Neil Young (CSG Reversed Mono)
released 3-6-23

Neil Young (CSG)
released 11-12-68

Neil Young
released 1-22-69

My first solo album, Neil Young, was made in 1968, just over 50 years ago, produced by David Briggs, Jack Nitzsche, Ry Cooder and myself.

When I got my solo contract with Reprise, after Buffalo Springfield broke up, I was living at Brigg’s ranch in Topanga.

We recorded in a lot of LA studios and the album was the culmination of all my dreams of becoming a solo artist, dreams I had harbored since early in Buffalo Springfield’s existence.

I played a lot of instruments on that first album, stoked to be in the studio over-dubbing and creating my dream. It’s maybe the most overdubbing I have done on any album I have created. With George Grantham (drums) and Jim Messina (bass), as well as some studio musicians including the great Ry Cooder, I built the sound of ‘NEIL YOUNG,’ my first solo record.

It was my debut album and I was very excited. When it was completed, we handed it in to Reprise, who took over the production and mastered the album. Vinyl was the media. We may have released a cassette, but I am not sure at this point.

When we got the album, after it had been pressed, I immediately noticed it didn’t sound like what David and I had painstakingly created. Something was really wrong with my debut album!

Investigating, we found that Reprise had chosen to use the CSG process; a process designed to allow a stereo album to play on a mono system. At this time in the history of recorded sound, we were in a transition from Mono to Stereo. Stereo was still new. It had been in real use for only only about two years. The CSG mixes were all compromised and the tone was substantially altered by process. What a surprise! We insisted on a re-release!

For the re-release back then, we remixed a couple of the songs, ‘Here we are in the Years’, ‘What did you do to my Life?’ and one other,’ I’ve been waiting for you.’ I probably should not have done that.

The new version was released a couple of months later. That’s why we have the first two albums, the CSG version, and the improved and rescued one that followed it.

Today, we do not offer the first CSG version for sale today. We axed it. But you can hear it here on the archives to see what the difference was.

Recently we were able to Reverse the CSG process and produce the original Mono version of the album. You can listen to it here, the CSG Reversed Mono version.

This self-titled album, my debut as a solo artist, was a labor of love for David Briggs and I, and the beginning of some of the best recordings of my life. Today, I miss David Briggs, my brother and co-creator. I hope you enjoy listening to this, my first solo recording.
ny