Neil Young will release lost album ‘Ocean Countryside’
Neil Young has announced that he will be releasing another ‘lost’ album from his archive in February of this year, entitled Oceanside Countryside.
Recorded in 1977, the reasons behind the album’s previous shelving or loss remain unknown, but Young has chosen to give the record an official release as part of his recently established Analogue Originals Series (AOS). This series follows on from his Special Release Series (SRS), through which he had previously been releasing his archival albums.
Some of the tracks from the release have been heard before, such as ‘Lost in Space’ and ‘Captain Kennedy,’ which both feature on 1980’s Hawks and Doves. While these exact versions have been shared before, others, such as ‘Field of Opportunity’ and ‘Dance Dance Dance’, are alternate mixes of the songs that were heard on last year’s compilation release, Archives Vol. III.
“These songs are the original mixes done at the time of the recordings,” declared Young in a statement about the album’s upcoming release. The two sides to the album are also split up between Oceanside, a selection of tracks recorded solo in the coastal locations of Malibu and Florida, while Countryside is made up of songs recorded in Nashville with a handful of collaborators.
The Canadian singer-songwriter has made a regular habit of releasing shelved or ‘lost’ albums in recent years, with albums recorded as far back as 1969 having been released since 2017. Hitchhiker and Homegrown are two from his solo collection that have been unearthed in this period, with three Crazy Horse albums also having received an official yet delayed release.
Oceanside Countryside will be available on vinyl only from February 14th, with Young choosing to not release the album in any other physical format. The latest single to be released in support of the record, ‘Field of Opportunity’, has been released via Spotify, after Young agreed terms to bring his music back to the streaming platform in 2024.
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