Comment of the Moment: The Mix on The Americana Album

Neil Young
Frame from film A Day At The Gallery
(Click photo to enlarge)

Quite the reaction to the post Old Men, Take a Look at Your Work: Why Neil Young and Jerry Seinfeld Need to Stop Phoning It in or Retire Already earlier this week.

Surprise, surprise.

Some thought the thrust of the commentary that Neil Young is phoning it in on Americana was accurate. And -- naturally -- others disagreed feeling that the album demonstrates the passion and power that is known as Crazy Horse.

Lots of interesting comments all over the map to check out. And thanks to all for the civil debate.

But here's a comment that we'd like to highlight by BIGCHIEF regarding the mix on the Americana album :

I have to say that I agree with 'Old Black' in that even though Americana isn't the most vital or original Crazy Horse record to come along in quite a while, there's definitely something amiss in the mix.

Since I was already exposed to the music along with everyone else via the internet along with the videos as they were released, I was keenly aware that the sound quality had left a lot to be desired. especially since during this same era Neil had also been quite vocal of his dissatisfaction of the audio sources at his disposal.

Though I don't care for the record as a whole there are a few songs that I consider to be genuinely legitimate Crazy Horse rockers that I get into. I was eagerly anticipating the arrival of my vinyl copy (compliments of my good friend Sandy Horne) which I must say left me disappointed when I placed it on my turntable for the first time. After having my ears teased for several weeks with the digital crap we were exposed to, as Old Black said the mix on the LP sounded 'muddy' and nowhere close to what I expected. I'm not even referring to whether I consider the songs not up to par with previous Crazy Horse recordings such as Zuma or Ragged Glory, I'm talking about the final mix here. Neil's guitar is buried in the mix at moments of brilliance which left me wondering how it would have been with Briggs at the mixing board. The vinyl recording did everything it was supposed to do as far as bringing out the depth and warmness and punch without feeling as if I'm being pelted by ice cubes, yet there is obviously something amiss in the final mix of the recording.

I'm sorry if I let some of you purists down with my observations here but that's just my opinion. However, I don't think it has anything to do with Neil's age and I doubt if he handed the mixing chores over to Jerry Seinfeld but as for me, I wish I never got old ....

Thanks BIGCHIEF.

Now we haven't listened to our vinyl copy as of yet and plan to soon so we can't really verify BIGCHIEF's comments. And we've primarily listened to Americana in our car and some of the early pre-release streams on headphones. And can't say that we find anything particularly problematic with the mix.

Our hunch is that we saw the Americana mix setup in the oh-so awesome "Horse Back" video we saw earlier in January. And that sounded pretty good streaming on crappy PC speakers.

Anyways, as with so many things, we're not an audio expert but just a fan so here's what the audio mix expert Bob Gendron at TONEAudio MAGAZINE thinks:

Recorded on a Universal Audio tube console and to Studer two-inch eight-track analog tape, thick chords and rough-and-ready riffs hang, wander, growl, gurgle, and toss around in the dirt; drum beats smack and slap like wet towels whapped against a cement wall. Everything, save for several well-placed choir vocal passages, is captured in the moment, fortifying Americana as the sound of a real, live band performing in a real space. After the collective’s nine-year hiatus, the dynamic is refreshing and reinvigorating to experience once again, even if it’s now been in commission for four-plus decades.

Now we're going to unwrap our vinyl Americana and give it a spin.

And then await the Bluray version... ;)

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Old Men, Take a Look at Your Work: Why Neil Young and Jerry Seinfeld Need to Stop Phoning It in or Retire Already

Neil Young
Frame from A Day At The Gallery
(Click photo to enlarge)

Not too long ago, we deconstructed a critical review of Neil Young's new album Americana. The review basically found the album to be a "self-parody" which we took issue with and made our counter arguments.

Rather standard blog affairs. Or so we thought...

In our comments on the blog post, some commenters were offended that we attacked a critic for their opinion which we disagreed with. Which we found somewhat puzzling because that's what we do here. Engage in differing opinions.

Anyways, this all a long background for the latest critical review of Americana that we take issue with.

But rather than go thru the tedious task of parsing the review, we'll just link over to it and you can read for yourself and be unfettered by our totally biased opinions and praise for Neil Young & Crazy Horse's Americana. From The Huffington Post Old Men, Take a Look at Your Work: Why Neil Young and Jerry Seinfeld Need to Stop Phoning It in or Retire Already by Christina Pesoli.

Ok, we can't resist, but... First, note Christina Pesoli's qualifications as she self identifies herself as Writer, Founder of "Emotional Hard Body Divorce Boot Camp". We have no idea what that qualification means relative to an album review.

Second, check out the comments to the piece. Here's a very small sample and a comment by lobewan:

Ms. Pesoli - While many here have criticized you for what they see as a puerile, muddle-headed, and ageist attack on two performers who have entertained, and perhaps, inspired, a generation, I would like to go on record as saying that not only do I agree, but, personally, I don't think you've gone far enough in this well-reasoned, thoughtful, and respectful commentary.

First, I agree that it is totally unacceptable, and, frankly, offensive, that these two men have chosen to age. Like you, I find it very distasteful when people get older, and while we can speculate that perhaps they've been given poor career advice by their "handlers", let's face it: in the end, it was their decision as to whether or not to get older, so I think it's fair to blame them for it.

Secondly, it's been suggested that you are out of place to be so critical, given who they are, and given who you are.

Frankly, I understand that complaint. After all, it may be true that very few artists can hope to achieve the same sort of lasting impact that "Emotional Hard Body Divorce Boot Camp" has, and it may, indeed, be unfair for someone at such a lofty height to appear so cruel to these two men, but I say: who cares about that? Their failures are fair game, and it doesn't matter if they aren't in your league. Indeed, if not for criticisms from their betters, how will they ever improve?

So, go ahead and read for yourself Old Men, Take a Look at Your Work: Why Neil Young and Jerry Seinfeld Need to Stop Phoning It in or Retire Already by Christina Pesoli.

And if you feel we've been too harsh, than you're probably right. It's all Neil Young's fault that he's Neil Young.

Ahh, The Unbearable Lightness of Being Neil Young.

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Crazy Horse: A Noble American History

Crazy Horse
from album art for Americana by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
(Click photo to enlarge)

As we have seen and heard over the weeks since the announcement of Neil Young & Crazy Horse's Americana, the album manages to somehow embody the very "Americana-ness" of the subject itself.

And yet, there just is no end to the ever widening disconnect between Americana fans and The American Dream.

So time for a little history lesson.

From Time to Get Crazy: What We Can Learn from Native American Resistance to Colonists' Greed | | AlterNet by Chris Hedges:

There are few resistance figures in American history as noble as Crazy Horse.

