Chrome Dreams is the 46th studio album by Neil Young. It was first compiled as an acetate for consideration as an album for release in 1977. A copy of the acetate widely circulated as a bootleg in the decades prior to its release. The album was officially released on August 11, 2023, to universal acclaim from critics.

Recording history

First compiled in spring 1977, Chrome Dreams is a showcase of songs that Young had recorded over the previous two years. It includes songs from several different sessions with various collaborators and backing musicians. The earliest recording, "Star of Bethlehem", was recorded at the end of 1974 and intended to be the closing track of Homegrown, an abandoned album eventually released in 2020. "Sedan Delivery", recorded during the Zuma sessions, has a slower pace than the Rust Never Sleeps take and contains an additional verse. "Too Far Gone", "Homegrown", "Like a Hurricane", "Look Out for My Love" were all recorded at various sessions at Young's Broken Arrow Ranch with Crazy Horse during the fall and winter after the release of Zuma and before the supporting tour of Europe and Japan in the Spring of 1976. "Too Far Gone" was not released until 1989's Freedom. It is presented on Chrome Dreams with Crazy Horse's Frank "Poncho" Sampedro accompanying Young on a 1917 mandolin. According to Jimmy McDonough's Shakey: Neil Young's Biography, the piano ballad "Stringman" was written for Jack Nitzsche and is presented as a performance from Young's 1976 European tour with slight studio overdubs. Eighteen years later Young revived it for his Unplugged performance. "Powderfinger", "Pocahontas", and "Captain Kennedy" all date from the August 1976 session featured on the 2017 album Hitchhiker. "Pocahontas" is the same version heard on Rust Never Sleeps without overdubs. "Will to Love" has Young performing before a fireplace at his ranch. He later overdubbed additional instrumentation. The acoustic solo performance of "Hold Back the Tears" has additional lyrics not found on the band recording on American Stars 'n Bars.

Album history

According to Shakey, in 1977 Chrome Dreams was first compiled onto an acetate which was subsequently copied and widely circulated by bootleggers in the 1990s. The album takes its name from a sketch on a studio tape reel. Young said, "What Chrome Dreams really was, was a sketch that Briggs drew of a grille and front of a '55 Chrysler, and if you turned it on its end, it was this beautiful chick...I called it Chrome Dreams." The 2023 official release has artwork similar to this description, but is credited to musician Ronnie Wood. On October 23, 2007, Neil Young released a new album titled Chrome Dreams II. On June 30, 2023, he announced that Chrome Dreams would be released that August 11.

Critical reception

Chrome Dreams received a score of 94 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on five critics' reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Glide Magazine's Doug Collette wrote that "listening to this single collection of so many tracks familiar from the Canadian rock icon's albums in the mid-to-late Seventies, it's hard not to agree with what might otherwise sound like hyperbole: this is one of, if not the finest effort of the great iconoclast's career". Pitchfork named the album "Best New Reissue", with Stephen Thomas Erlewine stating that "as familiar as the material may be, its ragged, magical charm is greater than the sum of its parts" and it "offers a distinctly different experience than any other Young album from the late 1970s". Fred Thomas of AllMusic felt that "Young devotees are probably already aware of the legacy and niche cultural importance of Chrome Dreams and will appreciate the specifics of the listening experience, even if the songs have become less obscured since they were first put to tape". Rob Mitchum of Uncut described it as "a dozen of Young's best songs, powerful no matter how many times they've been reshuffled since. But in reality, it risks getting lost in the shotgun spray of Young's self-curation". Writing in The Guardian, Alexis Petridis opined that the album "could have been Young's strongest album of the 70s".

Track listing

Personnel

Additional roles

Charts