First Impressions: Before + After by Neil Young

Earlier in 2023, Neil Young hit the road for the first time since 2019. Before + After, co-produced by the legendary Lou Adler, is an approximation of that show, which featured the same basic setlist of rarely played songs and/or songs he hadn’t played in a long time. It’s not a greatest hits affair, in other words, but akin to a living history presentation that uses the long ago to inform the now. As Neil told NYA patrons (including me) on a June ’23 call, “They are songs that apply to my life right now, and apply to everyone’s lives in this era that we’re in. Some of them were written 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago, but never really played live.”

But, as I note above, Before + After isn’t a live show with the audience reactions mixed out. Recorded at an unnamed location, it’s reminiscent of the long-unreleased Hitchhiker. Aside from Bob Rice on vibraphone or piano on two songs, it’s just Neil on acoustic guitar, piano or pump organ, while occasionally accompanying himself on harmonica, sharing old songs that have new meaning to him. “People my age/they don’t do the things I do,” he sings in the opening “I’m the Ocean,” from his 1995 collaboration with Pearl Jam, Mirror Ball. It’s more true now than then, with only a handful of his contemporaries still slinging songs. 

It’s a sterling set.

I suppose I could delve into the undercurrents that drive the album, how I hear Neil facing mortality, love and loss throughout. Instead I’ll focus on the mix, which finds the songs flowing into the next sans breaks. Dots and hidden strands are connected. For instance, the way “My Heart,” a stellar cut from Sleeps With Angels, becomes one with “When I Hold You in My Arms” from the under-appreciated Are You Passionate? is sheer genius. “When I hold you in my arms/it’s like a breath of fresh air,” he sings in the latter, which give way to the pump organ for the ecologically themed “Mother Earth.” It’s all one song, indeed.

If you’re a longtime fan, Before + After is a no-brainer. And if you’re not, well, give it a listen, anyway. It’s a sublime set that touches the heart, especially during the “Birds,” “My Heart” and “When I Hold You in My Arms” section.