Early Daze (2024)

Meeting the future members of Crazy Horse is probably one of the most pivotal moments in Neil Young’s history. Not only did their collaboration shift his music away from the sounds of Buffalo Springfield that are prevalent on his solo debut album, but it forged strong personal relationships, too. In the case of Ralph Molina and Billy Talbot, those relationships last until this day. His relationship with Danny Whitten, although cut short, effected him deeply. It’s always been a shame that there wasn’t more recorded material with Danny, and Early Daze puts that right to some degree. It’s a great document of the band at this time, with alternate takes and mixes of songs that would appear on Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, After the Gold Rush, and Crazy Horse albums without Neil.

One of the biggest things Early Daze shows to me is that there was a time where Neil was considering Crazy Horse as a band he was in, instead of a backing band. You can see this with the prevalent vocals of Whitten, and the fact that it contains two songs written by him. I think Neil likes being part of a band, as he tried it several times after Buffalo Springfield, such as with CSNY and The Ducks. So I could see how he was thinking maybe Crazy Horse was just the next band he was going to be in. Of course, it went differently, and Everybody Knows… was billed as “Neil Young with Crazy Horse” instead. Early Daze shows us what that more collaborative version of the band could be.

As any credible Neil fan would, I have become very territorial about what’s better, “Dance Dance Dance” or “Love is a Rose.” I jest, but it was a big question for me at one point. Same music, different lyrics. The thing that settled it was this Crazy Horse version (which had already featured on Archives Vol. 2). I also really love Neil’s foot stomping renditions from his acoustic performances, but there’s just a little something extra to this Horse version and I’m going to tell you what it is: the weird sound that happens at the end of some verses, like the very first “on it,” or “fingers” and “lingers.” I think it’s a feature of Danny’s drawl combined with Neil and the rest of the harmony. It has this slipping effect that really enhances the down home, ramshackle vibe of the song. “Yee ha!” indeed.

The live rendition of Danny Whitten’s “Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown” is one of my very favorite songs, so it’s fun to hear this studio take. It’s quite similar, but lacking that live energy. A cool feature of Early Daze is the studio chatter, hearing producer David Briggs talk to the band from the control room. In this case, it’s about Jack Nitzsche’s electric piano levels. “Winterlong” is a very good song, but not one I’m particularly into. However, I’m a big fan of “Everybody’s Alone,” the song on the Neil Young Archives boxsets that a lot of fans wondered how it was never released on an album. It’s a great song with a catchy hook! He has recorded it a couple times and even played it live once in a while.

“Wonderin’” (unreleased version) and “Cinnamon Girl” (original mono mix) are both not high on my list of treasured songs, but the back to back position of these shows off Neil’s pop side well. There’s a reason “Cinnamon Girl” was so popular and “Wonderin’” could have been a hit, too, in the proper context. The other Danny Whitten song, “Look At All The Things” is a previously known song of his that had been released on a Neil-less Crazy Horse album, but this is an unreleased rendition and it’s really grown on me. It’s similar in tone to his most well known song, “I Don’t Want To Talk About It,” but more defiant and less sad. An incredible songwriter and heartfelt singer, Whitten’s death is our loss, for sure.

I love “Helpless” but have never been impressed with most electric/band renditions of it, even the well known CSNY Four Way Street version. When there’s a band and additional harmonies, it feels over done to me. I quite like his fragile acoustic renditions. However, this previously unreleased Crazy Horse version is great. In Jimmy McDonough’s Shakey, Neil relates that they had done an amazing take of it, but the engineer forgot to hit record so it was lost to time. That was the moment he and Briggs decided to record everything. So this isn’t that legendary take, obviously, but perhaps it’s one done in the same day or session. I like that it’s still spare, but with the added benefit of some Crazy Horse jangle. “Birds” still doesn’t do a lot for me, but the pre-performance chatter is classic Neil banter about the number of takes.

“Here we go, rolling. Take one, this is…What’s the name of this, Neil?” (David Briggs, Early Daze)

Briggs asking the name of this song really shows you how early these days were. I think “Down by the River” is the most quintessential Horse song there is and Briggs would know it well in the coming decades. Maybe it’s the glow of newness, but I quite enjoy the alternate vocal on this “Down by the River.” Apparently, it’s the same band performance but with the very first take of the vocals. It’s more fragile, more raw, with a few moments that stick out as starkly different than the version we all know. With this first take vocal, does this mean we are hearing the first take of the music as well? My understanding is that the originally released “Down by the River” was heavily edited by Briggs, so maybe this is the original (it still has edits).

Neil first mentioned this album in his first memoir, Waging Heavy Peace, so theoretically he was putting it together in 2012. A shame it took 12 years to finally see release. That’s the nature of the Archives, though. There are many suggested projects that seemed on the eve of release, but still haven’t surfaced. That said, it seems pretty likely we will see the massive Archives Vol. 3 this year. Hopefully getting that released will open up the runway for more.

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