CRAZY HORSE: "Crazy Horse"

Original released on LP Reprise RS 6438

(US 1971, February 1)

Since Crazy Horse first came to public attention as the backing band for Neil Young in concert and on his albums "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" and "After the Gold Rush", it makes sense to expect that the band on its own would play something similar to the hard guitar rock and country-rock heard on those albums, albeit without Young's distinctively quirky singing and songwriting, and that is what one hears to a large extent on the debut album "Crazy Horse". (Although this is their first recording under that name, core members Danny Whitten, Billy Talbot, and Ralph Molina have appeared previously on record as part of the doo wop group Danny & the Memories and the rock band the Rockets.) But there is more going on than that. Also joining in, as singers and songwriters as well as sidemen, are veteran arranger/producer Jack Nitzsche and guitarist Nils Lofgren, while Ry Cooder adds slide guitar to a number of tracks. The result is a varied group of songs that range in style from rock and country to blues and folk. The overall quality of those songs is quite high, starting with Nitzsche and Russ Titelman's "Gone Dead Train," previously heard being sung by Randy Newman on the soundtrack to "Performance". (Nitzsche and Titelman also contribute the pop-ish "Carolay.") The country hoedown "Dance, Dance, Dance" is a good Young cast-off, while the driving "Beggars Day" and "Nobody" were penned by Lofgren. These contributions serve as the supporting material for Whitten's songs, however, as his five numbers are among the album's best, whether he's rocking out on the ominous "Downtown" (which appears to be about scoring dope) or sadly crooning the heartbreaking ballad "I Don't Want to Talk About It." (After being revived by Rod Stewart on "Atlantic Crossing" in 1975, the song was a chart single for him and went on to become a minor standard with covers by Rita Coolidge, Everything But the Girl, and Ian Matthews, among others.) Crazy Horse made the case for Whitten as a major talent and for the band as a strong act apart from Young. (William Ruhlmann in AllMusic)

NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE: "Colorado"

Original released on CD Reprise 093624898900

(EU 2019, October 25)

At a time when chaos and unpredictability hold sway in so much of the world, it's hard to fault anyone for wishing for something stable and familiar, even from someone as chronically unpredictable as Neil Young. In 2019, Young announced he was recording again with Crazy Horse, and after a handful of especially eccentric and uneven albums - 2016's "Peace Trail", 2017's "The Visitor", 2018's "Paradox" - the notion of Neil and Crazy Horse cranking up their amps and making some righteous noise sounded like the sort of comfort food many fans had been hungry for. However, in time-honored Neil Young tradition, 2019's "Colorado" is a bit different than what fans might have been expecting. Frank "Poncho" Sampedro, Young's longtime guitar foil in Crazy Horse, opted not to participate in their latest reunion, and Young recruited his occasional collaborator (and longtime Bruce Springsteen sideman) Nils Lofgren to take his place. Where Sampedro had a knack for goading Young into conjuring billows of howling brilliance from his axe, on "Colorado", Lofgren instead gives him a strong, stable framework that allows Neil room to explore yet doesn't push him forward. As a result, this isn't a cathartic blowout in the manner of "Rust Never Sleeps" or "Ragged Glory" but instead harkens back to the focused yet ambling mood of "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" and "Harvest", only with songs that are good but by no means exceptional. As with much of his work in the 2010s, Young's lyrics here reflect an autumnal concern with politics, the environment, and mortality, and they're thoughtful and of their moment, but they sound more like blog posts than clearly thought-out messages. While this is hardly unexpected from rock's leading "First Thought Best Thought" man, they're still not up to the standard of his best music; after a while, repeatedly informing us he's an old white guy on "She Showed Me Love" sounds less like self-awareness and more like he's not sure if we know, which we certainly do. That said, if "Colorado" isn't the great soul-satisfying rocker we were dreaming of, the dusty howl of Young's electric guitar work is here in plentiful supply - not at full strength but loud enough to matter (especially on "Shut It Down" and "Help Me Lose My Mind") - Young is properly engaged with his material, and his interplay with Lofgren, bassist Ralph Molina, and drummer Billy Talbot is a reminder of why Crazy Horse has been on hand for so much of his greatest work. At a time when a great album from Neil Young would have been more than welcome, "Colorado" is instead a good one, but it's recognizably the work of a great artist, and that's more than can be said of the last few offerings Young has given us. (Mark Deming in AllMusic)