First Impressions: Chrome Dreams by Neil Young

In October 1976, it’s said, Neil Young requested that Reprise push back his forthcoming three-LP Decade retrospective from 1976 to 1977, as he had an album of new material that he wanted out by Christmas. He called it Chrome Dreams. That he blew through the November deadline for the project shouldn’t be much of a surprise, however, given that—as he was for much of the 1970s—he was on a roll. New music was flowing through him at a clip faster than he could record and he likely thought the next would be better than the old. 

It wasn’t until late winter/early spring of ’77, in fact, that acetates of the new album were pressed. Side one consisted of the solo “Pocahontas” and “Will to Love,” with the latter finding him accompanied by a crackling fire; ”Star of Bethlehem” with Emmylou Harris on harmonies; “Like a Hurricane” with Crazy Horse; and “Too Far Gone,” which finds him accompanied by a mandolin-wielding Poncho Sampredo. Side two featured the acoustic “Hold Back the Tears”; a fresh recording with Crazy Horse of his ode to DIY dope,”Homegrown”; the folk ballad “Captain Kennedy”; the stirring “Stringman”; a less frenetic “Sedan Delivery” recorded with Crazy Horse during the Zuma sessions; an acoustic “Powderfinger”; and “Look Out for My Love,” also with Crazy Horse.

That version of the album likely would have been released in time for a summer tour if not for his Malibu neighbor at the time, Carole King, who he invited over to hear it. Just as a listening party with friends spurred him to shelve Homegrown in favor of Tonight’s the Night, her recommendation against releasing the new album as-is gave him pause. She heard it as a collection of demos and, indeed, some tracks were demo-like, while others were fairly raw. Three hailed from the unreleased Hitchhiker, which Reprise had rejected for similar reasons, and two from Homegrown.

So he released American Stars ’n Bars, which included four of the same songs, instead. Later albums would feature other Chrome Dreams material—sometimes the same recording, other times tweaked with overdubs, and a few re-recorded. While Chrome Dreams is a “lost” album, in other words, the same can’t be said about the songs from it. Too, there’s this: the CD bins of many independent—and even a few chain—record stores held unofficial versions of the album from 1992 onward, all allegedly made from a 1977 test pressing. A few re-arranged the running order, others added bonus tracks, and versions of all were traded by fans on message boards and via email groups. 

The now-official Chrome Dreams features far nicer, Ronnie Wood-drawn art in lieu of the original bootleg CD’s monochrome joke cover and, more importantly, much better sound. I’m listening via the high-resolution stream via the Neil Young Archives and, wow. If you close your eyes you’ll feel like you’re listening from the corner of Neil’s living room when he sings “Will to Love,” in which he imagines himself a salmon swimming upstream. The only pops and crackles come courtesy of the fireplace, not dirty vinyl, while the mournful “Stringman”—a live recording with overdubbed backing vocals—resonates in ways that can’t be put into words. “Sedan Delivery” runs a tad ragged, for sure, but it’s still a lotta fun. You can smell the Horse.

As with Homegrown and Hitchhiker, the notion that Neil’s career would have been dramatically altered if he’d released it is a matter for debate. But imagine Neil’s discography without American Stars ’n Bars, Comes a Time and/or Rust Never Sleeps—as Doc Brown, Marty McFly and most Fringe fans can attest, even the slightest change to the timeline ripples through all that follows. In a sense, Chrome Dreams is more of an interesting curio than anything—one well worth repeated plays, I hasten to add. Older fans should enjoy the sonic upgrade from their bootlegs of yore, while newcomers will hear much that commands their attention.

The track listing: