Review: Neil Young With Crazy Horse – Early Daze
Neil Young With Crazy Horse – Early Daze
Format: CD – Vinyl LP – Digital / Label: Reprise
Release: 2024
Text: Tom Wouters
Neil Young continues to dig into the thousands and thousands of hours of music he has recorded since the late 60’s and this time he delivers an absolute gem. ‘Early Daze’ contains Young’s first recordings with his then new band Crazy Horse, which consisted of Danny Whitten (guitar and vocals), Billy Talbot (bass and backing vocals), Ralph Molina (drums and backing vocals) and Jack Nitzsche (piano).
The ten songs on Early Daze are the first versions of songs that we later found on Neil Young and Crazy Horse albums. It all starts nicely with a rudimentary (but therefore very pure) version of Young’s Dance, Dance, Dance, which later appears on Crazy Horse’s debut album from 1971. Young still has the song in his live repertoire. And if ‘Early Daze’ proves anything, it is that Crazy Horse guitarist and singer Danny Whitten was an excellent songwriter.
Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown can be heard here in a version with Whitten as lead vocalist, supported by those typical Crazy Horse backing vocals, in this case from Young, Talbot and Molina. Winterlong, the song that remained hidden for years, was first recorded during the ‘Early Daze’ sessions, but only appeared on Decade much later. Everybody’s Alone also dates from the ‘Early Daze’ sessions and only appeared much later on one of Young’s Archives albums.
Wonderin’ appeared in 1983 on ‘Everybody’s Rockin’ by Young with The Shocking Pinks from his rockabilly period. Here on ‘Early Daze’ the original version of Wonderin’ is a beautiful country rock song. And it keeps getting better, because what follows is an early version of one of Young’s most beautiful songs, Cinnamon Girl, from his perhaps ultimate album, ‘Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere,’ which would be released later that year and put Young and Crazy Horse definitively on the map.
The highlight of ‘Early Daze,’ however, is Look At All The Things, written and sung by Danny Whitten, which is given a heartbreakingly beautiful performance here. The song would later appear in a somewhat pimped up version on Crazy Horse’s debut album. Also beautiful are the Young and Crazy Horse version of Helpless and Birds, which later appeared on ‘After The Gold Rush.’ The last song of ‘Early Daze’ is the first version of the monumental Down By The River from ‘Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.’
‘Early Daze’ is a beautiful musical document, in which we witness the birth of the inimitable sound of Neil Young and Crazy Horse. That alone makes Early Daze a unique gift for every NY&CH fan.
Tracks:
01. Dance Dance Dance (Included on Neil Young Archives Vol. I.)
02. Come on Baby Let’s Go Downtown (Unreleased Version)
03. Winterlong (Unreleased Version)
04. Everybody’s Alone (Different mix was included on Archives Vol. I)
05. Wonderin’ (Unreleased Version)
06. Cinnamon Girl (Original 7″ Mono Mix. Released April 20, 1970. Includes guitar outro not on LP version.)
07. Look at All the Things (Unreleased Version)
08. Helpless (Unreleased Version)
09. Birds (Unreleased Stereo Mix. Mono mix was released as B-side to “Only Love Can Break Heart”)
10. Down by the River (Unreleased Version with Alternate Vocals)
Website: https://neilyoung.warnerrecords.com/