AmirBagachelles Posted March 28, 2009 Report Share Posted March 28, 2009 between his talent, his recordings, and the public's current awareness. If you like folk, folk-rock, or just GREAT singer-songwriter's best work, then I recommend you get The Many Sides of Fred Neil, or another good anthology. I listen to the The Many Sides about once or twice a year, usually after I read yet another citation of Neil's influence and talent. I love the authority with which he sings and swings. He's truly one of the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted March 28, 2009 Report Share Posted March 28, 2009 Aside from "Everybody's Talkin'", all I know about him is that he wrote "Dolphins" & that Tim Buckley sang the hell out of it. There's more then, eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.W. Posted March 28, 2009 Report Share Posted March 28, 2009 (edited) One of the great singer/songwriters of the 1960s. I second the recommendation of the Collectors' Music set The Many Sides of Fred Neil, which contains his Capitol albums Fred Neil, Sessions and The Other Side of This Life, a single and unreleased stuff, but above all I'd recommend his Elektra album Bleecker and MacDougal, which has his best songs in my opinion. Fred Neil was born in 1931 and died in 2001. AMG bio Edited March 28, 2009 by J.A.W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medjuck Posted March 28, 2009 Report Share Posted March 28, 2009 I'm a big Fred Neil fan also. There's a great song on the Elektra album called IIRC "And a Little Bit of Rain." Apparently one of Dylan's first jobs in NY was playing harmonica for Fred Neil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.W. Posted March 28, 2009 Report Share Posted March 28, 2009 I'm a big Fred Neil fan also. There's a great song on the Elektra album called IIRC "And a Little Bit of Rain." Apparently one of Dylan's first jobs in NY was playing harmonica for Fred Neil. The songs on the essential Elektra album Bleecker & MacDougal are: Bleecker & MacDougal Blues on the Ceiling Sweet Mama Little Bit of Rain Country Boy Other Side to This Life Mississippi Train Travelin' Shoes The Water Is Wide Yonder Comes the Blues Candy Man Handful of Gimme Gone Again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stereojack Posted March 28, 2009 Report Share Posted March 28, 2009 Big Fred Neil fan here, too. The Capitol albums are wonderful, but "Bleecker and MacDougal" is really his masterpiece. Btw, In the late 1960's, Elektra reissued it with new cover art as "A Little Bit of Rain". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave9199 Posted March 29, 2009 Report Share Posted March 29, 2009 I was just re-reading this book which has a chapter about him. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/087930616...ing%20strangers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted March 29, 2009 Report Share Posted March 29, 2009 (edited) I've investigated only a little of his work though some of his contemporaries/followers - i.e Tim Buckley and Karen Dalton I like a lot. Edited March 29, 2009 by clifford_thornton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
six string Posted March 29, 2009 Report Share Posted March 29, 2009 I became a fan after Mojo did an article about him about ten years ago. Remember when Mojo was good? The first thing I bought by him was the 2 disc set The Many Sides of Fred Neil which has already been mentioned. That's as good a place to start as any, especially for the price. I've since bought a few vinyl albums including Bleeker and MacDougal which I agree is great. I love that deep and resonating voice of his. It's a shame he couldn't figure out a way to survive in the music industry. The world is a poorer place because of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted March 29, 2009 Report Share Posted March 29, 2009 (edited) I pulled Bleecker & MacDougal from a cutout bin as a teenager - I was curious about him from the long list on the back cover of Buffalo Springfield's 2nd LP. I was not disappointed, although I always thought his way of singing blues was a little too straight compared to black artists ... but I was moved very much by his sincerity, even more by the songs on his duo LP with Vince Martin, Tear Down The Walls - just went downstairs to see whether I still have them. They are still there - will have to put them on tomorrow. Edited March 29, 2009 by mikeweil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.W. Posted March 29, 2009 Report Share Posted March 29, 2009 I pulled Bleecker & MacDougal from a cutout bin as a teenager - I was curious about him from the long list on the back cover of Buffalo Springfield's 2nd LP. I was not disappointed, although I always thought his way of singing blues was a little too straight compared to black artists ... but I was moved very much by his sincerity, even more by the songs on his duo LP with Vince Martin, Tear Down The Walls - just went downstairs to see whether I still have them. They are still there - will have to put them on tomorrow. For someone who wasn't a blues singer (for a while he was part of the 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene), he did a nice job in my view Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjzee Posted March 30, 2009 Report Share Posted March 30, 2009 I dunno. I owned a live album on Capitol, "Other Side Of This Life" (had this cover shot), but it didn't do much for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertrand Posted March 30, 2009 Report Share Posted March 30, 2009 The Jefferson Airplane covered 'Other Side Of This Life' - it was part of their set list. Bertrand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenny weir Posted March 30, 2009 Report Share Posted March 30, 2009 I always thought his way of singing blues was a little too straight compared to black artists ... but I was moved very much by his sincerity, even more by the songs on his duo LP with Vince Martin, Tear Down The Walls - just went downstairs to see whether I still have them. They are still there - will have to put them on tomorrow. I hear you, but ... I reckon Neil fits with a bunch of folks I consider sort of "righteous whitebread blues". Others: Leo Kotke, John Martyn (maybe), Jack Teagarden, Paul Siebel, Johnny Mercer, Tim Buckley, Aussie harp man Chris Wilson. It's a style/sound that has its own unique flavour and is quite different from white folks TRYING to sound black, though that can be cool, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teasing the Korean Posted March 30, 2009 Report Share Posted March 30, 2009 Like JSngry, I too know Neil only through Nilsson's version of "Everybody's Talkin'" and Tim Buckley's (incredible) version of "The Dolphins." I remember reading in his obit that Neil spent the later part of his life as a dolphin researcher in Florida, and that by that time he apparently did not like discussing his musical career at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felser Posted March 30, 2009 Report Share Posted March 30, 2009 Count me as a big fan, especially of the Elektra material (the Capitol stuff could meander a good bit, Neil seemed sort of in a haze in that period, but the incredible talent remained). "Other Side of This Life", "The Bag I'm In", "Everybody's Talking" and "The Dolphins" were all excellent compositions that received memorable covers. Stylistically, Neil had some similarities to Tim Hardin. His vocals were "bluesy" as opposed to "the blues", which is something different. The Jefferson Airplane, in addition to doing "Other Side of This Life" regularly in their early set lists, name-checked Neil in two of their best originals, "The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil" and the magnificent "House at Pooneil Corner", which to me was their ultimate psychedelic trip (not that the entire Baxter's album or some of the other stuff on Crown of Creation was far behind). If you're into Tim Hardin and/or Tim Buckley, Neil is well worth checking out. For the younger crowd, if you're into Jeff Buckley, all three of them are well worth checking out, except for the 70's material by Hardin and Tim Buckley, which are many shades of messes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.W. Posted March 30, 2009 Report Share Posted March 30, 2009 Count me as a big fan, especially of the Elektra material (the Capitol stuff could meander a good bit, Neil seemed sort of in a haze in that period, but the incredible talent remained). "Other Side of This Life", "The Bag I'm In", "Everybody's Talking" and "The Dolphins" were all excellent compositions that received memorable covers. Stylistically, Neil had some similarities to Tim Hardin. His vocals were "bluesy" as opposed to "the blues", which is something different. The Jefferson Airplane, in addition to doing "Other Side of This Life" regularly in their early set lists, name-checked Neil in two of their best originals, "The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil" and the magnificent "House at Pooneil Corner", which to me was their ultimate psychedelic trip (not that the entire Baxter's album or some of the other stuff on Crown of Creation was far behind). If you're into Tim Hardin and/or Tim Buckley, Neil is well worth checking out. For the younger crowd, if you're into Jeff Buckley, all three of them are well worth checking out, except for the 70's material by Hardin and Tim Buckley, which are many shades of messes. Agreed on all counts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jostber Posted March 30, 2009 Report Share Posted March 30, 2009 Audiophile: http://www.soundstagedirect.com/product2466.html http://www.soundstagedirect.com/fred-neil-...-vinyl-lp.shtml http://www.soundstagedirect.com/fred-neil.shtml Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted March 30, 2009 Report Share Posted March 30, 2009 It's a style/sound that has its own unique flavour and is quite different from white folks TRYING to sound black, though that can be cool, too. I hear you, too! Didn't mean to put him down in any way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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