The Mynah Birds Single Set for Record Store Day

Neil Young Vinyl Shopping - April 16, 2011
Plan9 Music, Richmond, Virginia
Photo by Emaleigh Franzak

Neil Young showed his support of Vinyl & Independent Record Stores last year, doing some shopping at Plan9 Music, in Richmond, Virginia on 2011 Record Store Day.

Record Store Day is April 21st this year and The Mynah Birds have a special release: "It's My Time" b/w "Go On and Cry". The Mynah Birds were a short-lived mid-'60s group with Neil Young and Rick James. In 1965, they recorded tracks for Motown that never saw an official release -- until now have only been released in the Archives and Hipo-Select Motown boxsets. (Thanks Glorious Noise for correction!)


Rick James

Funk legend Rick James, the flashy Motown Records artist was best known for his 1981 hit 'Super Freak'.

While much is known about James' "Super Freak" period, relatively little is known about the period during the 1960's when he formed a band known as the Mynah Birds with Neil Young, Goldie McJohn (later of Steppenwolf) and Bruce Palmer (later of Buffalo Springfield). The name of the band Mynah Birds was apparently a takeoff of the well known folk-rock band The Byrds.

In an interview with Neil Young in MOJO Magazine in 1995, Neil was asked about a 1965 Mynah Birds album being recorded which never was released.

YOUNG: "Yeah, there are tapes of me and The Mynah Birds also. After I arrived in Toronto I tried to keep my band going and then tried to work with several others. But it just never worked out for me there. I could never get anything going in Toronto, never even got one gig with a band. I just couldn't break into that scene. So I moved instead towards acoustic music and immediately became very introspective and musically-inward. That's the beginning of that whole side of my music."

More on The Super Freak and The Loner: Rick James and Neil Young.

---

Photographer Henry Diltz: Rock’s Living History | Rock Cellar Magazine

Buffalo Springfield
Photo by Henry Diltz
(Click photo to enlarge)

A very extensive interview with legendary rock photographer Henry Diltz in Rock Cellar Magazine by Jeff Cazanov.

Rock Cellar Magazine: Lore has it the first photo you actually sold was of the Buffalo Springfield? In front of a mural?

Henry Diltz: Yes – a club called The Psychic Eye in Redondo Beach.

In ’66, our last tour across the country, I get this camera, start photographing my friends, and then one day Stephen Stills– he’d been a fan of ours since ’63 when we played The Village Gate in New York, a jazz club. He would come down to see us. He was a young kid, like 19. So we were old friends by the time ’67 came around and I was here.

So in Laurel Canyon one day, I heard music coming out of a house while I was walking by. I knew the person who lived there and I knocked on the door, and Stephen was in there playing. He said, “hey, Henry, later today we’re going down to this folk club to do a soundcheck, do you want to come along?”

I said yeah ‘cause I wanted to photograph people on the beach for my slide show. I hadn’t made the connection yet to being a music photographer. I just wanted photos to excite my friends, anything trippy.

That one day when I went with Stephen down to the Redondo Beach sound check, they were in there rehearsing– Neil Young, Stephen Stills, and I’m out on the beach photographing and when I walk back to the club there’s a big mural on the back wall, a painted, pink mural that I thought would look great in the slide show.

So I’m shooting the mural and out the back door comes the group, done with their sound check. So I said, “hey you guys, just stand there a minute,” because I wanted to show the scale. You couldn’t tell how big this thing was. I still didn’t think, Eureka! I’m gonna be a music photographer!

The funny thing was that they did an interview with Teen Set Magazine and they needed a picture. They said, “Our friend Henry took some.” So I get a call: “Henry, we hear you have a picture of the Buffalo Springfield, we’ll pay you $100 to run it.”

More of interview with legendary rock photographer Henry Diltz and photo gallery in Rock Cellar Magazine by Jeff Cazanov.

(Thanks Scott & RW!)

---

The Monkees Davy Jones and Neil Young

The Monkees Davy Jones passed away last week. He was 66.

Jones was a singer in The Monkees, a pop-rock group formed expressly for a television show.

Interestingly, Neil Young performed on a number of The Monkees tracks, including "You And I" (above on YouTube).

Neil Young played on the following Monkees sessions in 1968:

• Carlise Wheeling Version 4 (5/3) (No audio survived)
• You and I, That's What It's Like Loving You (unrel.), Smile (5/10)
• As We Go Along (5/30)
• You and I (6/19) "Double blistering guitar solo"
• You and I (6/21)
  

And, Stephen Still was once on the short list for being a member of The Monkees. Imagine that...

(Thanks Andrew Sandoval for research and Harold for links!)

Also, see other musicians influenced by Neil Young.

---

Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young: "Sexy and I Know It"

Déjà Vu all over on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” last night.

Jimmy Fallon -- channeling once again for about the 6th time -- as Neil Young covering LMFAO's "Sexy and I Know It" with a little help from his friend Bruce Springsteen.

Last year, Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young covered "Whip My Hair" together.

Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young: "Whip My Hair"

Jimmy Fallon seems to be making a career out of his Neil Young impressions.

Hulu - Late Night with Jimmy Fallon:
Neil Young, Graham Nash and David Crosby
“Party in the USA”

It all started with Jimmy Fallon impersonating Neil Young covering "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" which went totally viral. Then followed by "Pants On The Ground"

Which led to a viral video of a viral video of Neil Young's Emotional 'Double Rainbow' Ballad (VIDEO).

