Neil Young recording with Daniel Lanois-"Le Noise" out 9/28*

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by GregK, Apr 29, 2010.

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  1. reb

    reb Money Beats Soul

    Location:
    Long Island
    Total playing time is only 38 minutes, leaves me wanting for more.
     
  2. Expectant One

    Expectant One Well-Known Member

    Hehe. It sounds promising that it's that short, too many albums are far too long. When Yes can make their prog clock in at under 40 minutes, then so can any other band. ^^

    Anyway, I only had time to listen to the first half of Le Noise earlier tonight, and it sounded alright, I suppose. But then again, no Young album kicks down any doors around here, even the very good ones seem to evolve slowly into something special, so I'm hopeful.
     
  3. My remedy for the 38 minutes in length is I keep playing it, over and over again... :D
     
  4. Chip Z

    Chip Z Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cleveland, OH, USA
    I'm 99% sure they charged me $13.99 and I know that was the amount on the sticker. I grabbed one of the 2 copies they had on the shelf.
     
  5. egor

    egor Forum Resident

    Location:
    seattle
    I didn't see this posted here yet.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYwK6VhGTOw
     
  6. GregK

    GregK I'm speechless Thread Starter

    Location:
    Baltimore, MD
    I paid $13.48 or so at Borders (using the 33% off coupon). What a great album. I'm so glad he decided to try something new. This would sound so different with a band.
     
  7. GregK

    GregK I'm speechless Thread Starter

    Location:
    Baltimore, MD
    Second time through for me so far.....this is stunning. How did all the negativity and criticism from earlier in this thread miss it? My only complaints are that it is too short, and why isn't You Never Call included?
     
  8. John D.

    John D. Senior Member

    Sad but true. There is a certain percentage of people on this board that don't like anything that I do. After reading the initial comments, I wasn't even going to listen to the streaming on NPR.
    That stream sounded pretty good to me, good enough for me to buy a copy. I will get the cd first to check out. :agree:
     
  9. Daniel Plainview

    Daniel Plainview God's Lonely Man

    Bought mine at BEst Buy for $14.99 (STEEP!). They only had one copy in the Neil Young section. I didn't see any copies in the "new releases" section, so maybe that was all they had. FYE didn't have the album AT ALL on CD. They did, however, have one copy on expensive vinyl. Weird. I got mine coming from Amazon, and I hope they honor my order even though they screwed the pooch and sold it to me for $20.88.
     
  10. Pawnmower

    Pawnmower Senior Member

    Location:
    Dearborn, MI
    Picked mine up at Target.. Sticker said $13.99 but it was on sale for $11.99.
     
  11. Chip Z

    Chip Z Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cleveland, OH, USA
    Too bad for me. Oh well, no regrets, I love it and am just grateful he's still able to produce such fine music.
     
  12. Chief

    Chief Over 12,000 Served

    "Love And War" is epic. It's Neil greatness. It's great songwriting, and melodic. It could have been on Rust Never Sleeps. The sound on Le Noise is perfect. Like many, if not most Neil songs, it would sound good with different arrangements.

    I'm listening to the full album for the first time right now. I'd be surprised if Le Noise wasn't listed in many critics' year-end best of lists. It's that kind of album. It takes risks and sounds ugly (depending on one's perspective). I think this was the right album for Neil to make. He could have done something familiar, but he chose not to, and that's why he's still relevant.

    That said, it's a challenging album simply because the sounds aren't friendly or inviting (like Harvest Moon or Ragged Glory for instance). The lack of traditional instrumentation will prevent it from gaining wide acceptance. Neil has put out other challenging albums of course. Some have ultimately rewarded over time, others haven't so much. I won't even dare to speculate where Le Noise will fall. I think Fork In The Road is challenging as well, and I also think it's really good. Le Noise, however, is something entirely different.

    "Hitchhiker" is a monster of a song. It's hard to imagine the song co-existing thematically with songs like "Campaigner", "Powderfinger", and "Pocahontas". The songs from this era (summer 1976) weren't introspective. They were mostly about people and stories. For some reason Neil chose to revisit the "Out Of My Mind", but with much more realism. Perhaps that is why "Hitchhiker" was never put out. Neil didn't seem to be into being dark and introspective in the late seventies.

    I think the length of the album is just right.
     
  13. windfall

    windfall Senior Member

    Location:
    UK
    I think they picked the wrong songs to send out streaming as a preview. I was one of the forumites who was down on the album for poor songwriting earlier in this thread. Having heard the whole album, I still think it's probably jumping the gun to call the album a masterpiece, but it is a lot better than I had expected based on the two songs I heard.

