Homegrown
| Neil Young
Homegrown
Homegrown is the 40th studio album by Neil Young released June 19, 2020. The album consists of material recorded between June 1974 and January 1975. The album was recorded after the release of On the Beach and before the sessions for Zuma. Like those two albums, much of the material was inspired by Young's relationship with actress Carrie Snodgress, which was deteriorating in 1974. The album was compiled and prepared for release in 1975. Instead, Tonight's the Night was released in its place, and Homegrown remained unreleased for decades. It was finally set for release on Record Store Day, amid Neil Young's Archives campaign. Record Store Day's date was changed due to the coronavirus pandemic and so Homegrown finally came out on its own on June 19. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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The Guardian
this mid-70s set has a pleasurable lightness of touch rather than big statement songs.
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Rolling Stone
Recorded in the Seventies, his most personal LP is finally being released. It feels perfect right now.
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Pitchfork
After 46 years, Neil Young unearths a lost but highly consequential album, a collection of humble, stripped-back love songs he began writing at what was arguably the artistic zenith of his career.
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Stereogum
Homegrown is good enough to make you wonder what might have happened if Young had released it as planned. We would be mentioning it in the same breath as those classic albums, and songs like “White Line” and “Separate Ways” would take their place on greatest hits comps and live albums.
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All Music
It's not a footnote but an essential part of Neil Young's catalog.
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Consequence of Sound
The long-lost record paints a rich portrait of heartbreak during its finest moments.
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NME
This cheery, commercial collection was ditched in favour of the darker 'Tonight’s The Night'. Today, it stands as proof of Young's endless talent.
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The Guardian
An unremarkable band blues and an unlistenable finger-on-wineglass affair contribute little to an album that’s well-found but, like much of Young’s recent output, for the committed.
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musicOMH
The lack of ripe new fruit is probably what makes Homegrown a slight disappointment, but judged by most standards, it’s still a very solid collection that vividly reflects a turbulent chapter in Neil Young’s long and eventful career.
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Paste Magazine
'Homegrown' proves to be a vital chapter in Young's catalogue.
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RTE
His record label weren’t happy with his more frazzled rock direction but now delivered as a pristine remaster, Homegrown sounds like a balm in these strange, strange days.
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XS Noize
the Homegrown LP wins hands down as an intimate and vulnerable portrait of Neil Young.
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Slant Magazine
The album offers a homey, bittersweet charm largely unique to the troubadour’s legendary catalog.
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Beats Per Minute
it is perhaps best to enjoy Homegrown without this complicated exercise, accepting its delayed release as part of the album itself, and the fact that all music reaches you exactly at the time it should — usually when you most need it.
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mxdwn
All in all, there’s no disputing Young is one of the greatest songwriters ever, and Homegrown is another piece of evidence to prove it.
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The Irish Times
Homegrown is actually more sad than dark; the songs reflect his rock and folk leanings and the mood of the time. Of the 12 tracks, seven are new: Separate Ways, Try, Mexico, Kansas, We Don’t Smoke It Anymore, Vacancy and Florida, a weird spoken piece. The latter apart, they are all, plus or minus, worthy additions to the Young canon.
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Ultimate Classic Rock
Four and a half decades removed, it sounds like a minor classic from an earlier era – when everything was rushing by so quickly that its peeling back of such exposed emotions now makes it a morning-after complement to the similarly soul-bearing, and no less expressive, Tonight's the Night.
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Vinyl Chapters
Most of Homegrown bears the trademarks of Young’s vintage era – the fragile quiver of his inimitable voice, the featherlight touch of his acoustic guitar – and makes for a poignant, swollen-hearted and resonant dispatch from a place of vulnerable disquiet.
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The Fire Note
Homegrown up as a very vital part of that particularly eventful period in Young’s career, insuring this will be a must for his fans.
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The Telegraph
A long-abandoned album shows the American rocker at his mid-1970s finest, but swamped by personal troubles and raw emotion.
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Maximum Volume Music
It is not a bad record at all, but it is not one of the great “lost” records either.
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Spectrum Culture
Fear and doubt infect us all. That Neil Young is willing to wear it on his sleeve for the world to see makes Homegrown a remarkable look at the man beyond the mirror. Raw nerves exposed, he is in the final analysis just a man, alone, imperfect, but still endlessly fascinating.
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The 13th Floor
I haven’t been blown away with much of his recent output, but I must say I did enjoy finally hearing Homegrown the way it was meant to be heard. Who knows, perhaps Neil’s creative juices will start flowing again after revisiting this slice of his “classic” period.
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Best Classic Bands
Overall, Homegrown lives up to its legendary status; it’s a classic Neil Young album, because in 1975 he was classic Neil Young. This isn’t a one-listen, “Oh, that’s interesting” experience. It’s a masterwork that is a reminder of Young’s brilliance—and his erratic decision making back in the day.
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DIY Magazine
At their finest, the songs here are as poignant as any of the legend’s most affective classics.
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The Times
Originally slated for release in 1975, Neil Young’s new album showcases the singer at his awkward, childlike best.
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Variety
In case it wasn’t already obvious, “Homegrown” is an essential addition to the Young catalog and the best of his many archival releases since the equally essential “Live at the Fillmore East”.
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Louder than War
It’s a sad ending for a sad album, but one that’s been well worth the 45-year wait to see the light of day.
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Louder Sound
Homegrown was strong enough to have been released in 1975 and Young is right to exhume it now. But that doesn’t mean he was necessarily wrong then. He may have been baring his soul, but he was smart enough to know just how rotten that soul had fleetingly become.
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The Arts Desk
The unearthing of the singer-songwriter's long-lost album turns up moments of pure gold.
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Clash Magazine
‘Homegrown’ not only lives up to the hype of being a lost classic, it surpasses it.
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Pop Goes the Weasel
On ‘Homegrown’ we see him, like never before, mix the honey of the former with the vinegar of the latter, and, of course, make it work fantastically.
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The LA Beat
To have a new Neil Young album, from his prime, that is truly unheard by even his ardent fans, in 2020, is a thrill and a joy.
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