Michael Fremer's 100 Recommended All-Analog LP Reissues Worth Owning - Rated 81/100!
First Time Ever On Vinyl LP!
Mastered Direct From The Original Tapes!
Plated & Pressed at Quality Record Pressings!
TAS Super LP List! Special Merit: Informal
2018 Stereophile Magazine Record to Die For!
Analog Planet Rated 10/11 Music, 10/11 Sound!
This long awaited first pressing of Gillian Welch's The Harrow & The Harvest was mastered direct from the original tapes through custom Ortofon amplifiers to a Neumann VMS-80 cutting system and plated and pressed at Quality Record Pressings. It is also the first vinyl record to come out on Acony Records.
"We have been working and waiting 20 years to bring you our music on phonograph record. It took a while, because we wanted to do it the right way, the absolute best way humanly possible, and I believe thats what weve done. No sonic stone was left unturned, no nuance let fall by the wayside. There is honestly nothing else I can imagine hoping to hear out of the original tapes. It is all there in the groove. As people whose lives were changed by the sound of music coming off turntables, we humbly invite you to include us in your record collection." Gillian Welch
GRAMMY nominated for Best Engineered Album (Non Classical) and Best Folk Album, this deluxe package includes new full-color cover art by John Dyer Baizley, a gatefold old-style tip-on jacket printed on special paper, a printed sleeve, and full lyric insert (included with the album for the first time).
"The Harrow & the Harvest is stunning for its intimacy, its lack of studio artifice, its warmth and its timeless, if hard won, songcraft. Its only equal in her catalog is Time (The Revelator), making it well worth the long wait. [Note: the provocative cover art by Baroness guitarist and vocalist John Dyer Baizley is peerlessly brilliant.]" - Thom Jurek, allmusic.com
"Welch's partner, David Rawlings, stepping back from his nominal star turn with Dave Rawlings Machine, continues as America's most low-key guitar hero; his sparkling lines and harmonies cling to Welch's rich vocals (which infused the Decemberists' recent The King Is Dead) like smoke plumes. The themes are often bleak: 'Some girls are blessed with a dark turn of mind,' Welch sings at one point, probably with a wink. But there's a light that never goes out on The Harrow & the Harvest. 'Hard times,' she insists on the song of the same name, 'ain't gonna rule my mind.'" - Will Hermes, rollingstone.com
"The Harrow & The Harvest is simply one of the richest, most expansive roots albums to be released in some time." - Douglas Heselgrave, Paste Magazine
"It is the best kind of record: one that lures you in and soothes you with harmonies and banjo, only to leave you wondering what the hell just happened... At the heart of much Americana is the idea of letting it all hang out. Gillian Welch is not of a mind to let anything hang out, ever; but she and Rawlings have produced a classic of the genre." - Kitty Empire, theguardian.com
"...this recorded-to-tape Gillian Welch gem finally has an AAA vinyl release...
"Welch and partner David Rawlings got ahold of an early pressing of Van Morrisons Astral Weeksan album theyd only previously heard on CD. For the first time, I could actually see Van singing into the microphone, I could visualize what he was doing. I could see all of it. And just after that moment of revelation, we were both instantaneously furious just furious that this sonic information had been eradicated by the CD.
"That revelation came a few years ago. Why the delay releasing this on vinyl? The two were unhappy with the quality of the mastering they heard. Their exacting standards werent being met.
"So, in 2013 they concluded that buying and refurbishing their own cutting lathe was the only way to achieve the desired results.
"Five years and more than $100,000 later they have finally issued the first two Acony Records releases cut from tape on their lathe, now housed at Stephen Marcussens Precision Mastering in Los Angeles (Rawlings' record Poor David's Almanack will be reviewed shortly).
"Before Marcussen exited the vinyl mastering business in the 1990s his place was called Precision Lacquer. So, like many audio enthusiasts who have returned to vinyl, hes come full circle.
"Listen to this record and youll surely conclude that the money and sweat equity Welch and Rawlings invested has been well spent." - Michael Fremer, Analogplanet.com
Features:
Vinyl LP
Plated & Pressed at Quality Record Pressings
Mastered Direct from original tapes
New full-color cover art by John Dyer Baizley
Gatefold old-style tip-on jacket
Printed sleeve
Full lyric insert
Musicians:
Gillian Welch, vocal, guitar, banjo, harmonica, hands & feet
David Rawlings, vocal, guitar, banjo & harmonica
Selections:
Side A:
1. Scarlet Town
2. Dark Turn Of Mind
3. The Way It Will Be
4. The Way It Goes
5. Tennessee
Side B:
1. Down Along The Dixie Line
2. Six White Horses
3. Hard Times
4. Silver Dagger
5. The Way The Whole Thing Ends
