When I was about 12 years old I went to the library with my mother. I somehow was drawn to the massive record collection that the library had. When the library got rid of the collection about 75% I acquired and kept and still have. One of the albums that stood out for me was Neil Young's Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. It only had 7 songs on it, but it was anchored by two long songs on each side.
The hook of this album is clear right from side one. It caught me and never let go. Cinnamon Girl is one Neil Young's best songs. At Twelve I loved this album and I used to take it out all the time and play it over and over. I think my parents got tired of me playing the album so much. I picked a good time to like his older stuff, because at twelve his music of that time was not that good. 1984 through 1987 he had some albums that were sure questionable and if I decided to listen to that stuff I am not sure I would have been the Neil Young fan that I am today.
I am not sure why I picked this album from all the albums the library had but it have been checked out a lot because it was always in front of the LP racks that the library had. Their were other albums that I picked up, but that is for another post in the future. This album had power and it's guitar lines were amazing and top it off it had Crazy Horse. A Neil Young back up band that when I saw live (many times) kicked ass.
The only wish I had was to see Danny Whitten. Neil Young spoke highly of him and I can see why. He was amazing. He had great guitar chops and could play solos very well too. The best songs where supposedly written when Neil had a 103 temperature. What was more amazing about Neil was looking back, these songs are the best songs he ever wrote.
What I find fascinating about this album is the fact there is no hint of 1969 on it. It has no hint of psychedelic roots it could have easily been released now. I always wondered when I listened how this stuff would have sounded if done live. I really thought these songs rocked. Being pre-Internet I had no way of knowing. It was when I was 19 I had a friend who had Neil Young bootleg shows on cassette and he handed me a live show from 1970 and on the other side was rare stuff from 1975. The tape was played a lot and the 1970 stuff finally in some way got released in 2006. I was amazed how this band rocked and showed that with the music of the time it could be different and bold and daring.
I still have the vinyl version of Everybody Knows This is Nowhere that I got from the library. I sure I overplayed it a few dozen times and to this day it sound fresh and cool. I bought myself a better copy on record, and like a little kid opening a present during the holidays, it makes me smile. Neil Young has always fascinated me and to this day I will pick up an album of his and play it. I had a funny streak of his, that from 1992 to 2000 I would buy one his albums on the day it came out. Neil is still one of my heroes and I've seen him twelve times and I still watch that he can rock with the best and still catch the younger crowd. I have seen bands like Pearl Jam, Sonic Youth and Wilco and Death Cab For Cutie open for Neil and you can see in these bands that he runs through their veins like me. Enjoy an early classic and you, like myself will fall in love with Neil Young.
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Nice overview Matt. This is a milestone album, and really the beginning of Neil’s sound. Not that he has just one or two sounds, but if its one thing he created its sort of a garage rock sound, that’s been emulated by thousands of …garage bands. In many ways, it’s as basic and fundamental approach to Rock n Roll as Chuck Berry’s, or the Stooges. A new “ground zero”. And Neil invented this sound on this album.
ReplyDeleteNeil was frustrated with all the fuss and lack soul on his first album, which was much more orchestrated, and much less artistically successful than “Everybody”. So with this, his second album, he came up with the brilliant idea of playing with a very basic, no holds barred, garagey band, and just pound out raw Rock n Roll.
As an armature guitarist, I for one, constantly hear the Neil Young influence in myself as find 3 or 4 chords to jam on, and then play with various iterations of the rhythms and the single note lines pulled out of the pentatonic scale. So simple, yet he really started it here.
Not sure I completely agree with your statement about Danny Whitten’s guitar chops. As much as I love the guitar sound Neil and Danny make on this album, the beauty of it is its not complicated at all. Its from the gut. But maybe that’s what you meant.
Anyway, this was a true milestone, and possibly just as influential on guitarists as Hendrix’s first album (because its so much easier to play). Neil would go on to create several other milestone albums, and even better albums, but none as influential as this one.
Rick/AkaJazzman