Thank you Russell!!
Great Review of my Neil Young book!
Neil Young – The Comrie Smith Tapes 1965
Before Neil made it as an singer songwriter, following the disbanding of the Squires he recorded some demos with his friend Comrie.
The Comrie Smith Tapes (1965)
Personnel:
Neil Young: guitar, harmonica, vocal
Comrie Smith: guitar
Produced by: Neil Young and Comrie Smith
Recorded at 26 Golfdale, Toronto, ON, 15 October 1965
Comrie Smith was a childhood friend of Neil’s. They used to walk to school together and hang out playing the music they loved – ranging from Bo Diddley, Gene Vincent and Link Wray, to The Everly Brothers, Fendermen and Roy Orbison.
In 1965, they made a tape together. A number of tracks from that tape were released on Neil Young Archives Vol. 1 – (1963-72). It seems that a few songs, ‘Betty Ann’, ‘Don’t Tell My Friends’ and ‘My Room Is Dark’, still remain unreleased. These are the ones that were released:
‘Hello Lonely Woman’ (Neil Young)
This is quite a jump lyrically, stylistically and musically. We’ve moved away from the pop songs of The Squires into a stompin’ blues with two synchronised acoustic guitars. It’s only a short space of time, but Neil sounds so much older.
The two strummed guitars set up a real twelve-bar bluesy beat. Neil’s voice is fuller and much more mature. He provides some great blues picking, and, towards the end, breaks into some great bluesy harmonica.
The teenage love of young romance with The Squires has been replaced by a much darker throb of sexual encounters with an older woman here. Neil sounds as if he is now familiar with her kind, too!
Neil Young 1963 to 1970: every album, every song: Goodwin, Opher: 9781789522983: Amazon.com: Books
Neil Young book – Just out! – Introduction Extract
Fortunately for him, his early fame and success gave him the leeway and platform to indulge. He could give free rein to his creative juices, experiment and change with little regard to pressures from labels or financial concerns, his bands, or even his fans. He had a licence to free his imagination and that’s what he did. He went with that wayward wind wherever it took him.
Neil is the ultimate innovator whether in the field of folk, blues, country, grunge, rock ‘n’ roll, R&B, punk or electronic; he’s not only tried it but made it his own in the process. That’s the difference between an innovator and an imitator.
Part of his unique personality can be traced back to his roots. He’s Canadian, not American, and I think that shows. He was born in Toronto in 1945, but brought up in a sleepy town in Ontario called Omemee, before relocating to Winnipeg and then back to Toronto. Following the break-up of his parents, life was unsettled. That Canadian upbringing, the loss of a father in the house, coupled with the presence of a strong, sometimes overpowering mother, helped shape him and made him what he is. The friendships, attitudes and ethos, entailed in growing up north of the border mould a different type of person and his father leaving made him more introspective, but also had the effect of giving him more freedom than he would have had if he’d stayed. His mother Rassy, though alcoholic and domineering, gave him the almost unlimited freedom and support that helped him develop.
In the UK
Neil Young 1963 to 1970: Every Album, Every Song: Amazon.co.uk: Opher Goodwin: 9781789522983: Books
In the USA
Neil Young 1963 to 1970: every album, every song: Goodwin, Opher: 9781789522983: Amazon.com: Books
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Today’s Music to keep me IiiInnNnnsSsAaaaaNnnNEe – Buffalo Springfield – Broken Arrow
The Neil Young/Jack Nitzsche opus masterpiece – a six-minute musical journey through hopelessness, emptiness and genocide.