Neil Young & Crazy Horse – “Welcome Back”
Craggy wizard Neil Young never stops. Even as he’s in the midst of releasing all the lost records that he never got around to putting out into the world — including the just-announced Summer Songs, recorded in 1987 — Young has new music on deck. Next week, Young and his longtime band Crazy Horse will release their new LP Barn. They’ve already shared the early tracks “Song Of The Seasons” and “Heading West.” Today, they’ve shared another long, sprawling jam.
The new track “Welcome Back” is not a cover of John Sebastian’s Welcome Back, Kotter theme. Instead, it’s a hushed, ominous reverie that lasts for eight and a half minutes. The song conjures a spooky atmosphere, and it always seems like it’s ready to explode into fuzz, but it never does. Instead, these old players just wind their guitars around each other with soft-spoken authority. Listen below.
Neil Young has also shared a murky video of himself and his Crazy Horse bandmates playing “Welcome Back” together in the same Colorado barn where they recorded Barn. It’s a blast to see these old guys just doing what they do. Check it out below.
Barn is out 12/10 on Reprise.