new album: ‘Psychedelic Pill’ Due in October
Neil Young and Crazy Horse Double-Disc ‘Psychedelic Pill’ Due in October
Album is group’s first collection of original songs since 2003
By Andy Greene
August 24, 2012 12:25 PM ET
Neil Young
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s new LP Psychedelic Pill will hit store shelves sometime in October. According to an update on Young’s official website, “a double-CD and triple-vinyl will be released because of the lengths of many of the songs, some of which were previewed in Crazy Horse’s live performances earlier this month . . . A recommended high resolution 24/192 full fidelity version of the album Psychedelic Pill will be released on Blu-ray.” The group will also release videos for each of the songs.
Crazy Horse guitarist Frank “Poncho” Sampedro told Rolling Stone about the new disc in June. “It’s us jamming and having lots of fun,” he said. “I think that [former Crazy Horse producer] David Briggs would be proud of it . . . Once he was gone, I felt like we lost our compass a bit. We had the sound and we had the big machine, and we could play anything and play pretty good, but we weren’t putting any great records together. I mean, Broken Arrow was OK. It wasn’t like Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere or Rust Never Sleeps or Ragged Glory.”
Earlier this month the group launched their first tour in more than eight years. The setlist features six brand new songs, including the 20-minute feedback-drenched epic “Walk Like A Giant.” “Neil came into the studio and he had that song,” Sampedro said earlier this month. “We played it one time and the next thing we know we’re doing overdubs. Then he played it for us. The playback just blew our minds. We had no idea we’d done something that big. I imagine it’s about Earth being destroyed by this giant, and we’re screening the planet for survivors and shit. I have all these images going through my head. It’s really crazy.”
The guitarist also spoke about the title track “Psychedelic Pill.” “That song began in the studio when Neil sat down at the piano and began playing chords,” Sampedro said. “Ralph [Molina] was on drums and he started this beat on the snare and wouldn’t stop for nearly an hour. We stood up and played it and realized it was a great song. We just haven’t performed it that great yet, but we’re getting more comfortable every night.”
Just three months ago Neil Young and Crazy Horse released the folk covers disc Americana. Surprisingly, they are only playing a single one of those songs, “Jesus’ Chariot,” during their live show this summer. “They just didn’t fit in,” Poncho said.
“Somehow they really sound good when we play them together, but when we play them in a set they just didn’t fit in. I told Neil that I thought it was a lot of fun playing them and they’re great songs, but our soul and our hearts aren’t in them.”
The band is on a break right now, but the tour resumes in late September and runs through early December. They have yet to announce exactly when in October the new LP will be released.
:: read more on Rolling Stone…
memphish on 
Albert Stromann on 
liza on 
Baz on 
