Chrome Dreams is the name of a 1977 unreleased album by Neil Young

Neil Young

Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...

, and also of an acetate

Acetate disc

An acetate disc, also known as a test acetate, dubplate , lacquer , transcription disc or instantaneous disc...

 from that period which is claimed to be of that album.

Jimmy McDonough's Shakey: Neil Young's Biography supports the claim that Chrome Dreams is indeed a bootlegged acetate with said title. A document that accompanied the acetate (which according to Young's archivist Joel Bernstein is a forgery) gave the impression that Young had officially given Chrome Dreams as the title, inspired by rumours in the press of a new album with the same title. Young is quoted as saying "What Chrome Dreams really was, was a sketch that [David] Briggs

David Briggs (producer)

David Briggs was an American record producer best known for his work with Neil Young and his band Crazy Horse. He is noted for his eclectic imagination and style.-Early life:David Briggs was born in Douglas, Wyoming...

 drew of a grille and front of a '55 Chrysler, and if you turned it on its end, it was this beautiful chick...I called it Chrome Dreams."

Writing in The Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

, Alexis Petridis opined that the album "could have been Young's strongest album of the 70s". There have been a number of unofficial recreations of Chrome Dreams.

On October 23, 2007, Neil Young released a new album entitled Chrome Dreams II

Chrome Dreams II

Chrome Dreams II is the thirty-first studio album by Canadian musician Neil Young. The album was released on October 23, 2007. The album is a sequel to Chrome Dreams, a legendary Neil Young album from 1977 that had originally been scheduled for release but was shelved in favor of American Stars 'N...

.

Song information

Chrome Dreams features a large amount of still-unreleased material. The version of "Powderfinger" included is the original acoustic demo, while the "Sedan Delivery" featured is at a slower pace than the Rust Never Sleeps

Rust Never Sleeps

Rust Never Sleeps is an album by Neil Young and Crazy Horse released in 1979. The bulk of the album was recorded live at San Francisco's Cow Palace, with overdubs added. Audience noise is removed as much as possible, although it is clearly audible at certain points, most noticeably on the opening...

take and contains an additional verse. "Pocahontas" is the same version heard on Rust Never Sleeps without overdubs. "Hold Back the Tears" is a radically different take compared to the one that appears on American Stars 'n Bars, also featuring additional lyrics. "Too Far Gone" would not see release until 1989's Freedom

Freedom (Neil Young album)

Freedom has received mainly positive reviews. Allmusic's William Ruhlmann rated the album four-and-a-half out of five stars, explaining that it "was the album Neil Young fans knew he was capable of making, but feared he would never make again." He also stated that "there were tracks that harked...

. It is presented on Chrome Dreams with Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse (band)

Crazy Horse is an American rock band best known for its association with Neil Young. It has been co-credited on a number of albums throughout Young's career and has released five albums of its own.-Early years:...

's Frank "Poncho" Sampedro accompanying Young on a 1917 mandolin

Mandolin

A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...

. "Stringman", a piano ballad, was (according to Shakey) written for Jack Nitzsche

Jack Nitzsche

Bernard Alfred "Jack" Nitzsche was an arranger, producer, songwriter, and film score composer. He first came to prominence in the late 1950s as the right-hand-man of producer Phil Spector, and went on to work with the Rolling Stones, Neil Young and others...

 and is presented as a performance from Young's 1976 European tour with slight studio overdubs. Eighteen years later Young revived it for his Unplugged

Unplugged (Neil Young album)

Unplugged is a 1993 live album by Neil Young. It contains a previously unreleased song "Stringman", that dates from 1976. The taping of the show was also released on VHS....

performance, never having released the song as a studio track. "Homegrown" here is a different mix than the version on American Stars 'n Bars. The rest of the songs are for the most part identical to their releases on subsequent albums.

Side one

1. "Pocahontas" – 3:24
2. "Will to Love" – 7:11
3. "Star of Bethlehem" – 2:42
4. "Like a Hurricane
   Like a Hurricane (Neil Young song)
   "Like a Hurricane" is a song written by Neil Young in 1975 and first released on the album American Stars 'N Bars in 1977.-History:The song was written in July 1975 with friend and La Honda neighbor Taylor Phelps in the back of his car, , when Neil Young was unable to sing due to an operation on...
   
   " – 8:14
5. "Too Far Gone" – 2:41

Side two

1. "Hold Back the Tears" – 5:16
2. "Homegrown" – 2:20
3. "Captain Kennedy" – 2:55
4. "Stringman" – 3:32
5. "Sedan Delivery" – 5:22
6. "Powderfinger
   Powderfinger (song)
   "Powderfinger" is a song written by Neil Young, first released on his 1979 album Rust Never Sleeps. It subsequently appeared on several of Young's live recordings, and has been covered by several bands, including Cowboy Junkies, Beat Farmers, Rusted Root, and Jazz Mandolin Project...
   
   " – 3:23
7. "Look Out for My Love" – 4:06

All songs by Neil Young