Neil Young Unearths 'Lost' 1987 Album 'Summer Songs'

Neil Young fans received quite the Christmas present this year. Yesterday (December 25), the rock icon unearthed a “lost for years, but not forgotten” LP called Summer Songs that was recorded in 1987 but never released.

Young played every instrument on the eight-track album, which features early versions of songs that would later appear on 1989’s Freedom (“Wrecking Ball,” “Someday,” “Hangin’ on a Limb”), 1992's Harvest Moon (“One of These Days”), 2012's Psychedelic Pill with Crazy Horse (“For the Love of Man") and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s 1988 LP American Dream (“American Dream,” “Name of Love”). It also includes a track called “Last of His Kind” that Young debuted at the 1987 Farm Aid but never officially released.

“I think you will enjoy this very cool recording,” he wrote in a message on his website Neil Young Archives. “Now a gift. NYA’s files reveal the whole history. ‘American Dream’ feels more real than ever. How could somethin’ so good go bad so fast? Wow, that was a little sad. But things are still good down on the farm right? Not so fast.”

The release comes two weeks after Neil Young and Crazy Horse dropped their latest album Barn. Listen to Summer Songs here.