He led, long after he knew that ultimate defeat was inevitable, the most effective revolt on the plains, wiping out Custer and his men on the Little BigHorn. “Even the most basic outline of his life shows how great he was,” Ian Frazier writes in his book “Great Plains,” “because he remained himself from the moment of his birth to the moment he died; because he knew exactly where he wanted to live, and never left; because he may have surrendered, but he was never defeated in battle; because, although he was killed, even the Army admitted he was never captured; because he was so free that he didn’t know what a jail looked like.” His “dislike of the oncoming civilization was prophetic,” Frazier writes. “He never met the President” and “never rode on a train, slept in a boarding house, ate at a table.” And “unlike many people all over the world, when he met white men he was not diminished by the encounter.”

Crazy Horse was bayoneted to death on Sept. 5, 1877, after being tricked into walking toward the jail at Fort Robinson in Nebraska. The moment he understood the trap he pulled out a knife and fought back. Gen. Phil Sheridan had intended to ship Crazy Horse to the Dry Tortugas, a group of small islands in the Gulf of Mexico, where a U.S. Army garrison ran a prison with cells dug out of the coral. Crazy Horse, even when dying, refused to lie on the white man’s cot. He insisted on being placed on the floor. Armed soldiers stood by until he died. And when he breathed his last, Touch the Clouds, Crazy Horse’s seven-foot-tall Miniconjou friend, pointed to the blanket that covered the chief’s body and said, “This is the lodge of Crazy Horse.” His grieving parents buried Crazy Horse in an undisclosed location. Legend says that his bones turned to rocks and his joints to flint.

His ferocity of spirit remains a guiding light for all who seek lives of defiance.

So how's that Americana Dream working out for you?

Neil Young wearing Geronimo T-shirt - 2004
"Geronimo - My Heroes have always Killed Cowboys"
(Click photo to enlarge)

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Laura Marling on Neil Young & Crazy Horse's Americana

Laura Marling spoke with The Weekly Feed's Kyle Meredith while at Bonnaroo 2012.

In the interview Laura shares her thoughts on the new Neil Young & Crazy Horse album Americana.

For those who may wonder why we should care, for us, other musicians opinions often tend to be more insightful than your ordinary fan's. Such seems to be the case with Laura and Americana.

More on Laura Marling and Neil Young.

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Comment of the Moment: "Neil Young is likened unto Michigan weather"

Neil Young
Manchester, England - 3/11/08

Ah, the drama and hoopla that revolves around all things Neil Young.

We're not going to try and recap the latest developments on the Americana reaction thus far. For a refresher, see here.

The Comment of the Moment is from A Neil Young Critic Drifts Into Self-parody by BIGCHIEF:

Most of us have been NY fans long enough to know that he changes musical directions as erratic as a moth in a lampshade.

It's nothing new with Neil.

The only major difference I see was the advent of the internet and 'fan blogs' offering so much information about the mostly reclusive and eccentric artist who rarely gave interviews forcing his audience to draw upon their imaginations to not only interpret his music but his life in general which bordered on mythological with a great measure of 'mystique'. Rock journalists were rarely kind to Neil causing him to even further recoil away from mainstream media. Other then the 5 or 6 songs that Classic Rock stations still play to this day from his vast catalog, unless you had a 'Neil Friendly' fan for a friend or were fortunate enough to have an older brother or sister who turned you on there's a good chance that you would be among the majority who 'just don't get it'.

So even back in the day when he followed Harvest with the 'Ditch Trilogy' only to re-emerge with Crazy Horse with the brilliant Zuma, if you weren't a fan on top of his game this would all be lost on you. For those of us who remained faithful to the often ecclesiastic artist, we've been treated to moments of brilliance. that pattern continues to this day. Unfortunately, many so called 'fans' draw their conclusions from others often misguided opinions from others without fully researching Neil's artistic endeavors for themselves.

I remember the Neil boost I got when I watched his performance of 'Rockin In The Free World' on S.N.L. or the Bob Dylan Tribute when he did 'Just Like Tom Thumbs Blues & All Along The Watch Tower'. In my opinion those two TV appearances were not only highlights in Neil's career but those performances were among the greatest moments in televised Rock-N-Roll period.To the 'Americana' detractors, the rumored double LP ready for release this fall of original material will be, as poncho put it, more in the vein of 'Ragged Glory'.

Neil Young is likened unto Michigan weather. If you don't like what you got today, stick around a while. whatever suits you is probably just around the corner.

Thanks BIGCHIEF!

Hopefully Crazy Horse hits the road soon and we can really get down to business.

For more, see The Americana-ness of Neil Young & Crazy Horse's Americana.

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Shepard Fairey and Neil Young: The 'Americana' Collaboration

Shepard Fairey and Neil Young
Photo by The Daily Details: Blog
(Click photo to enlarge)

One of the other interesting backstories on Neil Young & Crazy Horse's 'Americana' album is the artwork which accompanies each song. Unfortunately, the artwork is not included in the CD since it appears to have been completed after album production was finished. Maybe the Blu-Ray version? (See Gallery.)

Nevertheless, each song is illustrated and the paintings add to the 'Americana' experience. From Neil Young and Shepard Fairey Talk "Americana": The Daily Details: Blog : Details by Susan Michals"

"When I was first told about the concept, I thought it sounded like a cool idea, but I'm not a huge fan of the original versions of those songs, so I was eager to hear how Neil translated them," Fairey says.

"Then when he sent me the lyrics and some of the backstories on the songs, I was even more excited about the project—especially because of what's going on right now in the United States with the economy and a lot people feeling like the promise of the American Dream is not a reality for them.

A lot of the original ideas behind songs like 'High Flying Bird' are about a man that works so hard in a mine that when he comes out into the light of day he can't enjoy the world because he's blinded by the light—in essence, the fruits of his labor.

So I think there's a lot of parallels between the aspirations and failings of the American Dream, whether it was 1880 or 2012."

Oh Susannah, by Shepard Fairey - 2012
Mixed media (stencil, silkscreen, and collage) on canvas
(Click photo to enlarge)

From an interview with Shepard Fairey and Neil Young in Rolling Stone by Steve Baltin:

"We discovered a lot of depth in these songs and the visuals of these are just amazing," Young told us. "'Clementine' is so deep with its original verses and this art, you really get a feeling for the tenseness and desperation of the situation, the unresolved death and longing."

Fairey's work brought out a lot in the songs that Young believes he might not have seen otherwise. "Almost every one of them had a view that was unique to me," he said. "I wouldn’t have thought of it."

For Fairey, the project was a labor of love. "I’m just really excited I got to do this because I love Neil’s music and I love the way that music affects people viscerally and inspires them to look deeper into the meaning of the songs," Fairey said.

"We had to bring back the original words. Everybody’s forgotten what the songs are about in the first place in their kind of rabid celebration of the beauty of the songs and the lightness of some of the verses," Young said. "They took away the counterpoints the songs were a house for, and so the songs weren’t as strong. And now with the original verses back in and the art that reflects the tension of the original message, we’ve worked on it and made a different thing out of it."

