Neil Young 1966-1975

[CRAZY-HORSE]

NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE "everybody knows this is nowhere" 1969,cd. #34 US

whilst in Buffalo Springfield NY spent his leisure time jamming with a local LA rock group called The Rockets, by 1969 he had recruited three of those members and renamed them Crazy Horse,with whom he recorded numerous albums over the following couple of decades.
in hindsight Ny was not happy with the overall sound of his debut set and decided to record this, his second solo album quickly with the bare minimum of production and no overdubs.
basically, he got the band in the studio, turned on the recorder and played what they had learned warts n all. this one is more rockier sounding than his previous affort and contains lengthy guitar solos in three of the seven tracks, these solos were all ad-lib, Crazy Horse just played how they felt and got the tracks down in less than three takes. rock critics tend to agree that this album and its tracks were the birth of punk/grunge...not in the sound as such but in the "forget perfection/capture the moment" feel.
"cinnamon girl" was full of repeatative riffs and simple but effective solos, as was "down by the river" and "cowgirl in the sand". its these three tracks that formed the template of the Crazy Horse sound.
again, like the debut set, this one was not released in the UK until the success of "after the goldrush".
this is a very good NY guitar driven album, compare the tracks to the Springfield tracks and notice how far he had come as a writer in just two or three years.
Neil Youngs vocals are not for everyone, he does not have a strong voice and if you can get past the whiney feel to them, you will discover a naked,lonely,sincere almost pleading quality to them.

I LOVE THIS ALBUM

worst track: running dry
best track: down by the river

tracks:

1. cinnamon girl*** #55 US
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAdtUDaBf...8D9ABB1279 audio
2. everybody knows this is nowhere***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pesIGuV9DDk audio
3. round and round(it wont be long)**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmkqUbCU7xE audio
4. down by the river***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QsSc95pPPY live CSNY
5. the losing end(when you're on)**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh4Tgefxm3M audio
6. running dry(requium for the rockets)*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibYqeVhrWqM audio
7. cowgirl in the sand***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6ibl6PIKPM audio

3s=4
2s=2
1s=1

rating: 2.3