Paul McCartney Honored at Musicares by Neil Young & Crazy Horse, others

UPDATE: ROUNDUP: Paul McCartney Honored at Musicares by Neil Young & Crazy Horse, others


Crazy Horse and Neil Young
"I Saw Her Standing There"
Photo by McCARTNEY PHOTO BLOG

From Paul McCartney Honored as MusiCares Person of the Year - New York Times.com By JAMES MCKINLEY, JR.:

But the performance that brought the crowd to its feet and seemed to capture the rock and roll spirit of the early Beatles came from Neil Young and Crazy Horse. Mr. Young, his long grey hair spilling out from under his white hat, launched into “I Saw Her Standing There” in a loose, free style, letting the guitars ring as he sang the teenage anthem with a snarl and launched into a post-modern guitar solo in which the melody jumped, stuttered and seemed to cry out in pain. Simply put, the song rocked, sounding as if it could have been recorded yesterday.

“Paul!” Mr. Young said after he finished, raising his hand in a salute, while the crowd applauded wildly.

UPDATE:
2/11/2012 03:03:00 AM - Multiple tweets are reporting "I Saw Her Standing There" played by Neil Young & Crazy Horse.

At 2/11/2012 07:36:00 AM, Anonymous Neil Young And Crazy Horse Play Heaviest Beatles Cover Ever | News | Music News | Noise11:

Neil Young and Crazy Horse performed a full-on grunge version of The Beatles’ ‘I Saw Here Standing There’ for Sir Paul McCartney’s MusiCares Person of the Year dinner last night (February 10) in Hollywood.

At 2/11/2012 08:10:00 AM, Anonymous Gillis said...

From grammy hompage ;
And Neil Young, in keeping with the spirit, pretty much was back in a mid-'60s Toronto garage as he and Crazy Horse powered through the early Beatles classic "I Saw Her Standing There."

Crazy Horse and Neil Young
"I Saw Her Standing There"
Photo by McCARTNEY PHOTO BLOG


Photo by REUTERS



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Paul McCartney and Neil Young
The Hollywood Walk Of Fame - Los Angeles, California - 09.02.12
Photo by ContactMusic.com

Tonight, Paul McCartney will be honored as the 2012 MusiCares Person of the Year in Los Angeles.

Among the many musicians paying tribute to the former Beatle, Neil Young & Crazy Horse will reunite for their first gig together since the 2003/4 Greendale tour.

Paul McCartney on Hollywood Walk of Fame
(Neil Young on far left)

Yesterday, Paul McCartney received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Neil Young made some comments at the event.



Paul McCartney and Neil Young
The Hollywood Walk Of Fame - Los Angeles, California - 09.02.12
Photo by ContactMusic.com



From Paul McCartney rocks out for his Hollywood star - Entertainment - NZ Herald News:

"Let me tell you a little bit about our friend Paul here just as a musician," said Young, wearing a black leather Buffalo Springfield tour jacket. "When I was in high school and the Beatles came out, I loved the Beatles and I tried to learn how to play like them, and no one could figure out what Paul was doing on the bass. Not only was he playing differently because he plays left-handed, he played notes that no one had put together before -- in a way that made us stand in awe of this great musician."

Young said McCartney, 69, was "at the top of his game, he said, adding: "Like Charlie Chaplin was a great actor, that's how I look at Paul.

"Yet even with all of that craft that he has and his ability to put melodies and chords and feelings together, it's the soul that comes out of his music that makes me feel so good and so happy to be here with him ... today," he said.

Paul McCartney Inducted by Neil Young into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame - 1999

Paul McCartney and Neil Young have had quite a few interesting musical encounters over the years. (See Paul McCartney and Neil Young.)

So ... what Paul McCartney song will Neil Young & Crazy Horse cover?

The poll below represents the songs with the top votes from an earlier runoff this week.




And might it be possible that Neil & The Horse will do a medley?

