At the time of their debut album's release in 1971, Crazy Horse had garnered notice as Neil Young's band on Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and After the Gold Rush. The core members had previously been in the Rockets, a California sextet that released one promising album and were eulogized by Young on "Running Dry (Requiem for the Rockets)" on Everybody Knows. All too soon, Young would be...

As a backup band bashing out hard rock & roll for Neil Young's edge-of-reasonings, Crazy Horse's primitivism comes across as inspired anarchy. But without Young's eccentric visions at the center, the group's three-chord songs, extended two-note guitar solos and nasal nonvocals don't seem compelling, just sloppy. Billy Talbot, Frank Sampedro and Ralph Molina's songwriting is stunted at the I-sure-l...