(Rock) Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere - 1969, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

After Neil Young left the Californian folk-rock band Buffalo Springfield in 1968, he slowly established himself as one of the most influential and idiosyncratic singer/songwriters of his generation. Young's body of work ranks second only to Bob Dylan in terms of depth, and he was able to sustain his critical reputation, as well as record sales, for a longer period of time than Dylan, partially because of his willfully perverse work ethic. From the beginning of his solo career in the late '60s until the late '90s, he never stopped writing, recording, and performing; his official catalog only represented a portion of his work, since he kept countless tapes of unreleased songs in his vaults. Just as importantly, Young continually explored new musical territory, from rockabilly and the blues to electronic music. But these stylistic exercises only gained depth when compared to his two primary styles: gentle folk and country-rock, and crushingly loud electric guitar rock, which he frequently recorded with the Californian garage band Crazy Horse. Throughout his career, Young alternated between these two extremes, and both proved equally influential; there were just as many singer/songwriters as there were grunge and country-rock bands claiming to be influenced by Neil Young. Despite his enormous catalog and influence, Young continued to move forward, writing new songs and exploring new music. That restless spirit ensured that he was one of the few rock veterans as vital in his old age as he was in his youth. Born in Toronto, Canada, Neil Young moved to Winnipeg with his mother following her divorce from his sports-journalist father. Young began playing music in high school. Not only did he play in garage rock outfits like the Esquires, but he also played in local folk clubs and coffeehouses, where he eventually met Joni Mitchell and Stephen Stills. During the mid-'60s, he returned to Toronto, where he played as a solo folk act. By 1966, he joined the Mynah Birds, which also featured bassist Bruce Palmer and Rick James. The group recorded a couple of singles for Motown that were ignored. Frustrated by his lack of success, Young moved to Los Angeles in his Pontiac hearse, taking Palmer along as support. Shortly after they arrived in L.A., they happened to meet Stills, and they formed Buffalo Springfield, who quickly became one of the leaders of the Californian folk-rock scene. Despite the success of Buffalo Springfield, the group was plagued with tension, and Young quit the band several times before finally leaving to become a solo artist in May of 1968.

