Neil Young - The Visitor

What is the etching of?

 

A feather and the Neil Young and Promise of the Real “logo” found on the sleeve.

 

I received an email from Amazon saying it is out of stock. It asks me to decide if I still want it or not, but I have to log in to my account on the desktop site to do it.
Like you, I got in on the preorder price of $13.99. I guess I will get it for that price.

 

I contacted Amazon and asked when to expect the item. They could offer no date. They are 'working on getting more in stock'. I placed my order literally the second the link appeared on the site so I don't see how other people would have been in line ahead of me. Maybe this is just a move by Amazon to get rid of people who ordered at the $13.99 price. At any rate, I'm not budging. But watch this become the rarest Neil Young record in history or somethign.

 

Does it state this on the jacket or inner?

 

Yes, on the jacket.

 

Very strange. Seems Neil is more and more pressing from high resolution; something he has railed against as “fake vinyl” before.

 

I received an email from Amazon saying mine should be delivered January 18th.

 

Ordered Nov. 20 for $13.99...just received email saying I will be receiving mine January 17.

 

I also got in on the $13..99 price. Mine says not shipped yet, and yet it's supposed to arrive tomorrow, and yet they're out of stock until the 19th.
Interested to see how this plays out.

 

My $13.99 order arrived yesterday. Really like this one from Neil.

 

I think his complaint was vinyl pressed from the CD master. Whether that's a distinction worth making here is up to you.

Curious why he would suddenly not record and cut analog.

 

I got in at the $13.99 preorder price as well. My copy shipped yesterday and arrived today by Lasership. Hopefully everyone else gets their copies soon.

 

I don't recall Neil denouncing all digitally sourced vinyl and a Google search has been unsuccessful so far. He's had plenty of positive things to say about hi-res audio.

 

Well, he's spoken out about digital being pressed to vinyl instead of the analog master, that's for sure. I believe he slagged off the practice in the "Sound City" documentary.

 

He may have been — he wasn’t totally clear from what I remember. I remember thinking at the time that he was talking about digital to vinyl cuts and was arguing for all analog cutting.

I don’t really make the distinction myself.

 

Official video for Almost Always:

 

I find this release baffling. I guess that Neil's musical direction over the past several years, combined with my own life events, have resulted in me losing the plot. I'm really struggling here.

I know I'm a broken record on this point - but when Ben Keith died, I thought Neil might be in trouble, more so than when Briggs died. And in fact, that seems to be the case. And with Crazy Horse also perhaps permanently sidelined, Neil seems to be struggling. Although, you wouldn't know that by the frequency, or volume of output. I sometimes wonder if a project on relatively "safe ground" with someone like Stills might not be a bad idea.

I didn't really experience Neil Young in the eighties. I didn't become a fan until 1987. The first new Neil album I bought was This Note's For You. So I didn't feel the frustration of "please just put out a 'Neil Young' album" that many described, and Neil was sued over. I get it now. I would be more than happy with an album that sounded like Life now.

I thought Storytone was good. But these Promise Of The Real albums have lost me, so far. Perhaps Neil is creating a weird "lost era" for his fans to rediscover later. I hope so.

 

I can't do The Monsanto Years, The Visitor is a regular for me.

 

And for me I really enjoy The Monsanto Years while I've struggled to get into this one, ha

 

I think The Visitor sees Promise Of The Real really playing to their considerable strengths; as opposed to engaging in overblown half-hour noodle-fests or butchering (perhaps more fairly, over-embelishing) Crazy Horse songs, with Neil's lead guitar heavily diluted somewhere in the gloop.

As with painting, mix together too many different musical colours and all you will end up with is a grey murk. That was the main criticism I had with Promise Of The Real, both live and in the studio. The Visitor succeeds in bringing back some colour.

 

Neil & POTR are headlining a California festival this summer in LA. His first proper full length electric headline show in 18 months.

 

I’ll always listen to everything Neil puts out ... but THE VISITOR just doesn’t move me much. I tried. Again.

 

That is one amazing festival lineup.

 

And I'll be making the trip south!