In what can only be considered momentous Neil Young news, the release of the Neil Young Original Releases Series 1 - 14 has been announced.
From the Pono Community forum, comes word that Neil Young's first 14* catalog albums are due to be released on Dec 23, 2014 as digital downloads through the Pono Store at resolutions of either 24/176.4 or 24/192. This is a vast improvement from some of the current download quality of 96kHz/24bit.
Neil Young [PONO] {192/24bit}
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere [PONO] {192kHz/24bit}
After The Gold Rush [PONO] {192/24bit}
Harvest [PONO] {192kHz/24bit}
Time Fades Away [PONO] {192/24bit}
On The Beach [PONO] {176.4kHz} {24bit}
Tonight's The Night [PONO] {192/24bit}
Zuma [PONO] {192/24bit}
American Stars 'N Bars [PONO] {176.4k/24bit}
Comes A Time [PONO] {192/24bit}
Rust Never Sleeps [PONO] {192/24bit}
Live Rust [PONO] {192/24bit}
Hawks & Doves [PONO] {176.4/24bit}
re-ac-tor [PONO] {176.4kHz/24bit}
*As noted, many of these albums have not been digitally remastered since the original Warner CD editions issued in the 80's. More on Steve Hoffman Forums. (Thanks HoundsThatHowell!)
Now how about releasing those 4 albums on CD so us mere mortals without the cash to blow on the Pono system can enjoy them in remastered quality?
ReplyDeleteThere's probably an FAQ that answers this somewhere, but based on the diagram I wonder if I can download some of the albums through the PONO store and play them on my computer. My intuition tells me no, because the PONO player was developed to reproduce the sound in a way that a computer can't but can someone confirm that you need a PONO player to play the files you would be downloading?
ReplyDeleteYou don't need a Pono player to play these FLACs. However, I know as of now the Pono store is in beta, so the only people who are able to buy stuff are those with Ponos.
ReplyDeleteThe Pono btw... sounds amazing.
This is slightly off topic but also on topic -
ReplyDeletesaw the following exchange in a joni interview today:
Was there anything you tweaked or adjusted once you revisited the masters?
The masters have been irresponsibly maintained, a lot of them were corroded, so I had to go a different way. I remastered from my own record collection, so it was generational, on Pro Tools which is all digital. And digital has done horrible things to music. But using digital, the enemy, with analogue-y cues on some of these programs, I put some of the warmth back in as best I could. But [mixer] Bernie Grundman went back to the masters and found they weren’t in good shape. So he remastered side 3, and I remastered sides 1, 2 and 4. Henry and I made 14 albums together and the sound of those was pretty consistent. It was when Larry Klein pulled me away and Mike Shipley in the ’80s, and that appetite for “sizzle and fry” as I call it. It’s a very unattractive sound, and it dates. But that was only one album, and there was some imposition of trendy stuff. But even in the remastering I was able to clean some of that junk off of it.
- Its discouraging to hear that someone as iconic as Joni has her analog masters in such a dilapidated state ... the purpose of pono is to deliver the music in its highest form ... if some of the greats have nothing but crappy digital masters (including even some of Neil's 90s epic stuff) its a tough reality to swallow ... no offense against today's artists but i don't need 50 cent's newest works on Pono ... I need Joni's collection, and Neil's and Bob's ect...
Pono isn't its own format, its a music store plus portable player for flac format files, which you can probably already play on your computer and mobile device.
ReplyDeleteALso, the files are drm free, meaning you can back them up anywhere, re-encode them to whatever format and quality you prefer.
I personally know that also in the hard die community many people won't buy the new Pono products and find these recordings elsewhere, without benefiting Neil Young or his recording company.
ReplyDeleteI really think that Neil is wrong on these exclusive releases on Pono. This isn't a complaint.
So Tired.
Meanwhile, folks who invested in expensive Blu Ray Audio systems eagerly await a new release. Neil Young's latest album, Storytone, is not available in Blu Ray Audio format. The Archives, Vol 2, will hopefully be available in Blu Ray format. How about releasing all of the albums now available on Pono on Blu Ray, Neil?!
ReplyDeleteA Blu-ray could store all the 3 versions and the accompanying video...
Delete@ Unknown - that's probably coming in '15. And are we not all mere mortals...
ReplyDelete@ Michael - thanks for clarification. Kinda like the questions we had for NYA#1 with the BluRays & DVD's.
@ Dan1 - thanks for Joini interview. It is very sad what is happening to the legacy recordings. But it does seem that the preservationists are still saving the day when given a chance.
@ Nate42 - It is nice that the files are DRM free.
@ So Tired - it's unfortunate that folks rip, especially if they never purchase anything.
@ Alan - we hear you. It would be awesome as So Tired says, to have a Bluray release all on one disc!
Official Release Series 1-14 - TFA 24/192 version from pono store sounds absolutely amazing to me. I had NO IDEA that they would be able to clean TFA up so much and make it sound so present and real (I'm comparing to the below the radar HDCD). I thought I read that the album was basically recorded and mixed all digital in one fell swoop in a truck outside the arenas in '73 using the technological equivalent of a wrist watch (relatively speaking, to todays standards). Well whatever they did, I've never heard a Neil recording this up close and present. Riverboat comes close, but this tops it. Here's the kicker - EKTIN (Down By The River is what I've listened to so far) is a revelation as well! BETTER than the archives 1 releases of the standard album versions of the song. So they've really been remastered at the next level of clarity and reality. So these files in conjunction with equipment that plays it back well, loud and clear, be it a good home stereo or pono with good cans, are a big deal. Prices are high! I'm hoping they have a pono public launch sale in January or some coupon codes or something so I can secure these versions of the records before I wake up from this dream! That's how good these sound...
ReplyDeleteAfter spending Xmas and New Year hitting the Pono Store to see if TTN, TFA, Zuma, and RNS were finally available in high-res, I logged onto the store today to do my purchase and blast out some of my favourite records once again. Only to find out that the Pono Store doesn't allow any billing address outside of the US. What the heck? This shuts out the majority of the world's consumers. How do we get our Pono Sound? If you're looking to do a real revolution in sound quality, you can't limit yourself to one country. Archives Guy?
ReplyDelete@Kimball - great to hear your report. We're just getting into exploring our PONO and hope to have a report soon.
ReplyDelete@Darth - this issue must've come up before? Maybe check the PONO forums?