All I can say is wow!
Surprised more people aren't gushing over this album. Can't remember a recent album that moved me like this one. Love the recording as well.
Thoughts?
Neil Young's Prairie Wind
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Rob Christensen
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Great album. Neil hardly ever dissapoints.Someone at Amazon said the DVD was dissapointing because they didn't use the live audio with the live footage. Can you go into a little more detail as to what you liked with the DVD?sweetsci wrote:Just got it. I love the DVD showing the recording of the songs. Essential viewing, I'd think, for Tape Oppers.
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Roman Sokal
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i like the dvd part as well, as well as how they did the same thing with the previous album. i sometimes dig watching dvds/visuals along with music better than just the audio...thought it was shot simplistically, its effective and adds more energy to the experience!sweetsci wrote:Just got it. I love the DVD showing the recording of the songs. Essential viewing, I'd think, for Tape Oppers.
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Rob Christensen
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I apologize for not responding to Dither's question sooner.
So what do I like about the Prairie Wind DVD? It's a DVD that visually documents the recording of the album. No, it's not a documentary on the making of the album. Neil brought in a few video cameras and taped (?)everyone as they were recording their parts. For the entire album.
What we actually get on the DVD audio track is the Prairie Wind album - mixed & mastered - no raw audio here (which I can understand disappointing some people). For the video portion, displayed in a split-screen format, like Woodstock, we see Neil playing acoustic guitar and singing on one portion of the screen and the other players doing their parts on the other portions. Sometimes we get the drummer, sometimes the bass player, sometimes the string section, sometimes Spooner on keys. It really depends on the song. Unfortunately there are no control room shots and no shots of engineers doing their thing, but there's loads of footage of the musicians doing what they do in the studio. At one point we even see dual Neils - on one side is him playing guitar and laying down the vocal, blowing a line. On the other side of the screen is Neil fixing the blown vocal line via a punch-in. You can't hear this on the audio track, but it's there on the screen. At other points we also see dual Neils - one on the original acoustic guitar and vocal, the other overdubbing electric guitar or background vocals.
Regarding the people who said that Neil and the band are lip-syching to the record. I watched the dvd pretty closely and I didn't see anything on the screen that didn't match what I was hearing. The video was shot as the album was being recorded, just as Neil claims. Think about it - why would Neil bring in all of these in-demand session players, set up the studio, and pretend to record an entire album? Forty-one people performed on this album (the majority of them came from two different string sections and a vocal chior), and I'd guess most, if not all, of them are on the dvd. I can see bringing in a bunch of folks to make a video of one song, but not to pretend to record a 50-minute album, for the cameras, after actually recording the album. That just doesn't make sense.
As to those posters who say that the dvd is 'weak' or 'boring', everyone is entitled to an opinion. There's nothing super-special about this dvd. It's just a bunch of folks making a record. Lots of people see that everyday and would have no desire to spend their leisure time watching their job.
That said, I showed it to a friend who is not a recording enthusiast and he - after he "realized what I was watching" - was engrossed and very fascinated by it. There's so many neat little things in there - mic choice and placement, arrangement tricks, and examples of great session musicians taking a less-is-more approach to their parts. I do wish there was footage of the engineers, but I'm pretty happy with what Neil came up with. And I still maintain that it's essential viewing for (most) Tape Oppers.
So what do I like about the Prairie Wind DVD? It's a DVD that visually documents the recording of the album. No, it's not a documentary on the making of the album. Neil brought in a few video cameras and taped (?)everyone as they were recording their parts. For the entire album.
What we actually get on the DVD audio track is the Prairie Wind album - mixed & mastered - no raw audio here (which I can understand disappointing some people). For the video portion, displayed in a split-screen format, like Woodstock, we see Neil playing acoustic guitar and singing on one portion of the screen and the other players doing their parts on the other portions. Sometimes we get the drummer, sometimes the bass player, sometimes the string section, sometimes Spooner on keys. It really depends on the song. Unfortunately there are no control room shots and no shots of engineers doing their thing, but there's loads of footage of the musicians doing what they do in the studio. At one point we even see dual Neils - on one side is him playing guitar and laying down the vocal, blowing a line. On the other side of the screen is Neil fixing the blown vocal line via a punch-in. You can't hear this on the audio track, but it's there on the screen. At other points we also see dual Neils - one on the original acoustic guitar and vocal, the other overdubbing electric guitar or background vocals.
Regarding the people who said that Neil and the band are lip-syching to the record. I watched the dvd pretty closely and I didn't see anything on the screen that didn't match what I was hearing. The video was shot as the album was being recorded, just as Neil claims. Think about it - why would Neil bring in all of these in-demand session players, set up the studio, and pretend to record an entire album? Forty-one people performed on this album (the majority of them came from two different string sections and a vocal chior), and I'd guess most, if not all, of them are on the dvd. I can see bringing in a bunch of folks to make a video of one song, but not to pretend to record a 50-minute album, for the cameras, after actually recording the album. That just doesn't make sense.
As to those posters who say that the dvd is 'weak' or 'boring', everyone is entitled to an opinion. There's nothing super-special about this dvd. It's just a bunch of folks making a record. Lots of people see that everyday and would have no desire to spend their leisure time watching their job.
That said, I showed it to a friend who is not a recording enthusiast and he - after he "realized what I was watching" - was engrossed and very fascinated by it. There's so many neat little things in there - mic choice and placement, arrangement tricks, and examples of great session musicians taking a less-is-more approach to their parts. I do wish there was footage of the engineers, but I'm pretty happy with what Neil came up with. And I still maintain that it's essential viewing for (most) Tape Oppers.
I think the 'lip-syncing' claim is because you never hear any raw tracks? Like, sure they match up a shot of Neil singing A take of some song, and you see that against the finished version, but you don't HEAR that raw vocal take, just the finished product. Sounds boring to me. Go rent Godard's One Plus One/Sympathy for the Devil and see how it looks, warts and all, as the Stones stumble around getting nowhere until someone gets the idea to make the song a samba with Keith on bass..
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Rob Christensen
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Yeah - One Plus One / Sympathy For The Devil is great too. It's a totally different thing. I love "Making Of" album docs & have most of the Classic Albums series, Lennon's Making of Imagine, Blood Brothers, etc.
I think you're right - the polished audio tracks combined with the low-budget video footage might lead someone to think they were watching a crappy MTV video. I found it a little disconcerting at first. But then, as I mentioned before, I realized what I was watching.
I would kill to watch something similiar with, say, 'Pet Sounds.' Imagine the left portion of the screen is Brian conducting the instrumentalists; the right portion the boys doing backing vocals; and in the center whomever singing lead.
I think you're right - the polished audio tracks combined with the low-budget video footage might lead someone to think they were watching a crappy MTV video. I found it a little disconcerting at first. But then, as I mentioned before, I realized what I was watching.
I would kill to watch something similiar with, say, 'Pet Sounds.' Imagine the left portion of the screen is Brian conducting the instrumentalists; the right portion the boys doing backing vocals; and in the center whomever singing lead.
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