Fallout Rec.
Fred Neil : Trav'lin Man : The Early Singles (US,1957-1961,pub.2008)***°
Rev-Ola Rec.Fred Neil : Everybody's Talkin' Theme from 'Midnight Cowboy' (US,1966,re.1993)***°°
How I remember Fred Neil is a bit different from how most people remember him, who see him as a blues singer, and remember him as the writer of “Dolphins” (Tim Buckley) and “Every Body’s Talking” (sung by Harry Nilsson in ‘Midnight Cowboy’), and perhaps mentioned as an influence on Bob Dylan, and Stephen Stills guitar playing, or the admiration from Jefferson Airplane (who covered "The Other Side of This Life", a song which Lovin'Spoonful and The Animals also covered) or from David Crosby's. While I like this blues period least (with ‘Bleecker & MacDougal’ as the most appreciated album, an album which still did had a significance for directing song music in a different direction), my favourite album is Fred Neil, also published as “Everybody’s Talking..” from 1966 for several reasons. In this period (1966) he was a close friend to bluesfolk singer (and musical hero if you ask me) Karen Dalton, from whom he was influenced in his singing. In his turn it is clear that not just a song like “Dolphins” influenced Tim Buckley in his turn to use his voice differently. What is it that makes this difference ? Karen Dalton used her voice as an instrument with a timbre, an emotional strength of harmonies. Also Fred Neil especially around this 1966 album had used his extremely beautiful voice with some notes of baritone strength with an inner meditative calmness which was rarely seen. His voice penetrates feelings like harmonic vibrations, with the songs.* This makes songs like “Faretheewell” a must to hear. The two blues songs on the 'Fred Neil' album are in fact the most normal songs on that album, while the others go much further to something unique. The last track on this album is also always neglected attention ; it is a spontaneously developed raga-rock track with voice and instruments. A must-have album for sure!... (see remarks at the end).
I thought that his first introduction on record was the cooperation with Vince Martin, in 1964, a combination which only worked well for his own solo work and songs, (it reminds me at how also Phil Ochs was introduced, with compromises to another performer), but there seemed to have been earlier singles recordings, which are now, for the first time, well compiled together. With these earliest singles, it becomes even more clear how there has been a whole different lifetime of songs, and another chapter of his personal and musical history, which is also worth checking out. Also in the late 50s and early 60s Fred Neil has been appreciated for his songs and attractive voice. He is known to have sold songs to Roy Orbison ("Candy Man"), Jack Scott ("Grizzly Bear"), and others, while also Buddy Holly covered a song co-written by him (“Come Back Baby”, recorded 5 years earlier but only published in 1964, a short time only before Buddy's sad accident).
Until his father died when he was nine (?) he travelled with him around the South-East border selling jukeboxes. From him he got his first guitar, and through the jukeboxes he learned to play the instrument. One of the earliest musical influences on Fred Neil was in fact the gospel music in churches where only black worshippers gathered, where he went to sing with his grandmother. Since the mid fifties he quickly became involved in the rockabilly scene, and knew several important writers and singers. Personally it seems that he liked very much Hank Williams. Possibly with some recommendations from Buddy Holly, Fred Neil got a contract for his first single around 1957. After a few more singles it seems that he also was a session guitar player like for Bobby Darin ("Dream Lover" demo) and Paul Anka ("Diana").
My girlfriend's musical and other tastes spans much more the 40s to the 60s, while my own roots of interests started where her roots originally leaves off more or less, at around 1966-1967, but it is still interesting to see how during the years we find the overlaps and bridges between the two different periods, and also, starting points, in music well, while it is as if for me now I feel better the early roots of the sixties with its more free and personal expressions how this lies rooted further back in time. While she also liked very much the later Fred Neil, and each song which I presented there, obviously she didn’t feel less sympathy for his older work, which while it still is clearly a product of his time, it already shows Freddie’s own unique personality of expressions through the use of his voice, and his clever song writing, showing often a certain intelligent distance to the songs.
