The most original and enigmatic talent among the singer-songwriter fraternity who emerged in the late-60s, even before the following decade closed Neil Young was being acclaimed as the single most influential figure of 70s rock.
Having his name against three era-defining albums, ‘After the Gold Rush‘ (1970), ‘On The Beach’ (1974) and ‘Tonight’s the Night’ (1975) – four if including ‘Deja Vu’ (1970) by supergroup Crosby, Stills Nash & Young of whom he was an erstwhile member – Canadian guitarist Young wrote and played in an uncompromising manner that made no concessions to commercial appeal. Yet the sometimes contradictory aspects of his career were underlined by enormous worldwide sales of ‘Gold Rush‘ and its successor ‘Harvest’ (1972).
Delivering his words in a quivering vocal style ideal for his stark, often sombre material, lyrically Young could be concise, oblique, self-searching or politically perceptive. After making some vivid, if unflattering observations on mid-decade America throughout ‘On The Beach‘ he followed it the following year by exploring a dark, personal wasteland on ‘Tonight’s the Night‘ – an intense, gripping collection inspired by the drug related deaths of Danny Whitten, guitarist in the Crazy Horse ensemble with whom Young toured and recorded, along with that of Bruce Berry, a member of their road crew.
During the three years that followed ‘Tonight’s the Night‘ Young remained suitably unpredictable. In 1976 speculation that a CSNY realignment was imminent, turned into a reunion, some would say regression, with long-time acolyte Stills (the two having been in seminal mid-60s LA folk rockers Buffalo Springfield together).
As a duo and calling themselves the Stills-Young Band, they released an album entitled ‘Long May You Run‘ that was memorable for the Young-penned title track, although not a great deal else.
He had also been busy tying up loose ends with the triple album anthology ‘Decade‘ that would set the standard for such collections thereafter. Containing thirty five tracks from the first ten years of his career, it emphasized his credentials as a towering presence in the rock medium, each song was presented with wry, handwritten comments from the writer.
Between his fitful sortie with Stills and the extravagant greatest-hits and more package (it was the first to include outtakes and alternative mixes), had come ‘American Stars ‘n’ Bars‘ (May 1977). Noted critic Paul Nelson described it as ‘hodgepodge‘ primarily due to one side being a recently recorded batch of country-flavoured material, while the other was four tracks taken from various recording sessions of the the past three years. One of these, ‘Like A Hurricane,’ was an eight minute spectacular of searing electric guitar work that quickly became one of his most lauded songs.
Yet no sooner had the album appeared then Young was embarking on another change of direction, deciding the next studio record, his ninth, would be an entirely solo affair featuring just him and an acoustic guitar. Decamping to a studio in Florida with the batch of songs intended for the LP, on playing what he envisaged was the finished article to Reprise label executive Mo Ostin came forth the suggestion of adding a rhythm section and backing vocals.
Renowned for single mindedness that bordered on willful, Young surprisingly agreed – yet rather than return to Triad Studios in Fort Lauderdale, headed to Nashville where he added the sublime harmonies of Nicolette Larson and an orchestra to what had already been recorded. With assistance from a group of stalwart players, the material transformed into ‘COMES A TIME‘ (October 1978) – his most accessible and commercially successful release since ‘Harvest.’
With regard to this particular artist it is often hard to fathom whether he is being startingly innovative or willfully perverse (the preceding years had brought evidence of both). For one so averse to overdubbing in favour of capturing the moment, Young set about grafting a string section onto his demos. To flesh out the songs further, inadvertently in some cases, were brought in such notable players as drummer Karl Himmel, whose previous credits included sessions with J.J. Cale and Leon Russell, guitarist Cale himself, keyboard maestro Spooner Oldham, Tim Drummond, bass player on the 1974 CSNY stadium tour, famed bassist Joe Osborne from legendary LA sessioneers the Wrecking Crew – and just to give things an extra twist he recorded two tracks with longtime sidemen Crazy Horse.
The free-spirited way Young liked to work was evident in the way guitar players took to arriving at the Nashville studio. His co-producer, Crazy Horse pedal steel virtuoso Ben Keith, hired a number of rhythm guitarists, while drummer Kimmel also put word out for some, without apparently, informing one another. With a plethora of guitar pickers sitting around awaiting instruction, when Keith asked Young to decide who he wanted, his reply was ‘we’ll use ’em all’ – eight of whom are credited on the rear sleeve.
