Comment of the Moment: Neil Young's Time Fades Away on CD: "50 years have passed"

 Neil Young: Official Release Series Discs 5-8 Vinyl Box Set w/  Time Fades Away 4-LP, 180-gram black vinyl in reproduction jackets housed in telescoping box with a limited pressing of 3,500 (see Record Store Day's Neil Young Vinyl Releases: Official Release Series Discs 5-8 )

Again, quite a bit of headscratching in our erstwhile rustie grain communities on the recent  Times-Contrarian | NYA, where Neil Young writes about how it has been 50 years since the album Time Fades Away was released and now a CD should be released?!

Here is the Comment of the Moment on the somewhat typical "neilyoungian logic" on Neil Young's Time Fades Away on CD: "50 years have passed" by Tomatron: 

TFA on vinyl, its native format. 

Dionys, I see the connections too. So much of what arrives on NYA is subject to Neil’s train of thought. It would be interesting to see the site in an entirely chronological view, post-wise. 

What trends might emerge?

Format is so key to my enjoyment of this music. I couldn’t even bear TFA until I found a 70s pressing leafing through LPs at Antone’s Records. Then the sound made sense to me. The format of some of these newly heard tunes is similarly a focus for me. Will Under The Rainbow include the digital file of the entire unedited show like CKJr Blues did? That’s the way I wanna hear it! Such a presentation does not lend itself to vinyl, but holds up well as a document of the “you were there” feel of the bootleg. It’s for sure my favorite way to listen to Royce and Dorothy.

Ducks: Bootleg? Not a bootleg? I wonder if it’ll be great on vinyl. Likely so. But will there be Official Non-Bootleg Outtakes?

One last thought on format before I hit the hay for the last school day before a much-needed spring break. 

The new release of Neil Young (CSG Reversal)… what do we think? It sounded big and bold coming out of this iPhone. But on headphones, the mono version felt lacking. It was not meant to be mono, just shoehorned into that format for radio play at the time. It also has the feeling of being rushed out. One of the tracks is not even in mono! It’s the best-sounding one of the bunch. If you haven’t picked it out yet, I won’t spoil it. As it stands, the CSG version is currently still my go-to version. 

Like Neil said, those mixes are a lot better. The CSG doesn’t bother me as much as it might, because it’s an effect applied equally across the whole album. Classic recorded music is full of these baked-in idiosyncratic sounds. However, when Neil’s Stereo CSG Reversal is released in full, I suspect it will become the definitive edition of the solo debut. 

Straight from the console! 

Thanks for the Comment of the Moment Tomatron. Great discussion with Dionys.

Honestly, we haven't picked up on the whole CSG Reversal mono/stereo remix on Neil's 1st album.  We know the subject has been kicking around for decades and has been discussed a thousand times before.

If someone could please enlighten us to whether we have some "wheat" here or not, drop a comment below.  It kinda sounds like there might be an audible difference/upgrade of significance?  Or does one need "Neil ears" to hear?

More on the history and background of Release "Time Fades Away" Petition.

 

 Release "Time Fades Away" Petition

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