There is something so historic about the earliest recordings of Neil Young with Crazy Horse that even the most devoted fans of Young and that pivotal band cannot contain their excitement when new releases are scheduled. EARLY DAZE, to be released for the first time on June 28, 2024 and already the excitement is peaking. Maybe that’s because the music the band performs has never been collected on one album like this set. The song line-up includes some of the most iconic originals by Neil Young, and several with contributions by band guitarist Danny Whitten. It is Young’s first band after the breakup of Buffalo Springfield, and set one of the highmarks of rock & roll at the end of the 1960s when all these songs were written.
When the Crazy Horse band first came together, it featured Danny Whitten (guitar and vocals), Ralph Molina (drums and vocals) Billy Talbot (bass and vocals) and Jack Nitzsche (keyboards, Tambourine and vocals). It was a band that was immediately spoken of with high excitement, and allowed Young’s new original songs to find an open runway for taking off new directions. Their early lives shows immediately set a new standard for rock & roll groups, and with Young’s new original songs like “Dance Dance Dance,” “Come on Baby Let’s Go Downtown,” “Cinnamon Girl” and “Down by the River,” the aggregation immediately took on a fevered following across America and beyond.
EARLY DAZE will be available at the Greedy Hand Store at Neil Young Archives (NYA) and music retailers everywhere. All Greedy Hand Store purchases come with free hi-res digital audio downloads from the Xstream Store © at NYA.
This new collection of Neil Young with Crazy Horses’ earliest recordings include several original versions that have not been released before, and along with the 7-inch Mono mix that was released in 1970 that includes a guitar outro not on LP version not on original LP version. All the songs on EARLY DAZE sound and feel like a new beginning for where rock & roll was going at the end of the 1960s. The tide was turning on some of the psychedelic experimentation of the San Francisco bands, and moving towards a style of intricate songwriting and bands that were able to take the beginnings of folk-rock and find new ways to let it explode in different settings. Neil Young with Crazy Horse were leading the charge in this completely expressive style of new music. It opened doors for a wide variety of new styles, and allowed a whole generation of musicians to find a new way forward. In many ways, that achievement is still growing.
