Mountains

Mountains belongs among a cluster of albums that represents a late-career renaissance for Nils Lofgren. That many of those records carry credits by Neil Young & Crazy Horse is a vagary of the calendar. Lofgren rejoined Crazy Horse in 2018, filling in for the retired Frank "Pancho" Sampedro, completing the Colorado album in 2019, the same year the guitarist released his own Blue with Lou. Then, COVID-19 hit, and Lofgren stayed with Young, knocking out two Young albums in less than a year, along with the 2023 album All Roads Lead Home, which balanced new songs by Lofgren and his Crazy Horse compadres, Ralph Molina and Billy Talbot. All those records have a loose, homegrown quality while Mountains, released just months after All Roads Lead Home, decidedly does not. Technically the first collection of original material Lofgren has released in a decade, Mountains is a product of the studio, filled with sequenced rhythms, polished punch, and superstar cameos ranging from jazz legend Ron Carter to Ringo Starr (alas, the bassist and drummer do not form a rhythm section together). Its also possible to discern the long gestation of Mountains through its deliberate pace: it has more than its share of ballads and many of its soul-stirring numbers move to a stately rhythm. Even the blues boogie "Wont Cry No More" -- a tribute to the late Rolling Stone Charlie Watts which acts like a bookend to "Keith Dont Go" -- plays it tight, not loose. Far from seeming sluggish, Mountains feels considered and thoughtful. Lofgren doesnt shy away from big emotions -- one song, "Nothins Easy," is explicitly dedicated to his wife Amy, who also serves as the albums co-producer, yet many of the other tracks feel informed by their relationship -- and that open-heartedness is the key to the albums success: it enlivens the studio precision and gloss, giving it a warm human pulse. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine