Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts have finished work on their follow-up to 2025’s Talkin’ to the Trees, and it includes three songs that Young wrote 63 years ago.
They went into the sessions at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La studio in Malibu, California, with five brand new songs. They cut four on day one, and the fifth on day two. “We were then out of songs,” Young wrote in The Neil Young Archives. “We needed more. The next morning I had a song going through my head and I was playing it. I checked it out in the archives and found it was from 1963, unreleased. There were more. I found three others with it … also unreleased! Three 60 year old songs and five brand new ones!”
“We finished mixing and assembling one month later on the next full moon … April 1,” he continued. “It was fast! We now have a complete mastered record, ready to go. I cannot wait for you to hear it and I hope it gives you what it gives me.”
In 1963, Neil Young was a 17-year-old playing gigs around his native Winnipeg, Manitoba, with his high school band, the Squires. The only 1963 Squires songs that have ever been released are the instrumental tracks “Aurora” and “The Sultan.” They came out at the time in a supremely limited vinyl pressing that has become a valuable collectors item.
In 2009, the songs were given a much wider release on Young’s box set The Archives Vol. 1 1963–1972, along with four other Squires tracks recorded in 1964 and 1965. One of them, “I Wonder,” was reworked in 1975 as the Zuma classic “Don’t Cry No Tears.”
It’s unclear if these three 1963 songs he unearthed are instrumentals or even Squires songs. They could be previously-unknown solo home recordings. It’s also unclear what Young’s new album is called. In one post on April 21, he says the album is untitled. In another post that same day, he referred to the album as “Second Song,” but that might just be one of the song titles.
What we know for sure is Young recorded the album on both analog and digital equipment, creating two separate masters. This is something he’s never before attempted. “We did this so we could show the difference we know and believe in, my friends and I,” Young wrote. “Analog was the beginning, and it never sounded better. Hi res digital is a clear second best. We are finishing the two versions and will release them both … You can hear the difference instantly … One is as deep as life. One of them is the highest quality counterfeit copy. If you are interested in the sound you can disappear into and lose yourself … over repeated listenings, analog.”
“I made records like that in the beginning,” he continued. “I miss the quality people today hardly ever get a chance at hearing. Music is infinitely deep. Museum quality sound is analog. Try comparing this if you get a chance.”
Young was originally supposed to tour Europe this summer with the Chrome Hearts, but he canceled the tour in February. “I’m sorry to let you down, but this is not the time,” Young told fans. “I do love playing LIVE and being with you and the Chrome Hearts.”
In a recent response to a fan letter, Young said that he’ll return to the road “in a while” and will tour “everywhere.”
