On the Shelf 120: Neil Young
Jul. 12th, 2014 07:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bedsitter23Maybe David Geffen was right.
In the neverending war between artists and 'suits', inevitably most fans ends up siding with the artist- thus it has been for Hank Williams 3 vs Mike Curb, George Michael vs Sony, and Prince vs Everyone.
Still, with A Letter Home, it's inevitable to think is Neil Young just like this. Does he act this way on purpose or what?
When 2012's Americana was announced, I thought- a standards album of songs we think of as 'patriotic kids' songs'.
Indeed, we were all wrong. It was incredible.
So when I heard his new album was a series of songs he felt were influential, I was pretty stoked.
Oh, and they're recorded on 1947 technology- Jack White's Voice-O-Graph booth which lets you record direct to vinyl.
Wait, what?
I was a 90s indie fan. Believe me when I say I have Lo-fi cred. My shelves have albums by the likes of Sebadoh, Daniel Johnston, Half Japanese, Jandek, Smog, Guided by Voices, and a series of artists who wanted to record on 4-track in that decade.
This is No-Fi.
It's Neil. So, you can't hold it against him. If you take out Trans, Everybody's Rockin' and Arc, and just look at the last 15 years or so, this is a guy will record a concept album, a country album, a quickly written political riposte, reworked older material, a solo garage album, and an extended psychedelic jam. If you don't like what Neil's doing, don't worry, he will have something you like in a matter of months.
A Letter Home is a tough pill to swallow though. We would be forgiving if these were tracks found in decaying dust bins, but it's hard to explain why someone would do such a thing on purpose.
Indeed, as we have gotten used to Alan Lomax's and others decades-old recordings- this record sounds even worse.
Of course, it can never be as simple as that. I was ready to dismiss this pretty quickly, but thst's the wrong reaction, too. These are actually really good covers.
There is some well-known and well-trodden material here too. Neil really makes good use of it. I'm not entirely convinced that he needed to go to the extremes he did to 'strip' these songs down, but there's no question it works.
I do find the fidelity a little hard to swallow at times, which is why I won't call this a great album. But it's a very good album, and he's pulled off something - a good covers album of songs in which many people will already know.
Anyway, that's my take. If you don't like it, Neil is probably prepping something new as we speak.
In the neverending war between artists and 'suits', inevitably most fans ends up siding with the artist- thus it has been for Hank Williams 3 vs Mike Curb, George Michael vs Sony, and Prince vs Everyone.
Still, with A Letter Home, it's inevitable to think is Neil Young just like this. Does he act this way on purpose or what?
When 2012's Americana was announced, I thought- a standards album of songs we think of as 'patriotic kids' songs'.
Indeed, we were all wrong. It was incredible.
So when I heard his new album was a series of songs he felt were influential, I was pretty stoked.
Oh, and they're recorded on 1947 technology- Jack White's Voice-O-Graph booth which lets you record direct to vinyl.
Wait, what?
I was a 90s indie fan. Believe me when I say I have Lo-fi cred. My shelves have albums by the likes of Sebadoh, Daniel Johnston, Half Japanese, Jandek, Smog, Guided by Voices, and a series of artists who wanted to record on 4-track in that decade.
This is No-Fi.
It's Neil. So, you can't hold it against him. If you take out Trans, Everybody's Rockin' and Arc, and just look at the last 15 years or so, this is a guy will record a concept album, a country album, a quickly written political riposte, reworked older material, a solo garage album, and an extended psychedelic jam. If you don't like what Neil's doing, don't worry, he will have something you like in a matter of months.
A Letter Home is a tough pill to swallow though. We would be forgiving if these were tracks found in decaying dust bins, but it's hard to explain why someone would do such a thing on purpose.
Indeed, as we have gotten used to Alan Lomax's and others decades-old recordings- this record sounds even worse.
Of course, it can never be as simple as that. I was ready to dismiss this pretty quickly, but thst's the wrong reaction, too. These are actually really good covers.
There is some well-known and well-trodden material here too. Neil really makes good use of it. I'm not entirely convinced that he needed to go to the extremes he did to 'strip' these songs down, but there's no question it works.
I do find the fidelity a little hard to swallow at times, which is why I won't call this a great album. But it's a very good album, and he's pulled off something - a good covers album of songs in which many people will already know.
Anyway, that's my take. If you don't like it, Neil is probably prepping something new as we speak.