Those words were music to Fairey's ears. "I’m so glad to hear that from Neil. We discussed some of that, but I almost didn’t want to press on all my political views just in case we disagreed," Fairey said, eliciting strong laughter from both himself and Young at that last part. "But my reading into a lot of the songs was it was very relevant to the struggle reflected in [John] Steinbeck’s The Grapes Of Wrath, which people are saying this recession is the most serious thing since the Great Depression and a lot of the same dynamics are at play, so I felt like it was very relevant."

Shepard Fairey and Neil Young
Photo by Claire Marie Voge | Rolling Stone
(Click photo to enlarge)

From AMERICANA PROJECT - OBEY GIANT:

Fairey states, “Neil really liked the art and I was thrilled he asked me to collaborate by making paintings inspired by the songs on his “Americana” album. I’m a huge fan of Neil’s music in general, but when I heard the album I realized how much the subject matter of several songs reflected the aspirations and tragedies of those pursuing the American dream tied into issues relevant to the 99% movement which I have been supporting.”

Fairey says he listened to the music and lyrics to come up with concepts for visual representations of the songs. Then for each song, Fairey presented Young with ideas about a visual image that would best capture the meaning and/or protagonist/s in each song. The artist enjoyed hearing how Neil interpreted aspects of the songs that moved him the most musically and lyrically. Fairey states, “I showed Neil sketches, and then we discussed the ideas and refined them. He was very open to my ideas and encouraged me to go with what inspired me the most. Latitude for interpretation is something that Neil utilizes and seems to value as an important way for the listener/viewer to personalize their interaction with art and music.

I also was excited about this project because the concept of re-interpreting pre-existing songs filtered through Neil’s unique sensibility parallels what I have often tried to do as a visual artist by building upon iconic images that are an accessible part of the cultural dialogue.”

From Neil Young and Shepard Fairey Talk "Americana": The Daily Details: Blog : Details by Susan Michals:

DETAILS: Do you think the American Dream has become a fallacy?

Shepard Fairey: I do.

Neil Young: Wow. That's a big one. All I can say is, everyone has a different idea, but this truly represents a lot of those things and touches on a lot of the core beliefs in the American Dream and questions them and makes you think about them.

And questions whether it's that different from what everybody else's dreams are everywhere else.

It turns out we may not be so perfect.

AMERICANA PROJECT
Poster by Shepard Fairey
(Click photo to enlarge)

Also, see The Americana-ness of Neil Young & Crazy Horse's Americana

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The Americana-ness of Neil Young & Crazy Horse's Americana

Crazy Horse & Neil Young
Frank "Pancho" Sampedro, Bill Talbot, Ralph Molina
Musicares Honors Paul McCartney
Los Angeles, CA - 2/10/12

After what seems to have been a long couple of days here at TW, it would seem that we more fully appreciate the "Americana-ness" of Neil Young & Crazy Horse's Americana album.

So what the heck does that mean you might ask?

Well, if you've been following our comment threads lately, you might understand. If not, well, you may have saved yourself some time -- or depending on your point of view -- missed quite a bit of entertainment. Maybe it's just the summer heat that's getting to folks?

To summarize if just tuning in, last week we decontructed a rather harsh review of Americana on The Herald-Review by Tim Cain. The reviewer found Americana to be a "self parody because it is too rich, too perfect, too comical to be anything but a parody."

Some agreed with our take on the review and others did not. Fine. This was followed by our posting of an equal opportunity dissenting opinion (which we do indeed welcome), of a thoughtful, well considered rebuttal by Babbo.

So we included a poll asking if folks really thought that Americana "Drifts into Self Parody" of a Neil Young & Crazy Horse album?



And what did we find?

Interestingly, it seems that the majority think that no, Americana is not a "Self Parody" because it captures Neil Young & Crazy Horse in all of their raw, ragged glory. Between those who say Americana is not a "Self Parody" and those indifferent, it seems about 95% of folks are OK or neutral with Americana. Only 5% of voters thought Americana is a "Self Parody" because it is "too rich, too perfect, too comical to be anything but a parody." (Could this contingent be the dreaded "4% Club" that emerged after Fork in the Road? Let's hope not since they seem to be growing.)

[NOTE: If you're one of those numbers add up to nothin' types then just read these often heartfelt ordinary people comments on our Facebook page ThrashersWheatNeverSleeps (74).]

In other words, the poll results and positive comments seem to be fairly representative of the mythical "Americana" itself, i.e., passions on the extreme fringes of the Neil-love and Neil-hate camps are unrepresentative while it is the great middle ground of Neil-moderates who are the true silent majority. In other words, the Neil Young fan base is reflective of "Americana" itself where the discourse is dominated by the hype/wind/noise machines on the fringes which is unrepresentative of the true mainstream "Americana". And those mainstream or "ordinary Neil fans" have stood and been counted and they think Neil & The Horse's Americana is perfectly OK.

So where do we go from here? Between a very analytical comment by Greg "A Friend Of Yours" and several other supportive comments like Sandy H's giving us a sanity check along with the poll results, we think we're good for another 15 years of "Separating the wheat from the chaff".

Lastly, here's a comment by setlistthief:

I've just put "Americana" on heavy rotation so I've only formed a few initail impressions. I hear "Powderfinger" in a couple of those folk songs. "High Flyin' Bird" is a NYCH classic that's going to be a live scorcher. "Wayfaring Stranger" is a gorgeous "Boxcar"-like acoustic piece. And in many ways, the remaining songs remind me of Dylan's "Love and Theft." Right now, however, the album doesn't flow for me, but I may get there eventually after a few more listens.

Maybe I won't be listening to "Americana" next year at this time, but right now I'm absolutely intrigued by what Neil's done this time around.

Honestly, I thought Neil would never work with Crazy Horse again. Glad I was mistaken.

So how about it "The John Q. General Ordinary Public of Americana" and Rusties of the world? What do you guys really think?

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Randomly Blogged: Interview w/ Shepard Fairey and Neil Young, 'Americana' Reviews, Vinyl News, Demme-Young Date Change

Shepard Fairey and Neil Young
Photo by Claire Marie Voge | Rolling Stone
(Click photo to enlarge)

From an interview with Shepard Fairey and Neil Young in Rolling Stone by Steve Baltin:

"We discovered a lot of depth in these songs and the visuals of these are just amazing," Young told us. "'Clementine' is so deep with its original verses and this art, you really get a feeling for the tenseness and desperation of the situation, the unresolved death and longing."

Fairey's work brought out a lot in the songs that Young believes he might not have seen otherwise. "Almost every one of them had a view that was unique to me," he said. "I wouldn’t have thought of it."

For Fairey, the project was a labor of love. "I’m just really excited I got to do this because I love Neil’s music and I love the way that music affects people viscerally and inspires them to look deeper into the meaning of the songs," Fairey said.

"We had to bring back the original words. Everybody’s forgotten what the songs are about in the first place in their kind of rabid celebration of the beauty of the songs and the lightness of some of the verses," Young said. "They took away the counterpoints the songs were a house for, and so the songs weren’t as strong. And now with the original verses back in and the art that reflects the tension of the original message, we’ve worked on it and made a different thing out of it."

