Zuma (album)

Zuma
Studio album by Neil Young and Crazy Horse
Released November 10, 1975
Recorded June 16, 1974 – August 29, 1975
Studio Broken Arrow Ranch, Redwood City, CA and Pt. Dume, CA
Genre Hard rock, folk rock, country rock, roots rock[1]
Length 36:34
Label Reprise
Producer Neil Young, David Briggs
Neil Young, Tim Mulligan "Pardon My Heart," "Lookin' for a Love," and "Through My Sails"
Neil Young chronology
Tonight's the Night
(1975)Tonight's the Night1975		 Zuma
(1975)		 Long May You Run
(1976)Long May You Run1976
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic [1]
Robert ChristgauA−[2]
Pitchfork8.7/10[3]

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. Upon release, it peaked at #25 on the Billboard 200. In 1997, the album received a RIAA gold certification.[4]

Background

The death of guitarist and bandmate Danny Whitten from a drug overdose in 1972 affected Young greatly, and left the Crazy Horse band without its leader and songwriter. Young went out on tour in late 1973 with a band dubbed the Santa Monica Flyers, composed of the Crazy Horse rhythm section of bassist Billy Talbot and drummer Ralph Molina along with guitarist Nils Lofgren, who had played on Crazy Horse's debut album, and multi-instrumentalist Ben Keith, this group recording most of the tracks for what would be his Tonight's the Night album. After the 1974 stadium tour with Crosby, Stills & Nash and another abandoned attempt at the second CSNY studio album, Young formed a new version of Crazy Horse in 1975 with guitarist Frank Sampedro slotted in alongside Talbot and Molina. This line-up first appeared on this album, and has remained stable to the present day.

Content

Zuma was the first album released after the famed Ditch Trilogy, comprising the albums Time Fades Away, On the Beach, and Tonight's the Night. Young wrote most of the songs in Zuma during his time living on Sea Level Drive in Malibu, California. though "Through My Sails," originally entitled "Sailboat Song," derives from the spring 1974 rehearsals with CSNY, featuring the quartet on vocals and "Pardon My Heart" was recorded around the same period, originally intended to be released as part of Homegrown.

The melody and lyrics of "Don't Cry No Tears" are partially derived from "I Wonder", a song Young wrote in high school which appeared in his Archives in 2009. Young has claimed during a show in 1996 that he'd also written "Cortez the Killer" in high school while suffering "Montezuma's Revenge."[5] The song ends with a fade out because the original cut stopped abruptly due to a power surge, and a final verse Young had written was not recorded. Young's reaction to hearing of this was, "I never liked that verse anyway", and it has never been performed live.[6]

"Danger Bird" interpolates sections of an unreleased song relating to Young's breakup with Carrie Snodgress called "L.A. Girls and Ocean Boys", specifically the line "'Cause you've been with another man / there you are and here I am."[7] Lou Reed once told an interviewer that he felt Young had become a "great guitarist" during this period, specifically citing "Danger Bird" as an example.[8]

Track listing

All tracks written by Neil Young.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Don't Cry No Tears"2:34
2."Danger Bird"6:54
3."Pardon My Heart"3:49
4."Lookin' for a Love"3:17
5."Barstool Blues"3:02
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Stupid Girl"3:13
2."Drive Back"3:32
3."Cortez the Killer"7:29
4."Through My Sails"2:41

Personnel

Crazy Horse

  • 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"
  • Ralph Molina – drums all tracks except "Pardon My Heart" and "Through My Sails"; backing vocals all tracks except "Through My Sails"

Additional musicians

References

  1. 1 2 Ruhlman, William. Neil Young: Zuma > Review at AllMusic. Retrieved 30 November 2005.
  2. ↑ Christgau, Robert. "Neil Young: Zuma > Review". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 10 March 2006.
  3. ↑ "Neil Young / Crazy Horse: Time Fades Away/Zuma Album Review - Pitchfork". Pitchfork.com. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  4. ↑ "Gold & Platinum - RIAA". Riaa.com. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  5. ↑ Stone, Rolling (23 February 2011). "RS Fact-Checks Famous Rock Songs". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  6. ↑ "Cortez the Killer by Neil Young Songfacts". Songfacts.com. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  7. ↑ Jimmy McDonough. Shakey: Neil Young's Biography. New York: Random House, 2002, pp. 488-506. ISBN 0-679-42772-4
  8. ↑ "Neil Young Collaborations". Thrasherswheat.org. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
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