Track Listing

1. Cinnamon Girl - Crazy Horse, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Neil Young & Crazy Horse
2. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
3. Round & Round (It Won't Be Long) - Robin Lane, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4. Down by the River
5. Losing End (When You're On)
6. Running Dry (Requiem for the Rockets) - Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Bobby Notkoff, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Neil Young & Crazy Horse
7. Cowgirl in the Sand

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #41727 in Music
• Released on: 1990-10-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds

Amazon.com
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." --Steve Knopper

Customer Reviews

Birth Of Grunge
After the confused reaction to NEIL YOUNG,the ex- Buffalo Springfielder decider to use a bar band called the Rockets as the backup band on his next album;renaming them Crazy Horse.The result of their collaboration,EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS IS NOWHERE,is a perfect blend of folk and crunching guitar rock.DOWN BY THE RIVER,COWGIRL IN THE SAND, CINNAMON GIRL and the title track showcased what a underrated guitarist Young is,and the promising new talent Danny Whitten.Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina proved to be a formidable musical backbone. This was the true birth of grunge;Young wore flannel shirts and torn jeans,and played hard long before Seattle made it fashionable.The song RUNNING DRY is another in a long line Young's "sad songs" - made even sadder by Bobby Notkoff's violin playing.EVERY KNOWS THIS IS NOWHERE is the first Neil Young classic album . . .of which there would be many more.

The Original Neil Young & Crazy Horse Masterpiece!
This is the original "head-banger" wall of sound Neil Young and Crazy Horse leveled at the world after Young fled from the break-up of Buffalo-Springfield. There are few acts that can match the sheer power and energy of Neil and Crazy Horse's Danny Whitten matching frets and licks on their electric guitars, except perhaps Neil and his other friend//sometimes partner Stephen Stills. Most of what made Neil so famous from that point on is here, from "Cinnamon Girl" to "Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere" to "Down By the River" to "The Losing End". My personal favorite is ""Cowgirl In The Sand', and I loved Neil's comment about how much trouble those lyrics got him into with his ladylove who didn't believe it was all just a fantasy, looking for whoever it was that had mused him to such winsome words and music. Neil Young is always quite a ride, and here he shows the world just why he has been so popular and successful for the last thirty years. Enjoy!

An All-Time Great
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.