Comes A Time (1978)

Comes A Time (1978)

Comes A Time began as a solo album of plaintive, acoustic songs, but would soon morph into a grandiose to-do recalling the majesty — and expense — of Harvest following Neil’s decision to augment the songs with overdubs by a host of A-listers (including Bobby Charles, Spooner Oldham, and JJ Cale) and, most crucially, the vocals of Nicolette Larson. Like the harmonies of Emmylou Harris and fiddle of Scarlet Rivera on Bob Dylan’s Desire, Larson’s voice is integral to the atmosphere of Comes A Time; no one, with the possible exception of Danny Whitten, has ever blended so beautifully and so naturally with Neil’s reedy tenor. Two songs feature Crazy Horse, captured here on their best behavior: the narcotic “Look Out For My Love” and the confessional “Lotta Love.” (Larson’s version of the latter would soon earn her a top ten hit, and is perhaps the only Neil Young song bested by its cover version.) The magnificent, unashamedly commercial Comes A Time sounds born of experience; it’s not an album one makes in his or her twenties. In this way, it again parallels its closest analogue, Desire: its wisdom is sophisticated, its comforts well earned.