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