The brand new December 2025 difficulty of Uncut comes with a really particular free CD: The Gold Rush – The Songs Of Neil Younger.
The compilation options 15 of Younger‘s classics and deep cuts reinterpreted solely for Uncut in tribute to Shakey’s eightieth birthday.
There’s some ragged, wonderful rock from Kurt Vile & The Sadies, J Mascis, Alan Sparhawk‘s Drained Eyes and MJ Lenderman & The Wind; there are tender ballads from Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Joan Shelley & Nathan Salzburg, Drive By Truckers‘ Mike Cooley, and Sharon Van Otten & The Attachment Idea; and there are wilder, extra experimental variations from Orcutt Shelley Miller and Spencer Cullum’s Coin Assortment.
Plus all of it kicks off with a surprising eight-and-a-half-minute “Ambulance Blues” from Phosphorescent.
See under for the total tracklisting and extra…
1 Phosphorescent
Ambulance Blues
We start this – if we are saying so ourselves – stellar new tribute to Neil Younger with considered one of his most totemic songs. Because the nearer to 1974’s On The Seashore, it’s definitely an formidable monitor to tackle, however Phosphorescent nail their very own model with out shedding the magic of Younger’s recording. Right here, Matthew Houck is on guitar, vocals and harmonica, Jo Schornikow is on organ, Jack Lawrence handles the bass, and Dominic Billett the drums, whereas Wealthy Ruth’s electrical guitar echoes the fiddle line of the unique earlier than lifting off into starry area.
2 J Mascis
On The Method House
Recorded at his dwelling studio by Mascis alone, this can be a fiery model of the opener to Buffalo Springfield’s remaining album, 1968’s Final Time Round. As discovered on varied dwell albums, from Massey Corridor 1971 to The Riverboat 1969, this was a favorite of Younger’s in his early acoustic guise; right here, although, Mascis makes it sound like a misplaced Dinosaur Jr monitor with peals of echoed electrical guitar. Ear-bleeding nation, certainly, in tribute to its originator.
3 Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Idea
Helpless
Recorded on the highway within the UK – throughout soundcheck at Newcastle’s Boiler Store, to be actual – that is an expansive, lovely model of considered one of Younger’s most lined works. Van Etten’s vocals are as luminous as ever, backed by Devra Hoff’s bass, Jorge Balbi’s drums, Teeny Lieberson’s synthesizer and backing vocals and Shanna Polley’s guitar and harmonies – assist act Angie McMahon can also be drafted in on vocals to bolster the wealthy chorus at its shut.
4 Mike Cooley
Albuquerque
Patterson Hood and Jay Gonzalez contributed to our album of Dylan covers, 2021’s Dylan Revisited, with a peerless model of “Blind Willie McTell”; right here, a distinct Trucker has taken on this darkish ballad from ’75’s Tonight’s The Evening. That includes simply his acoustic guitar and vocals, Cooley’s model of “Albuquerque” is melancholic and magical, the sparse association completely highlighting the desolation in Younger’s lyrics: “I’ve been flyin’ down the highway/And I’ve been starvin’ to be alone…”
5 Kurt Vile With The Sadies
White Line
A few of Younger’s most devoted followers workforce up right here, with Philly’s Kurt Vile and Toronto’s The Sadies making an attempt their hand at this uncooked tackle the Ragged Glory spotlight. There are a clutch of various Younger variations of the music flying round, together with a loud ’75 recording and an acoustic take with Robbie Robertson, which surfaced on Homegrown. Vile and The Sadies take one thing of a center floor, with Travis Good’s distorted guitar offset by Vile’s twinkling, phased acoustic and the regular, mild contact of rhythm part Mike Belitsky and Sean Dean.
6 Margo Cilker
Comes A Time (feat. Humbird)
The Californian singer-songwriter appears to have picked the right music for her craft right here: an optimistic hymn in exhausting occasions, the lilting nation title monitor of considered one of Younger’s most welcoming, lushest data. Nicolette Larson’s backing vocals elevate the unique, and right here Humbird aka Siri Undlin offers harmonies, with Rose Cangelosi on drums, Jeremy Ferrara on electrical guitar, Eric Heywood on pedal metal and Forrest Vantuyl on bass.