Hiring Elliot Roberts as his manager, Young signed with Reprise Records and released his eponymous debut album in early 1969. By the time the album was released, he had begun playing with a local band called the Rockets, which featured guitarist Danny Whitten, bassist Billy Talbot, and drummer Ralph Molina. Young renamed the group Crazy Horse and had them support him on his second album, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, which was recorded in just two weeks. Featuring such Young staples as "Cinnamon Girl" and "Down by the River," the album went gold. Following the completion of the record, he began jamming with Crosby, Stills & Nash, eventually joining the group for their spring 1970 album, Déjà Vu. Although he was now part of Crosby, Stills & Nash, Young continued to record as a solo artist, releasing After the Gold Rush at the end of the year. After the Gold Rush, with its accompanying single "Only Love Can Break Your Heart," established Young as a solo star, and fame only increased through his association with CSNY. Although Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were a very successful act, they were also volatile, and they had split by the spring 1971 release of the live Four Way Street. The following year, Young had his first number one album with the mellow country-rock of Harvest, which also featured his first (and only) number one single, "Heart of Gold." Instead of embracing his success, he spurned it, following it with the noisy, bleak live film Journey Through the Past. Both the movie and the soundtrack received terrible reviews, as did the live album Time Fades Away, a record recorded with the Stray Gators that was released in 1973. Both Journey Through the Past and Time Fades Away signaled that Young was entering a dark period in his life, but they only scratched the surface of his anguish. Inspired by the overdose deaths of Danny Whitten in 1972 and his roadie Bruce Berry the following year, Young wrote and recorded the bleak, druggy Tonight's the Night late in 1973, but declined to release it at the time. Instead, he released On the Beach, which was nearly as harrowing, in 1974; Tonight's the Night finally appeared in the spring of 1975. By the time of its release, Young had recovered, as indicated by the record's hard-rocking follow-up, Zuma, an album recorded with Crazy Horse and released later that year. Young's focus began to wander in 1976, as he recorded the duet album Long May You Run with Stephen Stills and then abandoned his partner midway through the supporting tour. The following year he recorded the country-rock-oriented American Stars 'n Bars, which featured vocals by Nicolette Larson, who was also prominent on 1978's Comes a Time. Prior to the release of Comes a Time, Young scrapped the country-rock album Homegrown and assembled the triple-album retrospective Decade. At the end of 1978, he embarked on an arena tour called Rust Never Sleeps, which was designed as a showcase for new songs. Half of the concert featured Young solo, the other half featured him with Crazy Horse. That was the pattern that Rust Never Sleeps, released in the summer of 1979, followed. The record was hailed as a comeback, proving that Young was one of the few rock veterans who attacked punk rock head-on. That fall he released the double album Live Rust and the live movie Rust Never Sleeps. Rust Never Sleeps restored Young to his past glory, but he perversely decided to trash his goodwill in 1980 with Hawks & Doves, a collection of acoustic songs that bore the influence of conservative, right-wing politics. In 1981, Young released the heavy rock album Re*ac*tor, which received poor reviews. Following its release, he left Reprise for the fledgling Geffen Records, where he was promised lots of money and artistic freedom. Young decided to push his Geffen contract to the limit, releasing the electronic Trans, where his voice was recorded through a computerized vocoder, later that year. The album and its accompanying, technology-dependent tour were received with bewildered, negative reviews. The rockabilly of Everybody's Rockin' (1983) was equally scorned, and Young soon settled into a cult audience for the mid-'80s. Over the course of the mid-'80s, Young released three albums that were all stylistic exercises. In 1985, he released the straight country Old Ways, which was followed by the new wave-tinged Landing on Water the following year. He returned to Crazy Horse for 1987's Life, but by that time, he and Geffen had grown sick of each other, and he returned to Reprise in 1988. His first album for Reprise was the bluesy, horn-driven This Note's for You, which was supported by an acclaimed video that satirized rock stars endorsing commercial products. At the end of the year, he recorded a reunion album with Crosby, Stills & Nash called American Dream, which was greeted with savagely negative reviews. American Dream didn't prepare any observer for the critical and commercial success of 1989's Freedom, which found Young following the half-acoustic/half-electric blueprint of Rust Never Sleeps to fine results. Around the time of its release, Young became a hip name to drop in indie rock circles, and he was the subject of a tribute record titled The Bridge in 1989. The following year, Young reunited with Crazy Horse for Ragged Glory, a loud, feedback-drenched album that received his strongest reviews since the '70s. For the supporting tour, Young hired the avant rock band Sonic Youth as his opening group, providing them with needed exposure while earning him hip credibility within alternative rock scenes. On the advice of Sonic Youth, Young added the noise collage EP Arc as a bonus to his 1991 live album, Weld.

Weld and the Sonic Youth tour helped position Neil Young as an alternative and grunge rock forefather, but he decided to abandon loud music for its 1992 follow-up, Harvest Moon. An explicit sequel to his 1972 breakthrough, Harvest Moon became Young's biggest hit in years, and he supported the record with an appearance on MTV Unplugged, which was released the following year as an album. Also in 1993, Geffen released the rarities collection Lucky Thirteen. The following year, he released Sleeps with Angels, which was hailed as a masterpiece in some quarters. Following its release, Young began jamming with Pearl Jam, eventually recording an album with the Seattle band in early 1995. The resulting record, Mirror Ball, was released to positive reviews in the summer of 1995, but it wasn't the commercial blockbuster it was expected to be; due to legal reasons, Pearl Jam's name was not allowed to be featured on the cover. In the summer of 1996, he reunited with Crazy Horse for Broken Arrow and supported it with a brief tour. That tour was documented in Jim Jarmusch's 1997 film The Year of the Horse, which was accompanied by a double-disc live album. In 1999, Young reunited with Crosby, Stills & Nash for the first time in a decade, supporting their Looking Forward LP with the supergroup's first tour in a quarter century. A new solo effort, Silver & Gold, followed in the spring of 2000. In recognition of his 2000 summer tour, Young released the live album Road Rock, Vol. 1 the following fall, showcasing a two-night account of Young's performance at the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, CO, in September 2000. A DVD version titled Red Rocks Live was issued that December, including 12 tracks initially unavailable on Road Rock, Vol. 1. His next studio project was his most ambitious yet, a concept album about small-town life titled Greendale that he also mounted as a live dramatic tour and indie film. In early 2005, Young was diagnosed with a potentially deadly brain aneurysm. Undergoing treatment didn't slow him down, however, as he continued to write and record his next project. The acoustically based Prairie Wind appeared in the fall, with the concert film Heart of Gold, based around the album and directed by Jonathan Demme, released the following year. 2006 also saw the release of the controversial CD/DVD Living with War, a collection of protest songs against the war in Iraq that featured titles such as "Let's Impeach the President," "Shock and Awe," and "Lookin' for a Leader." Restless, prolific, and increasingly self-referential, Young issued Chrome Dreams II late in 2007. - By Stephen Thomas Erlewine.

