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Song Of The Day – “Saddle Up The Palomino” by Neil Young

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neilyoungamericanNeilYoungAmerican2neilyoungchrome“American Stars And Bars” was one of Neil Young’s most patchy albums, but that’s not because the material on the record is lacking. Quite the contrary, the songs are pretty much top notch throughout this “Whitman Sampler” of styles and sounds. However, the record does seem to get unfairly knocked for several reasons…

For one, the record was recorded in several sessions between 1974 and 1977 with different lineups. This approach to recording doesn’t lend itself to a consistent listening experience. The entirety of the first side was recorded in April of 1977 with Crazy Horse and The Bullets (Frank Sampedro, Billy Talbot, Ralph Molina, Ben Keith, Carole Mayedo (on violin) and backing vocals by “The Saddle Bags,” Linda Ronstadt and Nicolette Larson.) The album offers a patchwork of styles from down home country to straight up ragged rock, on the songs “The Old Country Waltz,” “Hey Babe,” “Hold Back The Tears,” “Bite The Bullet” and today’s Song Of The Day, which was co-written by Tim Drummond and Bobby Charles. (Bobby Charles is well known as the writer of such hits as “See You Later Alligator” and the Fats Domino standard “Walkin’ To New Orleans,” which Young would later cover after Hurricane Katrina.)

The second half of the record includes the intimate “Star Of Bethlehem” from November of 1974 backed by Emmylou Harris, Ben Keith, Tim Drummond and Karl T. Himmel, “Will To Love,” which is just Neil on his acoustic guitar surrounded by a crackling fire for over seven blissful minutes, circa May 1976, and the mighty Crazy Horse appear on the album’s last two songs, the classic definitive version of “Like A Hurricane,” and the Crazy Horse throwaway “Homegrown,” which both date back to sessions that took place in November of 1975.

Others fault the record for what it wasn’t…namely the shelved album “Chrome Dreams.” The track listing for the still-unreleased album that was originally slotted in on Warner’s schedules for March of 1977, was to include an early, more intimate, version of “Pocahontas,” “Too Far Gone,” “Captain Kennedy” (which wouldn’t appear until 1980 on “Hawks And Doves”), “Stringman” (which didn’t come out until “Decade” in 1976), early and very different versions of “Sedan Delivery” and “Powderfinger” (which along with “Pocahontas” wouldn’t appear until 1979 on “Rust Never Sleeps” in different versions), “Look Out For My Love” (from “Comes A Time” in 1978), plus “Will To Love,” “Star Of Bethlehem,” ”Like A Hurricane” and “Hold Back The Tears” as they all appeared on “American Stars and Bars.” It is also interesting to note that both “Homegrown” and “Star Of Bethlehem” were originally slotted for another album that was to be released in 1975, called “Homegrown.” This album was also shelved and has never seen the light of day either.

It’s also worthy to make note of the Dean Stockwell-designed cover art to “American Stars and Bars,” which in my estimation is the coolest of all of Neil Young’s albums covers. The striking image is of a slumped over, passed out woman (Stockwell’s friend, Connie Moskos) holding a bottle of Canadian Club, with Neil’s equally messed up face pressed up against a glass floor. (It was originally erroneously rumored that the woman was Bob Dylan in drag!)  The rear image has an American Indian pastiche.

All in all, Neil Young’s eighth album was originally released in 1977, although it would not see release on CD until 2003, when Young felt the HDCD digital quality was up to his high expectations.

Today in Rock History – December 16

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Beatles-Day-tripper-we-can-work-it-out1965, Released as a double A-side The Beatles “Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out,” became their ninth UK number one, and their third Christmas chart topper in a row. The single was a US number one in January 1966.

1966, Pink Floyd appeared at a prohibition themed dance, the AA Students Christmas Carnival, held at The Architects Association, Bedford Square, London.

