Crazy Horse - Crazy Horse (1971)

Crazy Horse is an American rock band best known for its association with Neil Young, who they have backed on numberous albums and tours since 1969.

Crazy Horse's origins can be traced back to a band called The Rockets, who released one album in 1968. It did not sell well, but did earn them the attention of Neil Young, who then took guitarist Danny Whitten, bassist Billy Talbot and drummer Ralph Molina and recorded his album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, renaming them Crazy Horse.
All three members were involved in the recording of Young's 1970 album After The Gold Rush. They appeared as Crazy Horse on three of the album's songs, and independently were featured here and there alongside the other musicians playing with Young. This was where they met producer/pianist Jack Nitzsche and guitarist Nils Lofgren. Nitzsche joined them to back Young on a 1970 tour, and they then expanded into a quintet with Lofgren, getting themselves a contract with Reprise records.
Their self-titled album came out in early 1971. Stylistically it ranged broadly across the rock pallete, featuring both country-tinged numbers and heavy rockers, all unified by the band's characteristic stomp. The core trio of Whitten, Talbot and Molina were never the most dazzling instrumentalists, but could sure lay down a steady rhythm together, and Nitzsche and Lofgren complemented this with some instrumental flash. Also appearing on three songs is slide guitarist Ry Cooder, and fiddler Gib Guilbeau plays on one number. The songwriting is shared throughout by Whitten, Nitzsche and Lofgren, alongside "Dance Dance Dance", a Neil Young number he had been playing in concert at the time but would never record himself (though he used the same melody for "Love Is A Rose" six years later). Though Molina, Nitzsche and Lofgren all sing lead vocals on one song each, the star of the show is undoubtedly Whitten, who acts as lead singer for most of the album. Its clear from this album that when they weren't in the shadow of Neil Young, Whitten was perfectly capable of leading the band himself. Sadly this potential was never fully realised, as Whitten's life was beginning to be taken over by drugs. He was kicked out of the band, and was dead by November 1972.

|> Loose (1972)
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