Arc

great

I had misgivings after reading the reviews on ARC about buying this one. I am very happy with this, having listened to it once, before writing this and now again as we go. This album is truely everything the previous reviewers say good and bad. I can sympathize and see where someone is coming from who doesn't like this. If you do not think this is a good album you will probably think it is complete junk. If you prefer Neil's softer music, the stuff, say without Crazy Horse, don't bother with this. If your looking to hear some meaningful lyrics try something else. If you like your Neil, rougher the better, than give this a go. Even then you will not know whether you like it until you hear it, and these reviews, negative or positive, can not give this justice. Neil always trys to take a different approach or comes up with a completely knew one, from things he has done in the past, sometimes that means taking things to the limit and maybe beyond. Neil's tendency to play the opus, love of distortion, his focus here on feedback and ability to take things all the way to the limit and the hell what anyone thinks, are all fused together in ARC, grinding through here, maybe in its ultimate form. We should all know by the name ARC and the albums relation to the Weld album, but seperate release that even Neil new this was a different animal, and not for everyone. The title envisions metal, grime, industry, rawness and extreme energy and that is what you'll get here. Nobody seems to accuse him of being stuck in a rut with anything he does. Different is not always good or entertaining to me, I am a big Beatles fan but really dislike both the formentioned Wonderwall album and Revolution #9. They just seemed to lack any art or emotion. But I like this, maybe it was Neil's mood at the time, never cared for his politics, but I'm glad he lets it spill (pour) into his music. This will not make it into my regular music rotation, but I think if I ever feel the need to blow off some steam, I'll put it on and crank it. As I listen though this the second time I may yet have to change this to a five star. Hope this helps someone.

Neil Young and Crazy Horse

Let me begin by putting to rest the rumor that, despite its similarity to `Revolution #9' from the Beatles White Album, if you record the disc onto tape and listen to Neil repeating, over and over, "I wanna love ya" backwards, you will not, I repeat will NOT hear Neil, sounding like SCTV's Bob McKenzie, saying "Take off, you Hoser!". That being said, what else can I say about this "compilation composition", as Neil calls it? I'm not sure there was any real "composition" preceding it, save snippets from `Hurricane', `Love and Only Love', and `Welfare Mothers', but it is, definitely, a pile of something. What Neil has apparently done is to take his extended song endings, inspired by his tour mates SonicYouth, and manufactured a 35 minute seamless montage of ... song endings. Since it appears that only the above mentioned 3 songs are the source songs for this `pilation', there is some repetition. To create a 35 minute pile, Neil had to glean song endings from a variety of performances of the same three songs. Lyrically we have from `Hurricane', "I wanna love ya" and "Once I thought I saw you, in a crowded hazy bar"; from `Love and Only Love' we get (predictably) "Love and only love"; and from `Welfare Mothers' Billy Talbots "No more pain..." mantra. Aside from Talbot's single take, the verses are repeated more times than you will be inspired to count. Is it any good? Well, ask yourself, if you've seen the video `Weld' (the film produced during this same tour) whether you enjoy the extended song endings offered there, or do you find yourself wishing Neil would wind it up already and move on to the next song? If you haven't seen the video, ask yourself if you enjoyed George Harrison's experimental `Wonderwall' album, or the `Apple Jams' disc in his `All Things Must Pass' box set. If you did, and you're `into' unconventional, rather psychedelic, distorted electric guitar meanderings, then you're like me and you should get your hands on this disc, and perhaps some therapy! The sheer fact that Neil was able to produce such an album and `get away with it' reinforces the aura surrounding his accomplishments. In a small and odd way, it helps to round out his body of music, much like `Revolution #9' revealed to us the extremes in the mindset of the Beatles. Not sure if it's good for what ails ya', but you will possess a deeper appreciation for the artist Neil Young. Three stars only because that's dead in the middle, and I have no idea what to rate this.

thanks

Così come gruppi come i Sunn O)) hanno isolato al microscopio le cellule che compongono i riff doom dei black sabbath per creare il drone metal, così Thurston Moore ha avuto l'accortezza di riconoscere nel gusto elettrico dei Crazy Horse brandelli "sonici" degni delle avanguardie rock del noise. Quando Neil Young fece ascoltare al leader dei Sonic Youth il pastiche di feedback ritagliati dalle introduzioni e dai finali di brani raccolti in tour, Moore non ebbe esitazione, gli consiglio di farne un disco. E quindi ecco questa sorta di Metal Machine Music non-programmato che non lascerà indifferente i cultori del noise più radicale. Chi va a caccia di canzoni, si accontenti del live ufficiale (con cui inizialmente era accoppiato "Arc") ovvero lo splendido doppio "Weld".

