4/5
Young Dreams.
44, like Obama, continues the album run of great Canadian songbook writer Neil Young, that's reaching into his back catalogue and crates of bootlegs. Originally compiled as an acetate in consideration for a 1977 release (the year he released 'American Stars 'n Bars'), 'Chrome Dreams' is finally awoken almost a half century later in 2023. This comes hot off the heels of last year's double release of 'Toast' with Crazy Horse, popping up, and the live sound of 'Noise and Flowers'. Proving once again that one of the greatest artists of our time keeps churning out classics...even if they are of calendar's past. It's all a part of the same chrome on the car that reverse cowgirl stuck out of the sand 'On The Beach'.
Widely circulated as a bootleg for decades, it's great that these dreams are finally made an official reality. Recorded over two years, the earliest recording came in '74 following a 'Star Of Bethlehem' as a young Young sang, "All your dreams and your lovers won't protect you/They're only passing through you in the end/They'll leave you stripped of all that they can get to/And wait for you to come back again." If you're going through it, you'll really feel that lyric right now, trust me. This guiding, wise light amongst all the darkness was originally meant to close the abandoned 'Homegrown' (like that title track) album that was brought back to life from the root in 2020. The 'Zuma' sessions on the other hand spawned the sweet, slow 'Sedan Delivery' that's always on time with Neil's reason and rhyme. 'Too Far Gone', mind you, already had its 'Freedom' in 1989, but coated in 'Chrome', it now has a Crazy Horse mandolin. 'Hold Back The Tears' for what was once lost, and you'll find new lyrics than the stars 'n bars for a record that has finally come out a sweet sixteen years after its 2007 sequel 'Chrome Dreams II'.
'Rust Never Sleeps'. It stays. Even in chrome, like the powerful 'Pocahontas' precursor track in its original form, no Disney magic. "Aurora Borealis/The icy sky at night/Paddles cut the water/In a long and hurried flight/From the white man to the fields of green/And the homeland we've never seen/They killed us in our tepee/And they cut our women down/They might have left some babies/Cryin' on the ground." To a new audience, in a world of Spotify and social media and disorder, these poetic and profound lyrics would still stay with you if you heard them for the first time back in 1977. Then the seven-minute stirring 'Will To Love' is a call to any heart that resonates to the beat it walks. "Got the will to love, the will to love/I'll never lose it, never lose the will to love/Never lose the will/It's like something from up above/I can be like a fire in the night/Always warm and giving off light/But there comes a time when I shine too bright/Oh, I'm just a fire in the night." If you still have the will, this is the love you deserve.
'Like A Hurricane', like Dylan, you'll remember this great from one of America's greats like an unplugged or live session. A favourite for years like Springsteen 'Tracks' that didn't see the light of an official release day until we had 'High Hopes' with him. Singing, "You are just a dreamer and I am just a dream/You could have been anyone to me/Before that moment you touched my lips/That perfect feeling when time just slips/Away between us on our foggy trip/You are like a hurricane/There's calm in your eye/And I'm gettin' blown away/To somewhere safer where the feeling stays/I want to love you but/I'm getting blown away, with sweet sentiment and sacrament. 'Captain Kennedy' is another glorious salute to signatures of the past. Whilst 'Powderfinger' warns our mothers about the "white boat coming up the river" and the rails of cocaine abuse that rakes those who take it across the coals of a world so cold it could burn you. Add the powerful cinematic strings of 'Stringman' and this isn't just an abandoned album brought back to the light. It's an absolute classic too as 'Look Out For My Love' attests ("There's a lot to learn/For wastin' time/There's a heart that burns/There's an open mind/Look out for my love/Look out for my love/Look out for my love/Look out for my love/You own it."). From the grille of a '55 Chrysler and artwork credited to Ronnie Wood, this LP made CD and all formats (including Pono, but maybe not Spotify) rolls like a seventies stone. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'Pocahontas', 'Will To Love', 'Like A Hurricane'.
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