Neil Young's Indigo Ranch "Hitchhiker" 1976 Sessions Revealed: Behind the Scenes w/ Richard Kaplan
Already, there is much excitement about the news that Neil Young's newest album "Hitchhiker" is due for release on 14 July 2017. (See more details, cover art, and tracklist).
Hitchhiker includes solo, acoustic songs recorded in 1976 at the Indigo Ranch Studios in Malibu, California. Indigo Ranch Studios resident Producer at the time was Richard Kaplan. The above YouTube video ("Neil Young Revealed. Behind the scenes. A Studio Rat HQ podcast #11 part 1") is part one of a two part podcast about Neil Young and his recordings. Here Richard explains how Neil recorded many of his best known recordings at Indigo Ranch.
All of this comes via a comment by Dom on TRACK LIST: Neil Young's "Hitchhiker" Due 14 July:
There is an interesting youtube interview with Richard Kaplan, who owned Indigo Ranch Studios and engineered the sessions in question in 1975/76. Not sure if this has been posted before, but he goes into some detail on gear, setup, etc. as well as info on songs/albums recorded. Also a humorous story of Neil Young/Diamond mix-up…Thanks Dom! Very cool interview and quite insightful into Neil Young's approach to studio recording. Wow?!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPcsx7G_Bws
Kaplan is fairly insistent that Powderfinger, Captain Kennedy, and 1 other he can’t recall (presumably Pocahontas) were put to tape on the 1st night Neil was there. He seems to suggest that only those 3 songs were done on that night. And, that during most sessions up to 5 songs were recorded. He details Campaigner also, but that seems to suggest that is a different session.
I was fairly sure the takes of Powderfinger, Captain Kennedy and Pocahontas for Hitchhiker would be those on Chrome Dreams boot; indeed the tracklist sheet (even as this has been debunked as fake) suggests Sept. ’75 dates for all. But it does leave open the question of whether Hitchhiker is a one session deal, or is a compilation of Indigo sessions. Probably the memory of all involved is hazy…
Another separate small detail: the type font on Hitchhiker is very similar to last PS release Bluenote café. Not sure what this says, but at least it looks official.
Dom
So for the one thousandth time ...how in the world do people confuse Neil Young and Neil Diamond??? How is such a thing possible? It's like confusing Ryan Adams and Bryan Adams -- completely inexplicable.
See more details on Neil Young's upcoming album "Hitchhiker", cover art, and tracklist).
Labels: album, neil young, recording
by thrasher@PermaLink: 6/01/2017 06:54:00 PM
11 comments
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11 Comments:
Thanks so much for sharing this interview - totally engrossing
Any official confirmation yet that this album will actually be released?
@ Art - good to see you our old friend.
Funny you should ask. Because as Old Black suggested on another thread, this could be "fake news"?! As you might be thinking, what??? "fake news" on TW?! This is a chaff free zone, as everybody knows. We'll have to hang up our blogging shoes if we've been conned with a chaff/fake story.
We try very hard to provide nothing but the freshest wheat here. This story was actually vetted by a highly trusted source before the Diverse Vinyl posting. It's certainly understandable that this looks like a shakey deal but it does have legitimacy.
The Indigo Ranch Studios interviews above add even more credibility as well as Gary Burden's artwork posting on his official site.
But as always, use disCERNment. and say hi to Leslie!
Has the Diverse Vinyl tracklisting been vetted by said trusted source as well? It's funny how many news sites ran with Stefano's "definitive" tracklisting for a while...
Loves me some Wheat!
Don't care if Neil Young and Neil Diamond are different persons - it's all one song !
I always thought it kinda strange Neil Diamond appeared on the movie the "Last Waltz".......
This video was very informative. AND VERY LONG! Geeze. coulda spit it out in half the time w/o all the "Atta Boys" & pats on the back. And @ 47 + minutes there is a part 2 ???
I'll wait fer the album release, thanks.
(couldn't help but think this was a form of an audition tape for future Archives 2 bonus video inclusion)
@ Lone Red Rider - not per se on vetting as of yet. But we call it as officially un-official which we can neither confirm nor deny. as always, use disCERNment.
@ ViP - it's all one tracklist!
@ herbsworld - yes, quite informative. not sure about part 2 either. anyone checked out pls report back.
... and we can only dream that this serves as an audition tape for future Archives 2 ...
Can't help but think that there is hidden meaning in disCERNment :-). I did some googling. CERN, The European Organization for Nuclear Research recently discovered the Higgs Boson and is constantly under scrutiny for the potential creation of a singularity (black hole) or an opening of a new dimension in space time. Since we all know that the Neil Young Archives are a sort of parallel universe playback of Neil's career, I have to wonder whether physics is on the verge of something big here :-)
Yes Thrasher, part 2 has a little more about Will To Love and some good stories about Trans. I thought he was gonna tell a story about Campaigner but gets side tracked by the other guys.
@ Lone Red Rider - good catch. Ahh, yes, disCERNment.
In these days of chaff tsunamis, one must be ever more vigilant when separating the wheat. So yes, discernment is key.
But you're on the right track on CERN. There is quite a history with the org that goes back to the 1950's and it's founding mission to build The Internet.
So they're not be trifled with as they search for Higgs Boson and "The God Particle".
Andd you're probably right that CERN has something to do with the Neil Young Archives being trapped in a parallel universe.
Welcome to The Big Room ... So big a lens can't even cover ...
@ Syscrusher - Thanks! We'll track down Part 2 and post here. We found Pt #1 of the interview to be highly fascinating.
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0C2IAT3vbA&t=6s
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