As Neil Young continues to excavate his vault — previously unreleased 1977 recordings, a concert documentary soundtrack, an album of unheard Crazy Horse music from 1969 and the third volume in his career-spanning Archives box sets all arrived during the past year — he’s still making new music to keep up with his restless prolificacy.
In 2023, the last time he put out original material, he released two new LPs: All Roads Lead Home, made with Crazy Horse bandmates Ralph Molina, Billy Talbot and Nils Lofgren, and the solo Before and After, recent acoustic live recordings of songs throughout his career. Considering live LPs, reissues, archive collections, new records and various other releases, Young has issued over two dozen albums in the 2020s. And that’s at the halfway mark.
Somehow, he has also found time to form a new band, the Chrome Hearts, consisting of musicians he’s occasionally worked with in the past, including veteran organist Spooner Oldham (going back to 1978’s Comes a Time) and Promise of the Real guitarist Micah Nelson and bassist Corey McCormick. Their first album, Talkin to the Trees, may remind fans of some of Young’s directionless work in the ’80s, but, like many of Young’s untried projects, there’s more to it than the several detours it takes over 39 minutes.
READ MORE: Neil Young Albums Ranked
The opening track, “Family Life,” finds Young intoning “I’ll be singing my new song” over shuffling acoustic guitar and bright-sounding harmonica straight from the Harvest era; on the next song, “Dark Mirage,” he and the band serve up a greasy blues readymade for a boozy Friday night. Talkin to the Trees is like that, never taking a firm stand one way or another in a certain style; instead, true to Young’s long career, it careens over different paths to a singular vision.
Like much of Young’s recent works, the album (not so surprisingly, given its title) focuses on his longstanding commitments to the environment, especially “First Fire of Winter,” a gauzy back-to-nature contemplation that recalls “Helpless” in its hypnotic, languid pace, and “Let’s Roll Again,” a “This Land Is Your Land” rewrite (as is the preceding song, “Silver Eagle”) that targets climate-destroying industry and, specifically, Elon Musk: “If you’re a fascist, then get a Tesla.” Likewise, “Big Change” is angry, righteous finger-pointing at the state of the world. By album’s end, Young and the Chrome Hearts return to the bars and country, drawing comparisons to his past while eyeing what’s left of the future.
Neil Young Live Albums Ranked
Official concert LPs, Archives Series offerings, pairings with Crazy Horse, Promise of the Real and the Ducks … there’s a lot to unpack here.
Gallery Credit: Michael Gallucci
