A number of years into his prolific archive mission, Neil Younger’s vault nonetheless hasn’t come anyplace close to reaching the top. Chrome Goals, the latest member of Younger’s Particular Launch Collection, is presumably probably the most fabled misplaced album in his shadow discography, looming so massive in fan lore that Younger cheekily launched a sequel in 2007.

However “misplaced” overstates the obscurity of Chrome Goals, which was initially slated for launch in 1977. Bootlegs have sat behind retailer counters and shady URLs for many years, and Younger himself stripped it for elements nearly instantly, reassigning songs to American Stars & Bars and Decade, re-recording others for Rust By no means Sleeps. In recent times, he delegated Chrome Goals exclusives to different misplaced data that jumped the road; most notably with the solo variations of “Pocahontas” and “Powderfinger” that got here out in 2017 on Hitchhiker.

That leaves solely two performances – a woozy, stripped-down “Maintain Again the Tears” and a reside “Stringman” – as “new” tracks, turning Chrome Goals into extra of a deep cuts mixtape than lengthy buried treasure. However it’s one which makes one other spectacular case that Younger’s ’70s run was unparalleled amongst his singer-songwriter friends. In an alternate timeline, Chrome Goals anchors a second post-Ditch trilogy, filling within the lacking items between the boozy, beachside restoration of Zuma and the rootsy revival of Comes A Time.

Like lots of Younger’s finest LPs, Chrome Goals captures either side of Younger’s sonic spectrum, from the delicate fire-crackle of “Will To Love” to the fuzz-stomp misanthropy of “Sedan Supply”. It additionally finds his songwriting at a pivot, with remnants of his early ’70s melancholy (“Look Out For My Love”) and a return to Harvest’s sentimentality (“Too Far Gone”) joined by folks epics each surreal (“Pocahontas”) and narrative (“Powderfinger”, “Captain Kennedy”).

The album’s solely fault is that it ought to have come out so much earlier – not simply in 1977, however within the timeline of Younger’s archival releases. The place others of his era have trusted exterior consultants with the rollout of their unreleased materials, Younger has dealt with it himself, bringing his famously eccentric hand to the wheel.

From the lovably weird user-unfriendliness of the NYA web site to the perpetually delayed boxsets to the releases settling decades-long scores with bootleggers, Younger’ s fickle fingerprints could be felt everywhere in the mission. Whereas it’s a blessing that he’s so prolific in emptying his musical attic, the standard management can typically undergo, echoing a dynamic that has performed out over his total discography.

In consequence, Chrome Goals doesn’t get the highlight it deserves. In isolation, it’s a dozen of Younger’s finest songs, highly effective regardless of what number of instances they’ve been reshuffled since. However in actuality, it dangers getting misplaced within the shotgun spray of Younger’s self-curation.