Lastly, will Paul join Neil & The Horse?

Drop us a comment and let us know what you think.

And if anyone is going tonight, please leave a report. Enjoy!


Paul McCartney and Neil Young
Bridge School Benefit Concert - October 23, 2004
Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View, CA
Photo by Barry Brecheisen

UPDATE: ROUNDUP: Paul McCartney Honored at Musicares by Neil Young & Crazy Horse, others

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"Sleeps With Angels" - Neil Young & Crazy Horse @ Complex Studios - Promo

"Sleeps With Angels" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse from The Complex Sessions on YouTube.

Although this performance was recorded in the Complex studios, it isn't part of the Complex Sessions (filmed by Jonathan Demme). While The Complex Sessions was a live performance, this footage comes from the promo-only VHS 'Sleeps With Angels Continued ...' which documents the recording of the SWA album. (Thanks vaga2012 for update/correction!)

Also, see Comment of the Moment: Sleeps with Angels - "It's like a room full of mirrors".

More on The Complex Sessions directed by Jonathan Demme.

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Comment of the Moment: Sleeps with Angels - "It's like a room full of mirrors"

Sleeps With Angels: Neil Young, Crazy Horse
Preview Tracks

The Comment of the Moment is from the Complex Sessions videos regarding Neil Young & Crazy Horse's album Sleeps with Angels by Unknown:

Sleeps with Angels was the first Neil Young album that I bought myself as a teenager, and I still consider it as one of the best (if not *the* best) that Neil has ever created. I always thought it was quite undervalued in Neil's catalogue. Everything on this album seems to be in its place, nothing seems to be random. It's like a room full of mirrors, with references to so many things.

Of course, there's the obvious reference to Kurt Cobain's death and suicide note, that appears to have been a trigger for Neil to fall into Tonight's The Night - like dark mood. To which you find a reference in the black CD/LP label.

Musically it's some of the finest tracks that Crazy Horse has ever recorded. Not the easy forward-rocking Ragged Glory and also not the pot-induced one-song Broken Arrow, and not the convincing minimalism of Greendale, but a very versatile collection of songs where each song transports a different mood, but which at the same time does not fall apart, they still manage to come across as one album.

The album is also very interesting structurally. Blue Eden seems to be the dark center of the album. It picks up the theme from Change Your Mind ('embracing, distorting, supporting, ...') and musically leads to Safeway Cart. And references Driveby ('you feel invincible, it's just a part of life'). From there one (going backwards and forwards) songs somewhat mirror each other. Western Hero and Train of Love are the same song with different lyrics. Trans Am and Driveby have a very similar 'feel' to me. My Heart and A Dream That Can Last are the beginning and ending of the album that feel a little bit like child's songs/lullabies that wrap the enclosed darkness in peaceful tunes.

In all this well-produced darkness, Piece of Crap stands out as a .. well, piece of crap. But what a great rocker that is... and it nicely captures the feeling of that mystical generation X. Probably the best punk rock song ever done by Neil Young and Crazy Horse.

Only years after I bought it, I figured out that the picture on the inside of the CD which on first sight did not really reveal much except pixel mess (maybe a building and a road?) was a picture of Neil in sunglasses.

One oddity that I remember was that the CD came with an additional sheet of paper with all the lyrics translated into german (at least here in Germany.. would be interesting to find out if there have been translations to other languages as well?). Certainly useless (lyrics like this can hardly be translated), but at the same time supports the general theme of a 'concept album'. Obviously somebody found the lyrics so important that they needed to be translated for the audience. I have never ever bought an album with translated lyrics.

I am very much looking forward to the new Neil Young and Crazy Horse material. Sleeps with angels gets me in the right mood.

Thanks Unknown!

More on The Complex Sessions directed by Jonathan Demme.

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POLL: What Song will Neil Young & Crazy Horse cover for Paul McCartney at MusiCares?

