Neil Young – Chrome Dreams (2023)

Yet another boot fair purchase from a couple of weeks ago (three for a fiver), this is the 2023 release of an album put together for 1977 release, then subsequently shelved. More than half of the songs later appeared on American Stars And Bars and Rust Never Sleeps over the next couple of years, and the album was widely circulated as a bootleg until 2023.

I'm not clear why this was shelved at the time. Recorded over the same period as American Stars And Bars, about which I was lukewarm, it's a far more coherent listen. It opens with the lovely Pocahontas, released two years later on Rust Never Sleeps, and something of a Young classic, followed by the much longer, gently flowing Will To Love. We continue quietly with the ordinary Star Of Bethlehem, before the eight minute classic Like A Hurricane blasts into life. Too Far Gone is simple, short and has a certain appeal, as would Hold Back The Tears if it were half the length, but it does tire. It's back to the electric guitar for Homegrown, a bit of a plodder, but fine at this halfway point.

Captain Kennedy is very much more folky, and is nicely done, followed by Stringman, not otherwise released until Unplugged in 1993. It's a slow piano ballad, not really my thing, but Young carries it well. Sedan Delivery (recorded for Zuma in 1975) raises the volume and rocks along nicely, followed by Powderfinger, a solo Young effort, which grows on me with each listening, unlike the tiresome final track, Look Out For My Love, surely prosecution evidence for those claiming Young to be a Canadian whiner.

So, not the strongest ending, but as already mentioned, this feels more complete than the album Young chose to release at the time - American Stars And Bars. There's a lot that's familiar, and much that wasn't which is enjoyable.

Link to album tracks

3* - a solid collection of songs, which Young fans had to wait over 40 years to possess (legally) in this format