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The Buffalo Springfield dedicated "Buffalo Springfield Again" to him. The Jefferson Airplane wrote "The Ballad of You and Me and Pooh Neil" and "House at Pooh Neil Corner" about him. He started the careers of some of the sixties most famous Folk-Rockers. "He taught me everything that was music" says David Crosby. Everybody, and I mean everybody, has covered his song "The Other Side of This Life". Who is that?
The magnificent Fred Neil.
There are four great deep baritone voices in popular music, Frank Sinatra, Jim Morrison,Johnny Cash and Fred Neil. What a wonderful voice Fred Neil has, rich like chocolate. I could listen to him read the phone book. Every time Neil sings deep note with entire room resonates, buzzes and rings with that bluesy voice. Fred Neil has the incredible ability to make the listener feel every word he sings, every note he plays.
Neil was the King of the Greenwich Village folk singers in the early sixties at the beginning of the folk music revolution following the collapse of Rock in the late fifties. Fred Neil was there, singing and playing that twelve string. Before Peter, Paul and Mary, before Bob Dylan, was Fred Neil, in fact when the unknown Dylan first came to New York from Hibbing Minnesota, he, Dylan, used to carry Fred Neil's guitar case to gigs and sit on a stool and play backup harmonica for him (there is a picture in the liner notes of him doing just that). Laconic, laid-back, bluesy, the natural talent, one of the greatest natural talents even in music. Before folk, Neil was a Tin Pan Alley song writer, like Carol King and Irving Berlin, working in the Brill Building writing songs for others to record.
This album is a classic, the best Neil out there, "Bleecker and MacDougal" is a studio album on folk label Elektra, before Paul Rothchild moved on to record the Doors. These same performances are on other CD's like "Many Sides of Fred Neil" but for some reason they are much better recorded here, closer miked. You get the real feel of why a generation of musicians idolized Fred Neil.
On this album playing backup are a worshipful Steven Stills (Crosby Stills and Nash and Buffalo Springfield), Dino Valente (Quicksilver Messenger Service), Bruce Langhorne (man who Dylan wrote "Mr Tambourine Man" about), Gram Parsons (who started the Country Rock revolution with the Byrds) and Harvey Brooks (the Doors bassist). Neil roomed with and encouraged the careers of then unknown Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane), John Sebastian (Loving Spoonful) and David Crosby (CSN, Byrds) and scores of other musicians. After a few years, writing and performing classics in the business, he got fed up and quit, moved to Florida and spent the remainder of his life in Dolphin research, despite numerous attempts to get him out of retirement. "PoohNeil" is a combination of Winnie the Pooh and the gentle Fred Neil.
His most famous songs, his most covered songs are here, and what great versions these are! "The Other Side of this Life" is a folk rock anthem. "Everybody's Talkin" was later covered by Harry Nilsson. "Sweet Cocaine", "The Dolphin Song" . Gram Parson sings a duet on "You Don't Miss your Water" which he would also cover with the Byrds. He says he learned "That's the Bag I'm In" from "Bobby" Dylan. Recorded 1963-1971, before he vanished. Fred Neil may be the best Blues- Folk singer ever. Not a bad cut on the album!
This is real Fred Neil. These are the best performances I've ever heard of Fred Neil's works and I have many other CDs.
Cannot be too highly recommended. Deserves 10 stars!!!!
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