But apart from Young the one constant is Larson, whose soulful, expressive voice adds depth to his plaintive tenor. Montana-born Larson who was twenty six at the time, (she and Young had a brief affair while recording the album, although it ended soon after), makes her presence felt on opening track ‘Goin’ Back’ and is rarely absent thereafter.
Not to be confused with the 1960s song of the same name that had been a hit for The Byrds and Dusty Springfield, with its reflective lyric it did have similarities with the superb Gerry Goffin-Carole King composition of a dozen years before. Both songs express in wistful terms, regret for days passed, time to have slipped by barely noticed.
The stop-start lone acoustic guitar accompaniment through the first verse is the track in its original form, but by the second Larson and the string section assist Young in his poignant contemplations:
‘I feel like goin’ back/Back where there’s nowhere to stay/When fire filled the sky/I still remember that day/
These rocks I’m climbing down/Have already left the ground/Careening through space.‘
Already the themes that will pervade much of what follows are in evidence, Young coming to terms with the failure of previous relationships, particularly that with actress Carrie Snodgrass who bore him a son, Zeke, in 1972. But amongst the woe there is hard won wisdom, indeed, by the third verse comes acceptance life goes on no matter how painful the parting:
‘I used to build these buildings/I used to walk next to you/Their shadows tore us apart/Now we do what we do.‘
The folk-rock overtones of ‘Goin’ Back‘ are accentuated by the violin that opens the equally resonant title track, Young using the chorus to voice his philosophical outlook:
‘This old old world keeps spinnin’ round/It’s a wonder tall trees ain’t layin’ down/Comes a time.’
Even when looking back on disappointment he manages to retain perspective, the breezy string arrangement adding to the sense of learning from experience:
‘You and I we were captured/We took our souls and we flew away/We were right/We were giving/That’s how we kept what we gave away.’
The first of two (successive) tracks to be cut with Crazy Horse, ‘Look Out for My Love‘ is edgy and foreboding, the low-key atmosphere reminiscent of his turn of the decade tone, Young setting a scene of personal confusion over terse, acoustic guitar work:
‘There’s a lot to learn/For wastin’ time/There’s a heart that burns/There’s an open mind.’
With the contributions of Raplh Molina (drums), Billy Talbot (bass) and Frank ‘Poncho’ Sampedro (piano) kept to a minimum, Crazy Horse are on a tight rein, their most significant contributions being the chorus background vocals. After three verses Young sounds no nearer to finding resolution and while the melody on reaching the bridge is less taut, answers remain illusive (‘Look out for my love/It’s in your neighborhood/I know things are gonna change/But I can’t say bad or good‘).
Eighteen years later Young would revisit the song, extending it to include some memorable acoustic guitar interplay with former Crazy Horse compadre Nils Lofgren, thus creating a stand out moment of the 1993 ‘Unplugged’ set.
With her own version of the song, transforming it into a pop/soul affair giving the Pointer Sisters a run for their money, in 1979 Larson took ‘Lotta Love‘ high into the US Singles Charts. The rendition offered here has less pizzazz but more poignancy, the composer delivering it alone, (apart from more understated backing from Crazy Horse), Young and his cohorts sounding like a gritty version of Fleetwood Mac as he explores the complexities of romantic entanglement:
‘So, if you look in my direction/And we don’t see eye to eye/My heart needs protection/And so do I.’
Side one closes with the tender country ballad, ‘Peace of Mind,’ Larson returning to make this mournful piece even more affecting, the notion offered in the title a feeling Young is unable to embrace. The air of sadness is infused with melancholic steel guitar and slow drum rolls, the choices that have been made causing regret and resignation:
‘You love her so and still you know/That you will never want to let her go/Unless you leave her first/
Then you come out on top/But still there’s just one thing/You haven’t got.’
The intended title-track of a proposed CSNY album to coincide with their ‘resumption’ tour of 1974, on reviving ‘Human Highway’ to open side two, Young gives the song country inflections by strumming a banjo (along with an acoustic guitar), while Keith does his usual fine work on pedal streel. Originating from 1973, a year when Young saw his critical stock go into decline due to a series of erratic concert performances, an incomprehensible career documentary and perplexing live album, the refrain of ‘Now my name is on the line/How could people get so unkind?‘ sounds a response to the first bad reviews of his career.