Those words were music to Fairey's ears. "I’m so glad to hear that from Neil. We discussed some of that, but I almost didn’t want to press on all my political views just in case we disagreed," Fairey said, eliciting strong laughter from both himself and Young at that last part. "But my reading into a lot of the songs was it was very relevant to the struggle reflected in [John] Steinbeck’s The Grapes Of Wrath, which people are saying this recession is the most serious thing since the Great Depression and a lot of the same dynamics are at play, so I felt like it was very relevant."

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Event Date and Time Change
Neil Young with Jonathan Demme
New Date/Time: Thu, Jun 7, 7:30 pm

Due to a scheduling conflict, our event with Neil Young and Jonathan Demme has been changed from Fri, Jun 8 at 8 pm to Thu, Jun 7 at 7:30 pm. It is now a VIP screening (open to the public) of the film Neil Young Journeys, acclaimed director Jonathan Demme’s third collaboration with legendary musician Neil Young. In this film (87 minutes), Demme accompanies Young on a road trip from his hometown of Omemee, Ontario to Toronto’s iconic Massey Hall for the last night of his solo world tour.

More @ Neil Young with Jonathan Demme: 92nd Street Y - New York, NY, June 8, 2012

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From Neil Young CD: $10. Neil Young LP: $42 - Speakeasy - WSJ by Ethan Smith:

“Americana” will come on two discs of super-heavy, audiophile grade 180-gram vinyl—pressed in Germany, no less. Side 4, instead of featuring music, will come engraved with an etching of a Native American figure riding horseback. Liner notes will offer histories of the album’s 11 folks tunes, like “Oh Susannah” and “This Land Is Your Land,” reworked by Young and his band in their chugging, hard-rocking style.

The gatefold jacket for the collection is being printed using a technique called “paper-wrapped chipboard,” which costs more than other methods. Instead of printing the cover art directly on the cardboard record sleeve, the graphics are printed on paper, which is then attached to the sleeve.

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From Old Weird Americana: Neil Young's Strangest Albums | SPIN | Discover | SPIN Lists:

Neil Young is many things: godfather of grunge; massively influential singer-songwriter; inimitable electric guitarist; world-class oddball. For every After the Gold Rush or Ragged Glory there's an album that makes even his most ardent admirers scratch their heads. A concept work about fuel-efficient cars? Check. Meandering improvised soundtracks? Coupla those. Kraftwerk-inspired new wave? Oh, definitely. On June 5, when Young's new Americana comes out, you can add lumbering distorto versions of traditional folk songs to the list, too. It's just the latest unpredictable left turn in a career full of them.

So saddle up and steel yourself for the untamed wilderness of Neil Young's strangest albums.

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From 25 Best Neil Young Covers « Consequence of Sound By Michael Roffman and Jon Bernstein:

Next week, Neil Young and Crazy Horse will issue Americana, their first album in nine years, comprised entirely of reworked classic, American folk songs. In celebration of its release, Consequence of Sound decided to turn the tables and put together a list of our favorite covers of Young’s exhausting back catalogue. There are plenty – hundreds of them – and they stretch back to as far as the ’60s and ’70s. Because we couldn’t include them all, the list has been cut to a healthy collection of 25 solid inclusions.

Something to take away from this project: It’s an eccentric group of names, to be sure. Everyone from Smashing Pumpkins to Roxy Music, Patti Smith to Radiohead are included here, and that only speaks volumes to Young’s expansive influence. So, while you’re trekking through track after track, just think: This all goes back to one man.

Pretty wild.

-Michael Roffman
President/Editor-in-Chief

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From Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Americana - Review | new adventures in hi-fi by James Ellaby:

One of the fun things about being a Neil Young fan is that you never quite know what you’re going to get when a new album comes out. Will it be a masterpiece or an ill-advised bout of experimentation? Americana certainly sounds like the latter, hooking up again with Crazy Horse to provide their take on old-timey American folk songs. And the British national anthem…

Have you ever wondered what She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain would sound like if it was turned into a Crazy Horse style plodding guitar dirge? Well, hopefully so, because that’s the essence of Americana. But, perhaps surprisingly, it mostly works out alright. It’s still a bit of a step backwards from 2010′s brilliant Le Noise album, but it’s far from the disaster some early reviews have painted it as, especially for fans of that trademark guitar sound.

From Neil Young reinvents songs the old-fashioned way - The Globe and Mail by ROBERT EVERETT-GREEN:

Neil Young’s new disc with Crazy Horse celebrates the fluidity of the folk process, and implies that a good transformative cover carries on that tradition. The album includes heavy blues-rock versions of genuinely old songs such as Clementine and Gallows Pole (Young’s version of the ballad studied by Child), and of fifties radio hits such as Get a Job and Travel On.

Young’s Clementine is a towering, doom-laden number with only a ghostly trace of the lilting dance rhythm most people know. He focuses your mind on the fact that the narrator’s darling ends up dead – the latter half of this lengthy track is one long lament. In Tom Dula (a.k.a. Tom Dooley), Young simplifies the familiar rhythm and bears down for eight minutes on the murder and the execution that will pay for it. For Oh Susannah, he sets aside the jaunty Stephen Foster original and covers the raw variant recorded as The Banjo Song by the Big Three in 1963 (cunningly reworked as Venus by Shocking Blue in 1969). Jesus’s Chariot goes back to the spiritual that became She’ll Be Coming ’Round the Mountain, with a simplified melody and lots of heavy grinding on the song’s tonic root.

Throughout the album, Young’s vocals strive for something primal and true beneath the songs’ familiar surface. His slurry yet precise electric-guitar solos move powerfully through the darkest lyrical moods.

From BBC - Music - Review of Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Americana by Paul Whitelaw:

It's the latest chapter in his endless journey through the past – has there ever been a more inveterately backwards-looking rocker? – and appears to be an attempt to rake through the deepest soil of American roots music. Young’s intention is, presumably, to explore the continuing relevance of such hand-me-down themes, and cement his own personal connection to it.

But his intentions are scuppered by monotonous arrangements – Crazy Horse's ability to make every song sound identical, like a rustic Ramones at quarter-speed, is inadvertently funny – and a refusal to self-edit. Off-mic banter scattered throughout shows that all concerned are having fun, but none of that enjoyment translates through the speakers.

Young's raw, one-take ethos often serves him well. But without strong material to ignite them, he and his Horse revert to atavistic-codgers-jamming-endlessly-inside-a-corrugated-shed mode.

From Neil Young: Americana | American Songwriter by Jim Beviglia :

In a career full of stylistic curve balls, Americana finds Canadian-bred Neil Young dusting off the United States songbook to reveal the darkness at the heart of not only those oft-sung songs, but also the country that birthed them. By placing them in the crunching electric setting that only Crazy Horse can provide, Young doesn’t so much reinvent the songs (many of these arrangements were borrowed from other versions) as he does invigorate them. These songs have stood the test of time, and this fascinating album shows the reasons why.

