Two notably prolific acts this week. Neil Young’s back with his 47th studio album, an archival project recorded in 1969. Sault have their 13th release, dating back to 2019’s 5.
Neil Young and Crazy Horse
Early Daze
2024, 8.5/10
Neil Young has embarked on an extensive programme of archive releases in the 21st century. I haven’t kept up with everything – the 10-disc Archives sets feel too much for my omnivorous music appetitive. But I enjoyed the 2020 release of Homegrown, a shelved 1975 album.
Early Daze isn’t a shelved album but a collection of Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s recordings from 1969 – the same year their debut Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere was released. It’s Young’s golden era when songs were pouring out of him.
Two songs are repeated from Everybody Knows – the single cut of ‘Cinnamon GIrl’ and a version of ‘Down by the River’ with different vocals. Some of the other ten tracks popped up on other Neil Young projects – ‘Helpless’ with CSNY and ‘Birds’ on After the Gold Rush. ‘Winterlong’ didn’t appear until a different version on 1977’s Decade, while ‘Wonderin” was first released on 1984’s Everybody’s Rockin’. Other songs appeared in various archival releases, but six of these tracks are previously unreleased versions.
Early Daze is a ten-track hypothetical album that Neil Young and Crazy Horse could have released in late 1969. There’s more focus on original Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten, who writes and fronts two songs, ‘Look At All The Things’ and ‘Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown’. The latter appears in a different version on 1975’s Tonight’s the Night as a tribute to Whitten, who passed away from a heroin overdose in 1972.
Crazy Daze is probably most interesting to a moderately committed Young fan. A hardcore fan would have heard most of these songs already, while a newbie would be advised to check out Decade and studio highlights first. But it’s great to have a Crazy Horse version of ‘Helpless’, and I’d never heard ‘Everybody’s Alone’ or Whitten’s ‘Look At All the Things’ before.
Early Daze overlaps with other Young releases, but it hangs together well as a reconstructed album.
Sault
Acts of Faith
2024, 7.5/10
London conglomerate Sault have been prolific since their debut in 2019. But after seven releases in 2022, they took a year off in 2023, albeit with two Cleo Sol solo records. They’re back in 2024 with a single-song release, Acts of Faith. The song was first played in a one-off show in December 2023.
At thirty-two minutes long, it dips into the R&B and gospel flavours of their previous releases. It feels fuller than the taut minimalism of previous Sault projects, with the stacked vocals and strings providing more musical layers. Despite being packaged together as a single song, there are distinct breaks.
The record’s first half is more mellow and gospel-focused, dominated by keyboards and vocals. The second half has more guitar and bass grooves. Inflo’s proficiency as a drummer is more pronounced here than on previous Sault releases.
It’s hard to keep track of Sault’s quickly expanding catalogue. But Acts of Faith successfully offers a fresh spin on their sound.
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Thank you for this!
Most people would order the greatest Canadian bands in this way:
1. The Tragically Hip
2. The Band
3. Rush
4. The Guess Who
5. Crazy Horse
6. New Pornographers
7. Metric
8. The Arcade Fire
9. Sloane
10. BTO
11. Steppenwolf
12. Barenaked Ladies
13. Blue Rodeo
14. April Wine
15. The Matthew Good Band
16. Japandroids
But I am open to other suggestions from music fans!
Most people is a big call. I don’t really know Metric or April Wine – should I?
Thanks for including “Early Daze.” After realizing most of the tracks had previously been released , though in different versions, I didn’t pay much attention when the album came out and then kind of forgot about it. – perhaps a bit of a shocker, given I generally love Neil Young and have covered some of his archive releases. The man definitely is on a mission to release material from his vault. At 78, perhaps he feels time is starting to run short.
Sault are completely new to me. I’ve been listening to “Acts of Faith.” It’s kind of intriguing. The prospect of getting through a 38-minute track is a bit daunting though.
1969-1970 is my favourite Neil Young period. It’s a slightly weird release since it duplicates Cinnamon Girl and Down by the River, but I don’t mind as they’re two of my Neil faves.
It’s also about Danny Whitten’s wasted potential – guy was pretty talented. ‘I Don’t Want To Talk About It’ is a great song IMO.
I will have to check it out!
I used to hear the Rod Stewart version all the time, but haven’t for a while.
I love these releases. I know most middle range fans would not want a 10 CD set but I’m happy he is doing it for those who will listen to everything. He is smart to do this now instead of them being released after he passes. He was like Jimi Hendrix and others…he never stopped recording I don’t think. It’s amazing that complete albums would come out now that were targeted for the late sixties and early seventies.
I wonder how much material he has left?
I generally think that I’m more likely to enjoy discarded albums from an artist’s prime than their later work.
It’s be funny if he had all this killer stuff from the 1980s that he suddenly releases.
That would be…We would probably get Trans II…
I like Trans! Not so keen on the stuff I’ve heard from the other Geffen records though.
I like select songs off of it…once in a while. There were a few on re-ac-tor I liked.
I haven’t listened for years, but I remember enjoying ‘Like An Inca’. There is a bit of a dropoff after Rust Never Sleeps, which seems unusually focused to me.
I agree with the drop off after that album. Like An Inca sounds really good….I haven’t listened to that album in years. I may revisit it.
I do like the Unplugged acoustic version of Transformer Man better.