In an interview Neil Young Embraces Imperfection | The New Yorker he discusses his new album with the theme of climate change, his friendship with Rick Rubin, and recording melodies on his flip phone.
The New Yorker: “World Record” has a looseness and a spontaneity that’s rare in new recordings. It reminds me a little of listening to old 78-r.p.m. records—most early recording artists had just one three-minute shot in front of the microphone, and sometimes things got a little wild, a little free. How do you purposefully cultivate that feeling in the studio?
Neil Young: I think it has to be an accident.
One thing that many people have said about this record is that it sounds like it’s coming from another place or time. It’s not really relevant to the last record or the record before. I came up with the melodies for eight or nine of these songs while going on walks. You know how you do. You might be taking a walk with the dog or something, and you start whistling a tune. Maybe it’s not a tune you even care about; maybe you’re imagining you’re seeing a parade somewhere, and this is what the band is playing. Then I said, wait a minute, I’ve got my phone—which is a funky old flip phone, with a really funky camera in it—and I turned on the camera and made a movie while I was walking along, whistling this melody. That kept happening for weeks. I’d take my little flip phone with me, and record anything that I started whistling and didn’t know what it was. No words, no instruments, no tones, no chords—just the rhythm of walking, and whistling. And that’s how it started.
Then I was in Malibu, thinking about recording with Crazy Horse. I remembered that I had these whistling things in my pocket. I started listening to them, and I just banged out lyrics—I never corrected anything, except for my spelling, which is awful. I was using a computer instead of writing by hand—I never use a computer, so that was weird—and I’m listening to this guy whistling a melody, and I’m making up words.
It was almost like I was writing with somebody.
Full interview Neil Young Embraces Imperfection | The New Yorker
More on Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse "World Record":
Also, see:
- Neil Young Talks World Record, Harvest 50th Anniversary, Elon Musk, Joni Mitchell & Climate Change | Zach Sang Show
- All About Making Neil Young & Crazy Horse "World Record" | Rusted Moon
- REVIEW: Finding the Way into Neil Young's "World Record"
- Comment of the Moment: "World Record" by Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse
And that is why World Record sounds as it does. I find it pretty weak - both lyrically and musically. I don't think that Bob Dylan dashed off Rough and Rowdy Ways by writing down the first thing that came into his head.
ReplyDeleteRamada Inn for example shows someone who had thought carefully about the lyrics, what they mean and why. Ditto Toast.
I hope the muse returns soon and with Crazy Horse.
Chevrolet is the only half decent track - and compared to Cortez, Hurricane or Drifting Back it is certainly not in the first division.
As a teacher may have said 'Must try harder'.
Thanks for thoughts here Julia.
ReplyDeletemany do have a problem with neil's "message" albums of recent vintage. so we get the sentiment around 'Must try harder'.
fwiw, contrarian thinking is welcomed here at TW. It's ok to swim against the currents. Hope to see you post this way again.
peace
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