Neil Young - Comes A Time (1978) - Lp

Release:  1978
Genre:  Country Rock, Folk Rock
Format:  LP
Label:  Reprise Records
Catalog#  REP 54099
Prijs:  €10,00

The album originally started out as a solo record, but when Young played it for Reprise executives they asked him if he would consider adding rhythm tracks to what he already had. Young agreed, and the end product was Comes a Time. Two songs ("Look Out For My Love" and "Lotta Love") were backed by Crazy Horse.

"Human Highway" was written several years prior to the album's release, and originally presented to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in 1974 for a proposed studio album by the group which never came to be. Much of the album features harmony vocals from Nicolette Larson. She also shares lead vocals with Young on "Motorcycle Mama".

Six and a half years later, Comes a Time finally was the Neil Young album for the millions of fans who had loved Harvest, an acoustic-based record with country overtones and romantic, autobiographical lyrics, and many of those fans returned to the fold, enough to make Comes a Time Young's first Top Ten album since Harvest.

He signaled the album's direction with the leadoff track, "Goin' Back," and its retrospective theme augmented with an orchestral backup and the deliberate beat familiar from his number one hit "Heart of Gold." Of course, Young remained sly about this retrenchment. "I feel like goin' back," he sang, but added, "back where there's nowhere to stay."

Doubtless he had no intention of staying with this style, but for the length of the album, melodies, love lyrics, lush arrangements, and steel guitar solos dominated, and Young's vocals were made more accessible by being paired with Nicolette Larson's harmonies. Larson's own version of Young's "Lotta Love," released shortly after the one heard here, became a Top Ten hit single.

Other highlights included the reflective "Already One," which treats the unusual subject of the nature of a divorced family, the ironic "Field of Opportunity," and a cover of Ian Tyson's folk standard "Four Strong Winds" (a country Top Ten hit for Bobby Bare in 1965).


Side A
A1.  Goin’ Back - 4:43 
A2.  Comes A Time - 3:05 
A3.  Look Out For My Love - 4:06 
A4.  Lotta Love - 2:40 
A5.  Peace Of Mind - 4:06 

Side B
B1.  Human Highway - 3:09 
B2.  Already One - 4:53 
B3.  Field Of Opportunity - 3:10 
B4.  Motorcycle Mama - 3:08 
B5.  Four Strong Winds - 4:07

Vinyl:  Goed
Cover:  Goed