Eldorado

This 1989 EP — infamously released on CD only in Japan, and on vinyl only in Australia — is one of Neil Young’s heaviest releases, a setup for the Freedom album six months later and 1990’s roaring reunion with Crazy Horse, Ragged Glory. It shares three songs with Freedom, but the mixes are noisier, with even more of Young’s scorching guitar work. The two exclusive tracks, the astonishingly spiteful “Cocaine Eyes” (rumored to be about one of his CSNY bandmates) and “Heavy Love,” are absolutely blistering, distortion-laced barrages of power chords and enraged howling. There’s a moment about 2:20 into the latter where it literally sounds like his amp is exploding; Keiji Haino would nod approvingly.