Neil Young Releases “Lost” 1987 Album, ‘Summer Songs’
Neil Young has released a “lost” but “not forgotten” album titled Summer Songs, containing eight tracks recorded in 1987. The album was initially recorded in 1987, tracked at Young’s Broken Arrow Ranch in Redwood City, California. Every instrument played on it was played by Young himself, produced by The Volume Dealers (Neil Young and Niko Bolas) and mastered by Tim Mulligan. The album can be heard on Neil Young Archives.
Versions of seven of the tracks featured in later records, with Wrecking Ball, Someday and Hangin’ On A Limb appearing on of 1989’s Freedom, One Of These Days gracing 1992’s Harvest Moon, For The Love Of Man part of 2012’s Psychedelic Pill and American Dream plus Name Of Love both appearing on Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s 1988 album American Dream. Last Of His Kind, meanwhile, 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 confirmed that the album “will be released in mid 2022 by my friends at Reprise Records.”
Summer Songs looks likely to be the first previously unreleased material to feature on Neil Young Archives Volume III, the latest in Young’s huge archival releases, due in 2022.