Young also delves into his recent past for the country-honed melody to ‘Already One’, the tune veering very close at times to that of ‘Long May You Run.’ Where previously he had used the structure to lament a girlfriend and car now consigned to the past, now Young sings touchingly of a fractured relationship, but one (presumably his own), where a child is involved.
There is no trace of bitterness in the words, that have been criticised for being mawkish, yet that is to overlook the gentle simplicity used in depicting a testing but not hopeless situation.
‘Your laughing eyes, your crazy smile/Every time I look in his face/I can’t believe how love lasts a while/
And looks like “forever” in the first place.’
Indeed, if there is a suggestion of Young being unusually sentimental, it is dispelled in the final verse as he embraces the responsibility of being a father while at the same time accepting as parents they are on separate paths, (‘In my new life I’m travelin’ light/Eyes wide open for the next move/I can’t go wrong till I get right/But I’m not fallin’ back in the same groove’).
Starting in similar hoedown vein to the title song, the jaunty fiddle playing of Rufus Thibodeaux ushers in ‘Field of Opportunity‘ – a song that evokes finding love further down the road:
‘I’ve been wrong before/And I’ll be there again/I don’t have any answers my friend/Just this pile of old questions/My memory left me here/In the field of opportunity/It’s plowing time again.’
The mesh of acoustic guitars, fiddle and pedal steel take this agreeable square dance performance far closer to country than rock, Young seemingly taking huge delight in giving each line a twang no less countrified than the instrumentation.
There is a sudden change of pace with ‘Motorcycle Mama‘ a funky country-blues work out that sees Young share vocal duties with Larson, who belts out one verse on her own while shadowing him admirably through the rest. The country ambience is maintained by an intermittent violin, although most prominent is a strident electric guitar and Larson’s throaty roar, a combination of which lift it from throwaway rocker to fiery, four minute rave-up that does not outstay its welcome.
Young brings this appealing album to a close with a rare cover version, the concept of moving on, regrets notwithstanding, continued in the lines of ‘Four Strong Winds‘ by Ian Tyson, a song familiar to him since playing folk clubs in early-60s Toronto:
‘Four strong winds that blow lonely/Seven seas that run high/All those things that don’t change, come what may/If the good times are all gone/Then I’m bound for movin’ on/I’ll look for you if I’m ever back this way.’
Above the ringing out of half a dozen acoustic guitars, Young and Larson give their interpretation great warmth and resonance, differing assessments of the track from those close to it no doubt welcomed by the artist himself. Larson later declared, ‘my entrance of ‘Four Strong Winds’ is all over the map – but Neil wouldn’t let you try it twice,’ although when he recalled the session co-producer Keith remarked, ‘she tracked him perfectly, she’s the best harmony singer I ever ever heard.’
The first assessment is barely noticeable, the second much more obvious.
Released to mainly positive reviews, the personable nature of the music was reflected in sales that secured a top ten placing on the US album charts and even before 1978 was out ‘Comes A Time‘ had outsold all six albums he had made since ‘Harvest‘.
But applying the same ambivalence to acclaim from the music press as he did to their antipathy, his maverick approach to creativity resulted in a follow-up album being recorded then scrapped, a couple of songs finding their way onto the next record, (several left in the archives until release of the lost ‘Homegrown‘ record that finally saw the light of day in 2020). Young went on the road first as a soloist, then with Crazy Horse, while all the time immersing himself in punk rock that would manifest in his extraordinary 1979 set ‘Rust Never Sleeps.’
Already ‘Comes A Time‘ was in his rear view mirror, the album cover showing Young with a smile looking out at his audience as if personifying the happiest record he had ever made.
Captured in a brief, unguarded moment, it was already time for Neil Young to move on.
NEIL YOUNG – COMES A TIME (Released October 21 1978):
Goin’ Back/Comes A Time/Look Out For my Love/Lotta Love/Peace of Mind/Human Highway/Already One/Field of Opportunity/Motorcycle Mama/Four Strong Winds;
AUTHORS NOTE: This article is respectfully dedicated to the memory of Nicolette Larson, who at 45 passed away much too soon in December 1997 and David Crosby, guitarist, singer, songwriter, idealist and by his own admission ‘the world’s most opiniated man.’ Rock music has been – and will be – diminished without them.
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NEIL SAMBROOK is the author of ‘MONTY’S DOUBLE‘ – an acclaimed thriller now available in paperback and as Amazon Kindle book.