Well it's ARC day!
For the unitiated, Deb "Rewriting the Rules" on Rust has been encouraging folks to play ARC -- one of the more obscure Neil Young recordings -- on April 1 each year.
Part of the Arc-Weld release, Arc is 35 minutes of pure distortion and molten feedback from the 1991 Neil Young and Crazy Horse tour.
According to legend, Neil placed a video camera on his amp during the 1991 tour and recorded the beginnings and endings of various songs which were later edited down into the single track of Arc. (ARC single excerpt played on PLAYLIST: Neil Young Deep Dive | WTJU.net - 91.1 FM ) "It was the sound of the entire band being sucked into this little limiter, being compressed and fuckin' distorted to hell," Neil said.
"Arc is like being inside of a very big thing. I equate Arc to that movie Fantastic Voyage -- it's like a trip through a power chord. The chord may last like five or six seconds, but it takes thirty-five minutes, at the size we're reducing ourselves to, to go through it." – Neil
Arc is a composition of feedback, guitar noise, and vocal fragments that was realized from various shows on the 1991 Neil Young and Crazy Horse US tour, which was originally released with Weld in a special-edition 3-CD set called Arc-Weld. Arc bears no small resemblance to the music of Sonic Youth, which was one of the support acts on the tour.
According to an interview with Steve Martin of Agnostic Front that appeared in the December 1991 issue of Pulse! magazine, Arc had its genesis in a film that Neil made called "Muddy Track" (referred to in an interview with David Fricke in the November 28, 1991, issue of Rolling Stone), which consisted of beginnings and endings of various songs from his 1987 European Tour. Neil placed a video camera on his amplifier during the 1987 tour and recorded the beginnings and endings of various songs, that were later edited down into the film's soundtrack. "It was the sound of the entire band being sucked into this little limiter, being compressed and fuckin' distorted to hell," Neil said to Martin, referring to the soundtrack of "Muddy Track". Young showed the video to Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, a noted figure in New York's avant-garde music scene, who suggested that he record an entire album in a similar manner. However, Arc was not recorded through video camera microphones, as was the case with "Muddy Track", but instead was compiled from various professional multi-track recordings made throughout the tour.
April Fool jokes are a long running rustie tradition going back to the '90's by playing ARC at full blast -- with the windows open -- on repeat for 24 hours.
Ever since, rusties have traditionally tried to raise the stakes with gags and jokes. TW also has a long tradition of ARC inspired April foolery over the years.
For example, here are a few April 1 highlights from the Archives:
- Neil Young Helps Complete Long Lost Film Starring Dylan and Hendrix
- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Statement by Neil Young on Album BARN
- Legendary Cellar Door Nightclub Becomes A Starbuck$
- SNEAK PREVIEW: Possible Europe Setlist for Neil Young and Crazy Horse?
- Behind The Scenes at the "Americana" Album Playback Session
- Free Neil Young Warmup Concerts Canceled
- Time Fades Away To Finally Be Re-released
- NEW NEIL SONG: "I am music and I write the songs"
- Toast: New Unreleased Crazy Horse Album
- Top 10 Reasons Why Neil Young is Better Than Bob Dylan
- BIGFOOT-RARE 1972 Neil Young Harvest PROMO LP on eBay
- Neil Young Suffers Brain Aneurysm: Long May You Run! (Which -- sadly -- was not a cruel April Fool's Day joke.)
- Separating the Wheat From the Chaff ... or... REAL From the Fake - No April Fool's Day Joke
At the bottom of these posts, we clearly indicate Happy Arc Day -- shorthand for "Don't Get Fooled Again". Even Archives Guy has commented in the past on some of our more clever attempts. Even Neil gets into on the fun. See Neil's tweet in 2019.
Anyways, all in good
fun. Traditionally we avoid the internet on 4/1 and are always using our
disCERNment the other 364 days of the year.
The fakery and chaff reach new heights practically daily.
TW
does it's part in trying to prepare folks for the Big Shift --
separating the wheat from the chaff... or truth from lies ... or real
from fake -- as best we can with posts like: FACEBOOK UNCOVERED: How They Lied To You | Neil Young's Archives (NYA) Times-Contrarian. You can't say we didn't try...
But hey?!
Lukas Nelson sings "Turn Off The News" and brother Micah sings "Everything Is Bullshit".
So "Speak The Truth" where ever you are, when ever you can.
no harm, no foul.
peace
ps - In honor of ARC Day, Rust Radio will be playing ARC continuously for the next 24 hours.
Also, if you must have Neil Young's ARC, it is available on Amazon
NO. MORE. PAIN.
Attend ARC Day NOW!
"traveling twice the speed of sound, it's easy to get burned, with both feet on the ground"
Spotify Announces Neil Young is back and Drops Joe Rogan
ReplyDeleteYou may have missed yesterday’s Joe Rogan story:
“Joe Rogan Says He Will Quit If Podcast Becomes Place Where He Has to Walk On Eggshells”: https://bit.ly/3LNQUlt
This is a result of the Neil Young deal. There was a Zoom call with Daniel Ek, Young and Rogan wherein Ek told Rogan to cool it. You see Ek realizes his bread and butter is music, and that without music there is no Spotify. You have to know which side your bread is buttered on, and Ek finally got the message.
