Neil Young released a “lost” but “not forgotten” album titled Summer Songs, containing eight tracks recorded in 1987.
He made the collection of solo tracks available to subscribers of his Neil Young Archives project, while confirming that it will appear on general sale in the coming months.
Variants of seven of the tracks featured in later records, with “Wrecking Ball,” “Someday” and “Hangin’ on a Limb” part of 1989’s Freedom, “One of These Days” part of 1992’s Harvest Moon, “For the Love of Man” part of 2012’s Psychedelic Pill and “American Dream” plus “Name of Love” part of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s 1988 title American Dream. “Last of His Kind” has never previously been released.
“I think you will enjoy this very cool recording,” Young wrote to subscribers. “‘American Dream’ feels more real than ever. How could somethin’ so good go bad so fast? Wow, that was a little sad. But things are still good down on the farm right? Not so fast.”
Elsewhere on the site he noted: “To give you an idea of place and time, Farm Aid and the Bridge School Concerts had just begun their long runs. This group of songs had just been written and put down in the studio… I don’t remember the sessions at all!” He added: “The words of these originals are significantly different from their subsequent master album releases in many cases. Several completely new and unheard verses are found in the songs of this collection.” He also reported that the album “will be released in mid 2022 by my friends at Reprise Records.”
The launch comes just over two weeks after Young delivered Barn, his latest LP with Crazy Horse. He later confirmed he was planning a studio return “pretty soon” to lay down another record.
Neil Young Albums Ranked
Neil Young is one of rock’s most brilliant, confounding, defiant and frustrating artists.