Monday 7th April
Neil Young is such a legend that it is hard to think back to how it all started. For me I first saw him on BBC2 In Concert, a hunched up shy, raggedy-jeaned, long-haired singer songwriter with a high thin voice. But he sang such plaintive and honest songs that I knew straightaway he was a genius. And he was not alone, there was Joni, Leonard, James Taylor, Carole King and all of them writing great songs. I had heard of Crosby, Stills Nash and Young though I didnt have any of their records, and I didnt click at first that this Neil Young was part of them too. It must have been 1970, because he was singing songs from his breakthrough album ‘After the Gold Rush’ which I went straight out and bought. I have bought almost everything else since.
He actually started out in his native Canada in a couple of local groups, and still only in his teens drove to Los Angeles, where he met up with an acquaintance Stephen Stills, they immediately formed Buffalo Springfield and made a couple of albums. Mildly famous in L. A. Neil split the band up. This is a habit he has had over the years. He has no hesitation in dropping friends and collaborators, especially when they are have just achieved something brilliant. He went off and made a solo album. Then he joined up with a band called Crazy Horse, who he has returned to, toured with sporadically and recorded with now and then. And somehow he found time to record with CSNY as well. He doesnt seem to like being tied down at all; and almost always follows a brilliant album with something, well a bit less brilliant. Though with Neil, a bit less brilliant is still bloody good.
He never leaves it long between albums either and has recorded and released about 40 albums, and is now embarked on releasing a whole series of live recordings too. But there is something special about those first four records. ‘Neil Young’ is sparse and delicate and rambling, ‘Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere’ is vibrant and heavy with guitars and has almost his best songs ever on it. ‘After The Goldrush’ is languid and laid back and sounds effortless and ‘Harvest’ almost alone defined the West Coast sound.
This quartet laid the foundation of his career and would have been enough on their own to guarantee him a place in the firmament, but this was Neil Young and that was never his intention. His intention was to follow the muse…..(to be continued).