1966, The first Jimi Hendrix Experience single “Hey Joe,” was released in the UK on Polydor records, the track had been rejected by the Decca label. It went on to be a number six hit in the UK, but failed to chart in America. Chas Chandler, who was now managing Hendrix had seen Folk singer Tim Rose perform the song at the Cafe Wha? in New York City.

1967, Pink Floyd played two shows with Gospel Garden and The Rare Breed in Birmingham, England.  The first show took place at the Ritz Ballroom, King’s Health. The late show was billed as the Saturday Spectacular, and held at The Penthouse, Constitution Hill.

1967, The Rolling Stones announced that Marianne Faithfull was the first signing to their Mother Earth label.

1968, Led Zeppelin appeared at the Bath Festival Pavilion in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England.

1969, The Who played at the Coliseum Theatre in London,

1970, Five singles and five albums by Credence Clearwater Revival were certified gold in the US. The singles were: “Down on the Corner,” “Lookin out My Back Door,” “Travelin’ Band,” “Bad Moon Rising,” and “Up around the Bend.” The LPs were Cosmo’s Factory, Willy and the Poor Boys, Green River, Bayou Country and Credence Clearwater Revival.

200-motels-ringo-as-zappa1971, Frank Zappa’s 200 Motels film opened at London’s Piccadilly Classic Cinema in the UK. The film which also featured Ringo Star, covers a loose storyline about The Mothers of Invention going crazy in the small town Centerville.

1972, Yes appeared at the Rainbow Theatre in London.

1973, Hawkwind performed at the Odeon, Birmingham, England.

1974, Guitarist Mick Taylor announced he was leaving The Rolling Stones, saying he felt that now was the time to move on and do something new.

1976, Aerosmith played at Madison Square Garden, New York.

1980, Bruce Springsteen performed at the Garden in Boston.

1981, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at the Capitol Theater, Passaic, New Jersey.

1984, Various stars named their favorite party songs in music magazine Smash Hits. Morrissey picked “What’s The World,” by James, Siouxsie had “Love Is The Drug” by Roxy Music, Robert Smith from The Cure picked “Boogie Nights,” by Heatwave and Andy Partridge from XTC picked “Take Five” by Dave Brubeck.

1986, The Grateful Dead played at the Alemeda-County Coliseum in Oakland, California.

1989, Billy Joel went to number one on the US album chart with his 11th studio release Storm Front. The album featured one of Joel’s three number one hits, “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” a fast-paced song, mentioning some of the major historical events that took place in his time, and “Leningrad,” Joel’s take on the end of the Cold War.

1993, MTV aired Nirvana’s Unplugged session for the first time. The album featured an acoustic performance taped at Sony Music Studios in New York City on November 18, 1993. Unlike many artists who appeared on the show, Nirvana filmed its entire performance in a single take with the band’s fourteen-song setlist included six cover versions.

1997, American singer songwriter Nicolette Larson died aged 45 of complications arising from cerebral edema. Worked with Neil Young, (Comes a Time and Harvest Moon albums), Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Michael McDonald, Willie Nelson, Jimmy Buffett, The Beach Boys and The Doobie Brothers. She is best known for her 1978 cover of Neil Young’s “Lotta Love.”

2004, Gold and silver Black Sabbath discs were stolen from the Kent home of Ozzy Osbourne’s former manager Patrick Meehan. Police recovered the discs a week later after they were offered for sale on eBay.

2005, The surviving Beatles and relatives of the band’s late members began legal action against EMI to get royalties allegedly worth £30m. Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and relations of George Harrison and John Lennon claimed EMI owed record royalties to their company Apple Corps.

dan-fogelberg-netherlands2006, Sir Paul McCartney said he left EMI, his record label of 45 years, as it had become “boring” and he had “dreaded going to see” its executives. McCartney told The Times that the company’s handling of his music had become “symbolic of the treadmill.” The ex-Beatle went on to sign a deal with Starbucks’ label, Hear Music.

