Fred Neil

Fred Neil - The Many Sides Of Fred Neil (1998) {2CD Set Collectors' Choice Music CCM-070-2 rec 1966-1971}
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© 1966-71, 1998 EMI Music / Collectors' Choice Music | CCM-070-2
Folk Rock / Folk / Psychedelic / Singer-Songwriter

For many, the name Fred Neil will be familiar only as that belonging to the songwriter of the modern classic "Everybody's Talkin'," or perhaps "Candyman," "The Dolphins," or "Other Side of This Life," songs that Roy Orbison, Tim Buckley, and the Jefferson Airplane, respectively, recorded. However, Neil's influence extends much farther. John Sebastian, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Bob Dylan all claimed him as an influence, since he blended traditional and contemporary folk, blues, rock, gospel, Indian, and pop influences into a distinctive, idiosyncratic style. His music was not only influential, it was quite rich on its own terms and some of the best music of its era.

Fred Neil's two classic Elektra records albums assembled together on one CD, with new biographical notes supported by lots of photos, too. The CD is slightly uneven as a listening experience, mostly by virtue of the songs off of Tear Down the Walls, a hybrid work that has moments of inspired, heavyweight brilliance from Neil, compromised by the lighter-textured voice of Vince Martin, who almost always seems like he's trying hard to keep up with Neil and measure up to what his partner is doing. There are some brilliant songs, as the two slip into a serious blues groove on "Weary Blues"; soar together on the exultant, extended duet of "Baby" (which plays like an Indian raga with vocals); the darker-toned "Morning Dew"; and the driving, crunchy "Linin' Track," which leads into "Wild Child in a World of Trouble."

Fred Neil - The Sky Is Falling: The Complete Live Recordings 1965-1971 (2004) {Rev-Ola CR REV 78}
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© 1965-71, 2004 Rev-Ola / Cherry Red Records | CR REV 78
Rock / Folk Rock / Psychedelic / Country Folk Rock

Folk-rock obscurity Fred Neil is regularly touted as one of the movement's pioneering geniuses, and The Sky Is Falling: The Complete Live Recordings 1963-1971 puts his work into perspective for any doubters. Collecting his live 1971 swan song album, The Other Side of This Life (which counts celebrity guests like David Crosby, Gram Parsons, and Stephen Stills), and appending four early rarities taped from a Bitter End performance in 1963, this set bookends Neil's folk-rock career insightfully.

In 1977, Neil Young was stockpiling enough amazing songs to last for decades to come. Multiple albums' worth of material put to tape but never officially released around that time have gradually surfaced over the years, and Oceanside Countryside is another strong chapter in Young’s ongoing crawl through the vaults. Divided into two distinct halves, the first five songs here (the “Oceanside”) are Neil solo, playing most of the instruments and backing himself up on overdubbed vocal harmonies. More produced, re-recorded, or slightly altered versions of most of these tunes made it to official records sooner or later, making Oceanside Countryside feel less like a wholly lost album and more like a demo recording.

Though he never really slowed down at any point, Neil Young stayed on an especially prolific streak as the 2010s bled into the 2020s. In addition to a steady rollout of archival material, official versions of long-bootlegged shows, and other miscellanea, Neil has produced albums of entirely new material at a rate unmatched by most artists in his age bracket who have been at it for as long as he has. World Record follows quickly behind the mellow rocking of 2021's Barn, and again finds Young ably backed by his longest-running comrades, Crazy Horse. This time around, however, the band worked with producer Rick Rubin, capturing everything live in the studio and sticking to an analog-heavy recording process. World Record is an album built of unlikely combinations that somehow work.