Neil Young and Crazy Horse Unveil Their 'Early Daze' on New Archival LP

Shortly after After Buffalo Springfield broke up in 1968, Neil Young teamed up with the core members of struggling LA rock band the Rockets, renamed them Crazy Horse, and spent the next five decades working with them. Their first record was in 1969 Everyone knows this is nowherewith classics like 'Down By The River' and 'Cowgirl In The Sand'.

But their early recordings produced much more music than the seven songs on Everybody Knows This is Nowhereand Young finally shares that music on June 28 with his release Early Daze. The ten-track archival collection features alternate versions of 'Cinnamon Girl', 'Birds', 'Down By The River' and 'Wonderin'. See an alternate version of After the gold rush outtake “Everybody's Alone.”

There is also an unreleased version of “Helpless” that has never been heard by the public. Young originally cut the song with Crazy Horse before reworking it with CSNY for Deja Vu. Crazy Horse's lost version has acquired near-mythic status in Young fan circles over the decades, and it's finally out.

Crazy Horse's original lineup included drummer Ralph Molina, bassist Billy Talbot, guitarist Danny Whitten, and keyboardist Jack Nitzsche. They parted ways with Nitzsche in the early 1970s, soon after their legendary stand at New York's Fillmore. And Whitten died of a drug overdose in November 1972, inspiring “The Needle and the Damage Done.”

Whitten was replaced by guitarist Frank “Poncho” Sampedro in 1975 and remained with the band until his retirement in 2018. He was replaced by Nils Lofgren, who briefly worked with Crazy Horse in 1971 when they cut an LP without Young.

Neil Young and Crazy Horse are in the middle of a US tour right now, but Lofgren was unable to join due to his commitments with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Micah Nelson greets him. Molina and Talbot remain with the team even though they are both now octogenarians. He has been with the team ever since Early Daze in 1968, and will probably be there until the end.

Here is the track list for Neil Young and Crazy Horse's Early Daze.

1st side:
1. Dance Dance Dance (Included on Neil Young – Archives Vol. I.)
2. Come on baby Let's go downtown (Unreleased version)
3. Winterlong (Unreleased version)
4. Everybody's Alone (Different mix included on Archives Vol. I)
5. I wonder (Unreleased version)

Second side:
1. Cinnamon Girl (Original 7″ Mono mix. Released April 20, 1970. Includes guitar outro not on LP version.)
2. Look at all things (Unreleased version)
3. Helpless (Unreleased version)
4. Birds (Unreleased Stereo Mix). Mono mix released as B-side to “Only Love Can Break Your Heart”)
5. Down By The River (Unreleased version with alternate vocals)