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Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #59 Sept-Oct 2005

Crazy Horse

Scratchy: The Complete Reprise Recordings (Rhino Handmade)

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No one is likely to mistake Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina for Wyman and Watts, but with the right leader (Neil Young, say), their irregular pulse and off-kilter kerplunkety provide crucial warmth and character. Crazy Horse’s 1971 self-titled debut, with Danny Whitten, Nils Lofgren and Jack Nitzsche, remains a roots-inflected, heavy-rock touchstone, boasting a uniformly strong set balancing mournful ballads and left-field rockers (notably, an ode to erectile dysfunction and a party stomper about scoring heroin). Just a year later, the follow-up Loose found Talbot and Molina fronted by an anonymous collection of minor leaguers, delivering limp country-rock several notches below the not exactly hearty CSN/Eagles standard. Rhino’s “limited edition” supplements the official releases with the usual oddments and arcana, but given the original lineup’s too-brief run, these barrel scrapings inspire a benevolent indulgence. The simulated innocence of the early-’60s close harmony and Brill Building knockoffs that close the set is sweet enough to induce tears.

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Originally Featured in Issue #59 Sept-Oct 2005

Cover of Issue #59 Sept-Oct 2005

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