Road Rock, Volume 1

Neil Young might prefer to burn out than to fade away, but on Road Rock he does neither. Culled from his recent tour, these live tracks avoid the sentimental drippiness that infected his last studio outing, Silver & Gold. Careening from a ramshackle, guitar-frying take on “Cowgirl in the Sand” to a spine-tingling collaboration with Chrissie Hynde on “All Along the Watchtower,” Young barely stops to breathe. One previously unreleased song probably should’ve stayed that way, but everything else here is top-shelf Young in all his ragged glory.