This is no dry history lesson. The first three songs bust out of the box with such impact that it almost provides too high a standard for the rest of the album to match. After the swinging opening salvo of “Oh Susannah,” Crazy Horse supercharges “Clementine.” If all you know of this song is the version sung by Huckleberry Hound in the old Saturday morning cartoons (and I must admit that I fall into that group myself,) prepare to be schooled.

With a children’s choir along just to emphasize the song’s roots as a kids sing-along classic, Young and his buddies crunch their way through what is a truly creepy story about a miner’s daughter who falls to a watery death and the men she leaves behind. It’s telling that the band leaves in the verse about the narrator moving on with Clementine’s sister after her death, a verse often left out by spooked teachers. Young doesn’t judge; he just powers through the song until only rubble remains.

From Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Americana | Album Reviews | Pitchfork by Stuart Berman:

"Clementine", "She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain", "Oh Susannah", and the like. These aren't songs anyone really listens to anymore, because we don't need to. They're practically part of our collective DNA: songs that you whistle while you work or use to sing your baby to sleep or to entertain impatient kids sitting around a campfire. Invariably, they're also songs whose simple, sing-along melodies obscure the real-life maladies-- poverty, unemployment, lost love, murder, crises of faith-- that originally inspired them over a century ago. As such, Americana isn't so much a covers collection as a concept album in the vein of Nick Cave's Murder Ballads: new variations on age-old themes that still resonate loud and clear today.

But just as the aforementioned Murder Ballads capped off its orgy of carnage with a surprisingly redemptive cover of Bob Dylan's "Death Is Not the End", Americana boasts a similarly high-concept denouement: Only Young would deign to close out a tribute to the American folkoric tradition with a cover of the British national anthem. Whether it's a backhanded salute to the country that incited the American Revolution in the first place, or simply a sly nod to his own roots in the Commonwealth, Young's "God Save the Queen"-- with its drunken drummber-boy beat, squealing electric-guitar fanfare, and cheeky choral vocal--proves to be just as blasphemous to Britain's most sacred song as the namesake number by his one-time muse Johnny Rotten. It ain't exactly Hendrix doing "The Star-Spangled Banner", but then that's precisely the point: It's Young's way of saying that-- even when you're dealing with another country's intellectual property-- this song is your song, this song is my song.

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From SHEPARD FAIREY X NEIL YOUNG X AMERICANA PROJECT - OBEY GIANT

The “Americana” project developed as a result of Shepard Fairey’s relationship with Neil Young and his long-time manager Elliot Roberts. Fairey created a portrait of Young for the artist’s May Day show in 2010, based on his view of the musician as a social commentator philosophically aligned with people like Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, and Joe Strummer. Young and Roberts then asked Fairey to design the art, CD and DVD packaging for the 25th anniversary of Young’s Bridge School charity. Fairey states, “Neil really liked the art and I was thrilled he asked me to collaborate by making paintings inspired by the songs on his “Americana” album. I’m a huge fan of Neil’s music in general, but when I heard the album I realized how much the subject matter of several songs reflected the aspirations and tragedies of those pursuing the American dream tied into issues relevant to the 99% movement which I have been supporting.”

Fairey says he listened to the music and lyrics to come up with concepts for visual representations of the songs. Then for each song, Fairey presented Young with ideas about a visual image that would best capture the meaning and/or protagonist/s in each song. The artist enjoyed hearing how Neil interpreted aspects of the songs that moved him the most musically and lyrically. Fairey states, “I showed Neil sketches, and then we discussed the ideas and refined them. He was very open to my ideas and encouraged me to go with what inspired me the most.

Latitude for interpretation is something that Neil utilizes and seems to value as an important way for the listener/viewer to personalize their interaction with art and music. I also was excited about this project because the concept of re-interpreting pre-existing songs filtered through Neil’s unique sensibility parallels what I have often tried to do as a visual artist by building upon iconic images that are an accessible part of the cultural dialogue.”

Each of the new Fairey paintings resonate powerful messages presented in the songs, some depicting a hopeful outlook on the pursuit of a better tomorrow, while others reflect the hardships that come in trying to achieve that dream. One painting related to Clementine, which captures the words of a mourning lover whose “darling,” the daughter of a California Gold Rush miner, drowned. Here she is represented by the levitating body of a young woman draped in white, with the text “And Gone.” Another painting is related to the 1848 minstrel song Oh Susannah that features a dungaree-wearing banjo player with the text “DON’T YOU CRY FOR ME.” Other works feature a wanted poster (Travel On); an iconic image of Queen Elizabeth embroidering an American flag (God Save the Queen); and, a lonely tree, stripped bare of its leaves, in a desolate landscape (Tom Dula).

For Young and Crazy Horse’s rendition of the famous 1940 Woody Guthrie song known to every school-aged child in America, This Land Is Your Land, written in response to Irving Berlin’s God Bless America, Fairey has depicted the hopeful face of a youth, set against a dramatic Western Landscape. Three rows of sharp, barbed wire cross the boy’s path with the text “NO TRESSPASSING / THIS LAND IS MY LAND.” The text is derived from a variant verse Guthrie added as a social commentary during a 1944 recording session. Fairey’s paintings are mixed media on canvas, including techniques such as stenciling, collage, and screen-printing. All of the paintings measure closely to the 30 x 44 inch dimension, which is one of Fairey’s standard choices of size. “Americana” is Neil Young with Crazy Horse’s first album together in nine years and is being released on June 5 on Reprise Records.

AMERICANA PROJECT
Poster by Shepard Fairey
(Click photo to enlarge)

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Last call.

Just a reminder on the contest to win a free copy of the new book Neil Young FAQ: Everything Left to Know About the Iconic and Mercurial Rocker.

Contest details are here.

Don't Be Denied!!!

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Album Review: Neil Young - "Americana" - Premier Guitar

Neil Young & Crazy Horse
(Click photo to enlarge)

An album review of "Americana" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse from Premier Guitar by Charles Saufley:

Complain all you want that Neil Young—easily one of the 10 greatest songwriters of the rock ’n’ roll era—hasn’t written a classic album in years. But to define late-model Young via the recorded output of the last decade is to ignore guitar and vocal performances as incendiary, confrontational, and irreverent as ever. On Americana, Young frees himself from the constraints of original material, focusing instead on the textures and raw, adrenal possibilities of his greatest band, Crazy Horse, and a fistful of American folk standards. Like so much that Young does, the concept borders on the perverse, which is precisely why it’s such a kick in the ass.

