Editing Neil Young (section)

===The "Ditch" Trilogy and personal struggles (1972–1974)===
Although a new tour with The Stray Gators (now augmented by Danny Whitten) had been planned to follow up on the success of ''Harvest'', it became apparent during rehearsals that Whitten could not function due to drug abuse. On November 18, 1972, shortly after he was fired from the tour preparations, Whitten was found dead of an apparent alcohol/[[diazepam]] overdose. Young described the incident to ''Rolling Stone''{{'}}s [[Cameron Crowe]] in 1975: "[We] were rehearsing with him and he just couldn't cut it. He couldn't remember anything. He was too out of it. Too far gone. I had to tell him to go back to L.A. 'It's not happening, man. You're not together enough.' He just said, 'I've got nowhere else to go, man. How am I gonna tell my friends?' And he split. That night the coroner called me from L.A. and told me he'd OD'd. That blew my mind. I loved Danny. I felt responsible. And from there, I had to go right out on this huge tour of huge arenas. I was very nervous and ... insecure."<ref name="interview">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/profile/story/9102786/neil_young_the_rs_interview|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060409205354/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/profile/story/9102786/neil_young_the_rs_interview|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 9, 2006|title=Neil Young: The RS Interview|magazine=Rollingstone.com|access-date=November 29, 2010}}</ref>

On the tour, Young struggled with his voice and the performance of drummer [[Kenny Buttrey]], a noted Nashville session musician who was unaccustomed to performing in the [[hard rock]] milieu; Buttrey was eventually replaced by former CSNY drummer [[Johnny Barbata]], while [[David Crosby]] and [[Graham Nash]] contributed rhythm guitar and backing vocals to the final dates of the tour. Young has often said the album assembled in the aftermath, ''[[Time Fades Away]]'' (October 15, 1973), was his least favorite. It was not officially released on CD until 2017 (as part of Young's [[Neil Young Archives#Official Release Series 05:|Official Release Series]]). Nevertheless, Young and his band tried several new musical approaches in this period. ''Time Fades Away'' was recorded live, although it was an album of new material, an approach Young would repeat with more success later on. ''Time'' was the first of three consecutive commercial failures which became known collectively to fans as the "Ditch Trilogy", as contrasted with the more middle-of-the-road pop of ''Harvest''.<ref name="UnCut">{{cite news|last=Pinnock|first=Tom|title=Neil Young's 'Time Fades Away': 'Harvest's Unlikely Follow-Up|url=http://www.uncut.co.uk/neil-young/neil-young-s-time-fades-away-harvests-unlikely-follow-up-feature|access-date=January 3, 2014|newspaper=[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]|date=May 2010|issue=156|archive-date=October 6, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006130112/http://www.uncut.co.uk/neil-young/neil-young-s-time-fades-away-harvests-unlikely-follow-up-feature|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:Neil Young in Austin, 1976.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|Young in [[Austin, Texas]], on November 9, 1976]]

In the second half of 1973, Young formed The Santa Monica Flyers, with Crazy Horse's rhythm section augmented by [[Nils Lofgren]] on guitar and piano and ''Harvest''/''Time Fades Away'' veteran [[Ben Keith]] on pedal steel guitar. Deeply affected by the drug-induced deaths of Whitten and [[roadie]] [[Bruce Berry (roadie)|Bruce Berry]], Young recorded an album specifically inspired by the incidents, ''[[Tonight's the Night (Neil Young album)|Tonight's the Night]]'' (June 20, 1975). The album's dark tone and rawness led Reprise to delay its release and Young had to pressure them for two years before they would do so.{{sfn|McDonough|2002|p=430}} While his record company was stalling, Young recorded another album, ''[[On the Beach (Neil Young album)|On the Beach]]'' (July 16, 1974), which presented a more melodic, acoustic sound at times, including a recording of the older song "See the Sky About to Rain", but dealt with similarly dark themes such as the collapse of 1960s folk ideals, the downside of success and the underbelly of the Californian lifestyle. Like ''Time Fades Away'', it sold poorly but eventually became a critical favorite, presenting some of Young's most original work. A review of the 2003 re-release on CD of ''On the Beach'' described the music as "mesmerizing, harrowing, lucid, and bleary".<ref name="sven">{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.com/a&e/soundfury904.htm |title=Neil Young – On the Beach (Reprise) |newspaper=The Santa Barbara Independent |date=March 18, 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040421143346/http://www.independent.com/a%26e/soundfury904.htm |archive-date=April 21, 2004 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

After completing ''On the Beach'', Young reunited with ''Harvest'' producer Elliot Mazer to record another acoustic album, ''[[Homegrown (Neil Young album)|Homegrown]]''. Most of the songs were written after Young's breakup with Carrie Snodgress, and thus the tone of the album was somewhat dark. Though ''Homegrown'' was reportedly entirely complete, Young decided, not for the first or last time in his career, to drop it and release something else instead, in this case, ''Tonight's the Night'', at the suggestion of [[The Band|Band]] bassist [[Rick Danko]].{{sfn|McDonough|2002|p=469}} Young further explained his move by saying: "It was a little too personal ... it scared me".{{sfn|McDonough|2002|p=469}} Most of the songs from ''Homegrown'' were later incorporated into other Young albums while the original album was not released until 2020. ''Tonight's the Night,'' when finally released in 1975, sold poorly, as had the previous albums of the "ditch" trilogy, and received mixed reviews at the time, but is now regarded as a landmark album. In Young's own opinion, it was the closest he ever came to art.{{sfn|McDonough|2002|p=433}}