Select Up To 3 Songs Only*

The news that Crazy Horse & Neil Young will reunite to play for Paul McCartney at the 2012 MusiCares Honors has electrified fans and generated much speculation about what song they will cover.

The 2012 MusiCares Person of the Year for honoree Paul McCartney will be this Friday, Feb. 10 in Los Angeles.

This will be the 1st Crazy Horse & Neil Young gig since the 2003/4 Greendale tour.

So ... what Paul McCartney song will Neil Young & Crazy Horse cover?

The poll above represents a sample of the suggestions left in comments of possibilities.

Here's what we're thinking. Folks can vote for their Top 3 and then we'll have a runoff this weekend of the top nominations.

The format for Musicares in the past has been one song per band. But maybe Neil & The Horse will do a medley?

How cool would a road trip/car medley be? Long and Winding Road, Why Don't We Do it in the Road?, Backseat of My Car, Baby You Can Drive My Car?

Any medley suggestions can be placed in comments below. Also, feel free to suggest any Paul songs not already listed and we'll try and add to the poll.

Lastly, will Paul join Neil & The Horse?

If anyone accurately predicts whether Paul will join Neil & The Horse, the medley selection and sequence, Thrasher's Wheat will be awarding some sort of prize or honor. (you must submit as a registered comment).

*A fourth vote is allowed when selecting "Medley of songs".

oh, the possibilities...

Invitation for 2012 MusiCares | GRAMMY.org

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Comment of the Moment: Losing My Religion on Audio Quality

The Comment of the Moment is concerns audio quality from the Steve Jobs, MP3's & iPods thread by rkennke:

Not sure why most discussions about audio quality need to be so religious. The fact is that you can make very fine CDs (just take NY's CDs starting from mid-90s to today) as well as very crappy vinyl records (oh boy have I listened to crappy stuff in the 80's and early 90's).

The thing with CDs is that 16bit depth and 44KHz resolution is just fine for human ears. Sure you can create much higher-resolution audio, and it carries tons of more information, but it's effectively inaudible. That is a consequence of the inability of human ears to hear anything beyond 22KHz (heck, most people probably cannot hear beyond 16KHz already) and Nyquists laws.

Similar things can be stated about MP3s. At a high enough bitrate, they are indistinguishable from CD quality. Double-blind listening tests shows that beyond 192kbit/s MP3s basically are indistinguishable from CDs or MP3s of higher bitrate.

The problem as far as I can see is CDs that are not well done. There's so many ways that CDs can be screwed up. Digital is very unforgiving with regards to clipping. Go beyond the dynamic range of the CD (i.e. turn the mix up too loud) and you get very bad distortions since the signal will be clipped off (whereas in analog you'd 'only' distort the signal). Unfortunately this is a very common practice nowadays (loudness wars). One reason why SACDs sound much better is that the mastering process for SACD strongly discourages this cranking up to the max loudness. Another problem with digital lies in the mixing and mastering process. Each transformation of the original recording means loss of information. Mix 2 tracks together and you loose information. Adjust levels of a track and you loose information. Etc etc. That's why it's important to record, mix and master with high-res audio. That has not been done in the first decade(s) of CD audio and that's one of the reasons they sound bad.

On the other hand, analog recordings and vinyl have their own share of limitations that the guys in the studio need to have in mind. The resolution of magnet tape and vinyl is not infinite either. At some level you get crystals of stuff which ultimately define your possible resolution, and the depth of the groove and mechanics of the tonearm severely limit the dynamic range of vinyl records (that's why the RIAA curve has lower levels for the bass: when the bass gets too strong the needles would simply hop out of the groove). Also, the resolution of the signal depends on the running speed of the needle over the groove. You get higher quality on the outer end of the LP than on the inner tracks (and that is audible!). Well-made records only have stuff on the outer range for this reason. The best sound you get on EPs that only have one track on the outer end and run at 45rpm. Of course the same considerations apply with regards of the recording, mixing and mastering process: you need to use much higher-quality material during the process than you use for the end result because of all the inevitable loss in between.

