Although maybe it's worth the wait

Wally Conger put up an Amazon link to Neil Young's new album "Living With War" album (Note to self: Wally has good idea) just as I was ranting about vinyl, which got me curious. Young has been very good to vinyl fans, and all of his recent stuff has been put out there in lovingly crafted LPs. The curiosity led me to Classic Records, which will release the record May 30. For $33 plus shipping, you can get a real analog pressing on ultra-quiet 200-gram vinyl. From past experience I can say it'll sound awesome.

Worth the extra three weeks and the extra money? Let me say this: Last year the need to have it now got the best of me, and I purchased Springsteen's "Devils and Dust" and Young's "Prairie Wind" the week the CD/DVDs came out. (I also was suckered by the guy at the local music store, who does not keep up on vinyl releases and convinced me that even these two classic rockers were getting out of vinyl. Needless to say I'm not making it a priority to give him business anymore.) When I put the albums in my CD, I was fairly underwhelmed. When I put them on my turntable two or three weeks later, they breathed with a fresh intimacy I swear is not on the digital versions.

I imagine it takes a little longer to process recordings for vinyl. So I'm going to quit complaining, be patient, and make a CD copy for the car when the LPs arrive in the mail. Oh yeah, there's another advantage to vinyl: No secret code that sends messages or prevents copies. And if I get impatient to hear the album, Young is streaming it at his Web site.

And as for "Living With War" itself: It's downright great, and what's with all the astonishment about how fast he made it? Young has churned out about an album a year for more than a decade now, and I would argue a lot of it is among his best stuff ever. And even Neil Young's clunkers are more interesting than most of his younger competitors' offerings.