Weird Bands: The Mynach Birds

A band that featured both Neil Young and Rick "Superfreak" James

Oh 'labels', you make organizing and categorizing music so much simpler and accessible. Unfortunately you also set up paradigm pillars in our musical conscience. Sadly those pillars are make believe. Miley Cyrus enjoys Radiohead and Jay-Z. Elton John has recorded songs with Lady GaGa and Alice In Chains. Black Metal pioneers in Mayhem love German Techno music. Kanye West hangs out with Bon Iver, and Snoop Dogg is friends with Willie Nelson. Those hard lines of Country, Metal, Rap, Rock, Indie, etc, etc, aren't as restricting as we often pretend, and in many cases don't exist at all.

Enter The Mynach Birds, a band from the 60s that insanely features folk-rock legend Neil Young and Funk eccentric Rick James. Knowing their latter personas it's hard for a music fan to imagine these two personalities writing and performing together in a single band, but it did happen.

A Canadian band originally formed by Rick James and Nick St. Nicholas in 1964, The Mynach birds saw several lineup changes and a failed Canadian single before settling on their most famous lineup in 1966. This lineup included 18 year old Rick James as lead vocals, 21 year old Neil Young on guitar, Bruce Palmer on bass, Rickman Mason on drums, and John Taylor on keyboards. The young group signed a seven year contract with Motown Records, and was working on their debut album when things came undone. The advance they group had received from Motown to record their first record was pocketed by their manager, who was subsequently fired by the group. Angered at being sacked, their former manager informed Motown executives that Rick James was currently AWOL from the US Naval Reserve. Motown implored James to turn himself in and shelved the release of the group's first single "It's My Time", with B side "Go On And Cry". Young and Palmer both quit the group after James's arrest, moving to Los Angeles to form the short lived band Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills. Several different incarnations of The Mynach Birds followed, one even fronted by James after he was released from jail a year later, but none of these lineups found success and all fell out of existence without any recorded singles only a few years later. Shelved and mislabeled by Motown, The Mynach Birds's sole single remained lost and unheard until 2006 when it was released in the box set The Complete Motown Singles, Vol. 6: 1966.

In the years that followed both Neil Young and Rick James made names for themselves in different spheres of the music world, but here are three tracks that feature the two of them rocking in The Mynach Birds. Imagine what the world of music might have been if these group had survived the 60s.