blindboygrunt Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 Am listening to neil young's latest release. A letter home was recorded in jack whites recording booth . Sounds like an old 78 Am liking it a lot . I am a huge neil young fan though. Anyone else got their ears round it yet ? Just wondered what you all thought. It's gonna split opinions for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darling67 Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 Not yet. But it's on my To-Do List! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brixa Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 I'm out. Loved him for about 20-odd years now but haven't been able to enjoy any album since maybe silver and gold. He's obsessed with perfect sound then releases an album that sounds like its been recorded in a tin with rats crawlin' over it. But of course....that's neil! Think I'll go and strum some songs from harvest instead👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 Sounds like a bit of gimmickry like when Moby Grape put a song on their second LP that could only be played at 78 rpm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajsc Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 Don't like this one...........at all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jannusguy2 Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 I'm passing on it. Saw the Tonight show stunt with Jack White and it put me off of it. Gimmick is the right word. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duluthdan Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 I think its an interesting concept - and is the epitome of "raw". One microphone, and a bunch of covers reorder directly to vinyl, apparently very reto, very crackly. I'm looking forward to hearing it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5433ZDjFE8 01 A Letter Home intro 02 Changes (Phil Ochs Cover) 03 Girl From the North Country (Bob Dylan Cover) 04 Needle of Death (Bert Jansch Cover) 05 Early Morning Rain (Gordon Lightfoot Cover) 06 Crazy (Willie Nelson Cover) 07 Reason to Believe (Tim Hardin Cover) 08 On the Road Again (Willie Nelson Cover) 09 If You Could Read My Mind (Gordon Lightfoot Cover) 10 Since I Met You Baby (Ivory Joe Hunter Cover) 11 My Hometown (Bruce Springsteen Cover) 12 I Wonder If I Care as Much (Don Everly Cover) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 Isn't this a re-issue of one of those Record Day Black Friday releases? Lawdy, Petty's "Kiss my Amps" was great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randmo Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 I'm passing on it. Saw the Tonight show stunt with Jack White and it put me off of it. Gimmick is the right word. I love Neil Young, but I gotta agree... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosinante Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 I really like the album, so much so that I bought the vinyl box set. I have to say though that the audiophile version that was run straight to tape just sounds so much better and really would have probably changed a lot of people's minds about this one. It sounds like you're just hanging out with neil and he's playing you his favorite songs right in front of your face in the living room. For a huge Neil Young fan it really is a blessing of an album. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted June 1, 2014 Author Share Posted June 1, 2014 I'd have liked to hear the true recordings without the hiss and crackle . I dont have a turnable for vinyl at the minute. It's also a little on the expensive side. What's on the dvd? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissouriPicker Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 This album is reminiscent of the way the old Vanguard and Folkway records were recorded in the 1960's. Kind of the sound and feel that it was recorded in someone's kitchen. Also reminds me of those Woody Guthrie albums about the "Dust Bowl." Raw, primitive, kind of grating on the nerves for some folks, and Neil can sound like fingernails on a chalkboard at times. Depending on who is singing, that can be good and bad. A good album if one is a major Neil Young fan. Young has always been different and this is one of his ways to continue being that...and no matter how different he is, he is real. I'm not knocking Young. Not his biggest fan, but some of his music is awesome in my view. His version of Ian Tyson's "Four Strong Winds" is awesome, along with "Old Man" and "Heart of Gold," and his songwriting is at the top. I think Neil is being "Neil." He's knows how to stay relevant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars68 Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 I really like the album, so much so that I bought the vinyl box set. I have to say though that the audiophile version that was run straight to tape just sounds so much better and really would have probably changed a lot of people's minds about this one. It sounds like you're just hanging out with neil and he's playing you his favorite songs right in front of your face in the living room. For a huge Neil Young fan it really is a blessing of an album. Could you please explain in a little more detail how the audiophile vinyl LP version differs from the regular vinyl LP. I have ordered the regular LP and enjoy it a lot. I also have the CD on order (basically for convenience of ripping to FLAC), but having this album on CD kind of defeats the idea... Lars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted June 1, 2014 Author Share Posted June 1, 2014 I'm assuming here but I think the audiofile is a version of the songs without the cracks and hisses. http://www.thirdmanrecords.com/news/view/neil-young-a-letter-home-limited-edition-box-set There's a video on this page of him doing the Bert Jansch song. First time I ever seen neil using a capo . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug the Old Geezer Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 I bet Neil was going nuts in that little recording booth, not being able to rock back and forth or pace around a little like he does when he is getting into a song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosinante Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 The audiophile version is just a mono track that was run straight from the microphone in the booth onto tape. Also I think there was a little more engineering involved. Everything is crystal clear and the tone is even without the distortions of the recording booth process. The DVD is of Neil and Jack White recording the album. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrairieSchooner Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 I'm passing on it. Saw the Tonight show stunt with Jack White and it put me off of it. Gimmick is the right word. Ditto. As much as I respect Neil he really needs to stick to his own stuff and stay away from most covers. He's not a good singer, and he really should have tuned up whatever it was he was playing on the Tonight Show. I thought his cover of Willie's song was embarrassingly bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smurfbird Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 I like it. Neil's never been afraid of gimmicks if it gets him moving. Used to be "honey slides" and now it's this goofy recording booth. I watched the videos of him in the recording booth (iTunes lets you sample 30 seconds of each video) and liked it enough to buy it both for listening and viewing pleasure. But my favorite Neil albums are On the Beach, Tonight's the Night, Hawks and Doves and After the Goldrush..arbitrary but why not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 But my favorite Neil albums are On the Beach, Tonight's the Night, Hawks and Doves and After the Goldrush..arbitrary but why not? Quite interesting to see Hawks and Doves in there. No Comes a Time, no Zuma, no Time Fades Away, non of the 2 first. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 Ooh ha I like it a lot! I knew my lo-fi stuff was on the right track! It must get hot and claustrophobic in that phone booth, and the guitar only seems to fit sideways. BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted June 2, 2014 Author Share Posted June 2, 2014 Ooh ha I like it a lot! I knew my lo-fi stuff was on the right track! It must get hot and claustrophobic in that phone booth, and the guitar only seems to fit sideways. BluesKing777. Ah !! That's why he has the capo on ...so the guitar fits in the booth! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorrisrownSal Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 I listened to some examples on Amazon. I do like Neil a lot. For example I love the performance of NY at the end of that DVD somewhere where he plays old laughing lady... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEoT5gfveBc However I cringed listening to his versions of GL and Bruce... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The dman Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 I've been a Neil fan forever but this doesn't do anything for me at all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phelonious Ponk Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 A simple recording, just voice and guitar, of some interesting covers is a great idea. But there is simply no good reason not to sit down in front of a good mic or two and record to digital, or a quality 2-track machine. This is just dumb. Springsteen recorded Nebraska on a 4-track cassette machine and it sounded better. I don't know what NY is trying to do here. P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jannusguy2 Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 I wouldn't even listen to this record on Neil's Pono player. I mean, considering his rants and raves about the state of modern audio reproduction, this project seems like a $99.00 bad joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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