Look at all the things (Crazy Horse) (LP 2188 - 2189)

Crazy Horse  Crazy Horse (Vinyl, Reprise Records, 1971) *****  

Crazy Horse  Crazy Moon (Vinyl, RCA Records, 1978) **** 

Genre: rock

Places I remember: Real Groovy and Marbecks Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: I Don't Want To Talk About It (CH)

Gear costume: Downtown (CH); She's Hot (CM) 

Active compensatory factors: Every song on the debut album is red hot - a band firing on all cylinders. Against the odds too - Jack Nitzsche is notoriously difficult to work with and Danny Whitten was a junkie.

But somehow they pulled it off. Maybe it's the steadiness of Ralphy and Billy but I don't think so. They were both there for the next two - Loose and At Crooked Lake which I used to own but sold them off a long time ago.

Must be Nils Lofgren who steadied the ship because this album captures lightning in a bottle! A five star classic because every track is superb - clunker free! Ry Cooder plays sublime slide on three tracks btw.

By Crazy Moon, seven years later, Danny was dead and Neil Young had brought in Poncho as his guitar foil, so he joins Ralph Molina and Billy Talbot for a grungy sludgy wig out. 

It's great!! Sloppy in classic Crazy Horse fashion and all three sing in a convincing way throughout the album.

Btw - Neil appears on a number of tracks - clearly, he couldn't help himself!

Where do they all belong? No need for the other albums - trust me, your next stop is Neil Young & Crazy Horse.

There's calm in your eye (Neil Young) #443

Neil Young Like A Hurricane/ Hold Back The Tears (Reprise, RPS 1391, 1977)

Neil's another one of those album artists who makes some terrific songs that sometimes leak out as singles.

Like A Hurricane is a terrific example, albeit in edited form. 

I'd bet that the record company thought that this would make a great single, rather than Neil.

It has long been a concert highlight and it's longevity is down to those great poetic images and that guitar sound. The long live version I've attached is sublime - one of my favourite cinematic moments (that wind machine!), and a great version from Crazy Horse.

Hidden gem: Hold Back The Tears is also from American Stars And Bars and, yes, a laid back country honk style Neil Young gem.

If you stay here won't you listen to my heart? (Crazy Horse) #155

Everything But The Girl I Don't Want To Talk About It; Oxford Street/ I Don't Want To Talk About It (instrumental mix); Shadow On A Harvest Moon  (Blanco Y Negro 12", 0-247898, 1988)

Everything But The Girl is, of course, two people - Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn. Here they take on the classic Crazy Horse song written by doomed drug addict Danny Whitten.

It's a great song and hard to muck up - although Rod Stewart had a decent go at it with a ultra soppy version that actually removes emotion from the lyric!

EBTG do a pleasant reading of it but again my rough rule of thumb holds true - the original version is usually the better one.




Danny's vocal just aches, it's perfect in its earthiness and feel, while Tracey's is like a different track being glossier pop but it doesn't match that perfection for me - listening to music is forever subjective.

Oxford St is also pleasant, non offensive stuff. Good for Sunday mornings - light streaming in, reading the Sunday papers on the floor.

To my mind EBTG embody the eighties - Tracey's hair, clothes and vocal style are rooted in that mid eighties period.

Hidden gems: The instrumental version is lovely - featuring a beautiful string arrangement. Shadow On A Harvest Moon is...yes, lovely and, um - pleasant.

I'd rather be with... (Pearl Jam)

New theme today...animals. They often make for an interesting, eye catching image to sell an album. Here's my top 10.

Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother