In 1974, right around the peak of his artistic power, Neil Young recorded a warm, reflective acoustic album called Homegrown. The musicians on the LP included old friends like Emmylou Harris and the Band’s Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm. Young originally planned to release the album in 1975, but he pulled the album, dropping it into a vault and opting not to release it. At the time, Young said that the songs on the album were “too personal” and “too real” for release. Given that this is the period when Young made the depressed masterpieces On The Beach and Tonight’s The Night, “too real” is pretty real.

Back then, Young said that he’d probably never release Homegrown. Earlier this year, Young switched course and decided that, 45 years after its original intended release, he would put Homegrown out into the world. The album, richly remastered, is set for release this Friday. Young already shared the songs “Try” and “Vacancy.” Today, he’s made the album available for everyone to hear.

As of last night, Homegrown is streaming on Young’s Neil Young Archives set. (We don’t know how long it’ll be available there, so you’d be well-advised to listen now.) The stream itself, like everything else on the Neil Young Archives website, is non-embeddable and a bit janky. But it works. You can hear the album here.

https://twitter.com/NeilYoungNYA/status/1272968652309123074

Homegrown is out 6/19 on Reprise. Read our Premature Evaluation review of the album here.