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Music

Neil Young's 1976 Album 'Hitchhiker' Is Streaming Now, Dad Rock Lives

Time to drink five beers, get misty-eyed, and stream 'Hitchhiker' via NPR.
Lauren O'Neill
London, GB
Imagen vía Wikimedia Commons

The making of Neil Young's Hitchhiker sounds like something from a book about rock'n'roll history. Young, with only a guitar and a harmonica in tow, showed up at Malibu, Florida's Indigo Studios on August 11, 1976, and recorded the whole thing then and there (though the tracks only later became collectively known as Hitchhiker.) Eight of the tracks were used later on in his career.

This sort of They-Don't-Make-'Em-Like-They-Used-To musicianship is much fetishized in a music climate that is dominated by the digital, and though, yeah, that sort of attitude is boring and often used to discredit emerging forms, it is pretty thrilling to strap in and hear something so raw by such a beloved artist.

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So that's why it's exceptionally good news that you can finally listen to Hitchhiker, via NPR, today. While it has lain dormant for years, it's a great reminder of why Young is a legend in the first place, and an excuse to call your dad and do some bonding.

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