Is this yet another signal that the collapse of Western Civilization is at hand?

When will this ever stop?

Maybe if the real Neil performs on “Late Night” and Jimmy Fallon impersonates Bruce Springsteen?

The horror. Oh, the horror.

Yet hilarious.

Not since "FreeBird" met "More Cowbell" with Will Ferrell channeling Ronnie Van Zant channeling Neil Young via Blue Oyster Cult, have our delicate sensitivities felt so assaulted and violated.

Oh, the hilarious horror of it all.

Also, see Jimmy Fallon: Secrets Behind Dylan & Young Impressions.



Also, see Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young: The Difference in Greatness.

---

Official Theatrical Release Date for Neil Young Journeys: June 29

Neil Young Journeys - A Film by Jonathan Demme
(Click photo to enlarge)

Sony Classics Pictures web-site now has an official theatrical release date for the Jonathan Demme documentary "Neil Young Journeys". The date is June 29th.

Naturally, this will elict howls of "Where is Trunk Show?!" in the comments section below.

No one seems to know -- even the Director himself -- last we checked.



More on Neil Young Journeys Film Premiere at Toronto Film Festival.

(Thanks Michael!)

---

---

Comment of the Moment: You Know How Time Fades Away, Right?

Original "Time Fades Away" Handwritten Lyrics
Neil Young - Time Fades Away Vinyl Insert Sheet

Some interesting comments on an earlier post on the 7th Anniversary of Release "Time Fades Away" Petition .

From Lost Dog:

My trip with Neil Young has been going on for just over 20 years now: effectively since I became aware of his existence, thanks to a friend whose music tastes back then were far better than mine.

Today, I'm only an almost-completist: there are a few albums I don't own if they double up what's already out there (Lucky Thirteen, pass), and of the bootlegs from Dimeadozen etc. I favour the ones with good sound, generally eschew audience video recordings, and leave more recordings than I download. Completism for someone who has had almost every concert since 1970 bootlegged (if not true, it sure feels like it) would be a tough row to hoe, although clearly there are people out there who do it, just as there are Deadheads who want all of it, all of it.

Anyway, for me, that's a step too far, because I don't want it just sitting on a hard drive, I want to burn each concert off to CD - which usually means two CDs per show - and then it starts to be work, gotta label those things and then store them in order...no, it's too much and so I try to go for some of the highlights. But still, I've probably got over a hundred concert recordings there.

Anyway, there are gaps in my collection of the official output, but one thing I felt is part of the journey with NY, if you're serious, is you've got to spread yourself across formats a bit. You're going to need some vinyl (not forgetting singles), some CDs, and if you want a lot of the video material (I do), one video format won't cut it. What've we got: some things that were only on VHS, I think, quite a few that are still only on VHS and laser but never made it to DVD, some things that haven't been released at all yet (Trunk Show!) and some things that are on DVD only (Deja Vu.)

We could all get some petitions going to bring the entire catalogue up to date, but don't hold your breath for success...

I ended up wanting to own NY albums in the best available format, so that meant grabbing the DVD-Audio releases, the 200g vinyl, and where none of those were available, then settle for the CD. Plus any beat up old vinyl I could find, just because it's cool to have some beat up old vinyl. I confess to owning some of those albums in just about every conceivable format except 8-track (yes, including open reel).

I got into laserdisc a few years ago specifically to get hold of the excellent Weld, and managed to pick up the also excellent Complex Sessions shortly after that, and most of the other things that were put out on Laserdisc. I guess I'd prefer 'em on Bluray, but as they never even made it to DVD, if it comes it probably won't be any time soon. What kind of cat can have a blitzkrieg of a concert movie like Weld ON THE FUCKING SHELF? Someone with a seriously impressive back catalogue, that's who.

So Time Fades Away is just another of those things that fell through the cracks.

But it's available, on vinyl, and that's a great way to listen to it.

I mean it kids, Uncle Neil makes you a multi-format guy, and if you don't like that, you'll just have to get by on those CDs that are available. That's still a fair wedge of albums though. (And don't forget Eldorado.)

Lost Dog

Thanks Lost Dog! And all the Neil completists out there.

Cause you know how time fades away, right?

More on the never ending Release "Time Fades Away" Petition campaign.

---

The Story Behind the Video: Neil Young Busking in Glasgow, 1976: The Story Behind the Footage | Open Culture

By now, most folks have seen the rare footage of Neil Young Busking in Glasgow, 1976.

So here's the story behind the video.

From Neil Young Busking in Glasgow, 1976: The Story Behind the Footage | Open Culture:

The day was April 2, 1976. Neil Young was flying into Glasgow, and a local camera crew was waiting at the airport to meet him. Director Murray Grigor and cinematographer David Peat had been hired by Young through his record company. As they waited there, at the airport, they had no idea what to expect.

“The irony,” Peat told Open Culture, “is that neither Murray or myself were particularly knowledgeable about the rock world, and we knew little of this guy Neil Young. So we turned up at the airport in sports jackets and ties to meet him!”

Young’s scheduled flight from London arrived, but he wasn’t on it. When a second flight came in, Peat and Grigor watched anxiously as all the passengers cleared the terminal. Still no Young. Finally, said Peat, “this tall bloke in a long coat came ambling down the corridor.” The filmmakers introduced themselves to Young and asked what he wanted.

“Just give me some funky shit footage,” said Young.

More on
From Neil Young Busking in Glasgow, 1976: The Story Behind the Footage | Open Culture.

---