Another wrench in the works was Young’s decision to play guitar on only three songs, otherwise devoting himself to either piano or pump organ. The plan was simple: to record the 10 songs “live in order,” thereby capturing the group as they slowly gain momentum. Seeking to preserve the spontaneity at the heart of the Horse, Young brought the group to Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La Studios in Malibu-the same place he cut the politically charged Peace Trail in 2016-this time retaining the services of Rubin as a co-producer. He spends his time on World Record ruminating over the effects of climate change, mourning what’s already been lost while expressing a modicum of hope, one that’s founded in the notion that love-love of the earth and of each other-is paramount.įittingly, Young recorded these songs with the band he loves best, the shambling, shaggy outfit Crazy Horse, which has featured guitarist Nils Lofgren since Frank “Poncho” Sampedro retired in 2014. Unlike those records, Young isn’t in a political mood here. Long an environmental advocate-his early standard “ After the Gold Rush” imagined surviving a world turned against itself-the state of the planet has been at the forefront of his mind during the past decade, driving the 2015 anti-corporate farming protest The Monsanto Years and its accompanying bizarro live album EARTH, both recorded with Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real. The resulting World Record bears a title as plainly self-explanatory as Barn: That album was made in a barn this is a record about the planet. As he wrote the lyrics, a common theme arose: Every song was about the environment. He'd capture those nascent tunes on an old flip phone, pairing the music with words written at a later date. As he walked with his dog, he discovered himself whistling melodies he couldn't quite place.

He channeled his energy into combing through his vast archive- World Record is the seventh Neil record to appear in 2022, with a 50th-anniversary edition of his 1972 landmark Harvest following hot on its heels-grounding himself by taking breaks to commune with nature.

Colorado appeared just prior to the arrival of COVID-19, the pandemic being the one thing to force Young off the road.

Simple plan me against the world album