Neil Young News
In 2004 Rustie, Mike "Expecting 2 Fly" Cordova posted a series of articles on his experience listening to all of Neil Young's albums in chronological order. Here is one in the series. For a complete listing, see Albums in Order reviews.
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 2004 14:51:36 -0800 (PST)
From: Mike Cordova
To: rust@rustlist.org
Subject: Albums in order: Comes A Time
Comes A Time was a much-delayed project. I remember reading about the Gone With The Wind Orchestra and an album called Give To The Wind which was the original name of the album. Comes A Time was finally released in late 1978.
I have some misgivings on how I first heard the album. One of the things I had savored for previous album releases was to enjoy the art work as I listened to the new music coming out of my speakers or headphones. For this one, I was in Air Force pilot training in near Phoenix, Arizona and a radio station played the entire album a week before it was released. I taped it and listened, then bought the album when it came out. I really missed getting to know the album and the art together at the same time and have tried to do that on most subsequent album releases.
As far as the record goes, I thought it was fantastic. I thought all those acoustic guitars and strings sounded great. I loved the two acoustic tunes with Crazy Horse, especially Look Out For My Love which has a little aviation verse in it..."Sitting in the quiet slipstream, in the thunder." What gives this album it's most distinctive sound is the harmony vocal by Nicolette Larson which I think blends beautifully with Neil's voice.
My one gripe about the album is Motorcycle Mama which not only seems out of place, but is also not such a great song. [Knowing what I know today, I wish very much that he had put Lady Wingshot in its place.] But still, it's a very strong, very enjoyable album. One of his most accessible, I would say.
I was aware that Neil had performed in a "one-stop world tour" at the Boarding House in San Francisco earlier that year and that he had some new songs and was on tour with Crazy Horse. I would learn a lot more about that the following year...
I very much enjoyed listening to Comes A Time today.
Mike - Expecting To Fly
For more of Expecting To Fly's reviews, see the Albums in Order series.
Neil Young Archives - Thrasher's Wheat