is nothing but flawless.
Of course, "Southern Man" brings enough bitterness to dispel any myths that old Shakey's just playing it safe here - "screaming and full whips cracking", anyone? Smothered in enough distortion to suffocate a stool pigeon, Neil solos like his mother just suffocated a stool pigeon! Of course, not just pigeons were angry - Lynard Skynard responded with the painfully awful "Sweet Home Alabama", and reportedly buried a band member in a Neil Young shirt. Neil Young doesn't wear Lynard Skynard shirts, however. Unless he's feeling really frisky.
"Don't Let It Bring You Down" carries equal weight - about as catchy as any mournful ballad that begins with "Old man lying by the side of the road" has any right to be.
"Blind man running through the light of the night with an answer in his hand."
Sure, Neil.
Many would argue that, again, live recordings are essential to offer the full picture of this period. There's the brilliant "Massey Hall" recording, detailed in my Neil Young blog entry last month. Another similarly fine, yet scratchy audience-recorded bootleg goes by the title of "Citizen Kane Junior Blues". Of course, we know what comes next: the irresistably mainstream "Harvest" record, which led to Danny Whitten and roadie Bruce Berry's tragic deaths; ironically, which led to some of the most transcendental and cathartic music of this wild `n wacky career.
Stay tuned, folks.
He played in a band called The Squires. Soon, The Squires were no more. He played in a band called the Mynah Birds, alongside Rick James (bitch?). Soon, James became angry at Neil and threw a curse at him, giving him polio. He still walks with a limp. The Mynah Birds were no more.
Of course, his first true success came with Buffalo Springfield. Three facts about Buffalo Springfield: (1) This was Neil's first collaboration with Stephen Stills, a man who would continue to haunt his career like a wart on a dog for years to come. (2) The title of the song isn't "Stop, Hey, What's That Sound?" It's called "For What It's Worth". (3) The band name comes from words on a truck. Words! Words! Between the lines of age! (4) Their first album was titled "Buffalo Springfield" and their second album was creatively titled "Buffalo Springfield Again". Album number two was pretty damn good, so let's discuss it.
"Buffalo Springfield Again" (1967): Thirty-four minutes, and each band member gets his song or three - it's not surprising that Neil's selections stand out. On "Mr. Soul", Neil rips off the Stones better than the Stones, while talking to his self-conscious. In his (almost auto-)biography, "Shakey", Neil says the song was about his bizarre world of seizures, some of which occured onstage. "Expecting to Fly" is an absolutely gorgeous foray into orchestral psychedelic territory - floating, dreamy, trippy. Final song "Broken Arrow", however, is one of the greatest songs I've ever heard - a melody straight from heaven, lyrics straight from Young's brain (oh, such lyrics!), song structure straight from Prog-Island and a time signature straight from 3/4-land.
Of course, while clearly the highlights, Neil's selection aren't the only things that make this album worth stealing/buying: Stills' "A Child's Claim to Fame" has harmonies and a melody great enough to save it from mediocre 60's folk-rock territory, "Everydays" is a fine psychedelic jazz-rock fusion, perhaps sounding more at home on a Canned Heat record. Lastly, "Rock and Roll Woman" is your stop for wannabe-Creedence Clearwater Revival 60's rock, but with harmonies! Act now and get a three-day warranty!
"Neil Young" (self-titled, 1969): As a Neil Young fan/obsessor, it pains me to admit that this debut leans a wee bit towards the...well, boring side of the spectrum. Some might attribute it to the bland production - Neil multitracked all the instruments himself with career long-collaborator Jack Nietszchesehsvee, which certainly distances it from the spontaneity of his Crazy Horse work less than a year later. All this, and dull songs ("Emperor of Wyoming", "If I Could Have Her Tonight", "Here We Are In The Years") hardly separates this from similar singer-songwriter schlock of the era. Saving grace would be the "rockers" of sorts - even if the guitar distortion sounds more like a dishwasher on crack, the melodies and lyrics (and Pixies cover!) still "I've Been Waiting For You" and "The Loner" semi-classics. Still, it's fans-only territory, dit moi.
"Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" (1969): Crazy Horse (Lakota: Thašųka Witko, literally "his-horse is-crazy")[1] (ca. 1840 – September 5, 1877) was a respected war leader of the Oglala Lakota, who fought against the U.S. federal government in an effort to preserve the traditions and values of the Lakota way of life.
The irony is that our hero Neil didn't hit the jackpot `till he got together with a Los Angelos bunch o` psychedelic jammers called The Rockets (formerly a doo-wop group called Danny & The Memories), so underground they may not have even existed! Anyway, Crazy Horse begins here. All the rocking, all the *SQUAWK!* guitar noises, the brilliance, the intensity. Danny Whitten provided the rhythm guitar, and backing vocals, and heroin, proving to be one of the most significant collaborations of this colorful (pink and brown, specifically) career.
Alright, start over: The album's a classic for a reason. An absolutely delicious, immediate fuson of hard rock improvisation and country flavor. It just works. It just screams of spontaneity, of rawness, it begs to be listened to! Neil does what Neil wants to do, goddamnit, and it matters! The songs can be divided into three basic categories (warning: scary list-making ahead):
a) pop-rockers. "Cinnamon Girl" and the title track. You've heard `em before. They rule as much in 2007 as in `69, dudes!
b) hazy, druggy, mildly frightening acoustic ballads. "Running Dry", "The Losing End" and "Round & Round". They all have paranthetical titles that I don't feel like writing. They all slowly groove, ebb and flow in a hazy, country-ish 3/4 fashion (except for ""The Losing End"). They also rule, but in a much more hazy, druggy 3/4 manner.
c) The jams. They rule the most. Am, F, repeat, repeat, repeat. Essentially, Neil wrote rough sketches of songs. Chords and a plaint splatter. The roughest of sketches, to be fair: vague lyrics, simple verses, and anthemic choruses. Both of the songs are rollin` and tumblin` masterpieces, smothered in gritty solos. Allow me to give you an english-translation of one of the greatest guitar solos of all time, "Down By The River":
Duh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh Nuh-nuh Nuh-nuh nuh-nuh Duh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh
Duh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh Nuh-nuh Nuh-nuh nuh-nuh Duh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh
Blaaahh--blaah-blaah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah....
"Cowgirl in the Sand" is an equal rival, and Neil introduced his Old Black (yes, he named his guitar) squawking to the world in style. Seek out "Live at the Fillmore East" for what can be viewed as a live extension of the album, with added Danny Whitten flavor. I really need to stop using the word "flavor" in music reviews.
"After the Gold Rush" (1971): As for my favorite Neil Young record, I go back and forth between this and "Tonight's The Night", generally depending on my mood. "After the Gold Rush" takes the cake for nostalgic flavor (shit, I said "flavor" again) for nostalgic value - I quite clearly remember my dad playing this record (along with other Shakey discs) quite a bit when I was young. The mass appeal is quite clearly due to (1) A+ songwriting and (B) variety. As for songwriting, it really doesn't get any better than the title track. A simplistic, yet utterly perfect piano melody provides the vehicle for Neil Young's dream-description lyrics.
"There were children crying and colors flying all around the chosen one
All in a dream, all in a dream"
I've always considered the verses to represent past/present/future, they I most certainly am not the chosen one. Really, all I know for certain is that the horn solo is flawless.
Oh, and you want flawless? "Tell Me Why" is a flawless folk tune, describing a "dark horse, racing alone". "Criple Creek Ferry" is a flawless Band rip-off. "Birds" is a flawless piano ballad. "Till the Morning Comes" is a flawless black metal anthem. Really, the album is nothing but flawless.
Of course, "Southern Man" brings enough bitterness to dispel any myths that old Shakey's just playing it safe here - "screaming and full whips cracking", anyone? Smothered in enough distortion to suffocate a stool pigeon, Neil solos like his mother just suffocated a stool pigeon! Of course, not just pigeons were angry - Lynard Skynard responded with the painfully awful "Sweet Home Alabama", and reportedly buried a band member in a Neil Young shirt. Neil Young doesn't wear Lynard Skynard shirts, however. Unless he's feeling really frisky.
"Don't Let It Bring You Down" carries equal weight - about as catchy as any mournful ballad that begins with "Old man lying by the side of the road" has any right to be.
"Blind man running through the light of the night with an answer in his hand."
Sure, Neil.
Many would argue that, again, live recordings are essential to offer the full picture of this period. There's the brilliant "Massey Hall" recording, detailed in my Neil Young blog entry last month. Another similarly fine, yet scratchy audience-recorded bootleg goes by the title of "Citizen Kane Junior Blues". Of course, we know what comes next: the irresistably mainstream "Harvest" record, which led to Danny Whitten and roadie Bruce Berry's tragic deaths; ironically, which led to some of the most transcendental and cathartic music of this wild `n wacky career.
Stay tuned, folks.
Labels: Buffalo Springfield, Neil Young
2 Comments:
"The Loner" & "Don't Let It Bring You Down" kick boner. Didn't he have another one during that time period as well, "Sugar Mountain" or something? Did you talk about that? A rather youthful interest in Western imagery, much like Dylan. Pair of dorks (no offense to any random whale penis out there).
Yes, "Sugar Mountain" was a fine non-album track (I think...) that made it's way onto "Decade" and "Live Rust".
Caaaaan't be twenty, on sugaaar mooouunntaain.
*kicks boner*
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