The Rockets (Sundazed Music, 2009/1968) Danny Whitten & Bobby Notkoff
Friday, September 3, 2021
THE ROCKETS (Sundazed Music, 2009/1968)
For the last few days, there has been a ghost in my head and heart, and his name is Danny Whitten, the forgotten musician on the Neil Young planet. Danny played the ultimate rhythm guitar on Neil Young with Crazy Horse's Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and with the band The Rockets and the first 'solo' Crazy Horse album. He also had a group, Danny & The Memories, who put out a 45 rpm single Can't Help Lovin That Girl/Don't Go in 1964, which reminds me of The Four Seasons. That group consisted of Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina, both long-term members of Crazy Horse. Beyond that, as I mentioned, a ghost.
Danny Whitten tragically overdosed at the age of 29, and it seems he had a troubled relationship with Young and the rest of the band. A songwriter of talent, if not on the genius level of Neil Young or the vision of Jack Nitzsche (also a member of Crazy Horse for a time), but I found his work beautiful. If Neil can add layers of anxiety, regret, and love in a song, Whitten can take one of those feelings and projected it in a heartfelt and straightforward manner. Neil is not a direct-to-the-heart type of writer. There is a twisted road that starts from A but may not go to C directly. Whitten delivers the good as my usual UPS guy. He goes straight to my front door, and in such a technique, so does the performance and songs by Danny.
A few days ago, I purchased a used copy of The Rockets because I was always curious to know more about Whitten's music before Neil Young. Now, they were an interesting band. The Rockets consist of three guitarists, a bassist, a drummer, and most importantly, a violinist Bobby Notkoff. Notkoff, who passed away in 2018, was a child music genius who studied the instrument at the Manhattan School of Music at age seven. At age 15, he toured the East Coast, sponsored by the Wurlitzer Company, and they loaned him a Stradivarius violin for the tour. He played with the Burbank Symphony under Carman Dragon, and around this time, rock n' roll pulled him to another world.
The Rockets consist of the core members of Crazy Horse - Whitten, Talbot, Molina with a pair of brothers Leon and George Whitsell, and of course, Bobby. Their album came out in 1968, and Notkoff added a John Cale presence in that band. His violin playing was violent, rhythmic, and intense comportment to their overall sound. Since Whitten came from the era of Doo-wap, it also reminds me of Lou Reed's obsession with that category of music. The three-guitar setup also reminds me of Peter Green era Fleetwood Mac with their trio of guitars. Although very much in tune with the rock of that era, it did have a twisted sensibility with the string instruments and the soulful voices from the pre-heavy rock era. One-side is pretty much tunes by Whitten, and all of them are very good. There is nothing heady or intellectual, but they are solid tunes, and Notkoff's violin makes the work unique.
There was a missed opportunity with Whitten's tragic death and being kicked out of Crazy Horse due to narcotics. Young death is always sad, but especially when one is talented and by all means, one can see that figure become more extraordinary in their field. If things were different, Whitten could grow as a songwriter, and without a doubt, he could have been a Mick Ronson to Neil's David Bowie. He was a team player in both The Rockets and Crazy Horse, and the music he recorded with Young (both studio and live) has touches of true greatness. For one, his backup vocals are understated but very much a substantial part of the arrangement. Music is very much about the survivors, but the ones who perish are forgotten, but the intensity of the memory will never forget Danny Whitten.
