neil young

I don't get what everyone likes about this one, and I'm a fan of both Neil in acoustic cornball mode (Silver & Gold etc) and many of his latter-day albums (Monsanto, Psychedelic Pill, etc). This record does sound good, but the songwriting here, to me, hits a new low

I dunno, the songwriting to me is the high point, maybe the lyrics are awkward & clumsy in a very neo-Neil way, but they feel less bolted on to the songs then on other records.

I listened again this morning and it was really hitting me hard.

Posted on thrashers wheat:

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-O99UkYQ8q04/WP01GjOOepI/AAAAAAAAM4A/hIhIEKkA-rUsgEa4jH9NpX1UnYFWSvoXgCLcB/s1600/Neil-Young-Hitchhiker-500x500.jpg

saw that -- would be cool, for sure.
"One night, Mr. Briggs and I jumped into Stretch and headed for his favorite place, Indigo Ranch Studios. I spent the night there with David and recorded nine solo acoustic songs, completing a tape I called 'Hitchhiker'. It was a complete piece, although I was pretty stony on it, and you can hear it in my performances. Dean Stockwell, my friend and a great actor who I later worked with on 'Human Highway' as a co-director, was with us that night, sitting in the room with me as I laid down all of the songs in a row, pausing only for weed, beer, or cocaine. Briggs was in the control room, mixing live on his favorite console." ~ Neil Young

that sounds golden

where's the quote from?

from one of his memoirs, forgetting which one at the moment.
man, would be so good if Neil dropped a five-disc set including Hitchhiker, Homegrown, Odeon/Budokan, Chrome Dreams, Oceanside/Countryside. (this will not happen)

His attitude towards archival releases is the weirdest possible combination of "eh, fuck it, just put it out how it is" and "wait, no, I have to go over this massive project with a fine-tooth comb."

At least he's not overdubbing new elements onto old stuff, like Springsteen or Townshend or the Stones.

Wait, what! Tell me more, Tarfumes, about those old guys fucking with their stuff (disturbing thought, like when Walt Whitman/Paul Goodman/Robert Lowell kept or started fucking with their stuff).

i know springsteen "fixed" a bunch of stuff for the collection of Darkness on the Edge of Town outtakes and the Stones added to the Exile outtakes that came out a few years back.

Springsteen also re-recorded parts on his Tracks box set.

Oh yeah well more Exiles prob okay as long as they don't try to fix the pungent sound. If the Stones wanted to change some of the later stuff that would prob be okay because nobody listens to much of it. Ditto a lot of Springsteen, Townshend (long as he doesn't mess with 60s-70s Who).

I'm thinking more of that version of Blank Generation with Quine etc replaced by Frisell etc, but might be good to have both versions (I'll stick to the original for now). I don't want to be purist about it, long as the originals are still fairly easily available and the new versions are labeled as such.

was actually Destiny Street that Hell tinkered with (slightly less heretical).

If he's taking requests, what changes would we want Neil to make?

Yeah, Springsteen overdubbed new vocals (and other instruments) on a bunch of The Promise material:
https://brucebase.wikispaces.com/The+Promise+-+Studio+Sessions

And as tylerw pointed out, the Stones added to Exile outtakes, and did the same for some of the Some Girls outtakes.

Townshend hired a drummer to add drums to previously drumless demos of "Bell Boy," "I've Had Enough," and a couple of others on the Quadrophenia super deluxe. Much is made in the liner notes about "we used analog equipment for these overdubs" yadda yadda, but the drummer is way too flashy, and it's just distracting.

(long as he doesn't mess with 60s-70s Who).

Funny you should say that! He overdubbed new guitar parts on "My Generation" and one or two others for the 2014 iTunes/HDTracks reissue, subsequently released physically last year on the My Generation super deluxe. These were done because the 3-track masters were missing some 1965 overdubs, so in order to do a stereo remix, Townshend had to re-create these parts. It's actually kind of fascinating to hear 2014 Pete revisit 1965 Pete, and anyway, the original mono mixes are still out there and sound great, so he's not doing it out of any sense of revisionism.

If he's taking requests, what changes would we want Neil to make?

Re-record everything post-Ragged Glory with the Restless rhythm section, in the style of Eldorado.

re-record every track in his oeuvre as a solo pump organ performance

particularly psyched for the revamped arc

There's at least one or two Springsteen songs on Tracks or The Promise that are 100% newly recorded. Others have new vox, or backing vox, or overdubs, though not many, iirc

That stretch of Le Noise, Americana and Psychedelic Pill was so cool. Don't think I've heard a note of the last three.

feel like he coulda gotten a really great album out of those Promise of the Real guys but in typical Neil fashion he just didn't feel like it and instead we got The Monsanto Years

Earth is worth checking out, some great playing on there (and all the Monsanto Years stuff sounded superior on it, I think)

peace trail had jams

yeah i think it is a solid record, with some interesting moves.