Those looking for technical sorcery and smooth production need not read further. This is Neil and the Horse at their crustiest. But it’s more than Neil’s production nihilism and antipathy toward slickness that makes this record remarkable. Young and Co. approach and reinterpret these songs with arrangements that are often revelations. Take the schoolhouse classic, “Oh Susannah,” which becomes a funky and chugging minor-key stomp rivaling the barbarism of Neil’s old ’66 Sunset Strip, fuzz-punk compatriots The Seeds. The miner tragedy, “Clementine,” is pervaded with darkness and desperation that conjures images of the protagonist as a grimy mechanic mourning the drowning of his love—“Down by the River” revisited, perhaps? Meanwhile, the classic Carolina murder ballad of Tom Dula (aka “Tom Dooley”)—blunted in the popular imagination by the Kingston Trio’s polite banjo version—is rendered tragic, brutal, and menacing on the back of Young’s wailing Deluxe and the zombie march rhythms of Crazy Horse.

Listen to Album Premiere: 'Americana' by Neil Young and Crazy Horse | Rolling Stone.

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Album Premiere: 'Americana' by Neil Young and Crazy Horse | Rolling Stone

Americana
Neil Young and Crazy Horse
(Click photo to enlarge)

Happy Memorial Day Americana!

The album premiere of Americana by Neil Young and Crazy Horse is now streaming on Rolling Stone.

Read the Liner Notes for Americana by Neil Young & Crazy Horse.

Set for a June 5th release, you can now pre-Order "Americana" on Amazon.com (Thanks! You'll be helping to support us here at Thrasher's Wheat.)

Neil Young & Crazy Horse
(Click photo to enlarge)

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TONEAudio Review: Americana by Neil Young and Crazy Horse

Here's another early review of the upcoming Americana by Neil Young and Crazy Horse.

From TONEAudio MAGAZINE by Bob Gendron:

Neil Young’s electric guitar jabs, retreats, and then stabs again, frayed-wire distortion coating the clusters of notes, the intensity evoking images of a fire-eyed preacher determined to spur his congregation to sit up and take notice. There’s talk of killing a big red rooster, proclaiming “hallelujah,” and celebrating with a communal gathering. Young’s longtime Crazy Horse mates stomp and clatter, giving the traditional tune a unified drive that turns it into an Indian war dance, the refrains doubling as dead-man’s curves as the insatiable momentum tumbles forward.

No, the children’s song ordinarily known as “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain”—named “Jesus’ Chariot” here in tribute to its Negro spiritual and salvation-based origins—has never sounded quite like this. It’s one of eleven folk songs Young and his inimitable backing band reinterpret and upend on the impossible-to-ignore Americana, a thematic album exuding immediate relevance and forceful contemplation.

Never shy about making bold political or civil statements, Young brilliantly borrows songs from the U.S.’ historical fabric and tosses them as live grenades that explode on impact, broaching the staple concepts—freedom, liberty, justice, equality, rights, conflicts, privacy, the common good—on which America prides itself. He and Crazy Horse invoke these broad subjects without advocating one party or another; Americana owes some of its political and cultural potency to its impartiality.

More of review on TONEAudio MAGAZINE.

Also, see:

• NEW VIDEO: "Clementine" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
• Song Video Premiere: "Jesus' Chariot" (She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain) by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
• OFFICIAL VIDEO: "Oh Susannah" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse

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"Clementine"
Art by Gary Burden and Jenice Heo

Set for a June 5th release, you can now pre-Order "Americana" on Amazon.com (Thanks! You'll be helping to support us here at Thrasher's Wheat.)

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NEW VIDEO: "Clementine" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Here's the new video for "Clementine" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse from the upcoming Americana .

From the Liner Notes for Americana by Neil Young & Crazy Horse:

Clementine

This American folk ballad is believed to be based on “Down By The River Liv’d a Maiden” by H.S. Thompson 1863. However, it is usually credited to Percy Montrose, 1884 or Barker Bradford from about the same period. The Americana arrangement extends the folk process, using many of the original words and a new melody. The song tells the story of either a bereaved lover recalling his lost sweetheart, or a father missing his lost daughter. In both cases the daughter has drowned in an accident. The song is now famous as an American children’s song. The verse about Clementine’s sister has been omitted from most children’s versions. This verse has different meanings depending on whether the point of view of the singer is taken as the lover or the father.

And, for a completely different video of the song, check this version of "Clementine".



You may want to catch this one really quick while it stays up.

Note that the video is marked as "REJECTED" at the end. However, in order to avoid another Treasure debacle, we made sure that Archives Guy has Ok'd this.

The archival footage seems to come from a slower, simpler time in Americana when families participated in fun activities and daring pastimes.

ps - moms, please don't try this at home.

"If you can't cut it, don't pick up the knife..."

Also, see:

• Song Video Premiere: "Jesus' Chariot" (She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain) by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
• OFFICIAL VIDEO: "Oh Susannah" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse

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"Clementine"
Art by Gary Burden and Jenice Heo

Set for a June 5th release, you can now pre-Order "Americana" on Amazon.com (Thanks! You'll be helping to support us here at Thrasher's Wheat.)

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Song Video Premiere: "Jesus' Chariot" (She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain) by Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Here's the new video of "Jesus' Chariot" from the upcoming Americana by Neil Young and Crazy Horse.

From the Liner Notes for Americana by Neil Young & Crazy Horse:

Jesus’ Chariot (She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain)

Written in the 1800s based on an old Negro spiritual, this song refers to the second coming of Jesus and “she” is the chariot Jesus is coming on. Some interpret this as the end of the world. Others have said that “she” refers to union organizer Mary Harris “Mother” Jones going to promote formation of labor unions in the Appalachian coal mining camps. The Americana arrangement continues the folk process with a new melody, a new title and a combination of lyric sources.

Per Song Premiere: Neil Young Sets 'Americana' On Fire : All Songs Considered Blog : NPR:

This song, as with all the songs on the record, have been paired up with archival footage. This footage is from an early scene in D.W. Griffith's controversial 1915 film Birth of a Nation, in which the Southern Cameron family hosts a farewell ball for soldiers fighting for the Confederacy.

Set for a June 5th release, you can now pre-Order "Americana" on Amazon.com (Thanks! You'll be helping to support us here at Thrasher's Wheat.)

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Some Thoughts on New Video "Oh Susannah" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Music Video for "Oh Susannah" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
(Click photo to enlarge)

Tuesday's release of a video for "Oh Susannah" , from the upcoming album Americana by Neil Young & Crazy Horse, has been well received by fans based on early comments.

Obviously, one of the most surprising aspects of the video is what it isn't. That is to say, this is not a music video of a bunch of old guys rockin' out in a barn somewhere in Northern California but rather a simple video bringing a deeper meaning to an old Americana folk classic.

Here's what Jill has to say:

I love it, song and video, and I`m just so glad to hear the Horse back in action.

When I first watched it my initial reaction when the little boy lit up his cigarette was to shout “no, don`t let him smoke it!!” But that`s how it was, and Neil has never been one to shy away from the truth or from controversy.