2007, American singer songwriter Dan Fogelberg died at his home in Maine at the age of 56. The US singer, songwriter discovered he had advanced prostate cancer in 2004. Had the 1981 album The Innocent Age, which featured the hits “Leader of the Band,” “Hard to Say,” and “‘Run for the Roses.”

Born on this day: Tony Hicks, guitar, The Hollies (1945); Benny Anderson, keyboards, vocals, Abba (1946); Billy Gibbons, ZZ Top (1950); and Steven Irvine, drums, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions (1959)

Link to Today in Rock History archive.

Song of the Day by Eric Berman – “Saddle Up The Palomino” by Neil Young

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45-adapter-logo2neilyoungamerican

Song of the Day by Eric Berman – “Saddle Up The Palomino” by Neil Young

American Stars And Bars was one of Neil Young’s most patchy albums, but that’s not because the material on the record is lacking. Quite the contrary, the songs are pretty much top notch throughout this “Whitman Sampler” of styles and sounds. However, the record does seem to get unfairly knocked for several reasons…

For one, the record was recorded in several sessions between 1974 and 1977 with different lineups. This approach to recording doesn’t lend itself to a consistent listening experience. The entirety of the first side was recorded in April of 1977 with Crazy Horse and The Bullets (Frank Sampedro, Billy Talbot, Ralph Molina, Ben Keith, Carole Mayedo (on violin) and backing vocals by “The Saddle Bags,” Linda Ronstadt and Nicolette Larson.) The album offers a patchwork of styles from down home country to straight up ragged rock, on the songs “The Old Country Waltz,” “Hey Babe,” “Hold Back The Tears,” “Bite The Bullet” and today’s Song Of The Day by Eric Berman, which was co-written by Tim Drummond and Bobby Charles. (Bobby Charles is well known as the writer of such hits as “See You Later Alligator” and the Fats Domino standard “Walkin’ To New Orleans,” which Young would later cover after Hurricane Katrina.)

The second half of the record includes the intimate “Star Of Bethlehem” from November of 1974 backed by Emmylou Harris, Ben Keith, Tim Drummond and Karl T. Himmel, “Will To Love,” which is just Neil on his acoustic guitar surrounded by a crackling fire for over seven blissful minutes, circa May 1976, and the mighty Crazy Horse appear on the album’s last two songs, the classic definitive version of “Like A Hurricane,” and the Crazy Horse throwaway “Homegrown,” which both date back to sessions that took place in November of 1975.

Others fault the record for what it wasn’t…namely the shelved album Chrome Dreams. The track listing for the still-unreleased album that was originally slotted in on Warner’s schedules for March of 1977, was to include an early, more intimate, version of “Pocahontas,” “Too Far Gone,” “Captain Kennedy” (which wouldn’t appear until 1980 on Hawks And Doves), “Stringman” (which didn’t come out until Decade in 1976), early and very different versions of “Sedan Delivery” and “Powderfinger” (which along with “Pocahontas” wouldn’t appear until 1979 on Rust Never Sleeps in different versions), “Look Out For My Love” (later to appear on Comes A Time in 1978), plus “Will To Love,” “Star Of Bethlehem,” ”Like A Hurricane” and “Hold Back The Tears” as they all appeared on American Stars and Bars. It is also interesting to note that both “Homegrown” and “Star of Bethlehem” were originally slotted for an album that was to be released in 1975, called Homegrown. This album was also shelved and has never seen the light of day.

It’s also worthy to make note of the Dean Stockwell-designed cover art to American Stars and Bars, which in my estimation is the coolest of all of Neil Young’s albums covers. The striking image is of a slumped over, passed out woman (Stockwell’s friend, Connie Moskos) holding a bottle of Canadian Club, with Neil’s equally messed up face pressed up against a glass floor. (It was originally erroneously rumored that the woman was Bob Dylan in drag!) The rear image has an American Indian pastiche.

 

All in all, Neil Young’s eighth album was originally released in 1977, although it would not see release on CD until 2003, when Young felt the HDCD digital quality was up to his high expectations.