Remember the vinyl mastering video from november last year? On the tape box it's written 'Hawks + Doves' alongside 'Little Wing'. Considering all that talk concerning the condition of the master tapes, I assume they searched for alternative sources for the same material, which means that at least a couple of tracks will be exactly what we hear on other albums. So this is the original Homegrown. I can't see why Neil would assemble a new version of it with songs we already know - even if it were different versions. There's at least a double album's worth of music from those sessions, most of it unreleased in any form. If his intention was to avoid repeating songs, Little Wing and Star Of Bethlehem wouldn't stand a chance.
Same here. I pre-ordered an upcoming LP (to be released in May) by another of my favorite artists last month and just received a refund. The label says they "don't know" if they'll be able to go forward with a physical release. We may be through the looking glass here, people. I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but, err...
This is not surprising. Though we want LPs and CDs to be available, why risk sending out stuff now? We hope for the best...but that won't be soon. The U.S. has not reached the 'peak' of this problem, no matter who is saying what. It's not 'almost over'. On the bright side, those physical releases will be available 'someday'...just not anytime soon. Let's hope for the best. I'm more concerned with when I can leave my house for something other than a few groceries.
Quite a few artist have postponed their releases to July or later this summer in the hopes of having something physical to promote, and promote it as well as they can. Artists like Willie Nelson, The Pretenders, Margo Price, Lady Gaga, HAIM, etc. Which I can definitely understand; they want to do the kind of full marketing push that you can’t do during a pandemic (talk shows, radio, concerts, music videos, etc.). But if this lasts into June, it will be interesting to see if these artists decide to keep pushing their albums back, or count their losses and just put them out there digitally and with some physical, if possible.
First of all, there’s not gonna be any record store day on 4/18. I suspect it makes sense to push this back 2-3 months at least. There may be some online sales of course but record stores aren’t gonna be crammed with people. Also, we have to assume the shutdown is affecting record factories and what they can output even though you an I would consider them “essential” workers. Anyway I’m confident we’ll eventually see a nice vinyl release of this.
Didn’t Neil say they already had the vinyl in hand? It’s probably just a matter of when it makes sense to start shipping things en masse and people can get back to stores again.
It was put back to June 20th about a month ago but I believe it'll re-emerge around October. If not, it's curtains for the whole thing.
Not sure why some here think an LP will never happen again. It will take time. It won't be SOON. But it will happen. We WILL hear this in high-res, streaming on NYA. Subscribe. Enjoy it in a few weeks when it is released online. Here in Pennsylvania, there are TONS of hillbillies crowding stores, ignoring any type of social distancing. When Pennsylvania finally leads the nation in COVID-19 cases, you can directly blame the folks who insisted that it was "ok" to go out and be around groups of people and not care one bit about anyone else. Same for any state. So...no records for a while. Oh well.
I have to say how much I enjoyed this post ! Completely, totally, agrees with my thoughts these last few days, right down to the people here, who made the Nashville news based on their ignoring all repeated suggestions to just stay home. Went out today, solely to pay the rent for April. My landlord's car dealership is about two blocks away, and the streets didn't look much emptier than they did before this. Interesting to see he's got some sense. He's wearing gloves, and we both automatically kept our distance to talk, after stretching to hand him the envelope. I have COPD, and it turns out he has asthma, both of us easy targets. Plenty of records upstairs, it'll get here when it gets here, absolutely.
Yup, and since the vinyl is already pressed and record companies are losing money right now, the label is going to want to release this once the dust settles so they can recoup their costs. And I don’t think Neil is making the kind of money he did in the 70s to where he can personally buy the inventory and reshingle another roof.
OK so I didn’t read the Analog Planet article which has now been taken down and see nothing new on NYA. Can someone tell me if Homegrown is being released digitally on 4/18 or not? Such an enigma!
Someone (a music writer) responded to the Analog Planet article post on Twitter that this is now embargoed until May 1st: Jason Cohen on Twitter
Yes, I was. But it mostly repeated what other articles have already said the last couple of months, nothing really new except for the date of release: april 26.
There you go: Homegrown was too painful to release when Neil originally recorded it late 1974, early 1975, but finally forty six years later, the "lost album" is going to be released April 24th on CD and digital. An all analog edition is also scheduled. Young describes Homegrown as "The One That Got Away," and posted the following letter on Neil Young Archives: "I apologize. This album Homegrown should have been there for you a couple of years after Harvest. It's the sad side of a love affair. The damage done. The heartache. I just couldn't listen to it. I wanted to move on. So I kept it to myself, hidden away in the vault, on the shelf, in the back of my mind....but I should have shared it. It's actually beautiful. That's why I made it in the first place. Sometimes life hurts. You know what I mean. Anyway, it's coming your way in 2020, the first release from our archive in the new decade." From the press release: Made in 1974 and early 1975 with Levon Helm drumming on some tracks, Karl T Himmel on others, Emmylou Harris singing on one, Homegrown contains a narration, several acoustic solo songs never even published or heard until this release and some great songs played with a great band of my friends, including Ben Keith - steel and slide - Tim Drummond - bass and Stan Szelest - piano. This is the one that got away, recorded in analog and mastered to vinyl from the original master tapes, restored with love and care by John Hanlon. This album, in vinyl, displays the beauty, feeling and depth of music recorded in the analog domain, before digital. It's the perfect example of why I can't forget how good music used to sound. Although it still sounds very good in digital, it's worth buying a phonograph just to hear this and the other great vinyl archive releases we are making for posterity continuously at NYA. These are the best. Come with use into 2020 as we bring the past. Neil Young adds: "This album is the unheard bridge between Harvest and Comes a Time." Recorded between June 1974 and January 1975, Homegrown was intended to come out in 1975 before Neil cancelled the release. The album has remained unreleased until now, achieving a legendary status among Neil Young fans in the process. The album is made up of twelve Neil Young songs, of which seven are previously unreleased - "Separate Ways," "Try," "Mexico," "Kansas," "We Don't Smoke It No More," "Vacancy" and "Florida" (a spoken word narration). Also included are the first recordings of "Love Is A Rose," "Homegrown," "White Line, "Little Wing," and "Star Of Bethlehem" - different versions of which would all later appear on other Neil Young albums. Young plays solo on some tracks (guitar, piano and harmonica), and is joined by a band of friends on other tracks, including Levon Helm, Ben Keith, Karl T Himmel, Tim Drummond, Emmylou Harris and Robbie Robertson. Thanks @24JGM
Just a joke, more about the absurdity of my own frustration that the release date for a NY lp has been pushed back by a biblical scale pandemic.
homegrown is officially delayed. as per neil's letters to the editor: Homegrown will not be released until reprise says it’s ready. The whole team there wants to give it the best possible chance for a unified release. - Homegrown is delayed by reprise. They want to give it a good shot in a general release. They thought it through and decided that. I back them. We will have other things on the NYA site to make up for that.
Who knows what that even means. It is a 40+ year old archival album that largely appeals to a niche audience of Neil Young enthusiasts. It isn't as if this thing is going to resonate with the public at large and become a major retail release. It will be like Hitchhiker. Get it out there and let Neil's fans enjoy the music. This ongoing nonsense from Neil and Reprise gets old.
