LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

With their 1971 self-titled debut, Crazy Horse offered a tough, soulful alternative to the mellow, self-satisfied brand of country-rock that had settled over American music at the dawn of the decade. The band's lineup on Crazy Horse-lead singer-guitarist Danny Whitten, bassist Billy Talbot, drummer Ralph Molina, producer-keyboardist Jack Nitzsche, and singer-guitarist Nils Lofgren-never recorded together again. But with Talbot and Molina at the core, Crazy Horse continued to be known as Neil Young's favorite backing band, occasionally making records on their own. The history of Crazy Horse begins in 1962, when Talbot and Whitten, both fans of vocal harmony groups, met in Los Angeles. They soon added singers Ralph Molina and Ben "Dino" Rocco and became Danny & The Memories, landing a deal with Valiant Records. After moving to San Francisco and re-christening themselves the Psyrcle, Whitten, Talbot, and Molina discovered The Byrds and returned south to form a guitar-driven rock band. With the addition of George and Leon Whitsell (guitars) and Bobby Notkoff (violin), the quintet became The Rockets. Neil Young soon became a fan and in 1969 asked Whitten, Talbot, and Molina to be his backing band. Their new name, Crazy Horse, first appeared on Young's groundbreaking album from that year, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. For their solo debut, Crazy Horse wanted to sand down some of the rough edges that characterized their work with Young. "With Neil, our sound is very rustic," says Talbot in the liner notes to this release. "It's thrown up like a log cabin that still has bark on it, and that's great. But Danny and Ralph and I had our own thing, and it wasn't exactly the way we were with Neil. It wasn't just three-chords, bashing-away Crazy Horse." Crazy Horse, though critically celebrated to this day, wasn't much of a commercial success. Whitten was too compromised by heroin addiction to tour and was forced to leave the band shortly after the release of the record (his overdose death in late 1972 set the tone for Neil Young's ragged masterpiece Tonight's The Night, recorded in 1973 and released two years later). George Whitsell from The Rockets, along with singer-guitarist Greg Leroy and singer-keyboardist John Blanton joined, and the new lineup cut the country-leaning follow-up, 1972's Loose, with engineer Fred Catero. Yet another lineup recorded 1973's At Crooked Lake for Epic. Disc one of this two-CD Rhino Handmade collection contains remastered versions of Crazy Horse and Loose in their entirety. Disc two includes previously unreleased tracks from the Crazy Horse sessions, as well as a previously unreleased version of Neil Young's "When You Dance You Can Really Love," a 1971 radio spot, and the A- and B-sides of the Danny & The Memories single "Can't Help Loving That Girl," released in 1962 on the Valiant label.
TRACK LISTING GONE DEAD TRAIN (4:06) DANCE, DANCE, DANCE (3:10) LOOK AT ALL THE THINGS (3:13) BEGGARS DAY (4:28) I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT (5:18) DOWNTOWN (3:14) CAROLAY (2:52) DIRTY, DIRTY (3:31) NOBODY (2:25) I’LL GET BY (3:08) CROW JANE LADY (4:24) HIT AND RUN (2:42) TRY (3:19) ONE THING I LOVE (2:40) MOVE (3:15) ALL ALONE NOW (2:53) ALL THE LITTLE THINGS (5:05) FAIR WEATHER FRIEND (2:42) YOU WON’T MISS ME (2:48) GOING HOME (2:53) I DON’T BELIEVE IT (3:06) KIND OF WOMAN (4:26) ONE SIDED LOVE (3:11) AND SHE WON’T EVEN BLOW SMOKE IN MY DIRECTION (1:26) DIRTY, DIRTY (Alternate Version) (4:05) SCRATCHY (Takes 1-3) (7:13) DEAR SONG SINGER (3:39) DOWNTOWN (Unedited Long Version) (10:53) SUSIE’S SONG (Takes 1-5) (6:20) WHEN YOU DANCE YOU CAN REALLY LOVE (2:53) RADIO SPOT (1:00) CAN’T HELP LOVING THAT GIRL - Danny & The Memories (2:07) DON’T GO - Danny & The Memories (2:02)