So Neil Young will be back this weekend, but here’s the next surprise: his music will be in hi-def! Not Atmos, Young thinks that is b.s., but Young’s songs will stream in beyond CD quality. Spotify has been behind on high definition audio, and this is a way for them to catch up. I’ve heard that Young has secretly been recording a track with David Crosby for release when he comes back to Spotify, but I’m not sure that’s true. Yes, Young decided to bury the hatchet with everybody, and by recording with Crosby, he believes his image will be enhanced and…Live Nation and AEG are fighting over the CSNY reunion tour. No, it is not happening soon enough to be a benefit for Ukraine, but there will be a charity component, since Crosby’s involved it’s going to be opioid related. As for the tour, it’s the end of the summer. The website will be up at the same time as Young’s music on Spotify, so register early if you want tickets, there’s going to be a lottery, a la the Grateful Dead. Only if you’re registered will your letter be accepted. I know, it’s complicated, but the belief is it’s scalper proof, but I won’t go into the details.
As for Ek… He’s making further moves to solidify Spotify’s position with the music community. He’s appointed Tom Gray as an advisor. Not David Lowery, just Tom Gray. And Ek plans to also bring on éminence grise Doug Morris too. Daniel wants to build good will, and by courting the naysayers, he believes he will achieve this.
Ek is also going to stop challenging copyright payment amounts for songwriters. And, he’s going to increase their payments. And, he’s going to take it out of Spotify’s end. Wall Street analysts are apoplectic, with Spotify’s margins so thin to begin with, but Ek said without songwriters there is no music, and writers need to be compensated.
As for increasing the payment per stream, that is not going to happen. Giving more money to songwriters was enough, Ek doesn’t want to bankrupt the company. So, if you don’t have a hit, you still ain’t gonna make s__t.
But there is the new bonus pool. For certain markers you get an additional payment. These start at ten million streams and go up to a billion. Because if you don’t have ten million streams, you’re not really in the recording business, even though you might think you are. This is addressing the wannabe problem. Just like Amazon no longer hosts all films for purchase, Spotify is closing the door on access. This is how it’s going to work: you can put your track on Spotify, but if you don’t have 10,000 streams in a month, your song is removed. So now “artists” will think twice about throwing up any old ditty, they’ll work harder on each tune, at least that’s the theory. And, if a song was taken down, it can never go back up, unless it reaches ten million views on TikTok.
That’s right, at first Spotify was tied in with Facebook, but after that heinous story yesterday…did you see it?
full details @
https://lefsetz.com/wordpress/2022/03/31/spotify-changes/
Did you know that Neil also released a single version of Arc?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.discogs.com/release/4728359-Neil-Young-Crazy-Horse-ArcSingle
It feels like a tongue-in-cheek / wishful attempt at Top 40 radio play. Only Neil!
Thanks Scott! Why yes. In fact, (ARC single excerpt played on PLAYLIST: Neil Young Deep Dive | WTJU.net - 91.1 FM )
ReplyDelete"It was the sound of the entire band
being sucked into this little limiter, being compressed and fuckin'
distorted to hell," Neil said.
I have Arc on cd, and once in a while, (a very LONG while by the way), I'll play it to my best friend. We have a policy of exposing each other to things that we think the other may find interesting, kind of like the cross over point in a venn diagram.... he likes Neil but has his limits, as I do with artists that he admires. Not that it's a contest but I kind of feel that I win....and Arc goes back into my cd rack to gather dust....
ReplyDeleteI have a promo cds of ARC the single.
ReplyDeleteWhat with Spotify bringing Neil Young back and dropping Joe Rogan, Neil and David Crosby recording a new track together on Ukraine and Canada liberation, the CSNY Reunion Summer Tour announcement, and the upcoming Crazy Horse Electric Train Spring Tour the following Neil news seems almost trivial.
ReplyDeleteOriginally, we intended to post yesterday on the leaked demo of "I Stand With Canada" by Neil for the upcoming MORE BARN album but other early April news overshadowed the leak and we went with the Neil news items above.
Sample lyrics:
"I Stand With Canada
Because I'm a Canerican.
Hey ho PM Trudeau has got to go
Hey Pierre, stop suppressing those truckers rights
They can protest
That's what freedom is all about.
Fly that Canerican flag
Loud and Proud
Let's Go Pierre
Out of Ottawa and onto DC
Let freedom roll
The People's Convoy rolls for freedom, justice and The Canerican Way
Hey Ho, My Ho
Them corrupt politicos got to go
Oh, Canerica
Oh, Canerica
My Canerica, your Canerica, our Canerica
Red Maple leaf, white stars and blue stripes
Oh, Canerica
Oh, Canerica"
Ha ha. April Fools no ?
ReplyDeleteThat Lefsetz post dropped the night before April Fools. I interpret it as a kick in the pants to all those individual crews who could stand up so tall if they actually did a song for Ukraine and then mounted a reunion tour. If only they could rekindle the original flames and bury any squabbles but it all sounds dubious.
ReplyDelete