A Letter Home (Deluxe Version)
One of the weirder albums from an artist who’s been known to throw some real curveballs, *A Letter Home* is Neil Young singing a collection of covers into Jack White’s refurbished 1947 Voice-O-Graph recording booth at Third Man Records’ Nashville headquarters. The deluxe edition includes video of the recordings from multiple camera angles. Fidelity is obviously low, though the acetates made from the process were quickly copied to a less deteriorating format. Jack White joins Young for The Everly Brothers’ “I Wonder If I Care as Much” and Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again,” but it’s primarily the Neil Young show, either with piano for Tim Hardin’s “Reason to Believe” and Gordon Lightfoot’s “Early Morning Rain” or acoustic guitar on Bob Dylan’s \"Girl from the North Country,” Phil Ochs’ “Changes,\" and Bert Jansch’s “Needle of Death.” The results aren’t for everyone, but the hardcore Neil Young fans will likely find a majority of the performances quite touching. The “A Letter Home Intro” is Young talking to his late mother.
Neil Young has spent the past few months making moves on something he's been passionately preaching about for a while now: studio-quality audio made accessible to the masses. So what's the first album Young puts out after raising $6.2 million for Pono on Kickstarter? A sepia-toned long-player with a sound that would sit comfortably next to late 1920s Jimmie Rodgers or Carter Family records.
Neil Young has spent the past few months making moves on something he's been passionately preaching about for a while now: studio-quality audio made accessible to the masses. So what's the first album Young puts out after raising $6.2 million for Pono on Kickstarter? A sepia-toned long-player with a sound that would sit comfortably next to late 1920s Jimmie Rodgers or Carter Family records.
The anemic state of the music industry frequently raises suspicions about gimmicks and marketing ploys, and if not for the reputations of its creators—Neil Young and Jack White—that’s how A Letter Home might sound on paper. Recorded using a 1947 vinyl recording booth, A Letter Home risks putting process ahead of the…
The anemic state of the music industry frequently raises suspicions about gimmicks and marketing ploys, and if not for the reputations of its creators—Neil Young and Jack White—that’s how A Letter Home might sound on paper. Recorded using a 1947 vinyl recording booth, A Letter Home risks putting process ahead of the…
Neil Young's covers album, recorded in Jack White's 40s vocal booth, is intimate and affecting, writes <strong>Phil Mongredien</strong>
Neil Young's covers album, recorded in Jack White's 40s vocal booth, is intimate and affecting, writes <strong>Phil Mongredien</strong>
The more you look at it, Neil Young's crusade for quality digital music with PONO seems less about fidelity and more about preservation, about purity.
The more you look at it, Neil Young's crusade for quality digital music with PONO seems less about fidelity and more about preservation, about purity.
<p><strong>Alexis Petridis</strong>: In a career full of wilfully perverse moves, this ought to take the cake – but in fact, Neil Young's deliberately crackly, muffled covers album turns out to be a very powerful thing</p>
<p><strong>Alexis Petridis</strong>: In a career full of wilfully perverse moves, this ought to take the cake – but in fact, Neil Young's deliberately crackly, muffled covers album turns out to be a very powerful thing</p>
Neil Young's covers album is a rattlebag of simple acoustic versions, says Helen Brown
Neil Young's covers album is a rattlebag of simple acoustic versions, says Helen Brown
Neil Young has been pretty much making albums of two types for most of his 45 year solo career. There have been the proto-grunge rockers like 1979’s Rust Never Sleeps and 1990’s Ragged Glory and the more subtle, acoustic folk-rockers like 1970’s After the Goldrush and 1972’s Harvest. All these four albums are titans of their genre but Young has never been the most consistent of artists and his career has not been without its misfires, like 1983’s Everybody’s Rockin’ and 1987’s Life.
Neil Young has been pretty much making albums of two types for most of his 45 year solo career. There have been the proto-grunge rockers like 1979’s Rust Never Sleeps and 1990’s Ragged Glory and the more subtle, acoustic folk-rockers like 1970’s After the Goldrush and 1972’s Harvest. All these four albums are titans of their genre but Young has never been the most consistent of artists and his career has not been without its misfires, like 1983’s Everybody’s Rockin’ and 1987’s Life.