Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts – Second Song – Album Review
by Killian Laher

At the age of 80, Neil Young is putting out his fiftieth album, this time around with the Chrome Hearts.  The man is nothing if not prolific, though many of his recent albums have been uneven at best.  While there are only seven songs here, three of them occupy 27 minutes, so it doesn’t feel like a short album.

This one opens with the piano-based The Foggy Edge of Time.  Though this was recorded in 2026, it could easily pass for 1976, with Young in a mellow mood here.  Earth Girl is a similar piano ballad, very nice but not particularly memorable. The seven-minute acoustic strum Day After Day is an improvement, a bit like anything from Harvest/Comes A Time, and Young himself references the song, singing “this isn’t a fast song so fade it up”.  The blissful lengthy strum title track is very pleasant, but there doesn’t seem to be a reason to drag it out to 11 minutes.

Casting Me Away From You is a little throwaway strum at two and a half minutes, but it’s followed by Young’s very welcome electric guitar on the amiable plod of Soon I Might Be Going.  This one stands out from the rest of the album with a little bit of ragged electric over the strummed acoustic, and the title implies he knows there may not be so many more Neil Young albums.  The final track, I’ll Love You Forever, borrows the chords from Harvest Moon and turns into a fine little song.

There’s not a lot wrong with this Neil Young album, but it lacks a bit of a spark.  You can’t help feeling that there would be a very decent Neil Young album drawn from the best songs of the last five years.

Casting Me Away From You