On Monday, Neil Young shared a previously-unreleased studio recording of his song “Powderfinger”. The track was originally debuted on his 1979 live album Rust Never Sleeps, and this marks the song’s first studio release.
The song is set to appear on Young’s forthcoming Archives Volume 2: 1972—1976 box set, out November 20th. This archival release is just the latest in a long string of mines through the vault, including fellow upcoming projects Return To Greendale, a bootleg of his 1970 debut at Carnegie Hall, the Road Of Plenty 1980s rarities album, the Noise and Flowers live album and concert film, and a new EP of music dubbed The Times, amongst others.
Related: Neil Young & Crazy Horse Share Live “Bandit” From ‘Return To Greendale’ [Listen]
Though the song wasn’t release until the late 1970s, this version was recorded on June 12th, 1975 in Point Dume, CA. Produced by Young alongside David Briggs, this rendition features Frank “Poncho” Sampedro on guitar, Billy Talbot on bass, and Ralph Molina on drums.
“Powderfinger” opens with heavily-distorted guitar, similar to the tone found on his cover of “Home On The Range” that opened the 1980 Hunter S. Thompson biopic Where The Buffalo Roam. The song is rife with vintage Young lyricism and performance which—by the 1979 original release—the singer-songwriter had progressed past to a certain extent.
For this “unreleased” version, the production quality is rather high and the sound quite clear suggesting that it was perhaps earmarked for release on his 1975 solo album Tonight’s The Night or even Zuma, which was released the same year alongside Crazy Horse. The guitar solo that comes in about six minutes in rings of classic Young, yet it’s surprising that this studio cut is actually over two minutes longer than the live version found on Rust Never Sleeps. In the comforts of the studio, Young really went for the guitar solo.
Watch the lyric video for the unreleased version of “Powderfinger” by Neil Young, posted to the artist’s Instagram page on Monday. Subscribers to the Neil Young Archives can listen to the song here or through the mobile app.
Neil Young – “Powderfinger”
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