Signed First Edition: To Feel the Music Hand-Signed by Neil Young and Phil Baker
This entry highlights a vital contemporary manifesto on audio fidelity and music technology: a First Edition copy of To Feel the Music: A Songwriter's Mission to Save High-Quality Audio, hand-signed by legendary rock icon Neil Young and co-author/technology executive Phil Baker. Published in 2019 by BenBella Books, this engaging volume chronicles Young's relentless crusade to rescue sound quality in an era dominated by compressed digital audio files.
As an artist renowned for uncompromising sonic integrity across his solo career and work with Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and Crazy Horse, Young has long voiced frustration with MP3s and streaming compression that strip away the depth, emotion, and nuance of studio recordings. Written with Phil Baker—his chief technology partner in developing the PonoPlayer and Xstream high-resolution streaming—To Feel the Music details the engineering challenges, industry resistance, and creative passion behind their effort to restore studio-quality sound to listeners everywhere.
Bound in publisher's original hardback boards, the volume is preserved in its original unclipped dust jacket featuring a vintage photograph of Young with a Gretsch guitar on the front cover and a portrait of Young and Baker on the rear panel. On an unnumbered preliminary page beneath the printed book title, Neil Young and Phil Baker have each inscribed bold signatures in black marker ("Neil Young" and "Phil Baker"). Affixed to the bottom corner of the signed leaf is an official Beckett Authentication Services serialization sticker (Q75946), matched by an accompanying Beckett Certificate of Authenticity card. The book is in fine condition with sharp corners, clean pages, and a bright jacket, presenting an essential signed artifact for audiophiles and music scholars alike.
Edition & Special Presentation Specifications
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BENBELLA BOOKS FIRST EDITION: Published in 2019 by BenBella Books, Inc., Dallas, Texas; stated First Edition with complete number line.
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ORIGINAL DUST JACKET: Retains original unclipped dust jacket featuring front cover art of Young and rear author portrait with vinyl records.
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SONIC MANIFESTO: The primary account of Neil Young’s campaign for high-resolution audio technology and digital music reform.
Autograph Specifications & Provenance
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HAND-SIGNED BY NEIL YOUNG & PHIL BAKER: Signed directly on a preliminary leaf in black marker by both Neil Young and co-author Phil Baker.
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BECKETT AUTHENTICATED: Verified authentic by Beckett Authentication Services, complete with serialized sticker (Q75946) and matching COA card.