Zuma (Neil Young & Crazy Horse album)

Zuma, the seventh studio album by Canadian/American musician Neil Young, was released on Reprise Records in November 1975. Co-credited to Crazy Horse, it includes "Cortez the Killer", one of Young's best-known songs.

Zuma
Studio album by
Neil Young and Crazy Horse
ReleasedNovember 10, 1975
RecordedJune 16, 1974 – August 29, 1975
StudioBroken Arrow Ranch, Redwood City, CA and Pt. Dume, CA
Length36:34
LabelReprise
ProducerNeil 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)		 Zuma
(1975)		 Long May You Run
(1976)
Crazy Horse chronology
At Crooked Lake
(1972)		 Zuma
(1975)		 Crazy Moon
(1978)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic [1]
Christgau's Record GuideA−[2]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[3]
The Great Rock Discography8/10[4]
MusicHound Rock4/5[5]
Pitchfork8.7/10[6]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[7]
Spin Alternative Record Guide9/10[8]
Tom HullB+[9]

Upon release, it peaked at #25 on the Billboard 200. In 1997, the album received a RIAA gold certification.[10] In 2000, it was voted number 410 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[11]

Background

The death of former Crazy Horse guitarist and bandmate Danny Whitten from an alcohol/diazepam overdose in 1972 affected Neil Young greatly and contributed to a hiatus of Crazy Horse.

Late in 1973, Young went on tour with the Crazy Horse rhythm section of bassist Billy Talbot and drummer Ralph Molina; the multi-instrumentalist Nils Lofgren, who had played on Young's After the Gold Rush (1970) before joining the Whitten-led iteration of Crazy Horse from 1970 to 1971; and the Stray Gators holdover Ben Keith. This group, initially billed as Crazy Horse at its first engagements, became known as the Santa Monica Flyers. They recorded most of the tracks on Tonight's the Night (1975).

After the 1974 stadium tour with Crosby, Stills & Nash and another abandoned attempt at a second CSNY studio album, Young formed a new version of Crazy Horse in 1975 with rhythm guitarist Frank Sampedro alongside of Talbot and Molina. Aside from a brief period in the late 1980s, this line-up would remain stable until 2014, after which Sampedro retired and was eventually replaced in 2018 by Lofgren.[12]

Sessions

Zuma was the first album released after the so-called Ditch Trilogy, of the albums Time Fades Away, On the Beach, and Tonight's the Night.

The sessions for the album were a prolific time for Young, and a fresh start for him personally. He was newly single, having recently split with Carrie Snodgress. He and the re-formed Crazy Horse moved into David Briggs' house near Point Dume and Zuma Beach in Malibu, California, from which the album takes its name. The band would rehearse and record Young's new material at the house. The band tried out many new songs, some of which would be revisited for Rust Never Sleeps. Songs performed during the Zuma sessions that did not make the album include "Pocahontas", "Sedan Delivery", "Hitchhiker", "Ride My Llama", "Powderfinger", "Hawaii", "Kansas" and "Born to Run". Young would explain the atmosphere in an August 1975 interview with Cameron Crowe for Rolling Stone:

"I've got all these songs about Peru, the Aztecs and the Incas. Time travel stuff. We've got one song called "Marlon Brando, John Ehrlichman, Pocahontas and Me." I'm playing a lot of electric guitar and that's what I like best. Two guitars, bass and drums. And it's really flying off the ground too. Fucking unbelievable. I've got a bet with Elliot that it'll be out before the end of September. After that we'll probably go out on a fall tour of 3000 seaters. Me and Crazy Horse again. I couldn't be happier. That, combined with the bachelor life... I feel magnificent. Now is the first time I can remember coming out of a relationship, definitely not wanting to get into another one. I'm just not looking. I'm so happy with the space I'm in right now. It's like spring. [laughs] I'll sell you two bottles of it for $1.50."[13]

Young would elaborate on the same sentiments about the sessions decades later in his 2012 memoir, Waging Heavy Peace:

