Coastal: The Soundtrack

Neil Young tours like most people go to the supermarket, regularly and reliably, and hes released plenty of live albums over the course of his career, especially since he began clearing out his archives and making older unreleased material available to the public in the 2000s. Coastal: The Soundtrack is a Neil Young live set with a slight difference; not long after the COVID-19 restrictions that made live performances hazardous were lifted, he set out on a solo tour of the West Coast, with filmmaker and actress Daryl Hannah tagging along with a small camera crew to document the concerts and Youngs life on the road. (Since she and Young are married, she doubtless gets better access than most documentarians.) Hannah edited the material into a film called Coastal, and 2025s Coastal: The Soundtrack preserves 11 songs from the movie, though "Dont Forget Love" runs a mere 53 seconds, so some folks might not give it full status. The hook here for Young followers is the inclusion of several songs that dont often pop up on his live set lists, including three from 1995s underrated Pearl Jam collaboration Mirror Ball ("Im the Ocean," "Song X," and "Throw Your Hatred Down"), as well as "Vampire Blues" from 1974s On the Beach, which is a good fit with the anthems of environmental consciousness that have taken on an increased prominence in his work. Young throws in a few fan favorites, including a lovely, gentle "Expecting to Fly" and a version of "I Am a Child" thats all the more powerful for the age in his voice. The audio is a bit boomy, but the performances are heartfelt and committed, as Young moves back and forth between piano, acoustic guitar, and his trusty electric, which he sometimes uses to add some clamorous sound effects to his performances. Some of these tracks appear to have been tricked up a bit in the studio -- as talented as he is, Young cannot sing and play harmonica simultaneously -- but everything here has the feel of a real-time performance, and the flow of the sequence is natural and engaging. While Coastal: The Soundtrack isnt one of the great Neil Young live albums, its certainly a good one, documenting a legend who is neither burning out nor fading away, but rolling along for as long as theres gas in the tank. ~ Mark Deming