Psychedelic Pill

Psychedelic Pill
Studio album by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Released	October 30, 2012 November 19, 2012 (Blu-ray Audio)
Recorded	2012 at Audio Casa Blanca, Broken Arrow Ranch, Redwood City, California.
Genre	Rock, hard rock, folk rock, Psychedelic Rock
Length	87:41
Label	Reprise
Producer	Neil Young , John Hanlon and Mark Humphreys.
Neil Young chronology
Americana (2012) Psychedelic Pill (2012) Live at the Cellar Door (2013)
Crazy Horse chronology
Americana (2012) Psychedelic Pill (2012)

Psychedelic Pill is the thirty-fourth studio album by Canadian musician Neil Young. It was released on October 30, 2012.^[1] This is the second release of a Neil Young collaboration with Crazy Horse in 2012, and their first original work together since the Greendale album and tour in 2003 and 2004.^[2] The album was streamed on Young's website on October 24, 2012,^[3] and leaked onto the Internet the same day.^[4]

A Blu-ray Audio version of the album, with 24-bit/192kHz resolution and two bonus tracks, was released November 19, 2012.^[5][6] A vinyl version is also available.

Recording

At 87 minutes, Psychedelic Pill is Neil Young's longest album and only studio album to span two discs.^[7] Many of the songs on the album came out of extended jam sessions with Crazy Horse after Americana was recorded. The opening track "Driftin' Back" makes references to Young's new memoir Waging Heavy Peace and his disdain for MP3s in between extended jamming. Another of the album's epic tracks, "Walk Like a Giant" laments how his generation was unable to change the world ("We were ready to save the world / But then the weather changed.") Elsewhere on the album he recalls listening to Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" and The Grateful Dead on the radio ("Twisted Road"), and his Canadian roots ("Born in Ontario").^[8] The Rolling Stone review noted that the riff and lyrics of the album's title track share similarities with Young's previous work such as "Cinnamon Girl". The main riff is borrowed from Young's "Sign of Love". That track also features the recording being filtered with a "phaser" effect, giving it a "psychedelic" feel (although the alternate mix removes the effect).

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	80/100[9]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[10]
A.V. Club	A-[11]
The Boston Globe	(favorable)[12]
Chicago Sun Times	[13]
NME	(8/10)[14]
Paste Magazine	(9.0/10) [15]
Pitchfork Media	(7.0/10)[16]
PopMatters	[17]
Rolling Stone	[18]
Spin	(7/10)[19]
Sputnikmusic	(4.5/5)[20]
Uncut	(favorable)[21]

Overall, Psychedelic Pill has received positive reviews. Rolling Stone gave the album four stars and said "it has the roiling honesty and brutal exuberance of their best records." Douglas Heselgrave, writing for Paste Magazine, said: "Psychedelic Pill may be the best album Neil Young has ever done with Crazy Horse. It'll take years to figure out." Dan Stubbs, giving the album 8 out of 10 stars for NME, writes: "two tracks here – 'Ramada Inn' and 'Walk Like A Giant' – could sit among Young's best." Other reviewers were less generous, such as the Chicago Sun-Times who stated that the album "boasts a few brilliant moments amid numerous typically thundering and meandering dull diversions."

The album was listed at #10 on Rolling Stone's list of the top 50 albums of 2012, saying "This is as inspiringly strange as anything he's done." ^[22] They also named the song "Ramada Inn" the fifth best song of 2012.^[23]

Track listing

Disc one

Disc two

Vinyl

• A1 - Driftin' Back (Part 1) - 18:14
• B1 - Driftin' Back (Part 2) - 9:56
• B2 - Psychedelic Pill (Alternate Mix) - 3:11
• C1 - Psychedelic Pill - 3:26 (mislabelled "alternate mix")
• C2 - Ramada Inn - 16:52
• D1 - Born in Ontario - 3:49
• D2 - Twisted Road - 3:28
• D3 - She's Always Dancing - 8:34
• D4 - For the Love of Man - 4:13
• E1 - Walk Like a Giant - 16:31
• F - etched art

Blu-ray

1. Driftin' Back - 27:42
2. Psychedelic Pill - 3:28
3. Ramada Inn - 16:50
4. Born in Ontario - 3:50
5. Twisted Road - 3:28
6. She's Always Dancing - 8:33
7. For the Love of Man - 4:13
8. Walk Like a Giant - 16:28
9. Horse Back - 37:05
10. Psychedelic Pill (Alternate Mix 1) - 3:12
11. Psychedelic Pill (Alternate Mix 2) - 3:11

Personnel

• Neil Young – vocals, guitar
• Billy Talbot – bass, vocals
• Ralph Molina – drums, vocals
• Frank "Poncho" Sampedro – guitar, vocals

Chart performance

References