Album Reviews

The problem with “greatest hits” packages issued by (or for) by rock artists who flourished during the golden age of album artistry (1967-1991 give or take a few) is that they inevitably shortchange the musician and the music-not to mention the fans.

In the case of Neil Young, albums like Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, After the Goldrush, and Harvest to name but a few, deserve to be heard whole, not chopped and formed into musical luncheon meat. Excerpted as they are here, will leave Young fans with a feeling of emptiness, of being cut off from a familiar listening experience (the whole album)-the way one inevitably feels attending a food “tasting” instead of sitting down to a full, multi-course meal.

When this set has been played through, as with a food “tasting,” you may feel full, but you won't be satisfied. Young's life and musical personas have gone through many abrupt, tumultuous, even seismic shifts of mood and texture. All of them are worth savoring in full. Even the ones you might not have appreciated at the time (like Trans and Neil and the Shocking Pinks) have great value in the Young story once you get some background. No Young fan should miss “Shakey,” Jimmy McDonough's obsessive/compulsive biography, even if Neil himself is apparently displeased with some if not all of it.

But back to this “greatest hits” package (limited to the Reprise catalog). Whether Young did it grudgingly or with enthusiasm (I suggest the former), it's based, he says, on “…original sales, airplay, and known download history.” Of course Young really didn't have many “hits,” in the sense of “chart toppers,” but look what's here: of the 16 songs (plus bonus 45 containing 2 tunes not delivered to the digital masses, but more about that shortly), 11 of them were from a two year period (1969-1971), with nine of the eleven coming from Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, After the Goldrush, and Harvest. Those three albums are “must haves” for any Young fan. The other songs are “Helpless” from CSN&Y's Déjà vu album recorded in 1969 and “Ohio” from the CSN&Y 45rpm single produced shortly after the Kent State killings in May of 1970.

The other songs are “Like a Hurricane,” with Crazy Horse, from the neglectedAmerican Stars and Bars, “Comes a Time,” from the album of the same name, the crazed “freak flag high” anthem “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black),” again with Crazy Horse, from Rust Never Sleeps, “Rockin' In the Free World” (Young's MTV “breakthrough”) from Freedom “ and finally “Harvest Moon” from the much maligned album of the same name. The bonus blue vinyl 45 reprises Neil's first Reprise single: “The Loner” (from Young's eponymously titled solo debut that every fan from his Buffalo Springfield days has on the original mix LP-the one with no writing on the cover [the single used the remix with more prominent vocals]-and “Sugar Mountain” recorded on Young's 19th birthday at The Canterbury House in Ann Arbor Michigan on his Sony consumer grade reel to reel.

The first album-all editions- was mastered using the horrible Haeco-CSG system designed to make stereo albums “fold down” properly for monophonic airplay (and on mono home systems), but which succeeded only in sapping the dynamic life and high frequency transients from recordings unfortunate to be run through it (like The Everly Brothers' great Roots album also on Warner-Reprise).

The album tunes are presented in chronological order, which only intensifies the desire to pull out the original elpees and have a listen, except for one thing: the sound on this double set is absolutely, mind-blowingly, stunningly superior to whichever version you previously thought ruled. Orange and tan Warner-7Arts/Reprise original Everybody Knows This is Nowhere? Forget about it! “Down By The River,” “Cowgirl in The Sand” (given all of side 1), and “Cinnamon Girl” have never sounded this expansive, dynamic, etched-in-granite pure and clean. Never has the bass been delivered with such stunning detail and “pop.”

I have a copy of After the Goldrush said not to exist: an orange/tan Warner-7Arts/Reprise pressing. Said not to exist because the album was issued after 7Arts sold its share of the label. Unlike the earliest all- tan Reprise labels I've found, this one has grooves cut almost to the label (side one's inner groove etching has 'RS 6383, 31,009RE2-1' and 31,009RE2 is written below catalog # RS6383 on label, while all-tan label has 31,009RE1 on label, but 31,009RE2-2 and RS6383-A on lead out groove area), and sounds far more dynamic and punchy compared to any of the all-tan editions I've found (there are many odd variations of the original). Forget all of that: the tracks here from After the Goldrush sound so much better than on any other version I've heard, it's positively sick.

Every song sounds better than I've ever heard before, thanks to the care taken in the transfer and mastering process. Wait until you hear “Old Man,” or “Heart of Gold,” from Harvest! According to information on Neil Young's website, for the double LP, 30 IPS "flat" tape copies were created and assembled from the original analog masters of tracks 1-14, while tracks 15 and 16 were transferred from up-converted 176.4/24 bit digital masters created from the original lower resolution digital originals. The 7” 45rpm bonus disc not available on CD or DVD-A was cut from the original 2 track master tape used to generate the original single. What's more, according to the website, these are “1 step” LPs, eliminating the second and third generation of metal parts usually created for most projects so that subsequent pressing parts can be created from the original second stage metal “mother.” Young personally oversaw the entire process, which I have been told by sources, included rejecting up to a dozen test lacquers until he got what he wanted, which finally was delivered by Classic Records using its Quiex SV-P 200 gram process. ( Go to :http://www.neilyoung.com/archives/gh_technotes_vinyl.html for full details). Note that the website claims 180g pressings, so the information may be out of date and I have no way of verifying the "one step" information. Doesn't matter. As they used to say at Motown, "It's what's in the grooves that counts."

This is not a greatest hits compilation for Neil Young fans. That would be his far more “inneresting” three LP Decade set which you should be able to find used without much difficulty. It won't sound like this however. Not even close.

The inner gatefold packaging, dedicated to Harvest shows original artwork from the album, plus an original pressing playing on an original AR turntable. On the DVD-A edition, the 'table spins on screen “simulating” analog, as the sound probably does. I'm sure the DVD-A edition, assembled from 176.4/24 bit conversions from analog sound pretty good, but nowhere as rich, full and sweet (and bone-rattling where appropriate) as these two LPs.

This set probably fulfils Young's contract with Reprise, but more importantly it lets those of us interested in good sound (long may we run) hear what's possible from the catalog when an audiophile/artist takes complete control of it. Will Young issue his long awaited Archives set on vinyl? We can only hope. At the very least, this set wets the whistle for the heart of the catalog to be reissued by Classic with this level of care. In the meantime there's this sketchy set, which however skeletal, is 100% worth having so you can hear the stunning results. It wouldn't hurt for it to sell out so Young gets the message that we want more vinyl from his back catalog produced like this. A “must have” set for Young fans-at least those interested in hearing what's on the master tapes (or as close as we can get without visiting Redwood Digital).

Snooze now, looze later. This is a limited edition for sure.