Fred Neil - Fred Neil

Fred Neil is the second studio album by American folk singer songwriter Fred Neil, originally released in December 1966 via Capitol Records.

With a deeply resonant voice that exudes a hundred different things at once - pain, joy, weariness and decades of experience - Fred Neil created an influential body of work (Neil's "Everybody's Talkin'" was later a hit from the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack for Harry Nilsson) that far outweighs its modest size. Few artists from the vibrant early 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene had more staying power than this legendary recluse, a figure who inspired the likes of Bob Dylan and the Jefferson Airplane.

Though highly regarded by contemporary folk singers, he was reluctant to tour and spent much of the last 30 years of his life assisting with the preservation of dolphins.

His self-titled album is a moody NYC masterpiece from The Village circa 1966. New York folk artist Fred Neil’s eponymous second album may not have been a sales smash, but it inspired countless contemporaries, from Jefferson Airplane to Crosby, Stills and Nash, to Harry Nilsson. It was the latter’s cover of “Everybody’s Talkin’”, featured in the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack, that garnered Neil his greatest notoriety, but the album is full of shimmering, surreal gems, like “The Dolphins” and the stunning “Faretheewell”.

Neil disappeared into reclusiveness not long after, but his legacy as a thoughtful, complex songwriter lives on.

This album is a 2019 reissue on clear coloured vinyl in stereo with remastered audio and an OBI strip, pressed in the US via Sundazed Music.