Anyone heard this yet? Neil releases this awful sounding record right after all his complaining about digital media and hyping his new Pono. I know he intended it to sound like an old 78 but give me a break.

Rock fans are soooo ass-tight... You see dozens of photos made with 19th century cameras but a man with a guitar couldn't make a disc on 1947 gear?
C'mon give me a break!

ALH is an experimental record, as were other NY discs ("Year Of The Horse" comes to mind : it was recorded to sound like an audience-made bootleg).

You get it or you don't get it...

"Neil Young will release a CD, digital album and a Limited Edition Deluxe Box Set of his recent vinyl album A Letter Home, out on Reprise Records on May 27th. Young recorded the collection of covers on our refurbished 1947 recording booth at our Nashville headquarters. Imagine a very simple recording studio not much larger than a phone booth and you’ll get the idea.

He describes the album as "an unheard collection of rediscovered songs from the past recorded on ancient electro-mechanical technology captures and unleashes the essence of something that could have been gone forever." Recorded live to track to one-track, mono, the album has an inherent warm, primitive feel of a vintage Folkways recording"

... much like pix made with ancient cameras and lenses have that feel. And I'll take that any day over the Pro-tooled Autotuned, mastered-in-the-red crap that's flooding the market today



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 2014-05-28 00:31 by dcba.

Not sure which Year of the Horse version you have but mine sounds no different than any other official live release, you must have a bootleg audience copy. No comparison there. Glad you like it though, enjoy.

....Jeeeeeeeeeez shadooby wait till ya get ta listenin' ta Blind Lemon Jefferson records ....



ROCKMAN

Blind Lemon had no other choice though. Just the same I'd still rather listen to my Robert Johnson (cd) box set, when it's all you got.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-05-28 00:42 by shadooby.

....guess he couldn't see any other way .....



ROCKMAN

Here's a clip of Neil in the recording booth as seen on Jimmy Fallon a couple of weeks ago.
After the commercial break, a vinyl 7 inch of the performance popped out of the booth slot was played on air.

Neil-In-Booth

Haven't heard the whole album yet, but do look forward to it.

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Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-05-28 01:48 by Hairball.

Even better:

Since I Met You Baby

Are they for real those 0,35$ cent "Automatic Recording Studios" ? would be fun to find one on a garage sale with a unheard tape.....

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Perhaps for his next album, we'll see him recording a bunch of country covers out on the range!



_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

Quote
NICOS
Are they for real those 0,35$ cent "Automatic Recording Studios" ? would be fun to find one on a garage sale with a unheard tape.....

The one in the Third Man store is real (it's the one they took to NY for the show)--anybody can record in it.

My Dad took me into a recording booth at Coney Island amusement park in the early 60s. I must have been about 5 years old. At the end you got this little acetate record. It was magic. I have even looked for these booths on eBay, and have never found one.

.....read some where that Jack White searched the US for his ...
Restored it and now only operating booth in the US ..... cool



ROCKMAN

i guess the ones that complain about the sound quality never did listen to any Robert Johnson recordings...

I've got the LP, and I love it!
Listening to it creates a special athmosphere, a special vibe.
You KNOW it's no old field recording and so for me it doesn't pretend to be a real old 78. But in this world of clean recorded music without any crackles packed in plastic boxes it is something special. Listening to it made me listening to many of my old vinyls again.

After being impressed by Neil's version of Bert Jansch's Needle of Death, I got the megabox set version of A Letter Home, mainly for the audiophile (uncrunchy) version, but also for the gimmick of the seven clear 6" records (one side for each of the tracks on the album, plus a bonus with Blowin' in the Wind and a piano version of Crazy).

I got in late last night and haven't had a chance to play any of it yet. But the packaging is cheapo-cheapo. The cardboard packing slots for the CD, DVD and the 6" records are flimsy, so that the CD, DVD and 6" records did not stay in place in the box during shipment. When I opened the box, the 6" records had fallen out of their sleeves and were loose all over the inside of the box. Because the records are clear, I couldn't see immediately how scratched they were. But considering the cost of the megabox, this is not good.

I have been a fan of Neil's for more than four decades, dating back to my older brother's 1970-71 CSNY binge, and have bought every album of his since Zuma (1975) when it was brand new. For all his brilliance, he can try his audience's patience like few others.

EOMS sounds like it could have been recorded on one of Thomas Edison's wax cylinders, but it's still worth a listen every once in a while.

Compared to A Letter Home, Exile sounds like the most pristine Mobile Fidelity pressing! The regular version of A Letter Home is willfully crunchy and beautiful in its off-kilter way.