Fred Neil – Bleecker & Macdougal

He’s the answer to the question, “Who wrote for Buddy Holly, was backed up live by Bob Dylan, and recorded with Gram Parsons?” The late Fred Neil was a unique figure, associated, as the title of this reissued 1965 Elektra LP suggests, with the ’60s Village folk scare. As the song “Country Boy” here tells us, he was actually a Floridian with “sand in his shoes,” and brought a rich Southern gospel and R&B-flavored approach to deep-voiced singing that was far removed from the usual commercial Wonder Bread frat-boy folk style, and from the scruffy alternative established by his buddy Bob. He’d played rockabilly, played in Memphis and Nashville — and it shows.

Whether on the hits of this record — the much-covered “The Other Side Of This Life”, and “Candy Man” (the one sung by Roy Orbison, not Sammy Davis Jr.) — or the disc’s other blues-based ballads and rhythm numbers, Neil brings a rock ‘n’ roll sensibility to what are largely 12-string-driven solo acoustic performances. The results are varied in effect, involving, moving and fun, and should be an object lesson for acoustic strummers who think offering 18 songs in a row strummed on the same two chords, in the same mopey tone and mood, constitutes a show (or an album).

Later Neil songs such as “Everybody’s Talkin’ At Me” and “The Dolphins” have been available on the Many Sides Of collection, but this album best captures him in the style that set a model for adventurous new post-folk singers such as Tim Hardin, Tom Rush, and even David Crosby.