There's at least one or two Springsteen songs on Tracks or The Promise that are 100% newly recorded. Others have new vox, or backing vox, or overdubs, though not many, iirc

And the version of "The Promise" on 18 Tracks was a completely new recording. Re:those later reissues, I think he pointed out himself that he only added what was necessary to finish the songs to bring them up to the level of the other released tracks and nothing more.

http://www.dvdactive.com/images/editorial/screenshot/2011/9/desert2004.jpg

Everything he's done this century has worked for me (well, haven't tried PONO yet), up through The Monsanto Years---no idea whether he's right re poison seeds of tyme, but it gave me a vision of his vision: he's been putting the hammer down, waging heavy peace for posterity---of which there may not be any, goddamm! And what kind of world for his kids? I did think some of those tracks might work better live, but Earth's first disc has some baggy-ass tempos, and (though things pick up on Disc 2, and thee cogent critter comments are well-recorded, chosen and timed) the song selection on both is redundant, and selection mainly shows that Neil Cares, duh. Some of it grabs me anyway, but overall not nearly as much as several Promise Of The Neil shows which are or have been posted here and there.
Peace Trail is an immediately engaging situation, in terms of Keltner and maybe others having fun with percussion, and I def hear what Tyler mentioned about a Pere Ubu approach on at least one track, but I only like about half the songs so far, mainly the second half. I do like that part pretty well though, and I only like about half of most rock albums (ones of the current decade, especially).

(well, haven't tried PONO yet)

You're too late:

https://www.cnet.com/news/pono-is-probably-dead-long-live-xstream/

Townshend hired a drummer to add drums to previously drumless demos of "Bell Boy," "I've Had Enough," and a couple of others on the Quadrophenia super deluxe.

this is just crazy to me - surely the main attraction of a demo is its status as actual artefact of the song/production in the process of being created? if it didn't have drums when Townsend sketched it out then that's how I'd want to hear it.

Townshend's demos, since around 1968 or so, frequently featured full instrumentation, all played and recorded by himself. His first solo album, Who Came First, is actually all home demos, but he was so skilled an engineer (and surprisingly competent as a drummer) that they didn't sound like "home demos."

There are only 3-4 Quadrophenia demos that don't have drums, either because Pete wanted to leave Moon more freedom to come up with a part (unlikely, given how Moon is constricted on "Bell Boy"), or because he ran out of tracks. Fortunately, these demos were widely bootlegged, so the pre-futzed-with versions are easy to find. But it's baffling why drums were added, and they add absolutely nothing to the understanding of the creative process -- if anything, they detract from it.

tbh one of the reasons I don't like Townsend's demos too much is they often sound like the eventual who tracks but with Pete singing and a competent (but not Keith) drummer

Jonathan Demme RIP---how are his Neil docs? I liked his Robyn + Venus 3, haven't seen any others.

I have fond memories of Heart of Gold, even if it's mostly a straightforward concert film

Journeys is pretty good, I liked the parts where he drives around his old town.

digging this clip of Rio 2001 - Cortez - slowed way down, evoking Pink Floyd at this tempo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijrkKNZRIfM

nice!
just posted this highly recommended comp from the 2003 european tour -- featuring an amazing 12-string, 10-minute Cortez. https://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/161242399182/neil-young-eurotour-2003-rumors-are-a-flying

Reprise sez:

Neil Young will release a new studio album—which he originally recorded in 1976. The disc, dubbed Hitchhiker, is set for an August 4 release via Reprise Records and will be available on vinyl, CD and digitally.

The 10-track acoustic album was recorded live in the studio August 11, 1976, at Indigo Studios in Malibu, California. It contains some of Young’s best-loved songs plus two previously unreleased tracks.

The original session was produced by Young’s longtime studio collaborator David Brings with new post production by John Hanlon, who has worked with Young since 1990 and produced his most recent works, including Peace Trail, Earth, The Monsanto Years, etc.

As these songs were recorded in a single session, the resultant performances are breathtaking and passionate. The simplicity of a single voice and guitar captured here are as pure and powerful as the creator intended with only Young and Briggs in the room at the time of recording.

Many of the songs would not appear on vinyl until years later. The title track, for example, did not officially appear until 2010’s Le Noise and naturally sounds worlds apart from the original. The version herein of “Captain Kennedy” has certain raw spontaneity compared to the slightly gentler version that would eventually surface on Hawks & Doves in 1980.

Perhaps the most noticeable jewels in the crown of Hitchhiker are the two previously unreleased tracks that have remained in the vaults since 1976: “Hawaii” a soaring ballad and unlike anything else Young had recorded at the time. Side one closes out with “Give Me Strength,” which would be occasionally performed live in the mid-Seventies but now available here for the first time and may well be considered one of Young’s best long lost gems.

Hitchhiker Track Listing:
1. Pocahontas
2. Powderfinger
3. Captain Kennedy
4. Hawaii
5. Give Me Strength
6. Ride My Llama
7. Hitchhiker
8. Campaigner
9. Human Highway
10. The Old Country Waltz

stoked!!!!

haha, it's been pushed back a month from the first embargoed announcement ...

hell yeah

awesome

wouldn't exactly call "Hawaii" a "soaring ballad" -- it's more an enigmatic kinda thing akin to "The Old Homestead" I think. Great though!

isn't hitchhiker the track apparently a biographical recounting of neil's experience with different drugs?

yeah, released (in slightly rewritten form) on Le Noise.

I know this is heresy and I sorta feel bad saying it but... solo acoustic Neil is the segment of his catalog that I am least interested in

might be the same for me, but I'm still REALLY INTERESTED IN IT

esp if it is from 1976

I love his acoustic stuff. I wish I could hear pochantas and powderfinger again for the first time

totally.
Neil was peaking in '76: http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2016/11/18/neil-young-crazy-horse-us-tour-november-1976/

Whoa, no Bridge Concert this year

https://bridgeschool.org/concert/news.php

:( :(

maybe ever

:( :(

?!

I do worry about neil's health every time this thread gets bumped