Neil Young Newsletter
Sign-up to receive daily news on Neil Young by email.
Neil Young Filmography
Source:
Theiapolis
Neil Young Resources
Table of Content
Neil Young: Breakthrough
Young and Nitzsche immediately began work on Young's first solo record.
Neil Young (January 1969), which contained a mix of songs similar to his Buffalo Springfield contributions, and received mixed reviews. While a promising debut -- the track "The Loner" is still a staple of his live shows -- it remains a relatively weak set of songs compared to his later output. Wanting a harder rock sound for his next record, Young recruited a few members of the band "The Rockets" who had released a self titled album in 1968. Danny Whitten, guitar; Billy Talbot, bass guitar and Ralph Molina, drums from "The Rockets" took the name "Crazy Horse". Their album
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (May 1969) -- credited to "Neil Young and Crazy Horse" -- was recorded in just two weeks, and is dominated by two lengthy jams, "Cowgirl in the Sand" and "Down by the River", both of which showcased the understanding between the musicians and Young's idiosyncratic guitar soloing.
Crazy Horse, and Whitten in particular, were also in evidence on Young's next album,
After the Gold Rush (1970), (which also featured the young Nils Lofgren). The album was a commercial breakthrough, aided by his new-found fame as a member of the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (CSN&Y, with whom he performed at Woodstock), having been invited to join as a foil for Stills. The album contains some of his best work, covering subjects from the environmental concerns of the title track, redneck racism on "Southern Man" (which, along with the later song "Alabama", prompted the reply "Sweet Home Alabama" from Lynyrd Skynyrd) to the acoustic love songs of "Tell Me Why" and "I Believe in You". Single "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" was a minor hit.
After the Gold Rush was certified gold, but that success was minor compared with what came next. Young spent a year with CSN&Y, recording the classic Deja Vu (1970) and the live Four Way Street (1971). Young's song "Ohio", a single released shortly after the Deja Vu album, was written following the Kent State University killings that happened on May 4, 1970. The song was used frequently during anti-war rallies in the 1970s, and Young was still performing it 20 years later, by which time he often dedicated it to the Chinese students who had been killed at Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
After the supergroup split up, he recruited a new group of country-music session musicians, whom he christened The Stray Gators, and recorded a country rock record in Harvest (1972). Catching the mood that would soon lift The Eagles to superstardom,
Harvest was a massive hit, producing the US number one single "Heart of Gold". Other songs returned to some usual Young themes: "Alabama" was an inferior rehash of "Southern Man"; "Words" featured a lengthy guitar workout with the band; and "The Needle and the Damage Done" chronicled Danny Whitten's descent into heroin addiction. The album's success caught Young off guard and his first instinct was to back away from stardom. He would later write that "Heart of Gold put me in the middle of the road. Travelling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch. A rougher ride but I saw more interesting people there."
On September 8, 1972 Academy Award nominated actress Carrie Snodgress gave birth to Neil Young's first child. The boy, Zeke Young, would later be diagnosed with cerebral palsy. The relationship with Snodgress lasted until 1975.
<<
Early years -
From country to rock >>
Table of Content
Latest Film News
See Also:
