Newly-Released Archive Recordings of Neil Young & Crazy Horse, ‘Early Daze’ is a Crucial Document of the Group’s Prime Era

Clocking in at a concise 39 minutes, the 10-track Early Daze is a collection of raw-and-raucous 1969 recordings of Neil Young & Crazy Horse. Young’s 47th and most-recent release, it’s an intimate, crucial document of his prime era with his longtime backing band.

While Young has worn many hats since his mid-‘60s Buffalo Springfield days — prolific solo songwriter; grudging member of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; country rocker and uncompromising activist, to name a few — it has arguably been with Crazy Horse where he has tapped into his rapturous electric leanings. First appearing on record with Young on 1969’s Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, the band formerly known as L.A. group The Rockets helped Young unleash definitive, moody rockers including “Cinnamon Girl,” “Down by the River” and “Cowgirl in the Sand.”

On Early Daze, the full lineup of Crazy Horse (guitarist-vocalist Danny Whitten; keyboardist-producer Jack Nitzsche; bass guitarist Billy Talbot and drummer-vocalist Ralph Molina) meet and exceed Young’s once-estimation that they were “the greatest garage band in the world.” Penned and sung by Whitten, “Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown” first appeared as “Downtown” on Crazy Horse’s 1971 Young-free eponymous debut and a live version recorded in that same year was included on Young’s 1975 album, Tonight’s the Night. It’s easy to tie off some dark romance to the song, whose lyrics encapsulate the anticipation of Whitten chronicling the agitated joy of going “downtown” to cop heroin, the very drug that helped facilitate his downfall and eventual 1972 death; Tonight’s the Night was essentially a wake memorializing the fatal overdoses of both Whitten and band roadie Bruce Berry.

The Early Daze version of “Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown” kicks off with producer David Briggs (a key alchemical force in capturing the lightning in a bottle that was Neil Young & Crazy Horse) leading the band for “take 14” via studio talkback mic. The band answers the call with a casual swagger and the song’s still-knee-buckling main guitar hook. The Georgia-born Whitten delivers the song with his raspy twang, Young harmonizing high on top, as the rest of Crazy Horse roll it all along with their minimal (and signature) stoned propulsion. More of a noir field report than a moralist warning, the lyrical refrain of “Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown” factors in police busts that threaten the transaction (“Sure enough / they’ll be selling stuff / when the moon begins to rise / pretty bad when you’re dealing with the man / and the light shines in your eyes, yeah”) while our hero continues to move from spot to spot: “Walk on, talk on, baby tell no lies / Don’t you be caught with a tear in your eye.”)

In conjunction with Crazy Horse, Whitten always elevated the atmosphere of Young’s halcyon, raw work. And Whitten’s skills as a songwriter were certain: the aforementioned Crazy Horse debut featured a pair of stunners from Whitten: “Look at All the Things” and “I Don’t Want to Talk About It.”

More than 50 years after his death, Whitten remains one of the lesser-known but absolute “what ifs” of ‘60s rockers. And while it’s easy to default to morbid romanticism of Whitten’s tragic death, this unreleased version “Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown” and the remaining tracks of Early Daze (which includes the original mono mix of “Cinnamon Girl” and an early, unreleased version of Young’s classic, “Helpless”) pop with life force, vitality and gritty joy.

Courtesy of time and retirement, the roster of Crazy Horse has changed over the years, appearing on fifteen studio albums and eight live albums with Young, the original lineup of the band supplied Young with enough confident loyalty and loose, inspired camaraderie that still resonates — loudly — to present day.

Early Daze is available on vinyl here. Stream “Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown” on your preferred platform and follow Neil Young & Crazy Horse on Instagram.