    I still find Walk with Me a little hackneyed lyrically and the music unimaginative; Love and War similarly... there is nothing really crafted about these words. And I am always a little suspicious about lines repeated over and over (err... can't think of anything to go here... let's just repeat the song title a few times. I noticed Springsteen doing this a lot on The Rising). Having said that, nice acoustic solo halfway through. Can't stand the "yeah... it's an angry world" in the eponymous song.

    But Hitchiker is very good, as is Peaceful Valley Boulevard (after the trite "God was crying tears that fell like rain..." aww, c'mon, Neil....), and the others are growing on me.

    And I do love the sonics.

    But what's with the delay on the CD/DVD release, and then the blu-ray even later? Strikes me as rather cynical marketing.

    All the usual IMHOs and YMMVs apply.
     
  14. EwaWoowa

    EwaWoowa Sexiest Monkey Ever...

    Location:
    Zürich
    It's a challenge, it's a 'grower', and after listening to it for a week, I declare it a winner...

    It could do with another song on it to make it full length, but this is nitpicking, it's just got some intangible 'vibe' to it that makes it work.

    Having said that, it's definitely an 'album' as opposed to a collection of single songs. They don't sound that strong when taken individually and I presume that is (maybe) the reason why it's quite a short album, to push you into only listening to it as a collected whole...
     
  15. windfall

    windfall Senior Member

    Location:
    UK
    I think that's very perceptive. It's definitely an "art piece". I am not sure many of the songs stand up in isolation and would not be surprised if most do not survive in the live repertory for very long. I do think that in terms of songwriting it might turn out to be another Prairie Wind or Chrome Dreams II, both of which got tagged "best work since...", then, with hindsight, appear much less impressive.

    I think the sonic treatment is partly what marks this one out as special, and it will push its way further up the canon on those grounds...
     
  16. Graham

    Graham Senior Member

    Location:
    Perth, Australia
    Windfall, this has been bothering me for ages - who is that in your avatar? Looks like Jim O'Rourke but I don't think it is him. Thanks.

    Back on track, with any luck my copy of Le Noise should arrive in the post today.
     
  17. windfall

    windfall Senior Member

    Location:
    UK
    hi, Graham

    that would be Chuck Prophet... ex-Green on Red, current... Chuck Prophet.

    Be interested to hear your thoughts on Le Noise in due course.
     
  18. Graham

    Graham Senior Member

    Location:
    Perth, Australia
    Thanks for putting me out of my misery! It's a good pic.

    Will post back with my thoughts on Le Noise, although having given Love And War a couple of listens online, I think it's a great song. Looking forward to hearing it, and the album, properly.
     
  19. Macman

    Macman Senior Member

    I initially ranked Le Noise in Neil's "second-tier" of albums with Zuma, Ragged Glory, Comes a Time, Harvest Moon and Sleeps With Angels and Chrome Dreams II, but now I'm not so sure it doesn't belong with his absolute classics. Thematically it sounds like it could have come out at the same time as On the Beach and Tonight's the Night. The songs and performances are strong and Lanois' production and sonics are stunning.

    As for the length, I think it's perfect.
     
  20. Pawnmower

    Pawnmower Senior Member

    Location:
    Dearborn, MI
    I listened to this for the first time last night and I was really impressed with the sound of the guitars. Especially in the first track. I thought "Angry World" was kinda lame.. "Rumblin'" didn't really stand out at all.. But the rest was strong and enjoyable. When listening to it, I could only think how much better albums like "Greendale" would be if they sounded this good and not like demo mud. Good work, Neil.
     
  21. silvertrees

    silvertrees Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    Sorry, if this has been already discussed but I'm curious if Le Noise is HDCD?
     
  22. Daniel Plainview

    Daniel Plainview God's Lonely Man

  23. ted321

    ted321 Forum Resident

    Got the vinyl at J & R Music World yesterday..sticker said $35.99..$29.99 at register..one of his better efforts..sound is stunning!!
     
  24. Willowman

    Willowman Senior Member

    Location:
    London, UK
    I listened to it again this morning and found it less impressive than earlier listens.

    I don't think I like the guitar tone on the acoustic tracks, and too much reverb all over. On something like 'Peaceful Valley Boulevard' I'd rather it sounded like he was playing in my living room than a church hall. The kind of sound he gets on 'His Old Guitar', for example, from Prairie Wind.
     
  25. mwheelerk

    mwheelerk Sorry, I can't talk now, I'm listening to music...

    Location:
    Gilbert Arizona
    With less of the sonics you describe then it would not be a Daniel Lanois production.
     
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