How do I begin to talk about a record like this? I'll do my best to keep it short and to-the-point. Neil Young is like some shy, dorky kid from the hills who sees, and remembers everything. It's like he speaks for anyone and everyone who has ever heard his songs. The sound is lush and beautiful. Sparse, if just a tad muddy and dated, but clearly real, honest. The words ring true, in 1972, this morning and forever. The boy took up my drum sticks and banged on the couch, completely zoned out on "Alabama". The girl, just seven months old, danced in her "bouncy chair" to "Heart of Gold". As a musician, I'm enthralled, as an artist, the coarse cardboard cover, with it's simple two color silk screen, is an exercise in perfection, and the music itself is as timeless an ecapsulation of the elusive meaning of "American-ness" as one is likely to find. And i don't mean a cheeseburger, selfish kind of Ameican-ness....I mean a heart felt, deep and true version. Those hippies my be a long haired and sloppy bunch, but they, like the rest of us, really have their moments. As far as I'm concerned, this is country music, as sure as Johnny Cash or Merle Haggard...(or even Bob Dylan?)
Besides, if you've ever wondered why old records sound inherently better than almost all new ones, flip the cover over. It's because they were committed to tape in a barn with equipment that were vintage even in the seventies.And so:
Really, have you ever seen anything more heartfelt and downright honest in all your born days?