#1: Neil Young's second solo album, released only four months after his first, was nearly a total rejection of that polished effort. Though a couple of songs, "Round Round (It Won't Be Long)" and "The Losing End (When You're On)," shared that album's country-folk style, they were altogether livelier and more assured. The difference was that, while Neil Young was a solo effort, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere marked the beginning of Young's recording association with Crazy Horse, the trio of Danny Whitten (guitar), Ralph Molina (drums), and Billy Talbot (bass) that Young had drawn from the struggling local Los Angeles group the Rockets. With them, Young quickly cut a set of loose, guitar-heavy rock songs — "Cinnamon Girl," "Down by the River," and "Cowgirl in the Sand" — that redefined him as a rock & roll artist. The songs were deliberately underwritten and sketchy as compositions, their lyrics more suggestive than complete, but that made them useful as frames on which to hang the extended improvisations ("River" and "Cowgirl" were each in the nine-to-ten-minute range) Young played with Crazy Horse and to reflect the ominous tone of his singing. Young lowered his voice from the near-falsetto employed on his debut to a more expressive range, and he sang with greater confidence, accompanied by Whitten and, on "Round Round," by Robin Lane. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere was breathtakingly different when it appeared in May 1969, both for Young and for rock in general, and it reversed his commercial fortunes, becoming a moderate hit. (Young's joining Crosby, Stills & Nash the month after its release didn't hurt his profile, of course.) A year and a half after its release, it became a gold album, and it has since gone platinum. And it set a musical pattern Young and his many musical descendants have followed ever since; almost 30 years later, he was still playing this sort of music with Crazy Horse, and a lot of contemporary bands were playing music clearly influenced by it. - By William Ruhlmann, AMG.

#2: Opening with the methodical, hard-rocking "Cinnamon Girl"--still one of the singer-songwriter's most-hollered requests in concert--Young's second solo album introduces the cockeyed harmonies and sloppy, chiming guitars of Crazy Horse. His wide swings from soft-spoken country-folk ("Round & Round [It Won't Be Long]") to menacing metal (the punch line to "Down by the River" is "I shot my baby") indicate the multiple personalities in Young's future. His second album of 1969 broadcasts a sincere passion for the peace-and-love '60s (dig the long guitar solos) but also predicts the dark introspection of "Tonight's the Night." - By Steve Knopper, Amazon Product Description:

#3:The opening song is one of the top twenty-five singles ever written in over 45 years of rock: "The drummer relaxes and waits between shows for ... his Cinnamon Girl. A dreamer of pictures, a run in the night, You see us together chasing the moonlight, my cinnamon girl..." and, later: "Somehow I need another chance, I see your baby loves to dance... yeah, yeah, yeah..." followed by a guitar solo, that any fan of that period could recite note for note (although with Neil Young, that's not always too difficult, it's the intensity, precision, and minimalist power that one appreciates). An awesome combination of power guitar and sentimentality, fuzz and rock-country (with an emphasis on the rock), this was one of my first albums, and remains one of my favorites. The vinyl is great, of course, but I'm enjoying the CD as much (although you don't get as big a picture of the cover dog... one of the great dogs of rock covers!). I remember thinking "Round and Round (It Won't Be Long)" was too slow, but today it sounds very rich, revealing a quiet poignancy, and some of Neil's best straight-ahead singing. "The Losing End" is the most country-inflected song here, yet I still like its kickback sound and the blues-like lyrics. Play this for someone who likes the overrated slick sound of the Eagles; Neil is closer to the roots, and his biting guitar is incomparable. (This is probably unfair, as I basically could never stand the Eagles, but Young does "country-rock" better than most. Of course, this shouldn't be too surprising, considering his stint with Buffalo Springfield. "Down by the River" and the quintessentially-Young "Cowgirl in the Sand" remain deeply satisfying; it's unlikely you'll hear them on today's FM stations because of their length and age (and maybe for their slight misogyny, though that pales compared to Eminem et al.'s anti-women lyrics). Again, the songs are strung with Neil's trademark strong, repetitive licks, with nice over-dubbing, laid over an assertive bass line and surprisingly melodic compositions. This is also great garage music for aspiring guitarists, you can sound as terrible as you want and, most likely, it'll still sound acceptable. This album transcends time and musical fashion. Play it loud; play it often. - By M. Allen Greenbaum, Amazon.

