Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

After setting himself up as an earnest, well-produced neo-folkie on his solo debut, Neil Young returned just months later in 1969 to disabuse listeners of any such notions on his second release, signaling a career-long penchant for stubbornly confounding artistic expectations. With the help of a then-struggling L.A. band re-christened Crazy Horse, Young took the rock threads he’d flirted with in Buffalo Springfield and frayed them ragged here on such guitar workouts as the instant radio staple “Cinnamon Girl.” There are still remnants of his previous country-rock incarnation on the spry “The Losing End,” but the emphasis is on creating frameworks for potent band improvisations. The album became Young’s first solo success, one he quickly expanded upon shortly thereafter by joining Crosby, Stills and Nash.