PREVIEW REVIEW: "Psychedelic Pill" on Uncut.co.uk
by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
(Click photo to enlarge)
Yesterday, we had our first look at the album cover art for "Psychedelic Pill" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse which folks had all sorts of reactions too.
Now comes a mini preview review of a first listen of Neil Young & Crazy Horse: "Psychedelic Pill" - Uncut.co.uk by John Mulvey:
First up; it’s great, though I’m conscious of being someone with an enormously high tolerance of Neil Young’s self-indulgences, especially when he has the bedraggled might of Crazy Horse in tow. Trying to place “Psychedelic Pill”’s excellence into some canonical ranking doesn’t make a whole deal of sense to me, in much the same way as it feels a bit pointless trying to measure up “Tempest” against “Blonde On Blonde”. Young’s 35th studio set is best understood as the next chapter in what has been an eccentric and compelling last decade of music-making, with this time (unlike on “Americana”, blogged about here) a lot of extended jams to satisfy my favourite NY cravings.
If you’ve seen the revealed data about “Psychedelic Pill”, you’ll know about how extended those jams are: two over 15 minutes, and one – the extraordinary opener “Driftin’ Back” – stretching out to nearly half an hour by itself. You’ll have seen the sleeve, too and, in conjunction with the title, wondered exactly how psychedelic this record might be.
More on Neil Young & Crazy Horse: "Psychedelic Pill" - Uncut.co.uk by John Mulvey.
by thrasher@PermaLink: 9/12/2012 12:04:00 PM
21 comments
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21 Comments:
So much hype...One of the unheard songs has similarities to "Like A Hurricane"???? Sweet!!
"Driftin' Back" has me a little nervous that it might be 27min of droning wankoraphy. I am not a huge fan of "Slips Away" and 27minutes of it might have me reaching for the "skip ahead" button. I will try not to pre-judge, though...
On vinyl it would be different, though...you'd just play that side all the way through.... CDS have made me develop ADD.
Just hoping that 'Drifting Back' isn't just 'Horseback' re-hashed. I'm sure that we'll be hearing all about 'Neil Youngs come back'once again as if he was ever gone in the first place. Ramada Inn and maybe Walk Like A Giant could even get some airplay if it weren't for the length.
In the Uncut article John Mulvey states that Driftin Back is not HorseBack.October is looking like the best month ever.Book,tour,Cleveland show im going,Journeys blue ray massey hall,i was there,Psychedelic Pill,Bridge School concerts.And my birthday in October,38 yrs of following Neil. Keep On Rockin'
Some Trivia:
- Psychedelic Pill is now Neil Young´s longest album ever (about 83 minutes withouth bonus track, with bonus track it might be 87 minutes as long as the alternate mix is just as long as the other version and they don´t put in 15 minutes of silence ala Nirvana´s Nevermind) beating out Greendale by 5 minutes (Greendale was 78 minutes long).
- It´s the first studio double CD.
- It´s the third tripple LP after Decade and Greendale (Sun Green and Be The Rain took one side of the third record each).
- Not counting the Dead Man soundtrack it´s the 7th studio album longer than one hour.
- It´s 40 minutes shorter than Weld which was a double LP.
I think Neil's new standard for sound quality limits a vinyl side to 20 min play time max. This is somewhat recent and not reflective of the vinyl up through WELD.
I would expect that "Driftin' Back" would be split onto 2 halves of one of the 3 disks to comply with his standard....Or edited down to a shorter version...
OK, I take back what I said about "Slip Away"....I listened to it and I think it's A-OK!
I think I was getting confused with the long single chord jam at the end of Loose Change.
I Love long jams, can't wait to get the album. Can't wait to see Journeys. I had front row seats for both nights at Massey Hall. I was in better shape for Massey Hall then when I saw Neil in Buffalo on 5/19/2010 13 days after My wife passed away. I have a new lady in My life and We have great seats for Cleveland and Toronto. She has always Liked Neil but now She is really starting to get it. She is not one of the devoted yet but But I think She will be when She see's Neil and crazy horse up close. Can't wait. Doug S. Warsaw N.Y.
I've been listening to mp3s of his many new songs played live as heard on BigOzine. What a bunch of fantastic songs! There are epic guitar passages and jams, incredible sing-along anthems, touching tunes, transcendent guitar howls that hypnotize and carry away one's mind, an acoustic tip-of-the-hat to Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone." This is another hugely satisfying satisfying dose served up by the Godfather of Grunge. Thank you Neil Young for plugging into the Muse and laying down the tracks! Much appreciation, Alan G
Glad to hear you're doing well Doug! Ann and I were at the 8/5 Red Rocks show, it was a great experience. Walk Like a Giant and Ramada Inn were so much more than I could have hoped to see and hear at that show. Please give our regards to your lady friend!
