A Lotta Love from Neil Young and Nicolette Larson

For no reason in particular, I found myself starting the day listening to Neil Young's "Lotta Love," from his understated, underrated 1978 LP Comes a Time. It's one of his most heartfelt, melodic ballads, and that is saying something, as he has more of those than just about anyone. Here he is doing the tune in the acoustic portion of his film Rust Never Sleeps.

Like many of us, I first came to know "Lotta Love" via the version by Nicolette Larson, which was a huge hit in '78, making it to #6 on the charts. Larson was a backup singer on Comes A Time (recommended to Neil by Linda Ronstadt) and I imagine Neil threw her the tune as a thank-you.

Nic's version is very late-70s adult-contemporary, with a disco-fied string section and an overall production that owe much to the sound of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, especially Yvonne Eliman's "If I Can't Have You."

Neil Young wasn't really on my musical radar when Nicolette's version rocketed up the charts, and I'm not even sure when I realized that "Lotta Love" was a Neil Young song. It may have been in college. Sadly, Larson passed away in 1997.

Anyway, Comes a Time should be part of any Neil fan's music library. While it was a very popular record back in the day, it's turned into something of a hidden gem in the Neil catalog, overshadowed by towering classics like After the Gold Rush and Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.

Comes a Time also contains "Look Out for My Love" - the only song I know of that mentions Daylight Savings Time. Maybe there was a reason for this post after all. Don't forget to set your clocks back!



Buy on iTunes:
Neil Young, Comes a Time
Nicolette Larson, Nicolette