The Sad - 2004 Neil Year in Review

2004 was also a sad year for Neil Young. Here's the second segment of the Good, The Sad, & The Ugly: Neil Young's Year 2004 in Review.


Carrie Snodgress: 1946 - 2004

Actress Carrie Snodgress, whose career included an Oscar nomination for "Diary of a Mad Housewife", died on April 1, 2004 at the age of 57.

Snodgress and Neil Young had a son named Zeke. Zeke Young was at Carrie's side when she died. Snodgress had been hospitalized at the University of California Medical Center in Los Angeles, awaiting a liver transplant when she died of heart failure.

Neil recorded several songs which reference Snodgress. The most well known song is "A Man Needs A Maid" from the album "Harvest"containing the lines:

"I fell in love with the actress
She was playing a part I could understand"

More on Carrie Snodgress and Neil Young.


Rick James: 1948 - 2004

Funk legend Rick James, the Motown Records artist best known for his 1981 hit 'Super Freak,' died on August 7, 2004 at age 56. While much is known about James' "Super Freak" period, relatively little is known about the period during the 1960's when he formed a band known as the Mynah Birds with Neil Young.

From the book "Shakey", Jimmy McDonough writes of the electrifying gigs with James and Young. "Neil would stop playing lead, do a harp solo, throw the harmonica way up in the air and Ricky would catch it and continue the solo."

Now how cool would that have been to see? Certainly way far out cool for the 1960's.

More on Rick James, The Mynah Birds and Neil Young.


Bruce Palmer: 1946 - 2004

Bruce Palmer died of a heart attack at age 58 on October 1, 2004.

All Music Guide's biography of Bruce Palmer:

"The enigmatic Bruce Palmer is known mostly as the original bassist in Buffalo Springfield, one of the greatest rock groups of the 1960s. Although Bruce Palmer did not sing or write any material during his time in the band, he was a vital member, both on-stage and (at least in the beginning) in the studio, for providing much of the "rock" muscle in the band's folk-rock with his powerful, creative basslines."

More on Bruce Palmer and Buffalo Springfield.

Sadly, drummer Kenny Buttrey passed away this year, too.

Rest In Peace Kenny, Carrie, Rick, and Bruce.

Onto the final segment of the Good, The Sad, & The Ugly: Neil Young's Year 2004 in Review - The Ugly.