Pop Music Reviews : Crazy Horse Show for Those Who Think Young

For the first time since 1974, Crazy Horse was playing live and Neil Young was not in the saddle. But the show Wednesday night before a small audience at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano was less a declaration of independence than a tribute to a familiar, quaking sound that is inescapably identified with Young.

The concert, a nearly even mix of Neil Young standards, new material and songs drawn from Crazy Horse’s fine 1971 debut album, proved that Young’s erstwhile backup group doesn’t lose its power and focus when the boss isn’t around. What remained in doubt was whether this grimy, glorious diesel of a band can roll on its own track, in a direction where every signpost doesn’t say “Neil.”

Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina, Crazy Horse’s founding bassist and drummer, were joined by singer-guitarist Sonny Mone and lead guitarist Matt Piucci, moonlighting from his own band, Rain Parade. Both echoed Young’s singing and playing style, but they performed with enough immediacy to make the 70-minute show more than a self-conscious “tribute band” exercise. With their fierce, elemental playing, Molina and Talbot backed up their contention that Young’s hard-rock style bears an indelible hoofprint that is Crazy Horse’s own.

While Young plays with his new, horn-driven group, the Bluenotes, Crazy Horse’s future as an independent band depends on developing a sound of its own. But even a Crazy Horse that can only retrace the work it has done with Young would be a welcome addition on the club circuit, a good bet for an evening’s satisfying rock. Crazy Horse plays again Saturday at Bogart’s in Long Beach.