Young nimmt Songfetzen, Band- und vor allem Gitarrenlärm von der Ragged-Glory-Tour und verquirlt sie zu einer 35-minütigen Soundcollage. Navid Kermani schreibt dazu im "Buch der von Neil Young getöteten": "Wenn das unverhüllte Licht, wie die Sufis sagen, absolute Schwärze ist und die Erkenntnis der absoluten Existenz die Erkenntnis des absoluten Nichts, dann ist die reine Stille der absolute Krach" … Das kann man so bestimmt stehen lassen, aber wahrscheinlich lässt kaum ein Werk so vielfältige Interpretationen und Wahrnehmungen zu, wie dieser radikale Klangbrocken. Vermutlich kann man ganz gut über die Runden kommen, wenn man ihn nie zu hören bekommt. Er ist nicht schwer zugänglich, er ist NICHT zugänglich. Er wirft den Hörer in seiner formlosen Verschlossenheit vollkommen auf sich selbst zurück. Ich höre "ARC" maximal zweimal im Jahr, zuletzt auf einer Fahrt im Fiat-Ducato-Camper (BJ 1986) durch eine heiße andalusische Frühsommernacht in Richtung Marokko. Ich hörte es in einer Reihe mit Lou Reeds "Metal Machine Music", Sonic Youths "Silver Sessions" und My Bloody Valentines "Loveless". Das Knattern des Dieselmotors und das Rauschen des Fahrtwinds fügten sich ziemlich gut ins Klangbild ein, und obwohl ich an diesem Tag bereits die gesamte iberische Halbinsel mit einer Maximalgeschwindigkeit von 110 km/h durchquert hatte, wurde ich partout nicht müde. Ein paar Kilometer vor Alceciras hielt ich schließlich an, schaltete die Musik ab und legte mich hin. Aber ich konnte nicht einschlafen. Ich ging ein Stück, hockte mich in eine Wiese, sah zu, wie das Morgengrauen den Horizont jenseits einer Reihe verwachsener Olivenbäume aufhellte, und nie davor und nie wieder seit dem konnte ich nachvollziehen, dass es ein Gefühl gibt, für das "wie neu geboren" die einzige adäquate Ausdrucksweise ist. Die Stille in dem Moment, als die Sonne auftauchte, war so vollkommen und transparent, wie die Luft nach einem schweren Gewitter. Young, Reed & Co. hatten ihr Platz geschaffen.

Basically, "Like A Hurricane" on repeat, as heard through droning whorls of feedbacking guitars. A must have for fans of Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music", Sonic Youth circa "Daydream Nation", &/or SUNN O))))...

I love Neil Young. I dislike this album. Could be the great artists have to have one bad day. John Lennon certainly had his. Thankfully I only paid a nominal amount for the displeasure of trying to listen to this. Previously to listening to 'Arc' I listened to 'Dreamin' Man'. chalk and cheese. Best of it though, there are so many first rate Neil Young albums I can and do forgive and allow him this monstrosity.

Die bislang radikalste und konsequenteste Abkehr Neil Youngs von jeglicher Songstruktur im herkömmlichen Sinn. Gitarrenkrach, Rückkopplungsgeheul und ähnliches: Fragmente aus 37 1990/91 auf der "Ragged Glory"-Tour live aufgenommenen Stücken so miteinander verknüpft, daß alles eins wird. Nur ab und an ein paar Textzeilen aus bekannten Titeln, ansonsten nur "Sound" pur. Irgendwie genial. Jedenfalls die ideale, um nicht zu sagen notwendige Ergänzung zum absoluten Meisterwerk "Weld" (der "originären" Livedokumentation der Tour). - "It's all one song": Diese einleitenden Worte auf dem 96/97er Livealbum "Year Of The Horse" sind das wahrhaftige Grundkonzept von "Arc". Ich kenne keine andere Rockgröße, die Humor (auch im Sinn von sich-jederzeit-selbst-auf-die-Schippe-nehmen) und Ernsthaftigkeit so wunderbar durchsichtig-undurchsichtig vereinen kann... Am treffendsten wird "Arc" übrigens immer noch in Neil Youngs eigenen Worten kommentiert: "Erfrischend. Reinigt den Gaumen. Weil es keinen Beat gibt. Beleidigt deine Ohren nicht - egal, auf welchen Groove du stehst. Es gibt nämlich keinen. Drauf geschissen!" Leider nur knapp 35 Minuten lang. Dafür - und nur dafür - dann auch nicht die volle Punktzahl sondern nur 4 Sterne...