On the first listed, rock’n roll, track, “You ain’t treatin’ me right”, you can hear in some phrases how his baritone voice is penetrating with its lower vibrations with a certain fun making in the song. Different to Elvis's strong and slightly “black”-alike voice, in many of Fred’s early songs we hear an almost cynical enjoyment having fun with the style of the times, making the songs different as usual, and thus also highly enjoyable (from the crooner B-side “Don’t put a blame on me” to the calmer beauty “Take me back again”, a song with some sad mouth harmonica, onto the more serious “heartbreak bound”). “Listen Kitten” sounds more like Buddy Holly. Mostly he is accompanied by a background choir singing rhythmic “awoo’s” and such (like on “heartbreak bound”, “Travelin’ band”,..), as well as with the usual rock’n roll band. More of a ballad is “Love’s funny”, lead by acoustic guitar this time. The next, happy romantic song, “Secret-Secret” then is already more comparable to a let’s say pre-Tim Hardin area of singing/style. Equally happy and attractive, with beautiful whistling, is “Slipping Around”. Also “Rainbow and A Rose” continues with a ballad romantic style. “Four Chaplains” is a bit more country-like, and only 'seems' to have a pro-American subject, with Church-like musical associations in the beginning, but also here you can hear a cynical intelligent Fred Neil having his own story to tell.
After these singles, or around this period, he started to sing at ‘The Café Wha?’ where he would be one of the first politically conscious singers, influencing people like Bob Dylan and playing with him occasionally. Then he moved to the scene at ‘At the Gaslight’ where he would turn to a folkier and more blues-folk period of influence, while meeting people like Tim Hardin, Karen Dalton and Peter Stampfe, but that is already a next chapter..
The sound quality of the compiled tracks is very good and it definitely shows very well the talent of the early period of Fred Neil before he was introduced to other influences. A recommended document. The release also made me again curious to Neil's bluesier period to giving it a second opinion and listen soon.
* Sebastian for instance called his voice a "honey-laden baritone with the Southern lilt", and also Odetta once described his voice as "a healing instrument."
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The only question I still have about his whole life, and which remains unanswered, a question which might not even have been asked before, is about one more, deeper lying background of his, which never has come out well on record, maybe because many surrounding people during his life wanted to use him for this or that, and where one other important interest might have remained aside. It was the raga track on his ‘Fred Neil’ record : what made him make a track like this ? I know that raga influences were starting to emmerge, and someone like Peter Walker also ran around the place, but he might not have been the very first to come up with all that.. I asked Toni Ruiz from Fred Neil’s website how I could place this influence :
“ He played backed by The Seventh Sons *(note: -who recorded the first ragapsych record, in 1964-), when the Buzzy Linhart band still was named The Buzzy Linhart Trio (Buzzy on vibes and guitar, Steve DeNaut on bass and Serge Katzan on percussion). Yet, the line-up also included sometimes: Luther Rix on drums, Max Ochs on guitar, Frank Evantoff on flute, James Rock on bass -who played on the "raga" LP-, Ned Carter on guitar -who backed Fred in Coconut Grove-, Barry Goldberg on keyboards -who backed Dylan at Newport '65 and played usually with The Fugs-.
According to different sources, between 1964 and 1966, Fred played with The Trio at the Night Owl and the Café au Go Go. It'd not be strange if they played also at the Feenjon, the most adventurous and Middle Eastern inflected venue in Greenwich Village, where Hamza El Dim, Felix Pappalardi and Steve Knight -the latter two would found Mountain years later- played their own jammings. Besides, the only pic featuring Fred backed by Linhart, DeNaut and Rix (from around early 1966) was taken on a live set at Palisades Amusement Park in New Jersey.
The Serge Katzan loft was used to display fabulous raga excursions, playing on them many varied musicians like Gram Parsons, Mississippi John Hurt and David Crosby.
The eponymous LP by Fred, recorded in the Fall of 1966, and produced by Nik Venet for Capitol Records, with no one from the Sons in the personnel, comprised at the end of the track-list a true indian raga essay called "Cynicrustpetefredjohn Raga". On it we can hear Fred on 12-string, Pete Childs and John T. Forsha on acoustic guitars, Al Wilson (Canned Heat) on harp and Billy Mundi (The Mothers Of Invention) on drums. What a pity that other songs in the album were faded-out at their ends because the musicians justly, once finished the song structure, used to start to jam. Something that Venet allowed that we could hear on Sessions, the 1967 Fred album, full of acoustic folk-blues improvised litanies.” Toni Ruiz Diaz