7 Chris Eckman
Borrowed Tune
The previous Walkabouts chief and now solo artist presents a stunning and eerie tackle this sparse piano ballad, his acoustic guitar and vocals shrouded by the electrical guitar, results and synth of engineer and musician Alastair McNeill. Already determined and despairing, this Tonight’s The Evening lower is given even nice thriller and appeal in Eckman’s model.
8 Coca Leaves & Pearls feat Chris Forsyth
Lookout Joe
One other Tonight’s The Evening music, this rollocking bar-band delight was recorded three years earlier, and right here is given a brand new lease of life by Chris Forsyth’s Younger tribute group. As will be heard, they’re trustworthy to the unique preparations, however give the songs a fluid spin of their very own that gained’t be a shock to these accustomed to Forsyth’s different work. He’s on guitar and vocals, with John Murray on guitar, Joey Sullivan on drums and Jordan Burgis on bass, Wurlitzer and backing vocals.
9 Joan Shelley & Nathan Salsburg
Little Wing
Like Gillian Welch and David Rawlings earlier than them, Joan Shelley and Nathan Salsburg are masters at deciphering the songs of others in addition to their very own – simply take a look at their “Darkish Eyes” on our Dylan Revisited comp. Right here they flip their acoustic craft to this fragile, compact Younger composition, initially recorded in January 1975 and first showing on 1980’s Hawks & Doves, earlier than seeing inclusion on 2020’s Homegrown launch.
10 Orcutt Shelley Miller
A Man Wants A Maid
All of this indie-rock supergroup – pioneering guitarist Invoice Orcutt, Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley and bassist and vocalist Ethan Miller – are followers of Younger’s work, and it reveals: this can be a fiery however tender model of the Harvest monitor. With the unique recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra, Orcutt Shelley Miller change the bombast of the strings and horns with sweeping synth strings and the thorny barrage of Orcutt’s lead guitar.
11 MJ Lenderman & The Wind
Lotta Love (Reside)
Recorded on the London Roundhouse on August 15 this yr, Jake Lenderman and his band The Wind pay a superbly unfastened tribute to Younger with this tackle the Comes A Time music. The monitor was initially recorded with Loopy Horse in October 1976, and the band – Lenderman, Colin Miller, Landon George, Ethan Baechtold and Jon Samuels – completely channel Neil and the Horse’s mixture of relaxed vibes and quicksilver electrical guitar.
12 Spencer Cullum’s Coin Assortment with Wealthy Ruth & Annie Williams
See The Sky About To Rain
With its outstanding pedal metal, it’s no surprise that the second monitor from On The Seashore was the chosen piece for crack metal participant Spencer Cullum: nevertheless, the Nashville-based Englishman turns it right into a hushed, tender and experimental recording, one thing like Robert Wyatt lifting off into the stratosphere on a pillow of Fripp-like guitar tones (courtesy of Wealthy Ruth, making his second look on an On The Seashore monitor right here) and burbling, Eno-esque synths.
13 Bonnie “Prince” Billy
Cortez The Killer
Will Oldham has referenced Younger a few occasions earlier than – the duvet of 2009’s Beware, as an example, is a stunning tribute to Tonight’s The Evening’s personal gloomy paintings – however he actually pulls off one thing particular with this acoustic, home-recorded model of the Zuma epic. Right here Oldham’s on his again porch, wind chimes swaying, reworking the essence of Younger and Loopy Horse’s mighty unique into one thing deeply private.
14 Kassi Valazza
One Of These Days
In yet one more case of an artist performing a music as if it was written for them, comes Valazza’s model of this music from Younger’s 1992 LP Harvest Moon. That includes simply the Arizonan singing and strumming her Gibson acoustic, it’s one thing particular. Valazza carried out this monitor as a part of The state51 Conspiracy’s Manufacturing unit Periods: to observe the total efficiency and extra go to youtube.com/@state51.
15 Drained Eyes
Phrases (Between The Traces Of Age) (Reside)
Alan Sparhawk has been taking part in with a number of teams because the finish of Low: there have been collaborations with Trampled By Turtles, after all, and his work in Derecho Rhythm Part, Damien, Feast Of Lanterns and extra. However he’s additionally been paying tribute to Younger in Drained Eyes, a four-piece who’ve been taking part in out for few years now. It’s a pleasure to finish the album on this epic from a Drained Eyes efficiency at St Paul’s Turf Membership, with Sparhawk on vocals and guitar, Kraig Johnson on bass, Glen Mattson on drums and Wealthy Mattson on guitar.