#4: While sniffing around in the wine cellar, I looked into my considerable archive of music and this one, inexplicably, shuffled it's way off the shelf into my bony hands. Some people say that it's Universal Force and Enlightenment that did it. I suspect Guido from the empty bottles. In any event- it is an excellent choice. What can one say about this album? Neil Young expanded beyond Buffalo Springfield with this one and, I think, came into his own as a considerable artist in his own right. With Crazy Horse, he examined and extended his creativity with pastoral landscapes, jagged-edged cliffs, outerworldly musings, and just plain country meets city sensibility. Not that it always makes sense, but that people is the magic of music. Interpretation is up to you, not the artist. Even now, I am awed by the consistency Neil displays so early in his solo career. We are never relaxed, for one moment, that the sequence of songs will resemble sameness in any shape or form. It begins with "Cinnamon Girl" which, in some way, reveals the dilemma that many young people have a problem with. That is the in-between phase of being a child and adult. He wants to spend his life with her, but then again, "Ma, send me money". The need to be free but not quite there yet. This theme reveals itself in many of his tunes. It is a slow rocker but with such a memorable riff. Next up "Everybody Knows", a jumpy, sprightly groove that, again, reveals where he's at - between a dream and reality- essentially nowhere. "Round and Round" is a slow acoustic sadness that, I feel at least, is about loss. A loss of yourself? Or perhaps someone close. "Down By the River", aside from allowing Neil to stretch his jagged lead guitar, proposes another dilemma for the astute listener. The protagonist is lead to possibilities with this woman - but is her non-compliance a reason to shoot her? Down by the River? An enigmatic song at best and I dare not ask Neil the meaning. We then get to "The Losing End" which reveals an easy-going country groove with some electric guitars helping it along. The theme? Good ol' country heartache. A mainstay in that genre - now and always. The mood then changes, into some outerworldly, ethereal regret and deception. This song reveals a darkness of the mind, and this is brought forth so effectively with the inclusion of violins. An eerie offering, but so very different. "Cowgirl in the Sand", I think, is one of Neil's most potent songs. It can be taken on many levels. It is hard drivin' (but, it takes on a whole new perspective if you heard him do the acoustic version). Neil pleads with her to stay in her company. But, her place of command is the desert. Desolation. And, this song tries, desperately, to make her see her worth. Neil knows she is a beauty. She feels she is "purple words on a gray background". I feel that this song is an aching plea. It also allows Neil to experiment with lead guitar breaks, gritty and rough and insistent on it's purpose. In all, a brilliant conclusion to a brilliant album. This album (plus the next two- After the Gold Rush and Harvest) complete the superb triumvirate of Neil's early career. As we know now, he was to go on to more creative terrain. Some of it successful, some of it not so. In any event, plain and simple, he is an amazing artist and, I think, one of the greats in popular music. This one is definitely a classic and well worth the investment. Now - if only Guido would replenish my bottles! Your personal roadmap to reflection and music of worth - By Metamorpho "reflective seer" (Budd Lake, N.J.)

EAC extraction logfile from 15. March 2008, 20:51 for CD
Neil Young With Crazy Horse / Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

Used drive : SONY DVD RW DRU-510A Adapter: 2 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure with NO C2, accurate stream, disable cache
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128 kBit/s
Additional command line options : -8 -V -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" -T "comment=High Quality, EAC secure, Lossless flac " %s

Other options :
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Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
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Track 1
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