Just before May folded into June, as I noted last week, Diane and I undertook an arduous journey into the past in order to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in our former stomping grounds of Philadelphia—and, too, to catch up with old friends. In the best of worlds, the ride should’ve have taken about seven or so hours, but it wound up closer to nine thanks to slow-going Friday traffic plus some suspect Apple Map re-routings that, looking back, I should’ve ignored.
We primarily listened to SiriusXM’s E Street Radio channel along the way, given our weekend plans, but did enjoy several of that weekend’s new releases, including one from another lifelong favorite, Neil Young. Although he has a studio album, tentatively titled Second Song, slated for release later this year, the 13-track, 71-minute As Time Explodes presents highlights from his 2025 tour with the backing band he calls the Chrome Hearts: Spooner Oldham on organ and piano, Micah Nelson on guitar, Corey McCormick on bass, and Anthony Logerfo on drums. I’ve cranked it up a fair bit since returning home.
For those keeping track, and if my math is right, As Time Explodes is either his 34th or 35th live album—dependent on whether one pairs Weld with Arc—when one includes “official” bootlegs and archival releases but excludes the four live CSNY releases and the many “timeline concerts” (but none of my requests) found on the Neil Young Archives. Fifteen of those arrived in the past five years. It’s wild, right? In the days that used to be, when unofficial recordings drove many of us fans, that amount of live recordings sourced (in most instances) from soundboards in such a short span would’ve been deemed an embarrassment of riches.
Now? It still is. I won’t lie and say As Time Explodes is the greatest Neil Young live album ever. It’s not. Some could make a cogent argument that it should’ve been more expansive (a show in full) or current, as it plays like an off-kilter live best-of that, in theory at least, will please no one. It contains live renditions of warhorses “Ohio,” “Cortez the Killer,” and “Like a Hurricane,” for example, alongside radio staples “Harvest Moon” and “After the Gold Rush,” plus a slew of tracks likely unknown by all but hardcore fans—and I include the two songs from Neil’s 2025 Talkin’ to the Trees album, “Big Change” and “Silver Eagle,” among those.
That argument’s moot, however. It’s Neil with a great band. Songs most of us know and love—and, for the neophytes who walk among us, fine introductions to what some might call “deep tracks” or “overlooked gems.” “Name of Love,” which dates to the 1988 CSNY reunion album Looking Forward, is hauntingly beautiful, for instance, while the environmentally-themed “Be the Rain” (from the 2003 “musical novel” Greendale) is as raucous as it is dramatic. The anti-Trump “Big Change,” meanwhile, is an ornery delight that’s sure to infuriate some, while the Life-era “Long Walk Home”—not to be confused with the Springsteen song of the same name—is a cogent commentary that features updated lyrics. And then there’s the elongated guitar nirvana that is “Cortez the Killer” and the winding guitar solo that accents “Like a Hurricane”—as I often said back in the day, both “take you there, wherever there is.” Neil sounds in fine vocal form, too; you’d never know from listening that he was 79 during the tour. (He’s since turned 80.)
So, in short: As Time Explodes – The Live Album is well worth the listening experience. It’s not Neil’s best, but that’s okay. It’s great all the same.
The tracks:
The Old Grey Cat 