Neil Young has announced details of his new 98 minute album Earth due for release on June 17 via Reprise. In a press release he announced that Earth “…flows as a collection of 13 songs from throughout my life, songs I have written about living here on our planet together”. He added that “our animal kingdom is well represented in the audience as well, and the animals, insects, birds and mammals actually take over the performances of the songs at times.”
The album flows seamlessly featuring live recordings from last year’s tour which are overdubbed and intermingled with “sounds of the earth” such as wolves, bears, whales, birds which contrast with sounds of the city such as car horns. In an interesting twist he announced via PONO (his music download service) and Instagram that the album wouldn’t appear on iTunes:
We made a live record and every creature on the planet seemed to show up. Suddenly all the living things of Earth were in the audience going crazy. Then they took over the stage, letting their wild sounds mingle with the Vanilla Singers perfect corporate harmony. Earth’s creatures let loose. There were Bee breakdowns, Bird breakdowns and yes, even Wall Street breakdowns, jamming with me and Promise of the Real!
This show was non stop bliss for 98 minutes, no breaks. EARTH does not fit on iTunes. It breaks all their rules (and couldn’t all really be heard anyways).
No one who was there will ever forget the love, wonder, and beautiful madness of EARTH.
I know I won’t.
What was maybe more surprising is that despite running his own music service he has given an exclusive preview to streaming service TIDAL with 28 minute track Love and Only Love. The track which TIDAL users can listen to here is long by anyone’s standards and as the live element comes to an end with a “thank you” at the end from Young, the animals, as promised, take over the show with a cacophony of seabirds and a lone cockerel crowing before coyote’s, birds of prey and whales prepare for the next. TIDAL currently feature Young’s entire discography, something that is sure to win them new customers.
Earth Tracklisting
Disc: 1
1. Mother Earth
2. Seed Justice
3. My Country Home
4. The Monsanto Years
5. Western Hero
6. Vampire Blues
7. Hippie Dream
8. After the Gold Rush
9. Human Highway
Disc: 2
1. Big Box
2. People Want to Hear About Love
3. Wolf Moon
4. Love and Only Love
Pre-order the album via Amazon