CoronaVinyl Day 212 (Y): Neil Young by Neil Young

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I meant to post this yesterday, but things got away from me, what with sitting in my house doing nothing and all.  Anywho, yesterday's CoronaVinyl category was "Y," and I don't have any "Y" albums by black artists for Black History Month, but I do have Neil Young's self-titled debut solo album from 1968.  Young released the album about six months after Buffalo Springfield broke up and less than a year before he would team up with Crosby, Stills & Nash.

Now I know what you're thinking:  "Uh, GMYH, Neil Young isn't American, much less African-American."  You, fair reader, are correct.  He is very much a white Canadian.  But as I did a couple days ago with Billy Vera & The Beaters, I'm looking at more than just the lead singer.  You see, Neil Young -- while very talented -- does not play all the instruments or sing all the parts on this album.  In fact, his backing musicians on this album were a pretty damn good amalgamation of talent.  There was slide guitar legend Ry Cooder, Phil Spector righthand man Jack Nitzsche on electric piano, Jim Messina (Young's former Buffalo Springfield band mate and future half of Loggins & Messina) and legendary Wrecking Crew member Carol Kaye (who has played on more than 10,000 recordings) on bass, Poco co-founder George Grantham and renowned session drummer Earl Palmer on drums, and Merry Clayton, Brenda Holloway, Patrice Holloway, Gloria Jones, Sherlie Matthews, and Gracia Nitzsche on backing vocals.  The black musicians on the album were pretty great:

• Also a member of the famed collective of session musicians called The Wrecking Crew, Earl Palmer is one of the most prolific studio drummers of all-time, having played on records since the early days of rock and roll, and essentially bringing the backbeat to R&B and rock and roll on Fats Domino's 1949 hit "The Fat Man."  He is also said to have been the first person to use the word "funky" with respect to music.  Over his career, in addition to Domino and Young, he worked with myriad musicians in various genres, including Little Richard, Frank Sinatra, Sam Cooke, Ritchie Valens, Eddie Cochran, Glen Campbell, The Righteous Brothers, The Beach Boys, Ike & Tina Turner, Sonny & Cher, Lighting Hopkins, Bobby Darin, The Monkees, Taj Mahal, Barbra Streisand, B.B. King, The Mamas & The Papas, Randy Newman, Bonnie Raitt, Tom Waits, and Elvis Costello.  In addition, he played drums on dozens of TV theme songs, including for The Flintstones, I Dream of Jeannie, The Brady Bunch, MASH, The Partridge Family, and Mission Impossible.  He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000 in the inaugural class of the "Sidemen" category (which has since been renamed the Award for Musical Excellence and expanded beyond "sidemen").
• Merry Clayton was a successful backup singer and also released some of her own material.  She performed with Ray Charles, sang backing vocals on Lynyrd Skykyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama," and, most famously, sang the iconic female part on The Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter," where she showed up in the middle of the night in curlers (while pregnant, no less) after getting a call from Mick Jagger, and busted out her part in a couple of takes.  One of my favorite rock and roll Easter eggs is on "Gimme Shelter."  Right after Clayton belts out the climactic "murdeeeerrr" when her voice cracks, if you turn it up, you can hear Jagger and Keith Richards in the background of the studio let out a "whoa!"
• Brenda Holloway was a Motown singer who had several solo hits in the mid '60s and actually was an opener for The Beatles on their 1965 U.S. tour.  She also co-wrote and recorded the original version of "You've Made Me So Very Happy," which became a big hit in 1969 for Blood, Sweat & Tears.  In the late '60s, she stopped making her own music, but continued to do session work, before returning to recording in the '80s.
• Patrice Holloway is Brenda's sister (who also co-wrote "You've Made Me So Very Happy"), who had a couple of minor hits in the mid '60s.  She sang backing vocals Joe Cocker's cover of "With a Little Help From My Friends" and The Supremes' "Someday We'll Be Together," among others.  She was also the singing voice for Valerie in the Josie & The Pussycats cartoon in the early '70s, and she sang lead vocals on the show's theme song.
• Gloria Jones is known as the Northern Queen of Soul because of her popularity in Northern England in the '60s and '70s.  In 1964, she recorded the original version of "Tainted Love," which was famously covered by Soft Cell in the early '80s.  In addition to her own solo career, being a Motown songwriter, and various backing vocals over the years, she was a member of glam rock pioneers T. Rex (though she was not one of the band members included in their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year), and she and lead singer Marc Bolan were romantically involved and had a child together, Rolan Bolan.  Sadly, she was also the driver in the car accident that killed Bolan in September 1977.
• Sherlie Matthews was a songwriter and producer for Mirwood Records and then Motown.  She wrote and/or produced recordings for The Jackson 5, The Supremes, Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye, Martha and the Vandellas, and the Four Tops, among others.  In addition to various voiceover and TV commercial work, she has been a backing vocalist for various legendary bands and artists, like The Rolling Stones, The Bee Gees ("Stayin' Alive"), Stevie Wonder ("Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours), B.B. King, Lionel Richie, The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, Wings, Barbra Streisand, Ike & Tina Turner, Linda Ronstadt ("You're No Good), Ella Fitzgerald, Steppenwolf, Neil Diamond, Bob Seger, The Temptations, The Doobie Brothers ("Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)"), Humble Pie, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Elton John ("The Bitch is Back"), and others.

Despite these amazing musicians, the album didn't chart or feature any songs that charted, but it definitely set the stage for Young's signature folk/rock sound.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "The Loner"

"The Loner" was the only single released from the album, and it has all the makings of a classic Neil Young song.  It's about a loner, it has a nice pop/folk element to it, but also rocks.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "I've Loved Her So Long"
This is a short, but sweet and soulful, song, and it's one of the songs that Palmer played on and that the aforementioned ladies sang backing vocals on.