Before and After (Neil Young album)

Before and After
Live album by
Neil Young
ReleasedDecember 8, 2023 (2023-12-08)
RecordedJuly 2023
VenueVarious
GenreFolk rock
Length47:58
LabelReprise
Producer
Neil Young chronology
Odeon Budokan
(2023) 		Before and After
(2023) 		Fuckin' Up
(2024)
Singles from Before and After
  1. "I'm the Ocean" / "Homefires" / "Burned"
    Released: October 20, 2023
  2. "On the Way Home" / "If You Got Love" / "A Dream that Can Last"
    Released: November 17, 2023

Before and After is a live album by Canadian-American singer-songwriter Neil Young. It was released on December 8, 2023, through Reprise. Consisting of 13 tracks, the album features solo acoustic re-recordings of some of his past songs. The album tracks were recorded during Young's 2023 Coastal Tour.[1]

Background and recording

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Before and After was conceived by Young and Lou Adler, while mixing was handled by the former and Niko Bolas.[2] It sees the singer-songwriter revisiting some of his back catalog, "a trip into his music history",[3] with re-recordings that have them appear in a new guise.[4] The album contains "eclectic" fresh takes on some of Young's lesser known tracks pulled from his vault.[5] Previews of three songs, "I'm the Ocean", "Homefires", and "Burned", were released as an EP upon announcement of the album on October 20.[6] Young spoke of the release as a unique experience where a "feeling is captured" and has to be listened to "as a whole piece".[7] As a matter of fact, the project comprises one "uninterrupted 48-minute piece",[8] referred to by Young as "a music montage with no beginnings or endings".[9]

Critical reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic78/100[10]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[11]
American Songwriter[12]
Classic Rock[13]
DIY[14]
The Guardian[15]
Mojo[16]
The Observer[17]
Slant Magazine[18]
Uncut8/10[19]

Before and After received a score of 78 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on 10 critics' reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reception.[10] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote that the album "isn't agitated or electric" as "the starkness of the arrangements helps draw attention to the distance between the origin of a song and Young's present", and Young's voice "doesn't sound fragile, yet his vocals display some age-related raggedness".[11] Lee Zimmerman of American Songwriter opined that "the intimacy is obvious and revealing, as if the listener is eavesdropping on the artist at a particularly vulnerable moment" as they are "delivered in stripped-down settings that dramatically change the tone and tempo".[12]

Uncut stated that "this is about consistency of themes and mood over time, reimagined by a man reckoning with his past and drawing new light to the deepest of cuts".[19] Mojo felt that "here the stage show had the intimacy of Young's between-song chats, the intimacy here comes from the sensation that you're listening in on his thoughts as one song drifts, like memories do, from one tome to another".[16] Writing for Classic Rock, Everett True felt that "the overall effect is hypnotic, mesmeric – a musical montage that has no start or end point".[13]

Slant Magazine's Lewie Parkinson-Jones wrote that "the intimacy of the recordings emphasizes what Young was trying to achieve rather than obscures it" and its "idiosyncratic nature only makes it that much more appealing".[18] Phil Mongredien of The Observer found that "'On the Way Home' loses some of the 1968 original's joyous momentum, but gains much in the way of emotional power. A more fragile and intimate-sounding 'Comes a Time' similarly benefits from its reinvention".[17] The Guardian's Dave Simpson complimented the "gentle melodies" and commented that "while his voice has lost some of the old youthful power, it has gained in tenderness, nuance, humanity and warmth".[15] James Hickey of DIY judged that the "songs are rarely improved upon, with the fidelity to ruggedness giving the songs the feel of half-finished demos, but the songwriting itself is, of course, stellar".[14]

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Neil Young

Before and After track listing
No.TitleOriginally appeared onLength
1."I'm the Ocean"Mirror Ball6:44
2."Homefires"Neil Young Archives Volume II: 1972–19762:04
3."Burned"Buffalo Springfield2:06
4."On the Way Home"Last Time Around3:14
5."If You Got Love"previously unreleased; originally recorded for Trans3:32
6."A Dream That Can Last"Sleeps with Angels4:32
7."Birds"After the Gold Rush2:47
8."My Heart"Sleeps with Angels3:01
9."When I Hold You in My Arms"Are You Passionate?5:23
10."Mother Earth"Ragged Glory3:43
11."Mr. Soul"Buffalo Springfield Again3:42
12."Comes a Time"Comes a Time3:20
13."Don't Forget Love"Barn3:41
Total length:47:58