"Back at Briggs's, we kept playing day after day and partying at night. We did the original "Powderfinger" and held it back. We did "Sedan Delivery" and held it back. My song "Born to Run" was recorded, left unfinished, and held back. "Ride My Llama" was completely finished and mixed and held back. We recorded a lot of tunes and held them back, but we released "Cortez," "Don’t Cry No Tears," "Stupid Girl," and a bunch of other tracks on Zuma. It has a great feeling to it. Today I like listening to all of those tracks together in a compilation I call Dume that is in The Archives Volume 2. Those were some of the finest, most alive days of my life. I was getting past the lost relationship with Carrie, living the life with my best friends, making some good music, and starting to get a grip on something: an open future in my personal life and a new future with Crazy Horse after Danny.[14]

Poncho Sampedro would also recall the Zuma sessions fondly, in a March 2021 interview for Stereogum:

"Neil would say, 'I think I got a song', and we'd start playing together. We'd play some songs we knew, and then we'd try some new songs. Just recording, just having fun. Then we'd go out to eat. After a little while Neil called us up and said, 'Hey man, I just got a call from Warner Brothers and we gotta turn in a record.' That was Zuma. We didn’t have a concept in mind. It wasn't going to be this or that. It was all just wide open. We were just playing and recording, and we didn't know what people did with the recordings. We just kept making new ones. We never thought about putting together a record or running order or any of that shit. We were just having a good time. It was all really honest. We were all finding our way together. And we were relaxed. Nobody was nervous about it. We were just playing. We kept getting better and better. It was the birth of a new band even though it had the same name."[15]

Bob Dylan lived nearby, and would visit and jam with the band during the sessions. Sampedro would recall in a April 2021 Aquarium Drunkard interview:

"We just played and played and played and were having a pretty good time just goofing off. Then one day, Neil comes in and goes, 'Hey, man. I just stepped outside. Check this out. There’s a van parked in the driveway. This guy is listening to us. Check it out', and it was Dylan. Dylan lived around the corner. He heard the band playing. I guess he found out it was Neil, so he was sitting down listening to us. So that happened a couple of times and then he came in and played with us one day. We screwed up all his songs. You know, we had a good time. He was really a regular guy. I wish we would have got "Tangled Up In Blue" because I was having a blast playing that song. But somebody kept missing one of the changes. Neil was killin' it with the lead guitar. We all had big smiles on our faces. We just weren’t that accomplished of a band to pick up a song in three minutes."[16]

In his 2015 memoir, Special Deluxe, Young recalls getting Dylan's feedback on some of his new songs:

"One night, Dylan came by and I played him a couple of new songs, "Hitchhiker" and "Cortez the Killer." When he heard "Hitchhiker," a confessional about the progressive history of drugs I had taken through my life, he told me, "That's honest." That moment still crosses my mind. It makes me laugh every time I think of it because Bob's humor is so wry. I think it was his way of saying kindly that the song was not very inventive as far as creating a story goes, just that I was following a history and not making up anything new. It’s still funny to me, at any rate, the way he put it."[17]

Songs

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 (2009).

During a show in 1996, Young claimed that he'd written "Cortez the Killer" in high school while suffering from "Montezuma's Revenge".[18] A power surge occurred during the recording of the song, resulting in one verse not being recorded. Young's reaction to hearing of this was that he "never liked that verse anyway" and it has never been performed live.[19] Young explains in a November 1990 interview with Nick Kent: "There was a power-cut in the recording studio. They missed a whole verse, a whole section! You can hear the splice on the recording where we stop and start again. It's a messy edit. It was a total accident. But that's how I see my best art, as one magical accident after another."[20] Poncho Sampedro remembers: "We went in, put on our guitars and just played the whole thing and that was the take. The power even went off in the control room but not in the room where we were playing. Briggs got the power back on. We listened to where it dropped out and then punched back in right in the right place. We did lose the third verse. Something about 'a rocky grave.' Neil never sang it again.[16]

In "Danger Bird" Young interpolates sections of an unreleased song called "L.A. Girls and Ocean Boys" that had related to Young's breakup with Carrie Snodgress, specifically the line "'Cause you've been with another man / there you are and here I am."[21]

"Through My Sails" features CSNY on backing vocals. The song was once intended for a group album, Human Highway, which never came to fruition.

