Scratchy: The Reprise Recordings [Includes Liner Notes]

For a band as erratic and unpredictable as Crazy Horse, this impressively deep collection of recordings for Reprise illustrates how it sounded most focused when fronted by its most troubled member, Danny Whitten. “Gone Dead Train” opens with a hard-boogieing, roots-rocking prowess on par with The Band. The remaster really homes in on the rich saturation of vintage guitar and tube-amp tones that (along with the band’s talent for timeless vocal harmonies) may have been what first attracted Neil Young to cherry-pick the group. With its barn-burning fiddles, the country-rocking rendition of “Dance, Dance, Dance” even upstages Young’s famed live acoustic take. Inside this mix you can really hear Billy Talbot’s bass upfront, simultaneously holding down the rhythm and steering the song’s swing. The heartwrenching “I Don’t Want To Talk About It” gives insight to Whitten’s tortured soul as he manages to put his demons down on two-inch analog recording tape. The nearly 11-minute version of “Downtown” is alone worth the price of admission, as are the final two songs culled from the band’s doo-wop days.