NEIL YOUNG Neil Young hails from 2009 and is
a SEALED LP (marked UPC). On his songs for Buffalo Springfield, Neil Young
had demonstrated an eclecticism that ranged from the rock of "Mr.
Soul" to the complicated, multi-part arrangement of "Broken Arrow."
On his debut solo album, he continued to work with composer/arranger Jack Nitzsche, with whom he had made
"Expecting to Fly" on the Buffalo Springfield
Again
album, and together the two recorded a restrained effort on which the folk-rock
instrumentation, most of which was by Young, overdubbing himself, was augmented
by discreet string parts. The country & western elements that had tinged
the Springfield's sound were also present, notably on the leadoff track,
"The Emperor of Wyoming," an instrumental that recalled the
Springfield song "A Child's Claim to Fame." Still unsure of his
voice, Young sang in a becalmed high tenor that could be haunting as often as
it was listless and whining. He was at his least appealing on the
nine-and-a-half-minute closing track, "The Last Trip to Tulsa," on
which he accompanied himself with acoustic guitar, singing an impressionistic
set of lyrics seemingly derived from Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited. But double-tracking
and the addition of a female backup chorus improved the singing elsewhere, and
on "The Loner," the album's most memorable track, Young displayed
some of the noisy electric guitar work that would characterize his recordings
with Crazy Horse and reminded listeners
of his ability to turn a phrase. Still, Neil Young made for an uneven,
low-key introduction to Young's solo career, and when released it was a
commercial flop, his only album not to make the charts. (Several months after
the album's release, Young remixed it to bring out his vocals more and added
some overdubs. This second version replaced the first in the U.S. from then on,
though the original mix remained available overseas.)
String Quartet from
Whiskey Boot Hill
Multiple item orders, please request an invoice.