YOU ARE HERE: zharth.net / Zharth's Music Log / Week 108 (Neotonous Genuflection)
(Originally finalized on November 12, 2024)
Preface: Since Neil Young was so under-represented by my recent CSN/Y theme, I thought I could even up the score by dedicating a week to him, and just in time for his birthday! Neil's had a long and prolific career, explored a lot of genres, and played with a lot of musicians. But hands down, my favorite material he's done are the long, electric jams he plays with the band Crazy Horse. I've showcased them before on this music log, during my Arc Celebration. But that week was focused on live jams, and this time around I want to pick out the essential studio tracks from their classic era.
Monday: Down By The River [Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, 1969]
Comments: All knowledge is born from ignorance. There was a time when I didn't know Neil Young from Neil Diamond. My awareness was sparked when I realized that Cinnamon Girl was a different song (a better song) than Brown-Eyed Girl. Then I heard Down By The River on the radio, and I was entranced. Flash forward a couple years, and I'm standing in the hallway of my college dorm, guitar in hand, working out how to play the fills during the verses, so I can perform it live.
Tuesday: Cowgirl In The Sand [Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, 1969]
Comments: My initiation began proper when I borrowed my dad's copy of Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere - Neil Young's second album, and the first to introduce backing band Crazy Horse. When I got to the feverish closing track, I was blown away. I swear I heard the fluttering of angels' wings while listening to it in the car on a trip to college. But not like those pretty ceramic angels - I mean the kind with eyes on their wings, that inspire terror in the hearts of man. If I have a lot to say about this song, it's because this is one of my favorite songs of all time - one that I've played on guitar more than any other. I've even given it two extra verses of my own conception! I once listened to it ten times in a row (and it's not a short song) while sitting in a window sill, hoping for a glimpse of the girl that was occupying my thoughts, because the sound of the music perfectly echoed the unresolved tension raging like a storm through my mind.
Wednesday: Cortez The Killer [Zuma, 1975]
Comments: If there's any song in the world that could follow Cowgirl In The Sand without coming up short, it's Cortez The Killer. Everybody talks about the guitar gods of classic rock - Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page - but they never mention Neil Young. Yet this song features one of the most sublime guitar parts ever put to record. There was something magical in the studio the day this song was recorded - as no live version I've heard quite matches the perfect serenity of the original. To think that a whole portion of the song was lost, due to a studio malfunction that prevented it from being recorded. Gods and monsters...
Thursday: Like A Hurricane [American Stars 'N Bars, 1977]
Comments: On the flip side of that coin, this is a song that grew and evolved enormously on stage. Many cite the version from Live Rust as definitive, but it would stretch into a 14 minute tour de force by 1991's live album Weld. Even so, the original studio cut still stands strong, as a powerful testament to Neil's idiosyncratic - but superb - talent as a guitarist, as he walks his fingers so far up the fretboard, the notes shower down like sweet manna from heaven.
Friday: Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black) [Rust Never Sleeps, 1979]
Comments: After Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, the next stop for Crazy Horse fans is Rust Never Sleeps from 1979 - and especially the accompanying concert album Live Rust, which notably contains live versions of the previous two songs. As documented in the associated film, this tour had quite an imaginative stage show, with twenty-foot high amplifiers, and roadies dressed like Jawas from Star Wars. It was also split into a solo acoustic half, and an electric half backed by the band - reflected in the two versions of this new song that were recorded. The acoustic version is titled My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue), and contains the line "it's better to burn out than to fade away" - which was famously cited in Kurt Cobain's suicide note, proving Neil's influence as the Godfather of Grunge.
Saturday: Love To Burn [Ragged Glory, 1990]
Comments: It is always with trepidation that one approaches later material produced by an artist that hit it big in a previous decade. But Neil's prolific production pattern ensures that, though often hit-or-miss, there's always something interesting coming around the next bend. Following Rust Never Sleeps, Neil's output in the '80s was spotty at best, but 1990 was a comeback year, with a new Crazy Horse album and live tour that very much represented a return to form - complete with not one, but two new long-form electric jams that both just happen to have the word "love" in their title.
Sunday: Love And Only Love [Ragged Glory, 1990]
Comments: Although these two songs share a lot of similarities, and I would be hard-pressed to say that one is better than the other (all the more reason to listen to them back-to-back!), they do manage to distinguish themselves from each other - mainly through the lyrics. Love To Burn presents a more jaded view, from the perspective of a jilted lover, while Love And Only Love is more idealistic, conjuring up fantasy images of good versus evil. Both are captivating in their own way.