Record World said of "Drive Back" that "Electric guitars wail with total abandon, yet Neil keps the lid on things with one of his gripping vocal performances."[22]

Record World said that the single "Lookin' for a Love" "is perhaps Young's most accessible performance since 'Heart of Gold'."[23]

Track listing

All tracks are 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
6."Stupid Girl"3:13
7."Drive Back"3:32
8."Cortez the Killer"7:29
9."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

Technical
  • Mazzeo – cover artwork

Charts
Chart performance for Zuma
Chart (1975) Peak

position

Australia (Kent Music Report)[24] 44
US Billboard Top LPs & Tape[25] 25
UK Album Charts[26] 44
Canadian RPM 100 Albums[27] 69
Finnish Album Charts[28] 27
French Album Charts[29] 13
Japanese Album Charts[30] 84
Spain Album Charts[31] 13
New Zealand Album Charts[32] 35
Dutch MegaCharts Albums[32] 4
US Cash Box Top 100 Albums[33] 25
US Record World Album Chart[34] 30

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[35] Silver 60,000^
United States (RIAA)[36] Gold 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. Ruhlman, William. Neil Young: Zuma > Review at AllMusic. Retrieved 30 November 2005.
  2. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: Y". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 23, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  3. Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
  4. Martin C. Strong (1998). The Great Rock Discography (1st ed.). Canongate Books. ISBN 978-0-86241-827-4.
  5. Gary Graff, ed. (1996). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide (1st ed.). London: Visible Ink Press. ISBN 978-0-7876-1037-1.
  6. "Neil Young / Crazy Horse: Time Fades Away/Zuma Album Review - Pitchfork". Pitchfork.com. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  7. Sheffield, Rob (2004). "Neil Young". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). London: Fireside Books. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  8. Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig, eds. (1995). "Neil Young". Spin Alternative Record Guide (1st ed.). New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
  9. Tom Hull. "Grade List: Neil Young". Tom Hull - on the web. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
  10. "Gold & Platinum - RIAA". Riaa.com. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  11. Colin Larkin, ed. (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 153. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
  12. "Lofgren in, Poncho Out, for Neil Young's Next Crazy Horse Lineup".
  13. So Hard To Make Arrangements For Yourself: The Rolling Stone Interview With Neil Young by Cameron Crowe ROLLING STONE, August 14, 1975
  14. Young, Neil. 2012. Waging Heavy Peace. Penguin Publishing Group.
  15. Frank “Poncho” Sampedro. "On Tripping At Budokan And Why Neil Young And Crazy Horse's New 1990 Live Album Is The Band's Definitive Document, March 17, 2021, Stephen Deusner". Stereogum.
  16. Frank “Poncho” Sampedro (2021-04-20). "The Aquarium Drunkard Interview".
  17. Young, Neil. 2015. Special Deluxe. New York, New York: Plume, An Imprint Of Penguin Random House Llc.
  18. Stone, Rolling (23 February 2011). "RS Fact-Checks Famous Rock Songs". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  19. "Cortez the Killer by Neil Young Songfacts". Songfacts.com. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  20. This Young Will Run and Run, Nick Kent, Vox, November 1990
  21. Jimmy McDonough. Shakey: Neil Young's Biography. New York: Random House, 2002, pp. 488-506. ISBN 0-679-42772-4
  22. "Single Picks" (PDF). Record World. April 3, 1976. p. 14. Retrieved 2023-03-06.
  23. "Single Picks" (PDF). Record World. February 7, 1976. p. 14. Retrieved 2023-03-08.
  24. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 295. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  25. "Stephen Stills". Billboard. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  26. "STEPHEN STILLS | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  27. Canada, Library and Archives (2013-04-16). "The RPM story". www.bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  28. Sisältää hitin: Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1961.
  29. "InfoDisc : Les Albums (Interprètes, Classements, Ventes, Certifications, Les Tops, Les N° 1...)". www.infodisc.fr. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
  30. "クロスビー,スティルス,ナッシュ&ヤングの売上ランキング". ORICON NEWS. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  31. Salaverri, Fernando (2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002. Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  32. Hung, Steffen. "The Stills-Young Band - Long May You Run". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  33. "CASH BOX MAGAZINE: Music and coin machine magazine 1942 to 1996". worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  34. "RECORD WORLD MAGAZINE: 1942 to 1982". worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  35. "British album certifications – Neil Young – Zuma". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  36. "American album certifications – Neil Young – Zuma". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
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