Neil Young deserves more than one tribute album. He has written too many great songs and made too much of an impact, and one compilation of Neil Young covers won’t do the trick, no matter how impressive it may be. Last year’s Heart Of Gold: The Songs Of Neil Young Volume I featured artists like Fiona Apple and Eddie Vedder taking on Young’s songs. Today, the series announces two more installments, with many more covers.
The next two installments in the Heart Of Gold series, Vol. 2 – Out Of The Blue and Vol. 3 – Into The Black, are both coming out this fall. On these compilations, a great many more Neil Young admirers will appear, including MJ Lenderman, Kurt Vile, Ben Gibbard, My Morning Jacket, Lucinda Williams, Los Lobos, Jesse Malin, Devendra Banhart, and Modest Mouse with Califone. Once again, all proceeds from the compilations will go to Young’s Bridge School.
Today, we get two new singles from those comps. The ascendant alt-pop star King Princess takes on “Helpless,” which Young wrote for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s 1970 album Déjà Vu and which he performed in The Last Waltz. In a press release, King Princess says:
It felt kismet that they asked me to do “Helpless.” It’s my mom and my favorite Neil Young song; I can hear her singing it in the car on our way upstate. As far as the recording process, Brad Oberhofer and I decided to take it on together at my dad’s studio (recorded by my dad himself). We tried to record it as simply and intimately as the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young version. Brad played guitar, and I played drums and keys. We did it as a one take, off click, and the rest we just built together as a two-man band. The only thing we changed was just making it longer. My only complaint about the original is that it’s too short. I want more
Meanwhile, Draco Rosa, the former Menudo member who became a rootsy folk musician, contributes his slow, grave version of “After The Gold Rush,” the deathlessly haunting title track from Young’s 1970 solo album. Below, check out the two compilations’ tracklists and the King Princess and Draco Rosa covers.
