Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Zuma (1975/2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Zuma (1975/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 36:31 minutes | 1,27 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Reprise

Zuma is the seventh studio album by Canadian musician Neil Young, released on Reprise Records in 1975. Co-credited to Crazy Horse, it includes “Cortez the Killer,” one of Young’s best-known songs. It peaked at #25 on the Billboard 200, and has been certified a gold record by the RIAA.

Having apparently exorcised his demons by releasing the cathartic Tonight’s the Night, Neil Young returned to his commercial strengths with Zuma (named after Zuma Beach in Los Angeles, where he now owned a house). Seven of the album’s nine songs were recorded with the reunited Crazy Horse, in which rhythm guitarist Frank Sampedro had replaced the late Danny Whitten, but there were also nods to other popular Young styles in “Pardon My Heart,” an acoustic song that would have fit on Harvest, his most popular album, and “Through My Sails,” retrieved from one of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s abortive recording sessions. Young had abandoned the ragged, first-take approach of his previous three albums, but Crazy Horse would never be a polished act, and the music had a lively sound well-suited to the songs, which were some of the most melodic, pop-oriented tunes Young had crafted in years, though they were played with an electric-guitar-drenched rock intensity. The overall theme concerned romantic conflict, with lyrics that lamented lost love and sometimes longed for a return (“Pardon My Heart” even found Young singing, “I don’t believe this song”), though the overall conclusion, notably in such catchy songs as “Don’t Cry No Tears” and “Lookin’ for a Love,” was to move on to the next relationship. But the album’s standout track (apparently the only holdover from an early intention to present songs with historical subjects) was the seven-and-a-half-minute epic “Cortez the Killer,” a commentary on the Spanish conqueror of Latin America that served as a platform for Young’s most extensive guitar soloing since his work on Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. –William Ruhlmann

Tracklist:
01. Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Don’t Cry No Tears (02:34)
02. Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Danger Bird (06:54)
03. Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Pardon My Heart (03:47)
04. Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Lookin’ For A Love (03:16)
05. Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Barstool Blues (03:00)
06. Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Stupid Girl (03:12)
07. Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Drive Back (03:33)
08. Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Cortez The Killer (07:30)
09. Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Through My Sails (02:41)

Personnel:
Neil Young — vocals, guitars
Frank Sampedro — rhythm guitar all tracks except “Pardon My Heart” and “Through My Sails”
Billy Talbot — bass all tracks except “Pardon My Heart” and “Through My Sails”; backing vocals all tracks except “Through My Sails”
Tim Drummond — bass on “Pardon My Heart”
Ralph Molina — drums all tracks except “Pardon My Heart” and “Through My Sails”; backing vocals all tracks except “Through My Sails”
Stephen Stills — bass, backing vocals on “Through My Sails”
David Crosby, Graham Nash — backing vocals on “Through My Sails”
Russ Kunkel — congas on “Through My Sails”

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