(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
While he has played with several outfits, Neil Young knows exactly how he wants to approach his music. This is particularly true when it comes to recording his sonics. Placing feel at the forefront of his thinking when writing, it is only natural that he strives for his passionate sentiments to be amplified in the studio on all instruments, whether it be his vocals, guitars or otherwise. This also means that he looks back on the product with chagrin when he hasn’t done it this way.
To make his work sound as best as possible, Young prefers to record things live. He might have occasionally overdubbed aspects over the years, but to really convey the authentic sound of a band playing and a heightened sense of groove, he feels it has to be done this way. This is why he regards his 1968 self-titled debut as his worst effort, as it wasn’t undertaken with this favoured method.
When speaking to Rolling Stone in April 1970, only months before his mostly live-tracked masterpiece, After the Gold Rush, arrived in September, with songs such as ‘Helpless’ and ‘Country Girl’ typifying this nature, Young was comfortable with his recording approach. This came after capturing the era-defining Déjà Vu with the supergroup CSNY across the second half of the previous year, which reaffirmed to him what he liked and didn’t like when it came to the studio.
Like him, bandmate David Crosby preferred to track things live, but because there was no one to play instruments such as the additional organ, guitar and keyboard on the trio’s pre-Young debut, CSN in 1969, that album was overdubbed. Young would also outline that this was the main difference between The Beatles and their British invasion counterparts, The Rolling Stones. The latter always recorded live as a unit, which gave their music a better sense of groove and authenticity, with the idiosyncracies stoked by mistakes making it feel more alive than the Fab Four’s.
“It’s human; you’re hearing it,” the Canadian explained.
This issue concerning essence provides Young’s central issue with his 1968 debut. Discussing that it sounded like studio music, Young told the publication: “Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean. The sound doesn’t really come out of the studio, it comes out of the musicians, it’s true.”
He continued: “That’s what I figure is the fault of the first album – as is the fault of my first album. It was overdubbed instead of played. People like to hear these people play together, I think. Playing live is very exciting, especially the guitars really get me off, and everybody playing at once is really groovy; but some bands prefer to do it that way.”
To Young, the track ‘I’ve Been Waiting For You’ stands out above the rest from his first solo effort. The songwriter said, “That’s the only one that sounds like it got off” because all the instruments were played on different days. He also used this as an example of how overdubbing can work on rare occasions. Crucially, he was really feeling his parts when recording them, which made the overall product tick.
However, Young’s view of the record is generally negative. In his typically complex way, when asked if he wasn’t satisfied with the album when it arrived in November 1968, he said he was satisfied with his endeavours but that it was so “badly mixed” that it blew his mind. Famously, this so-called ‘CSG mix’ would prompt such a response from Young that the project was then partially remixed and re-released in late summer 1969.
He concluded: “The first album? I was satisfied with what I’d done, as much as I could be. But then, when the mastering job came out on it, it blew my mind because I couldn’t hear what I’d done… but now it’s been remastered, and you can almost hear it. It was badly mixed.”
You can check out the remastered version of the project and judge for yourself. Listen to Neil Young below.
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