Neil Young - A Letter Home (2014)
EAC | Flac(Image) + Cue + Log & M4A(Tracks) & MP3 CBR 320Kbps
Reprise, 9362-49399-9 | ~ 107 or 107 or 112 Mb | Scans Included
Folk / Country / Folk Rock
EAC | Flac(Image) + Cue + Log & M4A(Tracks) & MP3 CBR 320Kbps
Reprise, 9362-49399-9 | ~ 107 or 107 or 112 Mb | Scans Included
Folk / Country / Folk Rock
During the 2014 promo campaign for Pono, his high-end digital audio device, Neil Young called his forthcoming album A Letter Home "an art project," which is an appropriate term for this curious collection of covers from his contemporaries. It's not so much that the choice of songs is unusual – nearly all of them are from the '60s and '70s, years when Young was also active, but a handful ("Crazy," "Since I Met You Baby," "I Wonder If I Care as Much") date from the late '50s or early '60s – but the recording method. Young headed down to Jack White's Third Man Records in Nashville where Jack installed a refurbished Voice-O-Graph booth, a device designed to allow a user to "Make Your Own Record" by cutting a song or message directly to vinyl. These contraptions were designed in 1947 and were once a common sight in arcades and fairs but they died away in the '70s, turning into an artifact of a weird old Americana beloved by both Young and White. Neil decided to use the Voice-O-Graph to record a full album, an experiment that's strictly about the method of recording, not the music itself. By design, the Voice-O-Graph allows for no overdubs – it captures everything that happens in the booth and nothing more – so the performances are intimate and sometimes rushed, qualities that are alternately enhanced and undercut by the thin, crackly recording. This aural affectation can be affecting – in particular, his readings of Gordon Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain" and "If You Can Read My Mind" are quite sweet, as is Bob Dylan's "Girl from the North Country," while there's a genuine pang of pathos lying in Bert Jansch's "Needle of Death" – but the trebly, wavy audio can also seem cacophonous, whether it's capturing Neil alone (Bruce Springsteen's "My Hometown") or in tandem with White (a version of Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again" that always seems just on the verge of falling apart, which could be perceived as a compliment depending on your view). Usually, the flaws of A Letter Home can be pegged on the archaic recording technology – only a couple of performances feel shambolic – but Young is also having fun with what the Voice-O-Graph meant, opening the album with a wry, winding spoken letter to his departed mother and then addressing another missive to her later on the record. These words are simultaneously sentimental and impish, a wink to the audience that Young is in on the joke but also doesn't quite consider A Letter Home a joke. Sure, there's artifice and humor here, but there's also heart, and this blend of emotions is what makes A Letter Home one of Neil Young's quintessential, endearingly odd records.by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AMG
Neil Young - A Letter Home (2014):
Tracklist:
01. A Letter Home Intro [0:02:17.16]
02. Changes [0:03:56.23]
03. Girl From The North Country [0:03:31.37]
04. Needle Of Death [0:04:57.20]
05. Early Morning Rain [0:04:26.20]
06. Crazy [0:02:19.57]
07. Reason To Believe [0:02:49.04]
08. On The Road Again [0:02:22.44]
09. If You Could Read My Mind [0:04:04.03]
10. Since I Met You Baby [0:02:13.34]
11. My Hometown [0:04:08.06]
12. I Wonder If I Care As Much [0:02:31.45]
Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011
EAC extraction logfile from 24. June 2014, 18:54
Neil Young zzzz / A Letter Home
Used drive : PLEXTOR DVDR PX-L890SA Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 768 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : G:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\FLAC\FLAC.EXE
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "Date=%year%" -T "Genre=%genre%" %source%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 2:17.16 | 0 | 10290
2 | 2:17.16 | 3:56.23 | 10291 | 28013
3 | 6:13.39 | 3:31.37 | 28014 | 43875
4 | 9:45.01 | 4:57.20 | 43876 | 66170
5 | 14:42.21 | 4:26.20 | 66171 | 86140
6 | 19:08.41 | 2:19.57 | 86141 | 96622
7 | 21:28.23 | 2:49.04 | 96623 | 109301
8 | 24:17.27 | 2:22.44 | 109302 | 119995
9 | 26:39.71 | 4:04.03 | 119996 | 138298
10 | 30:43.74 | 2:13.34 | 138299 | 148307
11 | 32:57.33 | 4:08.06 | 148308 | 166913
12 | 37:05.39 | 2:31.45 | 166914 | 178283
Range status and errors
Selected range
Filename H:\MUSIC\2014. Neil Young - A Letter Home (Reprise 9362-49399-9, EU)\Neil Young - A Letter Home.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 5.2 X
Range quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 58056010
Copy CRC 58056010
Copy OK
No errors occurred
AccurateRip summary
Track 1 accurately ripped (confidence 8) [54A635FA] (AR v2)
Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 8) [E3F049AA] (AR v2)
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 8) [20BFDE97] (AR v2)
Track 4 accurately ripped (confidence 8) [BF5B8B4C] (AR v2)
Track 5 accurately ripped (confidence 8) [BB51058E] (AR v2)
Track 6 accurately ripped (confidence 8) [39CC5494] (AR v2)
Track 7 accurately ripped (confidence 8) [DE0DFA55] (AR v2)
Track 8 accurately ripped (confidence 8) [54BF511A] (AR v2)
Track 9 accurately ripped (confidence 8) [0197CA3C] (AR v2)
Track 10 accurately ripped (confidence 8) [C9A8DC0F] (AR v2)
Track 11 accurately ripped (confidence 8) [515BC09C] (AR v2)
Track 12 accurately ripped (confidence 8) [DC5DE425] (AR v2)
All tracks accurately ripped
End of status report
EAC extraction logfile from 24. June 2014, 18:54
Neil Young zzzz / A Letter Home
Used drive : PLEXTOR DVDR PX-L890SA Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 768 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : G:\Program Files\Exact Audio Copy\FLAC\FLAC.EXE
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "Date=%year%" -T "Genre=%genre%" %source%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 2:17.16 | 0 | 10290
2 | 2:17.16 | 3:56.23 | 10291 | 28013
3 | 6:13.39 | 3:31.37 | 28014 | 43875
4 | 9:45.01 | 4:57.20 | 43876 | 66170
5 | 14:42.21 | 4:26.20 | 66171 | 86140
6 | 19:08.41 | 2:19.57 | 86141 | 96622
7 | 21:28.23 | 2:49.04 | 96623 | 109301
8 | 24:17.27 | 2:22.44 | 109302 | 119995
9 | 26:39.71 | 4:04.03 | 119996 | 138298
10 | 30:43.74 | 2:13.34 | 138299 | 148307
11 | 32:57.33 | 4:08.06 | 148308 | 166913
12 | 37:05.39 | 2:31.45 | 166914 | 178283
Range status and errors
Selected range
Filename H:\MUSIC\2014. Neil Young - A Letter Home (Reprise 9362-49399-9, EU)\Neil Young - A Letter Home.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 5.2 X
Range quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 58056010
Copy CRC 58056010
Copy OK
No errors occurred
AccurateRip summary
Track 1 accurately ripped (confidence 8) [54A635FA] (AR v2)
Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 8) [E3F049AA] (AR v2)
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 8) [20BFDE97] (AR v2)
Track 4 accurately ripped (confidence 8) [BF5B8B4C] (AR v2)
Track 5 accurately ripped (confidence 8) [BB51058E] (AR v2)
Track 6 accurately ripped (confidence 8) [39CC5494] (AR v2)
Track 7 accurately ripped (confidence 8) [DE0DFA55] (AR v2)
Track 8 accurately ripped (confidence 8) [54BF511A] (AR v2)
Track 9 accurately ripped (confidence 8) [0197CA3C] (AR v2)
Track 10 accurately ripped (confidence 8) [C9A8DC0F] (AR v2)
Track 11 accurately ripped (confidence 8) [515BC09C] (AR v2)
Track 12 accurately ripped (confidence 8) [DC5DE425] (AR v2)
All tracks accurately ripped
End of status report
foobar2000 1.2.9 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2014-08-22 00:13:01
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Neil Young zzzz / A Letter Home
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR11 0.00 dB -15.83 dB 2:17 01-A Letter Home Intro
DR18 -0.64 dB -21.21 dB 3:56 02-Changes
DR8 -4.89 dB -16.01 dB 3:31 03-Girl From The North Country
DR9 -2.18 dB -14.21 dB 4:57 04-Needle Of Death
DR9 0.00 dB -15.97 dB 4:26 05-Early Morning Rain
DR13 -2.66 dB -18.72 dB 2:20 06-Crazy
DR12 -0.04 dB -15.96 dB 2:49 07-Reason To Believe
DR9 -2.57 dB -13.17 dB 2:23 08-On The Road Again
DR13 -0.65 dB -15.71 dB 4:04 09-If You Could Read My Mind
DR13 -1.93 dB -18.35 dB 2:13 10-Since I Met You Baby
DR10 -2.43 dB -16.89 dB 4:08 11-My Hometown
DR11 -1.66 dB -15.18 dB 2:32 12-I Wonder If I Care As Much
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Number of tracks: 12
Official DR value: DR11
Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 302 kbps
Codec: FLAC
log date: 2014-08-22 00:13:01
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Neil Young zzzz / A Letter Home
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR11 0.00 dB -15.83 dB 2:17 01-A Letter Home Intro
DR18 -0.64 dB -21.21 dB 3:56 02-Changes
DR8 -4.89 dB -16.01 dB 3:31 03-Girl From The North Country
DR9 -2.18 dB -14.21 dB 4:57 04-Needle Of Death
DR9 0.00 dB -15.97 dB 4:26 05-Early Morning Rain
DR13 -2.66 dB -18.72 dB 2:20 06-Crazy
DR12 -0.04 dB -15.96 dB 2:49 07-Reason To Believe
DR9 -2.57 dB -13.17 dB 2:23 08-On The Road Again
DR13 -0.65 dB -15.71 dB 4:04 09-If You Could Read My Mind
DR13 -1.93 dB -18.35 dB 2:13 10-Since I Met You Baby
DR10 -2.43 dB -16.89 dB 4:08 11-My Hometown
DR11 -1.66 dB -15.18 dB 2:32 12-I Wonder If I Care As Much
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Number of tracks: 12
Official DR value: DR11
Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 302 kbps
Codec: FLAC
All thanks go to snakesharmer