Psychedelic Pill

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"For that one, Neil just started playing it and we all joined in. I think right before we began, he said something like, 'You know, when we go to the verse it goes to these changes' and he showed us. Nobody really knew when that was gonna happen, but we just followed along. And there might have been some rough spots. I might have dropped my guitar down a couple times. But other than that, that was it. That's the first take. For years I've been telling people that when we get together and jam, it's just like that." [9]

Some of the songs are edited down from their full performances. Young describes the process in his book, Special Deluxe: "I did a lot of work on these tracks with Johnny Hausmann and Jeff Pinn, my two engineers. Work went on for over a month to make the tracks as great as they could be. Most of the time was spent on editing the long instrumental passages, balancing the numerous vocal parts, and preserving the feeling and vibe of each song. Part of the process called for my co-producer, John Hanlon, to come in and do a final pass of all the mixes with fresh ears. Sometimes this can greatly improve the original passes." [10]

Release

A High Fidelity Pure Audio Blu-ray Disc version of the album, with 24-bit/192kHz resolution and two bonus tracks, was released November 19, 2012. [11] [12] A vinyl version is also available.

The 3-LP vinyl version contains the same tracks as the 2-CD set, though in a slightly different order, and with "Driftin' Back" split into two parts over sides A and B. The Blu-ray version contains two bonus tracks: the 37-minute "Horse Back", and a second alternate mix of the song "Psychedelic Pill".

Reception

Psychedelic Pill
Psychedelicpillcover.jpg
Studio album by
Neil Young and Crazy Horse
ReleasedOctober 30, 2012
RecordedJanuary 6 – March 7, 2012
StudioAudio Casa Blanca, Broken Arrow Ranch, Redwood City, California
Genre
Length87:41
Label Reprise
Producer
Neil Young chronology
Americana
(2012)		Psychedelic Pill
(2012)		 Live at the Cellar Door
(2013)
Crazy Horse chronology
Americana
(2012)		Psychedelic Pill
(2012)		 Colorado
(2019)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 79/100 [13]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [14]
The A.V. Club A- [15]
Chicago Sun-Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [16]
NME 8/10 [17]
Paste 9.0/10 [18]
Pitchfork 7.0/10 [19]
PopMatters Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [20]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [21]
Spin 7/10 [22]
Sputnikmusic4.5/5 [23]

Overall, Psychedelic Pill received positive reviews. Rolling Stone gave the album four stars and said "it has the roiling honesty and brutal exuberance of their best records." Douglas Heselgrave, writing for Paste Magazine , said: "Psychedelic Pill may be the best album Neil Young has ever done with Crazy Horse. It'll take years to figure out." Dan Stubbs, giving the album 8 out of 10 stars for NME , writes: "two tracks here – 'Ramada Inn' and 'Walk like a Giant' – could sit among Young's best." Other reviewers were less generous, such as the Chicago Sun-Times , which stated that the album "boasts a few brilliant moments amid numerous typically thundering and meandering dull diversions." Robert Christgau suggested in 2018 that he appreciated the album and may have underrated it at the time of its release, writing it "showed up in my Neither file, which these days is kind of an honor, because I seldom add to it now that I don't feel obliged to nail down every possible Honorable Mention." [24]

The album was listed at number 10 on Rolling Stone's list of the top 50 albums of 2012, saying, "This is as inspiringly strange as anything he's done." [25] They also named the song "Ramada Inn" the fifth best song of 2012. [26]

Track listing

All tracks composed by Neil Young.

CD

Disc one
No.TitleLength
1."Driftin' Back"27:36
2."Psychedelic Pill"3:26
3."Ramada Inn"16:49
4."Born in Ontario"3:49
Total length:51:40
Disc two
No.TitleLength
1."Twisted Road"3:28
2."She's Always Dancing"8:33
3."For the Love of Man"4:13
4."Walk Like a Giant"16:27
5."Psychedelic Pill" (alternate mix)3:12
Total length:35:53 87:41

Vinyl

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Driftin' Back" (Part 1)18:14
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Driftin' Back" (Part 2)9:58
2."Psychedelic Pill" (alternate mix)3:12
Side three
No.TitleLength
1."Psychedelic Pill"3:26
2."Ramada Inn"16:52
Side four
No.TitleLength
1."Born in Ontario"3:49
2."Twisted Road"3:28
3."She's Always Dancing"8:34
4."For the Love of Man"4:13
Side five
No.TitleLength
1."Walk Like a Giant"16:31

Notes:

Blu-ray

No.TitleLength
1."Driftin' Back"27:42
2."Psychedelic Pill"3:28
3."Ramada Inn"16:50
4."Born in Ontario"3:50
5."Twisted Road"3:28
6."She's Always Dancing"8:33
7."For the Love of Man"4:13
8."Walk Like a Giant"16:28
9."Horse Back"37:05
10."Psychedelic Pill" (alternate mix 1)3:12
11."Psychedelic Pill" (alternate mix 2)3:11

Personnel

Crazy Horse

Additional roles

Blu-ray production

Charts

Chart (2012)Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA) [27] 28
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [28] 11
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [29] 6
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [30] 20
Canadian Albums (Billboard) [31] 7
Danish Albums (Hitlisten) [32] 11
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [33] 11
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista) [34] 18
French Albums (SNEP) [35] 19
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [36] 4
Irish Albums (IRMA) [37] 9
Italian Albums (FIMI) [38] 19
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [39] 20
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [40] 6
Scottish Albums (OCC) [41] 10
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) [42] 25
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [43] 7
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [44] 12
UK Albums (OCC) [45] 14
US Billboard 200 [46] 8
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard) [47] 2
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard) [48] 1

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