Folk: Neil Young revisits his own past with new recordings of old songs.
What’s going on there? Since 2021, Neil Young has released twelve albums, mostly with archive material, but also two new ones. It may be that, at 78, the artist is aware of his mortality and wants to release as much music as possible. The concept of BEFORE AND AFTER follows that of his solo tour on the US West Coast last summer.
He played things that were rarely heard, mostly acoustically with guitar, harmonica and piano. The oldest songs on the album, “Burned,” “Mr. Soul” and “On The Way Home” come from his time with Buffalo Springfeld in the 60s, the latest “Don’t Forget Love” is from 2021, and with “If You Got Love” there is a previously unknown one.
That Neil Young classics like “Mr. Soul” and “Mother Earth” can always gain new aspects in sometimes tender versions, is the real message of the album. The 13 pieces flow seamlessly into one another, the tracklist does not follow any chronology. At the beginning of “Comes A Time” Neil Young’s voice breaks slightly, once it composes itself it’s like it’s still 1978.