Sound City: Real To Reel

To provide a rock soundtrack for a rock-related documentary with a wide range of musicians with diverse musical styles can be an undertaking. Though they have a lot in common, combining forces for a singular goal was what it was all about. The documentary about the now-defunct legendary Sound City studio in Los Angeles, has Grohl "drawing on the talent of a number of Sound City pre-recorders from over the years; most notably Fleetwood Mac's Steve Nicks, Paul McCartney, Josh Homme and his former Nirvana band mates, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear."

The quality of the sound produced on this recording is superb, the clarity is as pure as can be and it is a joy to listen to, but does the content match the level of output?

Straight-up rock is what's delivered here but not as a cohesive listening experience though, "the ever-revolving cast of players limits any sense of identity that the album could have forged. What results is a long-player of rock standards, with a few tunes achieving honorable mention status. "

Don't get me wrong, this is a unique project and a huge accomplishment for Grohl and his players with a few standout performances, for example, Stevie Nicks, upon hearing the slowed down, cleaner version "You Can't Fix This," you sense this is simply the greatest Fleetwood Mac song that never was.

Masters Of Reality main man, Chris Goss, is another notable highlight, performing "Time Slowing Down", a breezy, melodic number, with serious weight behind it. It's full of fabulous riffs, packing quite a punch, with Brad Wilk's drumming, acting as the glue holding the whole thing nicely together.

I read...

"Collaboration albums in the vein of Sound City, "Real to Reel" are bound to be picked apart no matter what, due to the obvious variety of musicians and styles involved. Avid fans of each associated will undoubtedly save the tracks they care about, while the general public is likely not to remember much of the release after a few years." So be it. That doesn't matter in my opinion. The music for the most part is excellent.

"Finding time in the schedules of the many outstanding musicians on here to write, record and tour this record is nothing short of a creative and logistical masterstroke, and consider the amount of incredible work that has gone into making this happen."

"Anyone who's seen the documentary was able to witness the creation of "Cut Me Some Slack", the track that joins Paul McCartney with a "reunited Nirvana," and ends up as a perfect example of impromptu songwriting that works probably better than it should, given the unusual collaboration."

"Touring keyboard player Rami Jaffee, violinist Jessy Greene and veteran session drummer Jim Keltner provide the backdrop to Grohl's vocals on the softer `If I Were Me', which hints at the more melancholy moments of the Foo's back catalogue."

It's an album stemming from a film chronicling music history, and it shows. "Real to Reel" feels like a time capsule of musical diversity, dating back to the late `60s and playing through to the present. We have everything from bluesy hard rock, to classic rock, to hardcore punk and a lot in between.

And the artists, Robert Levon Been and Peter Hayes, both of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club fame, and Dave Grohl himself, kick off the opening track "Heaven and All", "Time Slowing Down," a collaboration between Tim Commerford, Chris Goss, Dave Grohl and Rage Against the Machine's Brad Wilk, Rick Springfield, who belts out a powerful number in "The Man That Never Was," Corey Taylor of Slipknot fame teams with Grohl, Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick) and Scott Reeder on "From Can to Can't", to name just a few.

"As long as the listener is not expecting an epic full of the best songs in the history of music just because of the names involved then you won't be disappointed, and all things considered this is an essential piece of listening and a milestone in the history of rock music, the like of which we are unlikely to ever see again."

I read...

"Overall, "Real to Reel" is an album that you owe it to yourself to own in some form, whether digitally, on a CD, or even on vinyl. It's a fitting tribute to an age of music that is pretty much all but dead when artists not only recorded music but also captured the human element of production instead of editing it out later in favor of sounding "perfect." Music is supposed to be imperfect, much like the humans that create it and "Real to Reel" manages to capture that mantra and distill it down to an hour of excellent tunes."

I agree, 100%... 5 stars easily

As a few previous reviewers have mentioned the CD release of Sound City has become another victim of the "Loudness Wars". All the tracks on the CD release have had their dynamics squashed and sound very fatiguing when listened to on a nice sound system. It's a shame that so much effort was put into the recording of the album only to be undone at the last moments of the mastering stage.

That being said the vinyl release does sound much better, not because it's vinyl but because it doesn't suffer from the same dynamic range compression. If you have a nice system and want the best sounding version, look at going for the vinyl release. The content is great but if you're looking for that analog sound being discussed in the film you'll need to go with the version that has the highs and lows intact.

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This is a solid 5 star rating. I would rate it higher if I could. I will tell you right now without a lot of dazling words This is the best CD I have bought in years!!! Dave Grohl you are now my new hero. I just wish more people shared your passion for real music and real recordings. Thank you so much for this recording.

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Real music, real recordings. No auto-tune. No drum reconstruction through triggers. This is the real deal. It's an appropriate title, Real to Reel. They take real music and wrap it up on the take up reel. Being a child of the analog world but living and working in the digital world, I appreciate the effort they've so obviously put into these recordings / songs.

That all being said, they do lose one star for the loudness war.

Dave, you stood up, shook your fist in the air and had a great idea: Make a rock record with some of the most influential people in music and do it on tape.

Then you stepped off the soap box and allowed the mastering engineers to have free reign over your mixes rather than demanding the dynamics be kept at their best.

As much as I love this album, I would have a hard time turning it off if the dynamics were anything like I imagine them to be in the studio. Everything has been squashed to within 6db or so of actual range. That can be fatiguing.

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I saw the movie Sound City and I was really anxious to hear this collection of great artists. I wasn't disappointed. The vinyl is a must have (180gram sounds great). There are a lot of audiophiles who are down on this because it lacks dynamic range. I think the DR was decent, but in the end why do you buy music? You buy it because you dig the songs, and appreciate the artists who create this stuff. Don't pass up this album it's worth every penny.

My judge of a great album is if I can put it on and just let it play through without skipping any songs. I can definitely do that with Sound City (of course I do have to flip the vinyl ;-). Thanks Dave Grohl another awesome creation!!!

Favorite Songs: Cut Me Some Slack (Sir Paul sounds young again) & Time Slowing Down (great harmonies)