Album: Comes A Time
Recorded: January 1976 + May, September and November 1977
Recorded: January 1976 + May, September and November 1977
Released: October 1978
Songs / length: 10 / 37:15
Like Young's previous two studio LPs, Comes A Time is a collection of recordings from various periods in the mid-70s rather than one concentrated period of time. After the release of American Stars & Bars, Young moved to Santa Cruz in summer 1977 and started playing in a makeshift country rock band called The Ducks with ex-Moby Grape bassist Bob Mosley and singer-songwriter Jeff Blackburn, though he couldn't legally tour with them outside the Santa Cruz city limits as he was still under contract with Crazy Horse.
Two of this album's earliest cuts, Lotta Love and Look Out For My Love, date back to January 1976 and were recorded with Crazy Horse both at Young's ranch and in San Francisco. They're sequenced back-to-back on side 1 and the latter boasts a complex, brooding acoustic sound enhanced by CSNY-style harmonies, while Lotta Love is a simpler, carefree number with echoes of The Rolling Stones' Let's Spend The Night Together.
The LP's 8 other tracks were recorded in Nashville with Young's faithful pedal steel guitar player Ben Keith and singer Nicolette Larson, helping create the album's strong and authentic country flavour. Three of the album's strongest cuts – Four Strong Winds, Already One and Comes A Time – were all recorded on the same day in early November 1977 at Woodland Studios. In his autobiography, Young says the title track Comes A Time is "as close to a perfect recording as I ever have gotten", describing how the song plus the performances – Larson's singing, Karl Himmel's groove on drums, JJ Cale's guitar playing, etc – all mesh together to create a "country wall of sound".
Young also talks in his autobiography about the contribution of the Gone With The Wind Orchestra, who provide some notable backing on the album's opening track, Goin' Back, recorded at Triiad Studios in Nashville. This was also where Peace of Mind and Human Highway were recorded, the latter originally intended as a song to be recorded with CSNY in 1974 and the former one of the album's highlights, notably for the way Larson and Young's harmonies mesh together.
Field of Opportunity is a more uptempo song recorded in May 1977 at Crazy Mama's in Nashville, while Motorcycle Mama was recorded at a different studio again in Nashville (Sound Shop) and is a throwaway blues number that doesn't really fit with the rest of the record but is fun to listen to all the same. Closing track Four Strong Winds is a cover of Ian Tyson's classic folk song and its melancholy lyrics are a perfect fit for Young. In his autobiography, Young calls Comes A Time "one of my best albums ever" and one of the joys for me of doing this project is discovering it for the first time.
Highlights: Look Out For My Love, Comes A Time, Peace of Mind, Four Strong Winds
Album rating: A
Like Young's previous two studio LPs, Comes A Time is a collection of recordings from various periods in the mid-70s rather than one concentrated period of time. After the release of American Stars & Bars, Young moved to Santa Cruz in summer 1977 and started playing in a makeshift country rock band called The Ducks with ex-Moby Grape bassist Bob Mosley and singer-songwriter Jeff Blackburn, though he couldn't legally tour with them outside the Santa Cruz city limits as he was still under contract with Crazy Horse.
Two of this album's earliest cuts, Lotta Love and Look Out For My Love, date back to January 1976 and were recorded with Crazy Horse both at Young's ranch and in San Francisco. They're sequenced back-to-back on side 1 and the latter boasts a complex, brooding acoustic sound enhanced by CSNY-style harmonies, while Lotta Love is a simpler, carefree number with echoes of The Rolling Stones' Let's Spend The Night Together.
The LP's 8 other tracks were recorded in Nashville with Young's faithful pedal steel guitar player Ben Keith and singer Nicolette Larson, helping create the album's strong and authentic country flavour. Three of the album's strongest cuts – Four Strong Winds, Already One and Comes A Time – were all recorded on the same day in early November 1977 at Woodland Studios. In his autobiography, Young says the title track Comes A Time is "as close to a perfect recording as I ever have gotten", describing how the song plus the performances – Larson's singing, Karl Himmel's groove on drums, JJ Cale's guitar playing, etc – all mesh together to create a "country wall of sound".
Young also talks in his autobiography about the contribution of the Gone With The Wind Orchestra, who provide some notable backing on the album's opening track, Goin' Back, recorded at Triiad Studios in Nashville. This was also where Peace of Mind and Human Highway were recorded, the latter originally intended as a song to be recorded with CSNY in 1974 and the former one of the album's highlights, notably for the way Larson and Young's harmonies mesh together.
Field of Opportunity is a more uptempo song recorded in May 1977 at Crazy Mama's in Nashville, while Motorcycle Mama was recorded at a different studio again in Nashville (Sound Shop) and is a throwaway blues number that doesn't really fit with the rest of the record but is fun to listen to all the same. Closing track Four Strong Winds is a cover of Ian Tyson's classic folk song and its melancholy lyrics are a perfect fit for Young. In his autobiography, Young calls Comes A Time "one of my best albums ever" and one of the joys for me of doing this project is discovering it for the first time.
Highlights: Look Out For My Love, Comes A Time, Peace of Mind, Four Strong Winds
Album rating: A
Comments