With the sudden announcement that the Neil Young & Crazy Horse tour went on an “unplanned break,” fans of the iconic musician and his legendary bandmates can use the money previously allotted for an expensive beer at a show and buy something lasting longer than a warm pour on a summer night – the latest archival release from Young, “Early Daze.” It collects recordings from 1969 of Young with Crazy Horse — Danny Whitten, Jack Nitzsche, Ralph Molina and Billy Talbot. Out of the 10 tracks, only one (“Dance Dance Dance”) has been previously released while “Cinnamon Girl” derives from a 7-inch mono mix with a guitar outro not on the original LP version. Whitten’s presence as well as him taking the lead vocals on “Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown,” with its lines “Sure enough they’ll be sellin’ stuff/When the moon begins to rise” darkly foreshadowing his eventual overdose death, and “Look at All the Things,” makes the release, in part, a tribute to his contributions to this incarnation of Young with Crazy Horse — his first band after the breakup of Buffalo Springfield.

The rest of Early Daze acts as a peek in the studio as the musicians record different takes of beloved classics. Other than “Wonderin’,” which features a loping country gait more in line with this time period than its better-known rockabilly affectation on “Everybody’s Rockin’” album, a slightly punchier less mournful “Helpless” (pre-CSNY official release on Déjà vu) and a first take of “Down By the River” that finds the song finding its groove  minus the inherent menace on the one that made it on to 1969’s “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere,” much of the material is notable for how complete the tunes are in their arrangements and the locked-in chemistry of the musicians – “Dance Dance Dance,” “Winterlong” and “Birds.” Overall, “Early Daze” merits a strong interest as a historical artifact possessing low-key thrills.