Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere by Neil Young with Crazy Horse (Vinyl record album review)

Album name: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

Artist name: Neil Young

Group name: Crazy Horse

Year: 1969

Number of discs: one

Label: Reprise Records

Collection: Brenner / Gessner

Distinguishing characteristics: each of my parents had a copy of this record. My father’s had a “G” on the upper left corner of the front of the album, and my mother’s had “Brenner” written on the inside of the album and on side one of the LP.

Buy it on Amazon: $20.85

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve listened to this record at least a bunch of times, and recognize all or most of the songs on it, but I don’t remember ever hearing it when I was growing up, with the exception of Cinnamon Girl, which was played very occasionally on classic rock radio.

This is the ninth Neil Young record that I’m reviewing, and the previous eight were:

Neil Young (1968): 4/5

Retrospective: The Best of Buffalo Springfield (1969): 5/5

Déjà Vu by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (1970): 5/5

Woodstock: Music from the Original Soundtrack and More (1970): 4/5

4 Way Street by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (1971): 5/5

Young Man’s Fancy (1971): 5/5

Harvest (1972): 5/5

So Far by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (1974): 4/5

What I expected

Electric Neil Young.

What it was actually like

I think I remember now why I haven’t listened to this record as much as others by Neil Young: it has some of his best songs, but is also pretty uneven – but when it’s good, it’s so, so good.

I could probably listen to Cinnamon Girl, Down by the River and Cowgirl in the Sand a hundred times in a row on repeat. The very distorted electric guitar, and the long and virtuosic solos with the same note played over and over[1], are really powerful, all the more so in the context of much of his other work from the few years before and after, which was largely acoustic. He could be singing pure gibberish and it would make no difference, and parts reminded me of the Dead Man soundtrack.

Round & Round (It Won’t Be Long), which was more acoustic and boring, made me think that maybe it was why I haven’t listened very much – not to pick on it, though, because the rest of the songs were similar.

Grade

4/5: would listen again

References[+]

References

↑1 | How does this even work, musically?