It’s fair to say that Neil Young has ‘lost’ more albums than most and next month another legendary long-player that was ‘mislaid’ in the 1970s is given a full commercial release.
The album in question is Chrome Dreams a non-release dating from 1977 that was confusingly ‘followed up’ in 2007 by ChromeDreams II.
As is often the way with these unreleased albums, they get cherry-picked for subsequent projects meaning if/when they finally do surface there’s an air of familiarity about them. So as far as the 12-track Chrome Dreams is concerned, ‘Pocahontas’, ‘Powderfinger’ and ‘Captain Kennedy’ were all originally earmarked for Hitchhiker, itself an unreleased album from 1976, that was eventually issued in 2017 (highly recommended, by the way). ‘Pocahontas’ is the same version heard on 1979’s Rust Never Sleeps without the overdubs.
Neil Young has lost albums than most
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‘Sedan Delivery’ is a slower version that the one on Rust Never Sleeps and features an additional verse, while ‘Hold Back The Tears’ is different to the one on American Stars ‘n Bars (as is ‘Homegrown’). ‘Stringman’ is live from Young’s 1976 European tour (with some overdubs) and ‘Too Far Gone’ didn’t turn up until 1989’s Freedom although Young performed it in November 1976 as documented on the Songs For Judy compilation. The version on Chrome Dreams features Frank ‘Poncho’ Sampedro playing mandolin. For the most part, the other songs are the same as per their subsequent studio album versions.
The 2LP vinyl edition is actually three-sided with side four the dreaded ‘etched’ disc. Four tracks on the album have never been issued on vinyl. There’s a CD version too. Both come with an insert with lyrics.
Chrome Dreams is released on 11 August 2023 via Reprise.
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By Paul Sinclair
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