Personnel

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Charts

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Chart performance for Before and After
Chart (2023–2024) Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[20] 43
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[21] 76
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[22] 113
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[23] 50
French Albums (SNEP)[24] 126
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[25] 29
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[26] 39
Scottish Albums (OCC)[27] 30
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[28] 22
UK Album Downloads (OCC)[29] 25
US Top Album Sales (Billboard)[30] 35
US Folk Albums (Billboard)[31] 20
US Top Current Album Sales (Billboard)[32] 24
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[33] 5

References

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  1. ^ https://www.setlist.fm/stats/average-setlist/neil-young-6bd6b662.html?tour=1bdfd1cc
  2. ^ Bonner, Michael (October 20, 2023). "Neil Young to release new album, Before And After". Uncut. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  3. ^ Jones, Abby (October 20, 2023). "Neil Young Announces New Album Before and After, Featuring Re-Recorded Songs". Consequence. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  4. ^ Dunworth, Liberty (October 20, 2023). "Neil Young announces new album Before And After". NME. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  5. ^ Aniftos, Rania (October 20, 2023). "Neil Young Announces New Album Before & After". Billboard. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  6. ^ Hussey, Allison (October 20, 2023). "Neil Young Reimagines Old Songs on New Acoustic Album Before and After". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  7. ^ Rapp, Allison (October 20, 2023). "Neil Young announces new album, Before and After". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  8. ^ Chelosky, Danielle (October 20, 2023). "Neil Young Announces Acoustic Rerecordings Album Before And After – 13 Songs On One Track". Stereogum. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  9. ^ Friedlander, Matt (October 20, 2023). "Neil Young Announces New Album, Before and After, Featuring New Acoustic Versions of Older Songs". American Songwriter. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  10. ^ a b "Before and After by Neil Young Review and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  11. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Neil Young – Before and After Album Review". AllMusic. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  12. ^ a b Zimmerman, Lee (December 13, 2023). "Review: Journey Through the Past: Neil Young's Before and After". American Songwriter. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  13. ^ a b True, Everett (December 11, 2023). "'The overall effect is hypnotic, mesmeric – a musical montage that has no start or end point': Neil Young's Before and After". Classic Rock. Retrieved December 20, 2023 – via Loudersound.
  14. ^ a b Hickey, James (December 7, 2023). "Neil Young – Before and After review". DIY. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  15. ^ a b Simpson, Dave (December 8, 2023). "Neil Young: Before and After review – with age comes tenderness". The Guardian. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  16. ^ a b "Neil Young – Before and After". Mojo. January 2024. p. 90.
  17. ^ a b Mongredien, Phil (December 11, 2023). "Neil Young: Before and After review – an acoustic solo trip down memory lane". The Observer. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  18. ^ a b Parkinson-Jones, Lewie (December 5, 2023). "Neil Young Before and After Review: A Skillfully Curated Journey Through the Past". Slant Magazine. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  19. ^ a b "Neil Young – Before and After". Uncut. January 2024. p. 38.
  20. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Neil Young – Before and After" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  21. ^ "Ultratop.be – Neil Young – Before and After" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved December 17, 2023.
  22. ^ "Ultratop.be – Neil Young – Before and After" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  23. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Neil Young – Before and After" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  24. ^ "Lescharts.com – Neil Young – Before and After". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 1, 2024.
  25. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Neil Young – Before and After" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved February 16, 2024.
  26. ^ "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 2024. 7. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
  27. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  28. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Neil Young – Before and After". Hung Medien. Retrieved December 17, 2023.
  29. ^ "Official Album Downloads Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  30. ^ "Neil Young Chart History (Top Album Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved July 9, 2024.
  31. ^ "Neil Young Chart History (Top Americana/Folk Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July 9, 2024.
  32. ^ "Neil Young Chart History (Top Current Album Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved July 9, 2024.
  33. ^ "Neil Young Chart History (Top Tastemaker Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July 22, 2024.
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