I think there`s also a message here that even when times are hard, especially when times are hard maybe, making music is always there as a comfort and an inspiration, that`s where these old songs came from and what links us together. I loved the version Neil did with Dave Matthews at Bridge last year, but I think this rocks even more, and the beautiful vocals of the children`s choir give the song a lift at just the right time.

Brilliant stuff as always, and I`m looking forward to hearing the rest of the album.

Another comment from HuffingtonPost.com by jephman:

Say what you want about Crazy Horse but Neil got the sound he wanted.

Unconventional? Yes but no band to this day can really mimic that sound and confuse it with another band. The members of Crazy Horse aren't full of themselves which made it easy for Neil to work with and get what he wanted.

There will come a day when the genius of this man is heralded for all his contributions from the unplugged acoustic type sessions to Crazy Horse. He was also very good with lyrics which ranged from heartfelt love songs to insightful sarcasm. Either way his music was something you could have some fun with and somehow you could tell he would be just a great person to know.

It appears that the film is from documentary footage of the Dust Bowl/Depression era 1930's. Such footage captured an often unspoken reality of widespread poverty in American life at the time.

So for those who might fail to see the connection between the Depression era 1930's and today... well look around. It's not a pretty sight. The reality of life in Americana has not changed for the better, for all too many of whom live and struggle under very harsh, brutal conditions.

The fantasy world portrayed on your TeeVee is in no way, shape or form anywhere close to what the world is truly like. Today, we are living John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath and the ghost of Tom Joad surrounds us.

Here's a comment by Matthew L. in response to some of our thoughts:

Good assessment on the meaning of the video.

Kind of fits with Neil and the band putting their own faces on the concept of Americana. The troubles and struggles of life continue unabated, and, as Americana in general tends to reflect the less glamorous realities of everyday life in early American history, it projects very well right on top of today's realities. A lot of the iconography has changed, but many of the basic struggles of living continue. We focus so much on glamour, that we miss the reality around us.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Indeed. Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was.

We await additional videos from Americana. And we think we'll continue to be pleasantly surprised by Neil's unconventional approach to conventional Americana.

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OFFICIAL VIDEO: "Oh Susannah" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse

The official video release of "Oh Susannah" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse.

More on "Oh! Susanna": The Story Behind The Song



Set for a June 5th release, you can now pre-Order "Americana" on Amazon.com (Thanks! You'll be helping to support us.)

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FIRST LISTEN: "Americana" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - "Americana"
(Zoom Album Cover)


A surprising about of commentary on the upcoming album Americana by Neil Young & Crazy Horse -- even though no one has even heard it -- yet.

The first listen of "Americana" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse is via Uncut.co.uk by John Mulvey:

It begins as you might imagine, with a guitarist who seems about to play a sputtering solo rather than start a song, a drummer trying to work out what time to keep and, gradually, a band lunging towards a tune: “Oh Susannah”.

After a minute or so, you can hear Neil Young shout “Oh Susannah” away from his mic, prompting a choir to start chanting the title. It is at this point that Crazy Horse locate the dogged, heroic sense of purpose that has sustained them, on and off, for a good four decades. They’re moving a fraction faster than usual, in truth: as my colleague John Robinson points out, the call-and-response interplay between Young and the backing singers, aligned to the inexorable “good groove” (as Young calls it in the fade-out), make it all oddly resemble Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ “Dig Lazarus Dig”.

This is the way “Americana” opens, the latest attempt by Neil Young to variously charm and confound his fans. For those of you who have become exasperated, one way or another, with the path Young has carved this past decade – quixotic, even by his standards – “Americana” may not be quite what you’re looking for. This is undoubtedly the Young who made “Living With War” and “Fork In The Road”, albeit backed by his most heroically truculent rhythm section; all of which is just fine with me.

More from the first listen of "Americana" by Neil Young & Crazy Horse on Uncut.co.uk by John Mulvey.

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Americana: As Told by Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young

"This Land Is Your Land" (Woody Guthrie cover)
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band w/
Arcade Fire, Tom Morello, Alejandro Escovedo, and more.
The Moody Theater, Austin, TX - SXSW 2012 - March 15, 2012

Quite a bit of commentary on the upcoming album Americana by Neil Young & Crazy Horse. Already. And release not set until June.

So could folks be most excited about the first full album recording by Neil Young & Crazy Horse in about 10 years?

Of course not.

Which reminds us of 2006 when Bruce Springsteen released We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions. On The Seeger Sessions, Springsteen covers songs by "Americana folk music" icon Pete Seeger.

Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions

Here's how blog critic and author of the upcoming Neil Young FAQ: Everything Left to Know About the Iconic and Mercurial Rocker Glen Boyd put it at the time (The Seeger Sessions? Say It Aint So Bruce - Blogcritics Music):

So The Seeger Sessions is finally out.

The album that has been front and center in the hearts and minds of Bruce Springsteen fans ever since it was first announced last February was finally released Tuesday. The debate among both fans and critics about this record has been an often intense one in the days between that announcement and yesterday's release.

Boyd went on to site a few grumblings such as not putting the E St. Band to its best use and calling it "something of a vanity project for Bruce... like the sort of thing Elvis Costello did with the Brodsky Quartet."

Since the time of the earliest rumblings of a new album of Bruce "Americana folk music" covers in 2006, critic Boyd and most of the Bruce fan naysayers quickly came around on the The Seeger Sessions and recognized the boldness and exuberant recklessness of Bruce's interpretations of Pete Seeger's rebel folk.

And so here we are.

In the video above with Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band (and many, many others) covering Woody Guthrie's Americana classic "This Land Is Your Land" at SXSW 2012 Festival, we see a modern day American icon interpret what really was -- and still is -- a radical protest song. Guthrie saw an America in the crisis of the 1930's Dust Bowl era during the Great Depression, where the wealthy ruling elite could care less about the millions of starving, suffering poor folks.


Americana by Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Now along comes the soon to be released album by Neil Young & Crazy Horse of "Americana folk music" titled -- appropriately enough -- Americana.

Like Bruce above, Neil Young's newest album will also cover Woody Guthrie's Americana classic "This Land Is Your Land" . From the liner notes for Americana by Neil Young & Crazy Horse:

This Land Is Your Land

This folk song was written by Woody Guthrie in the 1940s to a pre-existing melody as a response to “God Bless America” which Guthrie was tired of hearing. The lyrics Guthrie sang varied over time, but the lyrics sung in the Americana version were in the original manuscript of the song.

As noted in the liner notes, "This Land Is Your Land" was written in response to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" -- but not necessarily just because he was "tired of hearing" -- but more due to the hypocrisy of the ruling wealthy elites.

As I went walking, I saw a sign there,
And on the sign there, It said "no trespassing." [In another version, the sign reads "Private Property"]
But on the other side, it didn't say nothing!
That side was made for you and me.

In the squares of the city, In the shadow of a steeple;
By the relief office, I'd seen my people.
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking,
Is this land made for you and me?

So far, so good, right? What could go wrong?

