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Earth (Neil Young and Promise of the Real album)

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Untitled

Earth is a live album by Neil Young and Promise of the Real, recorded on their Rebel Content Tour in 2015. It was released on June 17, 2016, exclusively for streaming on Tidal. The album was released on double CD and Pono formats on June 24, 2016, and triple LP on August 12, 2016.

Background

Young described the album as "a collection of 13 songs from throughout my life, songs I have written about living here on our planet together."[1] The album's mix also includes nature and animal sounds, including turkeys, insects, crows, and thunder.[2] Young said that he was inspired by animals because "they don't have this uptight vibe. They don't have all the hatred and everything."[3]

Young appeared on the podcast WTF with Marc Maron to promote the album. During the interview, he described Earth as "an ear movie" and said that he wanted to break the rules of live recordings. He discussed a scene in Bram Stoker's Dracula where the camera shows the perspective of a flying bat, and said this was an inspiration for the album. He revealed that the French horn part in the Earth version of "After the Gold Rush" was lifted from the master tapes of the original 1970 recording of the song, which he intended to have a disorienting effect. He also revealed that the backup singers on Earth are professional vocalists who primarily record commercial jingles, which he intended as an "edgy" choice. He directed the singers to sing optimistically about Exxon and Monsanto, and "make it sound like a beautiful day."[4]

Prior to a scheduled phone interview with Newsweek, Young's publicist instructed writer Zach Schonfeld to listen to the album in the Pono format. Young hung up on Schonfeld three minutes into the call because he did not believe Schonfeld had listened to the entire record.[5]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic66/100[6]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[7]
Entertainment WeeklyB-[8]
Pitchfork Media6.5/10[9]
Rolling Stone[10]
Exclaim!6/10[11]

Earth has a score of 66 out of 100 on the review aggregator website Metacritic, based on 15 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews."[6] In his positive review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine called Earth "one of Young's genuinely inspired nutso albums" and wrote that "animal sounds infect Earth, sometimes swallowing the guitars, sometimes chirping along in rhythm, an affect that is precisely the opposite of natural."[7] Writing for Rolling Stone, David Fricke compared the "urgent" performances to "1991's live Weld cut at Farm Aid with the last-stand fervor of Freedom."[10] Pitchfork Media's Sam Sodomsky wrote that "Simply put, the album would probably be better without [the animal sounds]," but stated that Earth overall "is surprisingly balanced and well-considered," thanks to "the thematic consistency of Young’s songwriting" and the "loose, steady groove" of Promise of the Real.[9] Exclaim!'s Stuart Henderson called the album "another daft musical statement", criticizing its "barn-based rock'n'roll".[11]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Neil Young.

  1. "Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)" – 5:40
  2. "Seed Justice" – 3:58
  3. "My Country Home" – 6:02
  4. "The Monsanto Years" – 8:20
  5. "Western Hero" – 4:03
  6. "Vampire Blues" – 5:55
  7. "Hippie Dream" – 5:54
  8. "After the Gold Rush" – 4:09
  9. "Human Highway" – 4:11
  10. "Big Box" – 9:20
  11. "People Want to Hear About Love" – 5:20
  12. "Wolf Moon" – 6:30
  13. "Love and Only Love" – 28:04

Charts

Chart (2016) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[12] 37
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[13] 9
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[14] 18
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[15] 38
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[16] 30
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[17] 32
French Albums (SNEP)[18] 29
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[19] 10
Greek Albums (IFPI)[20] 54
Irish Albums (IRMA)[21] 27
New Zealand Heatseekers Albums (RMNZ)[22] 2
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[23] 30
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[24] 40
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[25] 14
UK Albums (OCC)[26] 14
US Billboard 200[27] 138

References

  1. ^ "Neil Young + Promise Of The Real". Neil Young. Retrieved 2016-06-20.
  2. ^ "Neil Young and Promise of the Real's New Album: Earth". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2016-06-20.
  3. ^ "5 Things We Learned at Neil Young's 'Earth' Album Preview". Rolling Stone. 2016-05-07. Retrieved 2016-06-20.
  4. ^ "Episode 717 - Neil Young". Retrieved 2016-07-26.
  5. ^ Schonfeld, Zach (2016-07-01). "Neil Young hung up on me". Newsweek. Newsweek. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
  6. ^ a b "Reviews for Earth by Neil Young". Metacritic. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  7. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (23 June 2016). "Earth - Neil Young, Promise of the Real - Allmusic Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  8. ^ Farber, Jim (20 June 2016). "Neil Young + Promise of the Real's Earth: EW Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  9. ^ a b Sodomsky, Sam (17 June 2016). "Neil Young: EARTH". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  10. ^ a b Fricke, David (16 June 2016). "Earth". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  11. ^ a b Henderson, Stuart (June 29, 2016). "Neil Young and the Promise of the Real - Earth". Exclaim!. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
  12. ^ "Australiancharts.com – Neil Young + Promise of the Real – Earth". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  13. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Neil Young + Promise of the Real – Earth" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved July 7, 2016.
  14. ^ "Ultratop.be – Neil Young + Promise of the Real – Earth" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  15. ^ "Ultratop.be – Neil Young + Promise of the Real – Earth" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  16. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Neil Young + Promise of the Real – Earth" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  17. ^ "Neil Young + Promise of the Real: Earth" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved July 3, 2016.
  18. ^ "Lescharts.com – Neil Young + Promise of the Real – Earth". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 5, 2016.
  19. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Neil Young + Promise of the Real – Earth" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  20. ^ "Greekcharts.com – Neil Young + Promise of the Real – Earth". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  21. ^ "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 26, 2016". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  22. ^ "NZ Heatseekers Albums Chart". Recorded Music NZ. July 4, 2016. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  23. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Neil Young + Promise of the Real – Earth". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  24. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Neil Young + Promise of the Real – Earth". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  25. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Neil Young + Promise of the Real – Earth". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  26. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  27. ^ "Neil Young Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved July 6, 2016.
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