Customer Reviews

Arc

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Just great. Put this on when some rock jerk tries to sell you on the next big thing. File next to Metal Machine Music. Noise is what rock and roll is all about. Neil shows it's an art form all by itself. Just wonderful!

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.

Okay, this one isn't for everyone. Yes, this is one long noisy track filled with feedback, gutteral guitar rumblings, and occasional snippets of song verses. But what feedback and what rumblings!

Comparisons to Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music aren't really on the mark. MMM is virtually structureless (at least to my ears), while Arc most definitely has structure. Eruptions of pure bass explosions fade into soft passages (Neil singing "I want to love you" over and over again) which crashes into cymbals and drums and feedback. And then the bass explodes again. The passage that begins at around 26:30 where Neil hints at picking up the pace, then drops into a Peter Gunn thing at around 28:30, then just explodes into a desperate frenzy ("No more pain!") at about 32:00 before the piece fades out in gentle bass rumbles and high note glissandos is probably my favorite section of Arc.

I listen to Arc quite a bit. Probably more than any other Neil Young album I have, though I do like Ragged Glory and Freedom quite a bit, as well as his early stuff (really do need to get Decade someday). I tend to listen to Arc when I need to shut out the world around me and concentrate, like when I'm writing or coding. As a matter of fact, it's high on my list for headphone music at work (another favorite choice is Mozart's Requiem, particularly the version conducted by Colin Davis). It's not just ambient music though, and I do like to occasionally listen to it attentively. Don't get Arc expecting songs in any conventional sense, but do try it if you are at all musically adventurous.

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.

[Compiled, cutup, from all the other reviews.]

The sheer fact that Neil was able to produce vibrations of massive steel structures, guitar in a garbage disposal and 'get away with it' reinforces the aura surrounding his accomplishments, one long painful shriek. Any guy with a guitar and six pack may be able to do this, but any guy with a six pack and a guitar DID NOT DO THIS! You rhouse right freaking now CDs, pieces and disintegrating, 10 listenings - Unfinished Wonderwall #9, Metal Machine Music - grime, industry ... 10 listenings, put on headphones, no sense of entertainment. Drum banging and screeching guitars, gentle bass rumbles and high note glissandos, announcements and other oddities, pain and suffering. That moment just before the hitting of that one note, landscape of chaos ... but it lasts for 30 minutes!!! Oooooops! Noise - jagged, silent - is what rock and roll is all about, thunder from below, one of the best records of all time, definitely a pile of something. It is thirty minutes - a chance to open up those brain patterns - that I will never get back.

Why is this still in the catalogue while On The Beach, Time Fades Away, Hawks & Doves, American Stars & Bars, etc remain unreleased on CD?

I'd heard about Arc as a release only and wandered through the record store one day to find it as the only Neil Young album that they had that I needed yet. I lay my money down. It wasn't really a gamble though, not for me. And I've played this 35-minute track for friends much to their dismay and much to my delight. It's the kind of song that fans of Coltrane's "Om" could appreciate. There is no sense of entertainment in the track, it's a chance to open up those brain patterns, it's a chance at freedom and creativity. I put it on again the other day and caught myself knowing at exactly what point the next note or word came. I found out that Neil said it was elevator music for maniacs and would appeal to people on the f...in' edge. But I found out too late. It's a part me, it'll be a part of you.

It's not art, but it's interesting listening. Not for the casual Neil fan. This doesn't sound anything like Metal Machine Music, but it's definitely inspired but it. Would you believe this is the first CD of Neil's I've bought? I'm looking for remastered releases of "Trans" and "Everybody's Rockin" next.

THIS CD WILL GET YOU OUT OF BED ON A MONDAY MORNING IN NO TIME. NEIL'S SURREALISTIC COMPILATION OF FEEDBACK BEGETS AN INTENSE SET OF EMOTIONS SELDOME FELT IN ALL OF MUSIC TODAY.

This album is small token of Neil's mastery of sound, feedback, distortion, and sonic manipulation. This album induces vibrations of massive steel structures tearing themselves to pieces and disintegrating. Crazy Horse at it's craziest. I find this album quite soothing. If you don't own this album, You should turn off your computer, rush to the store, buy it, rush home, put on headphones, and play it as loud as your ears can stand. Do not pause or stop until you hear this album.