Please stop being religious.

Listen to the music not the technology. Give me any well done CD, vinyl or MP3 and I'll be happy! It doesn't get better only because I listen to it on the highest resolution format on the most expensive stereo ever. Music is good when it touches our hearts. And I remember how some music touched me very deeply even when I listened to it on the crappiest cassette player ever in my parents house.

Thanks rkennke!

Our take on this isn't so much that folks get religious on audio quality as much as that they are passionate about how their music sounds.

More on Steve Jobs, Neil Young, MP3's & iPods.

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Neil Young and Crazy Horse: "When I Hold You in My Arms" - Farm Aid 2001

Neil Young and Crazy Horse performing "When I Hold You in My Arms", live at Farm Aid in 2001.

The Concert for America in Noblesville, Indiana was held just 18 days after the September 11 attacks on September 29, 2001.

The Concert for America honored family farmers as a resource for the nation.

This version of "When I Hold You in My Arms" is quite unique with Neil playing both the piano and Old Black guitar.

And -- needless to say -- this rendition given the context is unbelievably poignant and heartfelt.

More on Farm Aid: The Music Industry’s Longest-Running Philanthropic Concert.

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Comment of the Moment: "Horse Back" and Audio Quality

The Comment of the Moment is concerning "Horse Back" and Audio Quality from the Steve Jobs and Neil Young thread by Kimball:

Now, on the subject of Horse Back Neil, wow, that is an assault of rich guitar tone. I can tell that even through the lossy compression of the video on Neil's website. Its going to be great to hear the record(s) when they come out.

Remember that little note on Neil's own news page on his website, that 2012 is going to be the year that the record companies bring high quality or high resolution audio to the masses. Seems like that was there back in August or so, and now Neil's speaking about the subject in public. I can't wait to see what the format is, and what it will require for equipment.

While I've been watching these videos of Neil speaking about digital sound quality, I've noted his lack of mention of the previously available forays into high rez that have been available in SACD and DVD-Audio (he even re-released several of his albums on DVD audio). He also has been spanking the 128 kbps MP3. He does not mention the availability of equipment that plays CD quality flac files, like the Cowon J3. I know he's got his sights on players that will support 24/192 files. I would love that support too. But perhaps he'll get more critical public mass momentum if he gets people to understand flac equipment that at least does CD quality, which is a great deal better than 128 MP3s.

(AIFF and WAV are lossless formats that maintain full CD quality, but are also uncompressed meaning they take up maximum space. FLAC is the same in that it is lossless, but it takes up less disk space. The same quality, but compressed. That is the difference between lossy and lossless compression. Its the compression that relates to how much space the material takes up. The lossy vs lossless relates to whether there is a loss of information. Think of a .ZIP file of a document. It takes up less space, but you can still expand it to get back to the original. That's lossless compression. Imagine if you wrote your life story and then saved it with LOSSY compression to be able to save it to fit on your thumb drive. You might lose every other letter or maybe you'd lose years of passages. With lossy compression the information is gone and it doesn't come back when you read out the material. Think of it in terms of your autobiography and you're approaching how Neil and other artists feel about their personal musical compositions going through the lossy shredder.)

Thanks Kimball! Great comment.

More on audio quality, Steve Jobs and Neil Young.

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"Piece Of Crap" (Live Complex Sessions) - Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Given all the recent hoopla over today's crappy sound quality, crappy MP3's, and Apple's crappy iPods, what could be more appropriate?

Here's "Piece Of Crap" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse from the Complex Sessions.

This goes out to all those Restless Consumers everywhere.

And what could be more appropriate for a Stupor Super Bowl Sunday???

(Thanks doc! Never thought we'd say that...)

More on The Complex Sessions directed by Jonathan Demme.

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