Chrome Dreams

Chrome Dreams is the 44th 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 compiles 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. "Stringman", a piano ballad, was (according to Shakey) 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 Jimmy McDonough's Shakey: Neil Young's Biography, Chrome Dreams was first compiled onto an acetate in 1977. A copy of the acetate was subsequently copied and widely circulated by bootleggers in the 1990s. The album takes its name from a sketch David Briggs made on a studio tape reel. Young said, "What Chrome Dreams really was, was a sketch that [David] 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 of Chrome Dreams has artwork almost identical to the above description, but is credited to musician Ronnie Wood. 

Writing in The Guardian, Alexis Petridis opined that the album "could have been Young's strongest album of the 70s". 

On October 23, 2007, Neil Young released a new album titled Chrome Dreams II.

On June 30, 2023, Young announced that he would finally release Chrome Dreams on 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 Magazines 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".

Nick Roseblade of Clash called it "virtually identical" to the bootleg, "except it sounds much better" and remarked that "it does feel like Young's estate is cleaning house a bit. [...] However, this release has fulfilled all our chrome dreams." 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".

Track listing
"Pocahontas" (3:23)
 Neil Young – guitar, vocal
 Recorded at Indigo Ranch Recording Studio, Malibu, 8/11/1976 for Hitchhiker.
 Recording first released with additional overdubs on Rust Never Sleeps in 1979.
"Will to Love" (7:11)
 Neil Young – guitars, vocal, organ, piano, vibraphone, drums
 Recorded at Broken Arrow Ranch, 4/25/1976 with overdubs at Indigo Ranch Recording Studio, 12/3/1976.
 Recording first released on American Stars 'n Bars in 1977.
"Star of Bethlehem" (2:43)
 Neil Young – guitar, vocal, harmonica; Ben Keith – dobro, vocal; Tim Drummond – bass; Karl T. Himmel – drums; Emmylou Harris – vocal
 Recorded at Quadrafonic Sound Studios, Nashville, 12/13/1974 for Homegrown.
 Recording first released on American Stars 'n Bars in 1977.
"Like a Hurricane" (8:21)
 Neil Young – guitar, vocal; Frank “Poncho” Sampedro – Stringman, vocals; Billy Talbot – bass; Ralph Molina – drums, vocal
 Recorded at Broken Arrow Ranch, 11/29/1975 with vocal overdub at Village Recorders, Los Angeles, 1/15/1976.
 Recording first released on American Stars 'n Bars in 1977.
"Too Far Gone" (2:44)
 Neil Young – guitar, vocal; Frank "Poncho" Sampedro – mandolin
 Recorded at Broken Arrow Ranch, 9/5/1975.
 Recording first released on Neil Young Archives Volume II: 1972–1976 in 2020.
 Song first appeared on Freedom in 1989.
"Hold Back the Tears" (5:15)
 Neil Young – guitar, keyboard, percussion, vocal
 Recorded at Indigo Ranch Recording Studio, Malibu, 2/6/1977.
 Recording previously unreleased.
 Song first appeared on American Stars 'n Bars in 1977.
"Homegrown" (2:23)
 Neil Young – guitar, vocal; Frank “Poncho” Sampedro – guitar, vocals; Billy Talbot – bass; Ralph Molina – drums, vocal
 Recorded at Broken Arrow Ranch, 11/19/1975.
 Recording first released on American Stars 'n Bars in 1977.
"Captain Kennedy" (2:54)
 Neil Young – guitar, vocal
 Recorded at Indigo Ranch Recording Studio, Malibu, 8/11/1976 for Hitchhiker.
 Recording first appeared on Hawks & Doves in 1980.
"Stringman" (3:32)
 Neil Young – piano, guitar, vocal
 Recorded at Hammersmith Apollo, London, 3/31/1976 with overdubs at CBS Studios, London, 4/1/1976.
 Recording first released on Neil Young Archives Volume II: 1972–1976 in 2020.
 Song first appeared on Unplugged in 1993.
"Sedan Delivery" (5:21)
 Neil Young – guitar, vocal; Frank “Poncho” Sampedro – guitar; Billy Talbot – bass, vocal; Ralph Molina – drums, vocal
 Recorded at house, Point Dume, CA, 5/22/1975 for Zuma.
 Recording previously unreleased
 Song first appeared on Rust Never Sleeps in 1979.
"Powderfinger" (3:23)
 Neil Young – guitar, vocal
 Recorded at Indigo Ranch Recording Studio, Malibu, 8/11/1976 for Hitchhiker.
 Recording first released on Hitchhiker in 2017.
 Song first released on Rust Never Sleeps in 1979."Look Out for My Love" (4:01)
 Neil Young – guitar, vocal; Frank “Poncho” Sampedro – guitar; Billy Talbot – bass, vocal; Ralph Molina – drums, vocal Recorded at Broken Arrow Ranch, 1/20/1976 with overdubs at CBS Studios, London, 4/1/1976. Recording first released on Comes a Time in 1978.''

Charts

References

2023 albums
Albums produced by Neil Young
Neil Young albums
Reprise Records albums
Warner Records albums