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Earth (Neil Young and Promise of the Real album)

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Earth is a live album by Neil Young and Promise of the Real, released on June 17, 2016 on Reprise Records. Recorded during the band's Rebel Content Tour in 2015, the album was produced by Young and John Hanlon and features live performances augmented by studio overdubs and additional nature and animal sounds.

Earth
Live album by
Neil Young & Promise of the Real
ReleasedJune 17, 2016 (2016-06-17)
RecordedJuly 5 – October 17, 2015
VenueVarious
GenreRock
Length97:26
LabelReprise
Producer
Neil Young chronology
Bluenote Café
(2015) 		Earth
(2016) 		Peace Trail
(2016)
Promise of the Real chronology
Something Real
(2016) 		Earth
(2016) 		Noise & Flowers
(2022)

Background

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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 the 1992 film 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

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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 effect 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

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All songs written and composed by Neil Young.

Disc 1
No.TitleOriginal releaseLength
1."Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)"Ragged Glory5:40
2."Seed Justice"-3:58
3."My Country Home"Ragged Glory6:02
4."The Monsanto Years"The Monsanto Years8:20
5."Western Hero"Sleeps With Angels4:03
6."Vampire Blues"On the Beach5:55
7."Hippie Dream"Landing on Water5:54
8."After the Gold Rush"After the Gold Rush4:09
9."Human Highway"Comes a Time4:11
Disc 2
No.TitleOriginal releaseLength
1."Big Box"The Monsanto Years9:20
2."People Want to Hear About Love"The Monsanto Years5:20
3."Wolf Moon"The Monsanto Years6:30
4."Love and Only Love"Ragged Glory28:04

Personnel

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Neil Young + Promise of the Real

  • Neil Young – lead vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, harmonica, pump organ, piano
  • Lukas Nelson – guitar, piano, backing vocals
  • Micah Nelson – electric guitar, electric charango, backing vocals
  • Corey McCormick – bass guitar, backing vocals
  • Tato Melger – percussion
  • Anthony Logerfo – drums

Additional musicians

  • DRAM – additional vocal ("People Want to Hear About Love")
  • Nico Segal – trumpet ("People Want to Hear About Love")
  • Joe Yankee – bass ("Mother Earth")
  • Bill Peterson – flugelhorn ("After the Gold Rush")
  • Charissa Nelson, Windy Wagner, Christine Helferich Gutter, Suzanne Waters, Eric Bradley, Gerald White, Jasper Randall, Brian Chapman – studio backing vocals
  • Darrell Brown – studio backing vocal arrangements

Additional roles

  • Neil Young – producer, mixing, wildlife recording
  • John Hanlon – producer, mixing, wildlife recording
  • Eric Lynn – engineer, wildlife recording
  • Johnnie Burik – assistant engineer, wildlife recording
  • Tim Mulligan – live mix and recording
  • Dave Lohr – live mix and recording
  • Dana Nielsen – studio backing vocal recording
  • Jake Valentine – studio backing vocal recording assistant
  • Joey Vitas – studio backing vocal recording assistant
  • Billy Centenaro – studio backing vocal recording assistant
  • Kevin Smith – wildlife recording
  • Will Mitchell – wildlife recording
  • Chris Bellman – mastering
  • Gary Burden, Jenice Heo – art direction and design
  • DH Lovelife – Earth cover logo design and painting, back and inside cover photography
  • Richard Hammar – CD label photography

Charts

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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
Italian Albums (FIMI)[22] 33
New Zealand Heatseekers Albums (RMNZ)[23] 2
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[24] 30
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[25] 49
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[26] 40
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[27] 14
UK Albums (OCC)[28] 14
US Billboard 200[29] 138
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[30] 12
US Folk Albums (Billboard)[31] 6
US Vinyl Albums (Billboard)[32] 22
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[33] 6

References

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  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. ^ "Italiancharts.com – Neil Young %2B Promise Of The Real – Earth". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 1, 2024.
  23. ^ "NZ Heatseekers Albums Chart". Recorded Music NZ. July 4, 2016. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  24. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Neil Young + Promise of the Real – Earth". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  25. ^ "Spanishcharts.com – Neil Young %2B Promise Of The Real – Earth". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 1, 2024.
  26. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Neil Young + Promise of the Real – Earth". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  27. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Neil Young + Promise of the Real – Earth". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  28. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  29. ^ "Neil Young Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  30. ^ "Neil Young Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July 14, 2024.
  31. ^ "Neil Young Chart History (Top Americana/Folk Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July 14, 2024.
  32. ^ "Neil Young Chart History (Vinyl Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July 14, 2024.
  33. ^ "Neil Young Chart History (Top Tastemaker Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July 22, 2024.
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