Thrasher:
What a wonderful time to be a Neil Young fan!!!
I agree with Soldier Steve; the September/October releases will make wonderful Birthday presents for me (October 31).
Neil's book, a double CD of new songs, and Neil Young Journeys!
Hope everyone enjoys them as much as I know I will!
Also thankful that Journeys is coming out; it's being released by Sony Classics. I think it's the most intimate of the three movies.
Unfortunately, Trunk Show is governed by Warner Brothers (not Sony Classics), and they won't release it. Why? I don't know. I know Mr. Demme is frustrated that it's being kept from the fans.
Enjoying all this good stuff for the last 46 years!
Marian M.
@LRR _ "skip ahead"?? But isn't that the point of trippy jams?
@anon - thanks for trivia. Longest studio album. funny. NY's in his twilight years and still reaching for the stars. no rust here.
@Doug - wonderful. good to hear the new lady friend is coming up to speed. Have a blast at the CH shows.
@Marian - indeed, a wonderful time. How can anyone be anything but grateful? he made it this far. we made it this far.
lucky us.
Looking forward to it ! As the rock gathers no moss. Rust surely never sleeps.
"Here we are in the years.."
I guess, the sum total of my few posts in this thread boil down to this:
I miss vinyl. There will be days when I would want to listen to the long "Driftin' Back" side and then other days when I would want to listen to all of the short songs on the other side.
Case in point: I loved listening to "Foreigner Suite" all the way through some days in high school....never got into the other side...
But I'm not going to pay 87 bucks for it, and I have no time to listen anywhere except in the car these days :-)
Totally thrilled to be a NY fan right now! Haven't listened to any of the new songs yet, still debating whether to go to the MSG show fresh or if I'll break down and listen to the songs via You Tube or the new album. Either way Uncle Neil's has come through again in a huge way.
FWIW, and this is an insignificant thing, it dawned on me that I'm not crazy about the name of the new album ... who really cares right? its a detail that's almost meaningless, nevertheless would love to learn what the inspiration for the name is .. sometimes understanding the context makes all the difference ...
All of that said, its the music that matters and from the reviews it sounds like Neil and CH have put out something great!
I wouldn't be surprised if someone randomly said "Psychedelic Pill" at some point when they were jamming or something, and Neil just liked how it sounded.
Well, first of all, I just have to tell you Doug, that I am so happy to hear your wonderful news!! Congratulations. I wish you all the best.
Red Rocks was so great. I am hoping that when we go to Tulsa Oct. 14th that they will be adding some new songs from the record!!
"Psychedelic pill" is a phrase in the lyrics to the song of the same name, which is the title song of the album. And only two songs on the album that haven't been played live so far, one of which is 27 minutes long, which could be a stretch (literally) to add to the setlist, particularly if "WLAG" stays.
I love reading anything that John Mulvey has to say, but when he's writing about Neil Young or Bob Dylan he's at his absolute best. It's like talking music with your friends and you're a teenager once again and nothing is greater than the music that you all love so much. His latest blog from yesterday has a great appreciation of the Baird Sisters...thanks John (and thanks TW for highlighting the Psychedelic Pill blog). Only thing I'd point out is that I also have "...an enormously high tolerance of Neil Young's indulgences", except I prefer to think of it as a high appreciation of his varied works of genius (and I'm sure that John feels the same).
Just finished listening to the last hour of Prairie Home Companion. At the end of the show, Garrison Keilor closed with "...and for Bob Dylan wherever you are, thank you!". And then they closed the show with a super version of Duquesne Whistle...how cool is that. He and Bob are the same age, and I wouldn't be surprised to find that Bob even listens to the show once in awhile (who knows?).
Good Luck with tonight's TW Radio Hour...you guys must be getting ready for Farm Aid next Saturday night! And so happy to hear that you are doing well, Doug.
"The world is all gates, all opportunities, strings of tension waiting to be struck."
--Emerson
"It was the decision to dive, not the entry into the water that was hard."
--D. T. Max from Every Love Story Is A Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace
@Mr H - yes, John M really seems to have the inside track on NY's stuff.
Funny, how its a UK mag & not RS that gets the scoops?
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