Neil Young

Chrome Dreams - ("Black Label" 17088-02)

Powderfinger, Captain Kennedy, Pocahontas, Will to Love, Sedan Delivery, White Line, Too Far Gone, Star of Bethlehem, Like a Hurricane, Look Out for My Love, Hold Back the Tears, Homefires, Ride My Llama, Peace of Mind, Stringman

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For those who aren't aware of the album's history, let me place it into context: In October of 1976, Neil was set to release the three-lp best-of Decade. At the last minute, however, he changed his mind and instead requested his record company, Reprise, to shelve the project for one year. He had plans for a new album, he said, that would be ready for a November release. He even proffered the title: Chrome Dreams. November came and went, of course, and no new Neil product was in sight. Fast forward to March of 1977: acetates of the proposed album are pressed, with the track listing as follows:

Side one: a solo acoustic "Pocahontas," "Will to Love," "Star of Bethlehem," "Like a Hurricane," "Too Far Gone"

Side two: a solo acoustic "Hold Back the Tears," "Homegrown," "Captain Kennedy," "Stringman," a less frenetic "Sedan Delivery," a solo acoustic "Powderfinger," "Look Out for My Love."

Jump ahead to June, when American Stars 'n' Bars is released: five of the songs planned for Chrome Dreams make the cut. The rest? They'd surface in the years to come, some with nary a change in arrangement and others. . . refashioned for the times. The questions surrounding this album, then, are what has kept it firmly entrenched in the Neil pantheon as a "mythical" album. What if Neil had released it in instead of American Stars 'n' Bars? While ASnB is good--let's face it, it doesn't rank in the same league with this lost treasure. And what would have become of Rust Never Sleeps, which shares three tracks? And why, exactly, did Neil shelve this masterpiece? Of course, any answers are pure conjecture--which is half the fun.

All of that leads to this: This Chrome Dreams is not that unreleased album. For one, the bootleggers changed up the song order. Two, they substituted a live, 11-minute version of "Like a Hurricane." Three, they subtracted "Homegrown" and added a few more tracks: an electric "White Lines" (which they list as "River of Pride"), a 1992 acoustic performance of "Homefires," an acoustic 1978 performance of "Ride My Llama" and a live "Peace of Mind."

In short, this is a fine--nay, great--bootleg. Performances are topnotch throughout, especially the acoustic "red men run son" version of "Powderfinger" and ... all of the other songs. (A+)