Track List:

01. Sugar Mountain
02. Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing
03. Run Around Babe
04. Don't Pity My Baby
05. I Ain't Got the Blues
06. The Rent Is Always Due
07. When It Falls, It Falls Over You
08. Down to the Wire
09. Do I Have to Come Right Out and Say It
10. There Goes My Baby
11. One More Sign
12. Sultan
13. Aurora

1-7 Neil Young solo, Elektra Studios demos 1965
8-9 Buffalo Springfield outtakes
10-11 Neil Young solo demos 1967
12-13 The Squires single 1963

(NOTES FROM : http://www.ogctheatre.com/oldgreycat/csny/neildown.htm)

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Don't be fooled by the title; this is an exact cop of the legendary Neil Young Meets Buffalo Springfield and The Squires CD that disappeared from stores some years back. Instead of copping the title too, the people behind this release list the credits as Neil Young/Buffalo Springfield and state that it's a performance "Live in Wichita Falls, January 12, 1965."

At least they have the year right.

In fact, this collects a series of demos Neil made at Electra Studios while in New York in 1965, two Buffalo Springfield out-takes, two Neil demos from 1967 and the single Neil's group The Squires released in 1963. We'll take each "set" in order.

First, the '65 demos, which consist of seven songs: "Sugar Mountain," "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing," "Run Around Babe," "Don't Pity My Baby," "I Ain't Got the Blues," "The Rent Is Always Due," and "When It Falls, It Falls Over You." They're all just Neil and an acoustic guiitar; he sounds tentative & nervous as hell--but the songs themselves hold up, as evidenced by his returning to a few of them later in his career.

The Buffalo Springfield out-takes, "Down to the Wire" and "Do I Have to Come Right Out and Say It" are further proof that, sales be damned, the Springfield were one of the best bands of the '60s. "Down to the Wire," especially, is fun to listen to; the sound is a bit "boomy," however. "Do I Have to Come Right Out and Say It" features Richie Furay on lead vocals.

The two '67 demos, "There Goes My Babe" and "One More Sign," are again just Neil-and-guitar tracks. When compared to the '65 offerings, they show substantial growth in both Neil's poise (studios, no doubt, no longer frightened him). "One More Sign," especially, has all of the markings of a lost classic.

The Squires' tracks, "The Sultan" and "Aurora," are both instrumentals in the style of surf-guitar god Dick Dale, as well as the Shadows and Link Wray.

I wouldn't recommend this disc to neophytes as its worth is primarily of adding perspective to the early stages of Neil's artistic development. Veteran and/or hardcore fans, however, will find much here of value. (A)