Here's Neil Young unboxing his Harvest album 50th Anniversary Vinyl Edition.
Also, a very special Comment of The Moment from a 2012!? post "Happy Father's Day! Neil Young, "Old Man" & The Story Behind The Song" by Amy Catt:
My family sold Neil the Ranch, and Louie stayed, just as he had stayed when we bought it. It was his home.
Louie absolutely believed Old Man was written about him, and was extremely proud of it. He sang it for us on a visit before Harvest was released.
Amy
Also, see:
- Details on the 50th Anniversary Edition of the album Harvest
- HARVEST Outtakes by Neil Young: "Journey Through The Past"
- Unboxing Video: Harvest 50th Anniversary Edition by Neil Young
- ESSAY: Neil Young’s Harvest at Age 50 by Harvey Kubernik
- "Neil Young's Harvest: A Multi-Voice Narrative" by Harvey Kubernik
- Neil Young Remembers "The Innocence": WORDS
- Neil Young's "Song of the Day": "Are You Ready The Country?" + VIDEO
- Neil Young's Memories of Recording Harvest Album: "Sessions of a Lifetime"
- Neil Young's Song Of The Day: "Heart of Gold" + 1971 Interview
- Unboxing Video: Harvest 50th Anniversary Edition by Neil Young
- INTERVIEW: Neil Young Says He Was Offered Millions to Tour Harvest Album | AARP
Harvest by Neil Young - Released on February 1, 1972
He was on Howard. "I'm the only one left ". True that.
ReplyDeleteThe photo of Neil reflected on the surface of a doorknob has always been one of my favorites. Love the curving, wobbly reflection.
ReplyDeleteWorld Record arrived on 11/29 (or 29/11 for those outside the US), about ten days after shipping. Harvest 50 recently shipped. Based on precedent, it will arrive within 10-12 days. Which makes me wonder if they're doing ground delivery from CA to east coast.
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ReplyDeleteThoughts on World Record (unsure where to post at this stage, so they end up here).
ReplyDeleteAfter finally having the chance for uninterrupted, close listening, I find Dan's initial take right on. Funnily enough, I last listened to the album while dog-walking, inadvertently mirroring Neil's theme of creating the music while walking. Maybe this is the best way to experience the album, while on the move. Admittedly, this means one doesn't necessarily have access to hi-fi audio equipment while listening. Nonetheless--if FITR is driving music, these are walking songs.
I doubt anyone can add much to scotzman's account of Chevrolet. For me, however, the first nine songs fit together so completely, so organically and symmetrically, as a unit of music that by the time we get to Chevrolet, my most powerful impression of the album has already occurred. Much as Chevrolet is a creature unto itself, side by side by side with the rest of World Record, it feels like icing on the cake, gilding the lily--in the best possible way.
Although the 3LP/2CD configuration is questionable on a couple of levels, my assumption is that Neil (for sound artistic reasons) wanted Chevrolet to stand on its own. That is certainly the effect of putting it on a separate disc, especially when the preceding songs fit together in such an organic way. (One or two indy bands have curated music this way and called it a "double EP", incidentally.)
As usually seems to be the case for me, there are a couple of particularly wonderful songs that others are inclined to overlook. I'm thinking of Overhead and The World (is in Trouble Now). The former is a pure burst of sunny enthusiasm of the soul. The latter, with its shuffling rhythms and bluesy, lurching pump organ, has a different kind of immediacy, an earthy, angsty jumble of impressions that ends up wrestling with existential fears and fundamental questions:
"Because the earth has held me so, I never will let go--I never will let go..." I interpret this as the will to live, the desire to act, even in the face of the inevitable. Songs like this one, Break the Chain, and I Walk with You (Earth Ringtone) deal with liminal spaces between life and death. I Walk with You is the most refined, but The World (is in Trouble Now) is my favorite, perhaps because of its precipitous rawness.
On I Walk with You, for instance, I don't know how anyone can listen to the lumbering, swampy, sawing guitars and not feel the weight of the song. That's without even getting into the words, which should speak for themselves (the mix does occasionally bury vocals but when in doubt, the lyric sheet is your friend).
"Walk with me now to the ends of the earth and you'll see what the damage can be... the end of wars/the price of life/the cost of care/the toll of strife."
The best moments of World Record, like this one, show a mutuality between words and music, where each component makes the most of the other to create a meaningful whole. At the least, I challenge anyone to really pay attention to the words without concluding that some major statements are being made. The primary one being to "love earth and your love comes back to you."
Lastly, despite some comments to the contrary, I don't think it takes special effort to get this experience out of Neil's recent music. At least, no more effort than is required to listen to any music closely, with attention to the whole as well as individual parts.
Waiting for another delivery
ReplyDeleteOf vinyls and a pictured book
I ain't glad, but they have what they took
(my money for this pre-order that is)
To get away
@ Meta Rocker - Thanks for much for our latest CotM.
ReplyDeletehttp://neilyoungnews.thrasherswheat.org/2022/12/comment-of-moment-world-record-neil.html
Good concluding points. We made a similar response on the The Old Grey Cat review about reaction to WR: "So open your ears and heart, and give World Record a listen" is really the only way to approach Neil.
@ Dionys - the delays are a bummer. but you got a poem out of it.
$150!
ReplyDeleteAt Times he sounds like he doesn't know what's in the box! Anyway, prepare to be disappointed by the sound of the BBC DVD, it sounds like it wasn't mastered properly, way too loud, with very little dynamic range and lots of distortion and clipping. The CD, digital and LP sound fine. I enquired NYA and they responded quickly that they'll look into the matter. Many other people have made the same complaint, maybe Thrasher would like to chip in here as well?
ReplyDelete@ Harm - well, that's a bummer. sorry to hear about the troubles.
ReplyDeletequality control ... whether you want it or not.
regarding followup, Dan is on it. See his inquiry to NYA & response on comment thread @
http://neilyoungnews.thrasherswheat.org/2022/12/comment-of-moment-neil-youngs-harvest.html
Any ideas on the other Harvest outtakes Neil didn't think were up to scratch to include that he alludes to during the unboxing?
ReplyDelete