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Chrome Dreams II

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 27 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 10 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Reprise/Wea
Release Date: 23 October 2007
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Rock
Summary
Neil Young resurrects the album title of his unreleased 1977 album for his latest.
Also By This Artist: Are You Passionate? Dreamin' Man Live '92 Fork In The Road Greendale Living With War Prairie Wind Silver & Gold Sugar Mountain: Live At Canterbury House 1968 The Archives Vol. 1 1963-1972
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Observer Music Monthly
Backed with the gusto of big horns, Young's guitar is once again a thing of wonder on this track, now slashing and burning, now playing transcendent dance riffs.
Read Full Review >Mojo
An album of great emotional depth and uninhibited artistry. [Nov 2007, p.96]
Amazon.com
What we have here is easily Mr. Young's finest work in years, one that erases the memory of his well-intentioned but anemic 2006 protest album, "Living with War."
Read Full Review >Hot Press
Unlike his recent output, there’s no overarching preoccupation here, there is only a bunch of good tunes.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly
It is his most enjoyable and well-rounded one in, like, an eternity.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe
The veteran rock 'n' roller manages a few neat tricks on this sprawling head-spinner.
Read Full Review >Village Voice
Chrome Dreams II, on which various Neils commingle to an extent not heard on record since perhaps 1989's "Freedom," immediately comes off as the 61-year-old artist's freshest effort in years.
Read Full Review >Hartford Courant
With its varied sound and subtle optimism, Chrome Dreams II stands in marked contrast to Young’s more strident recent efforts, but at least he got around to sharing these dreams.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
Almost the equal of 'Ordinary People,' 'No Hidden Path' again demonstrates that when the contary old buzzard plugs in and really goes to work, it's still a thrill like no other. [Dec 2007, p.113]
Drowned In Sound
It’s a well-rounded album that defies the notion of a man being allowed to rock himself to sleep on the porch of rock’s sappy dotage.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
This doesn't make for an album that holds together thematically the way other latter-day Neil albums do, but its mess is endearing.
Read Full Review >Uncut
The album is a powerful exploration of faith, with Young circling his own mortality.
Read Full Review >The Phoenix
Chrome Dreams II is effective despite the sonic clash because, on both the new material and the leftovers, the loud ('Spirit Road') and the soft (the soul ballad 'Ever After'), it’s unified by its call to give props to spirit and humanity, a sentiment that, whatever it’s wrapped in, never gets old.
Read Full Review >Billboard
Overall though, is the album better than "Prairie Wind" or "Living With War"? Yes.
Read Full Review >Blender
But vintage doesn’t mean nostalgic. 'Dirty Old Man' is the pissed, hilarious antithesis of his wide-eyed ’70s signature 'Old Man,' and it rivals Nick Cave’s 'No Pussy Blues' (see Grinderman) as the year’s best song about a deranged, horny graybeard.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle
Seven new songs polish Chrome Dreams II, which glides past Young's well-meaning but flaccid new millennial output--"Are You Passionate?" (2002), "Greendale" (2003), and "Living With War" (2006)--in pulling alongside 2005's "Prairie Wind," and near some aforementioned career peaks.
Read Full Review >Slant Magazine
It's a return to a time when Young albums felt like ingenious mixtapes--where Crazy Horse tracks, Stray Gators tracks, and duets with Linda Rondstadt intermingled without being jarring in the least.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
Instead of having to suffer the middling albums for years before some sort of payoff, you get a nice mixture here, and thankfully the ratio is reversed in favor of the solid material.
Read Full Review >musicOMH.com
Anyone looking for another 'Hurricane' will be disappointed--but, for sheer eclecticism, the record hits a number of highs.
Read Full Review >NOW Magazine
Although Young's compositions on Chrome Dreams II aren't quite up to the quality planned for the first volume, the 10 songs at least have some of the shape and gravity if not the epic dimension of his classics written decades ago.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
Young was right to close with 'The Way,' a gloriously simplistic salvation song backed by a children's chorus that deserves to become his 'Give Peace a Chance.' But beyond that it's miss-or-hit.
Read Full Review >The Guardian
Just when the listener starts reflecting on Young's waning abilities, two songs arrive that suggest the fire is far from out.
Read Full Review >Paste Magazine
Young uncorks his storied one-two punch, mounting a pair of sweeping, detailed social narratives while ripping away at the guitar strings, laying his psyche bare. Long may he rave.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
Though having one good trick in the bag keeps him from becoming a mere oldies jukebox like so many other 40-year rock vets, the sampler platter of Chrome Dreams II suggests his renowned versatility, by comparison to its cult-classic ancestor, ain't what it used to be.
Read Full Review >Lost At Sea
While Chrome Dreams II was clearly modeled after his more "classic" sounding work, it finds Young sounding like little more than a knockoff of his former self.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 10 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Todd W. gave it a4:
Every time Neil Young releases a new album I wait in excited anticipation for...what? I don't know if my disappointment is a manifestation of age, both his and mine, or the fact that Neil simply hasn't put out a decent album since 'Sleeps with Angels.' This album sounds like the cover looks. Hoary, dusty, and tired in hues of gray. I know he's an icon who has earned some slack, but it is alarming that his latter day musical offerings should seem so, well, insignificant for someone of his talent and stature. Maybe I'm expecting too much from him. Maybe he has finally rusted.
Hugh C. gave it a9:
Best NY album for many a year. Great riffs & Neil's voice is on top form. Songs aren't all as strong as they maybe should be but the overall package is very good!
