“Decade” is a 3 LP compilation that covers Neil Young’s output from Buffalo Springfield in 1966 up until 1976 (hence the title). I originally owned the 2 CD version which I got after my interest was piqued by Neil Young’s appearances on the Crosby, Stills & Nash comp we talked about yesterday, I replaced that with the 3 LP version earlier this year.

Complied by Mr Young himself with (reproduced) hand written notes about each song, it covers almost every album Young was involved with during that 10 year period. There were also previously unreleased songs for the Young faithful. The best of those being “Down To The Wire”, a shelved Buffalo Springfield item featuring Mac Rebbenack aka Dr John on piano and “Winterlong”, which was later covered by the Pixies on Neil Young tribute album “The Bridge” in 1989 (The Bridge is a school for children with severe speech and physical impairments which Young’s son Zeke, who was born with cerebral palsy,  attended after Young helped co-found the school and ra annual benefit concerts to support it).

Songs that this album introduced me to that I still love and play often would include Buffalo Springfield’s psychy “Mr. Soul” which has a little of Pink Floyd’s “Lucifer Sam” about it, the beautiful but tragic “The Needle And The Damage Done” which describes the effect of heroin addiction on many people Young knew but particularly Danny Whitten and lastly the epic “Cortez The Killer” the tale of Hernán Cortés conquest of the Aztec’s and Moctezuma between 1519 and 1521, all set within weaving guitar lines and killer solo’s, the type of which I usually have no time for but this is different. The song was banned in Franco’s Spain where Cortés was revered.

If you are at all interested in finding out about Neil Young “Decade” would be a very apposite place to start. 

Cortez The Killer - https://youtu.be/uX9k9aoX6gk?si=kL8okeXVYVY5cXxj

My route to Neil Young was circuitous. I’ve been a fan of The Byrds for as long as I can remember and David Crosby’s voice was a big part of that. I’ve also been a fan of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” since I first heard it, written by Stephen Stills. I know a lot of people don’t take them quite as seriously as some other bands of the time but the vocal harmonies on those classic Hollies singles of the 60’s are something to marvel at, arranged by Graham Nash. So at some point I must have decided to investigate a band featuring a Byrd, a Springfield and a Hollie which led me to buy a 2 CD compilation of Crosby, Stills & Nash. But that compilation also had racks by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (another Springfield), particularly “Helpless” and “Ohio” which is when I decided to look into this Neil Young fella.

Shakey’s (for that is Neil Young’s nickname) second solo album post Buffalo Springfield (his 2nd album in just 7 months of 1969) was recorded with the backing band with whom he is most often associated, Crazy Horse. On this album that was Danny Whitten (guitar), Billy Talbot (Bass) and Ralph Molina (drums). Billy and Ralph were still playing as Crazy Horse on Neil Young’s 2021 album “World Record”. Danny Whitten sadly succumbed to his addictions on 18th November 1972, the same day Young had told him to leave rehearsals and go back to LA because he was so un-together. For many years Young felt responsible for Whitten’s death "It just all came down on him. He was engulfed by this drug. That was too bad. Because Danny had a lot to give, boy. He was really good”.

The interplay between Young and Whitten can be best heard on one of Young’s best known songs, “Cinnamon Girl”. Track 1, side 1, we know how important that can be to make your case and it’s all here on this one. Two minutes and 58 seconds long (Joe Strummer once said the perfect length for a song was 2 mins 59 secs, ask me about “Armagideon Time” next time you see me if you don’t already know the tale) and boy oh boy does this band pack a lot in there. Neil sings the lead. Danny tackles the high harmony and after some crunching guitar riffs, 2 verses and a middle 8 we reach the solo. Most famously Neil Young plays a one note guitar solo about which he has said “in my head, each one of those notes is different. The more you get into it, the more you can hear the differences”. The reason each note sounds different is, underneath Young’s note, Danny Whitten is arpeggio-ing away around the main chord sequence. It’s quite superb and one of Young’s greatest songs.

Young has said that “Cinnamon Girl”, “Down By The River” and “Cowgirl In The Sand” were all written on the same day while he was laid up with Flu and a 103° temperature. Given the illness and fever that’s a day at the office of Dolly proportions (if you weren’t aware, Ms Parton wrote “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You” on the same day). When Young and Crazy Horse entered the studio to record “Down By The River” they had been playing together as a band for less than a week !

“Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere” has extended guitar workouts, country sounding songs and trippy folky singalongs. It set Neil Young and Crazy Horse on a path that some of the members are still following today. Not everything they have done is to my liking but when they get it right, as they did for the most part here, man alive it’s a glorious noise they make.

Cinnamon Girl - https://youtu.be/69bTzddp1sM?si=lRF_Ua4P7D8o5ENY

The Wonder Stuff's Bob ‘The Bass Thing’ Jones, all  dreadlocks, motorbike boots, leather jackets and snarling at the front of the stage absolutely bloody loved the title song from this album, “Guitars, Cadillacs” and the unsaid Hillbilly Music.

Dwight Yoakam’s debut album was released in 1986 at the height of the smooth Urban Cowboy pop-country style that had taken over Country Music in the wake of John Travolta’s 1980 movie of the same name (I honestly never associate Travolta with Country Music so how that happened, who knows ?). Yoakam’s style of Hillbilly Honky Tonk was seen as old fashioned and not what the country music audience wanted by the Nashville “tastemakers”. Shows what they know as it was the first of Dwight’s three consecutive albums to reach #1 in the Billboard Country charts.

Having found no route to success in Nashville Yoakam moved to LA where he continued to write songs and play in clubs not generally seen as hosting Country music. He did gigs in Punk clubs playing alongside the likes of The Blasters and X. Eventually he hooked up with guitarist/arranger/producer Pete Anderson who has said of the partnership “he didn’t want to do any of the things I wanted to do, and I didn’t want to do any of things he wanted to do, which made it non-competitive”. Anderson added his skills to Yoakam’s songwriting and vocals and a partnership was born that lasted 18 years.

This is most definitely not the glitzy pop country of the mid 80’s. This is the music of the Honky Tonks that Hank Williams sang about, beer, dancing, saw dust covered floors to help clean up the spilt beer and Saturday night fight blood and, if you were lucky, a l’il lovin’ to end the night. Dwight lays it all out there in the first song, Johnny Horton’s 1956 hit “Honky Tonk Man”. By the second song it ain’t gonna hurt when Dwight gets down from that bar stool. The title song itself is a Country Music classic and one I DJ when the opportunity presents, much to some peoples surprise.

It’s not all frivolous bars, cars and heartache songs I have to stress. “South Of Cincinnati” is the classic displaced Southern man longing for home song and “Miner’s Prayer” falls into that category of country songs that tell you of the trials of ordinary working people “When the whistle blows each morning and I walk down in that cold, dark mine, I say a prayer to my dear Saviour, Please let me see the sunshine one more time”. 

You should be aware by now that travels to America developed an appreciation of Country Music in me and gawd bless ya Bass Thing for pointing me toward this one.

Guitars, Cadillacs - https://youtu.be/LEcfQHKZppk?si=uu9u4gLCxM014NM0