Neil Young & Crazy Horse Daze Us With Their First Recordings

Neil Young & Crazy Horse  are an American garage rock band best known for their association with the musician Neil Young. ‘Early Daze’ is a collection of recordings dating back to 1969, made up by songs that didn’t make the final cut to be included in the studio album ‘Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere’, which was released that same year and became the first album of Crazy Horse in collaboration with Neil Young. 

Not uncommon for Young to sit on his records for an extended period of time, ‘Early Daze’ became part of the Neil Young’s Archives series as a stand alone collection.

‘Early Daze’ gives us an exclusive feel into the unique style of the early days of Neil Young & Crazy Horse as a group. Despite being a mini album composed of only ten songs which have already been released in the past, it allows us not only to take a dive into those roots as a group, with the original line up of Young, Whitten, Talbot, Molina and Jack Nitzsche on the keys. The album also brings to the spotlight how essential to their sound former member Danny Whitten was, who passed away in 1972, being both magical on the guitar and providing some of the best supporting vocals for Young.

Coming out of the vault for the first time we find some of the very first recordings of ‘Dance Dance Dance’, ‘Winterlong’, and ‘Everybody’s Alone’ that have stunned fans with their sound, the living essence of Neil Young & Crazy Horse that would never fully match again what it was at the start of it all. ‘Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown’, an unreleased version with Danny Whitten on lead vocals, bringing in the nostalgia of how well Young and Whitten complemented each other as artists, on a similar note this version of ‘Wonderin’’, despite having many versions already released across records, does a wonderful tribute to Whitten’s legacy in the vocals.

The original 7’’ mono mix of ‘Cinnamon Girl’ can be found in this release, and if that isn’t enough wonder for this spin, ‘Look At All The Things’ gifts us with another Whitten wonder-full recording. ‘Helpless’ sounds lighter than the version released along CSNY, another one of Young’s many musical projects. The stereo mix of ‘Birds’ features a stunning newly heard clarity to the vocals, and to close we have ‘Down By The River’ with alternate vocals, a mellowed down version of the one that made it into the records, including what we can only assume was the original vocal track recorded by Young.

Hearing ‘Early Daze’ will transport you back in history and spotlights the chemistry between the band members that gave place to the creation of Neil Young & Crazy Horse. We can only thank Young for keeping archives of all his creations for us to enjoy decades later, in times so different from when these songs were made. 

Sofia Gimenez

@moongxrl

Image: ‘Early Daze’ Official Album Cover