Jeff’s Playlist: First Solo Album

Neil Young — First Solo Album

After The Beatles qui­et­ed down a bit in the late ’60s, I began lis­ten­ing to Neil Young. This is his first solo album, released in late 1968. Over many years I have fol­lowed Neil and have become an avid fan, even see­ing him in Louisville in the ear­ly ‘70s. Give him a lis­ten, I think you’ll like this one. I sure do.

All tracks are writ­ten by Neil Young, except where not­ed. Arrangements on “The Old Laughing Lady,” “String Quartet from Whiskey Boot Hill” and “I’ve Loved Her So Long” by Young, Jack Nitzsche and Ry Cooder. Track tim­ings are from the orig­i­nal vinyl release, cat­a­logue num­ber RS 6317.

As usu­al, the music link is from YouTube; the info is from Wikipedia.

Side one

No.      Title    Length

1.         “The Emperor of Wyoming”            2:14
2.         “The Loner”   3:55
3.         “If I Could Have Her Tonight”         2:15
4.         “I’ve Been Waiting for You” 2:30
5.         “The Old Laughing Lady”    5:05

Side two

No.      Title    Writer(s)         Length

6.         “String Quartet from Whiskey Boot Hill”   Jack Nitzsche 1:04
7.         “Here We Are in the Years”                       3:27
8.         “What Did You Do to My Life?”                 2:00
9.         “I’ve Loved Her So Long”              2:40
10.       “The Last Trip to Tulsa”                 9:25

Personnel

Neil Young – vocals, gui­tars, piano, syn­the­siz­er, harp­si­chord, pipe organ, production

Ry Cooder – gui­tar, production

Jack Nitzsche – elec­tric piano, arrange­ments, production

Jim Messina, Carol Kaye – bass

George Grantham, Earl Palmer – drums

Merry Clayton, Brenda Holloway, Patrice Holloway, Gloria Richetta Jones, Sherlie Matthews, Gracia Nitzsche – back­ing vocals

uniden­ti­fied — trum­pet, trom­bone, tenor sax­o­phone, French horn, clar­inet, tim­pani, strings

Production David Briggs – pro­duc­tion
Dale Batchelor, Donn Landee, Mark Richardson, Henry Saskowski – engi­neer­ing
Rik Pekkonen – arrange­ments, engi­neer­ing
Danny Kelly – pho­tog­ra­phy
Ed Thrasher – album art direc­tion
Roland Diehl – cov­er paint­ing

Released       November 12 1968
Recorded       August–October 1968
Studio             Wally Heider’s Studio 3 (Hollywood)Sunset Sound (Hollywood)TTG (Los Angeles)Sunwest (Los Angeles)
Length            35:32
Label              Reprise
Producer        Neil Young David Briggs Jack Nitzsche, Ry Cooder and Neil Young (“The Old Laughing Lady”, “String Quartet from Whiskey Boot Hill” and “I’ve Loved Her So Long”)