Well, it would seem in the eyes and ears of some Neil Young fans, what Neil is about to embark on is a big misguided desecration -- sort of like Bruce Springsteen with Seeger Sessions.

Here's how some of the fan commentary on the upcoming album Americana is going. Questions of authenticity, legitimacy, historical accuracy, political tone-deafness and unspoken social ramifications, and so on.

All subjects which should be up for debate.

And maybe that's why Bruce covered Pete and Neil is covering many great, classic "Americana folk music" songs? To spark a big, giant debate on where Americana is coming from and going? What could be more healthy and apropos?

So -- in conclusion -- just as critic Glen Boyd went out on a limb and pre-judged Springsteen's Seeger Sessions and turned out to be happily mistaken, we'll go out out on a limb and pre-judge Neil Young's Americana. Might Americana be the album Neil wished he released in 2006 instead of Living With War?

We can only imagine Neil and The Horse stompin' thru Woody's Americana classic "This Land Is Your Land" and totally -- yet respectfully -- shreddin' it.

We await the June 5 release... eagerly.

In the meantime, a happy 100th birthday to Oklahoma's favorite son, Woody!


Woody Guthrie - "This Land Is Your Land"

ps - What Would Woody Do? (Hint: Occupy the Music)

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Comments of the Moment: Americana by Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse
from album art for Americana by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
(Click photo to enlarge)


Frankly, after running Thrasher's Wheat for over 15 years and almost a lifetime of listening to Neil Young's music, there are two things which we have found universal: 1) Neil never ceases to surprise, amaze, and confound us and 2) Neil fans never cease to surprise, amaze, and confound us.

So quite a reaction thus far to an album that no one has heard yet -- out side the Ranch crowd.

And -- based on the enlightening liner notes for Americana by Neil Young & Crazy Horse -- Neil fans are all over the map in their anticipation of the new album being released in June.

First, a somewhat typical comment from the naysayers and doubters crowd by karate-chop yoda:

Neil wouldn't be making albums with a children's choir if he had a friend who could tell him when he's pissing in the wind.

Children's choir = no redeeming musical value.

Just not good. I won't be buying this album. What a waste of a good band.

Naturally, that's the sort of comment that can get Neil fans -- shall we say -- spooked.

A comment from Sandy H.:

I live in the Ozarks. The "passing down" of folk music is a time-honored tradition here. It is a way of life and a demonstration of respect. It is especially cool to hear these traditional songs infused with a more "modern" interpretation.

The songs are therefore timeless.

Each new generation is made aware of the existence of this music, which otherwise might be lost. I am beside myself with anticipation of this record. After hearing "Old Susannah", I was completely stunned, shell shocked.

I can't believe there are still NY fans who are surprised at the fact that he is willing to take a completely unexpected turn.

Your loss.

A comment from BIGCHIEF:

Sandy, thank you for the thought provoking, open minded post which is quite a departure from what I've been hearing of late from people who have already drawn conclusions of what this record is going to sound like based on an album cover and a song list.

This recording has generated more controversy based on such limited information then any other NY record at this stage of release. People are so hungry for what their own perceptions of the perfect Crazy Horse record should sound like that they are setting themselves up for a major disappointment, guaranteed!

This will not be 'Zuma' revisited nor will it be 'Rust Never Sleeps' or EBKTIN.

Would the feedback drenched Crazy Horse fans feel any better about this record had he recorded it with the 'Oak Ridge Boys'? Such a limited memory we have when we consider how diverse Crazy Horse can be. Look at the difference the sound is on 'Lotta Love' from Comes A time' compared to the same laid back 'mountain' version on 'Year of the Horse'.

As a follower of Neil's career and his many diverse styles through the years, it shouldn't be a big surprise that Neil would choose a new path while delivering some 'old' songs. The fact that they are all covers not penned by Neil himself should also not be that big of a stretch.

This is a 'concept album' in the purist sense of the word. And then to be accused of social injustice, bigotry, racism, gender inequity, and violence by an individual who claims to be a 'fan' and gets it? That individuals Neil cred got revealed for what it is based on those comments.

This isn't going to be the record that epitomizes Crazy Horses return to greatness. They've always been great. With Neil at the reigns, the Horse is capable of taking Neil where he want's to go. However, you wont recognize 'Like A Hurricane' or 'Powderfinger'. That was a different time. This is now and in the 'big picture', this record will be just as significant in Neil's cannon of artistic expression as the others.

Just keep in mind, it took nearly 30 years for TTN to be appreciated for it's artistic relevance between EKTIN and Zuma. At least wait until you hear the songs until you draw any conclusions. Trust me, at this stage of his career, I highly doubt if this negative reaction based on a list of unheard songs is going to cause Neil to shelve the record and go into seclusion.

All of Neil's records through out his career had elements of 'Americana' influence and roots. I think Eddie Vedder may have said it best during his speech while inducting Neil into the R&R Hall Of Fame when he quoted a description of Neil's music as 'Mountain Funk'. 'Running Dry', 'Cripple Creek Ferry', 'Human Highway', to list a few of Neil penned Americana rooted songs.

This record is merely a concept Album in it's purist form of a collection of songs that best represent the spirit of the genre. The fact that this will resonate with such a diverse audience could introduce our hero to a whole new generation of listeners which in itself isn't a bad thing. Trust me, those of you who are hungry for 'Zuma II' will have your day. Remember the impact that Hendrix's 'Star Spangled Banner' had on the music world at that time.

Americana?

A comment from Mr Henry:

I'll bet anything that Neil is getting a real charge out of all the consternation and conversation this new/old/new music is stirring up. Can't you just see him reading some of the comments and getting that funny smile?!

Another reason to kind of long for those good old days, back when you just bought the album and listened to it. But it is cool to know about this all ahead of time, and you can't put the genie back etc.

I am very psyched to hear this music and to hopefully hear some of it played live. Kind of Neil's version of the Harry Smith Anthology, with Crazy Horse as his band of choice. I'm sure that Harry would approve.

Liner notes are cool and should cause many to search further into the deep well of American music. Interesting mention of This Land Is Your Land and the "pre-existing melody" that Woody borrowed. It's from When The World's On Fire which is a Carter Family song. I always found it interesting that Woody took a song about end times redemption and used the melody to create a new national anthem.

The thought also occurred to me that Neil is going back further into the past, for both him and the music. And it is similar to what Dylan did and continues to do as he rediscovers and rejuvenates old music with new and new music with old.

So let's all just enjoy the new Spring and hope to see the tour date announcements that should be coming soon.

And I'll try somehow to get over my disappointment that no Dock Boggs songs were covered...maybe Americana II? I'll start working on the set list now....

Thanks Sandy, Big Chief, & Mr Henry for your comments.

As we said at the top, Neil fans never cease to amaze, delight and bring us joy.

For us, this looks to be another chapter in the journey thru the past.

We go forwards by looking back. With Americana, Neil has gone back to early Horse, early Stephen & early Squires.

It's all fascinating to watch unfold and we're just happy to be along for the ride.

peace

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