Neil Young goes Lo-Fi... REALLY Lo-fi

[Greeny]

Neil's got a new album out. It'll perplex many...

"At the height of an argument in which he is embroiled as the staunch defender of the importance of high-fidelity sound, he's taken it upon himself to release arguably the lowest-fidelity album ever made by a major artist. A Letter Home was made in a restored 1947 Voice-O-Graph booth, a fairground attraction that allowed users to take home a vinyl record of their voice.

The result is muffled, distorted and buried beneath layers of crackle and hiss. Depending on your perspective, it either adds a magical patina of age to the music, or sounds like someone locked Neil Young in a cupboard then set about cooking a fried breakfast. Either way, it's hard to see exactly how it could be improved by being listened to in 24-bit 192khz sound, which Young has spent the last few years insisting is the only way to really appreciate recorded music..."

Review...

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/may/22/neil-young-a-letter-home-review


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H47jI6xanA

[henwrench]

    Wonderful...

    I seem to remember reading about this a while ago. I think the booth was restored by and belongs to Jack White.

        Good old Neil. He really knows how to fuck with people. And that can only ever be A Good Thing.

                                                                       henwrench

[steelguitar]

A true gem, this one... pure beautyfull performance by the great Neil Young...  Love it, indeed
Song written by Herbert "Bert" Jansch (3 November 1943 – 5 October 2011)

Jean-Sébastien

[Greeny]

I'm pretty sure they had a programme on BBC4 all about this album. I remember it was on, but I had my headphones on and was doing some recording at the time. Might be worth checking out the BBC iPlayer if you can get it (and you're interested...).

[Oldrottenhead]

i read about this too, i think jack white may have other artists lined up for it too. gotta get this album, the clip is wonderful. i like my hifi but at the end of the day it's the song that counts.

[chip]

I'm pretty sure they had a programme on BBC4 all about this album. I remember it was on, but I had my headphones on and was doing some recording at the time. Might be worth checking out the BBC iPlayer if you can get it (and you're interested...).

Nearly. The video was on a program from BBC4, Jack White did have something to do with the recording in the box. The program was a tribute to Bert Jansch and Robert Plant did a song plus many others too. Stunning piece by old Shaker, I recorded the program and still watch Neil Young in the box. Fantastic.

[Bluesberry]

Damn that gives me chills up my spine hearing/seeing this video.  Unbelievable.  I believe.  I am a believer.  Good one Neil.

[henwrench]

Can't stop listening to this!!

[kenny mac]

It's a cool idea and the experiment I'd you like just shows how music really stripped back without the gizmos is as powerfull.
You look at this then look at neil swaying about the stage singing computer age with nils lofgren(which made the hairs on my neck stand up when I 1st seen it) and you realize it's really only staing what music is.
All genres ,all styles of recording and what ever way you want to put it across .
There is no right way or wrong way,it's in the air from the beginning ,it's really only the way you capture it and save it
That's the question.
This has a great vibe to it .
Is it because the way it was recorded? I'm not so sure.
Would it be better if it was done in a digital environment with a full string section?
It's really all experimentation and why music is important.
It throws up so many possibilities and questions,and as we have heard and experimented on so many tunes on this site with different collabs etc it is the song in its raw format that evolves and takes on so many different forms with all the different treatments or additions.
I guess to me personally music to me is all about the song and not the format it is captured in.

[Hook]

I've seen this a few times & I totally love it & want one! I kinda have one...it's my car, I just need to lower my fi!