Neil Young’s Lonely Quest to Save Music

I loved reading this piece in the NYT. Well written and thought provoking.

I do, of course, agree with Neil’s perspectives. However, the reason I am chiming in here is that, while vinyl continues to be my primary source for listening, I do have a DAC in my main system (otherwise tube-based) and stream from time to time. I am shocked that no one has mentioned Deezer as their streaming source. The quality is incredible.

Anyone else using Deezer?

thanks

Yes - Mr. Young is right!

Amazing read. Thanks so much for pointing us to that.article.

Even though - with hundreds of CDs and hundreds of more LPs, many of which are early masters and I have no interest in switching gears to streaming - I don’t see streaming, as apposed to physical playback, as the problem. To each their own. I do however see a great disparity in the production of modern music. In general - over compressed, over dubbed, over edited and over synthesized, with less live instrumentation.
Call me old fashioned - I prefer music that is recorded live in the studio or at the venue, with real, not synthesized, instruments and songs that tell a story. Neil, most definitely, was one of the great story tellers.

Many of the bands and vocalists of Neil’s era incorporated live instrumentation and orchestration to their performances and recordings and while there are some great new artists out there, quite often (particularly in the genre of pop) I’ll hear a new artist on media, radio or TV and kind of like, so pick up the CD or LP, bring it home and throw on, only to be a bit underwhelmed at the overall performance and lack of real instruments.
Every now and again, though, I find a surprisingly good recording from a fresh new artist, but mostly I like the old stuff - Classic Rock, Jazz, Blues, Contemporary, Light Pop, Folk and even Country and however good, or not, is streaming, I have no desire to abandon my LPs and CDs.......Jim