[5] At 87 minutes in length, Psychedelic Pill is Neil Young's longest studio album and, until World Record in 2022, was the only one to span two compact discs.

The opening track "Driftin' Back", an ode to meditation, makes references to Young's new memoir Waging Heavy Peace and his disdain for MP3s in between segments of extended jamming.

Elsewhere on the album Young recalls listening to Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" and The Grateful Dead on the radio ("Twisted Road"), and his Canadian roots ("Born in Ontario").

[7] A review of the album for Rolling Stone noted that the riff and lyrics of the title track share similarities with Young's previous work such as "Cinnamon Girl".

We're rolling again..." Frank "Poncho" Sampedro more directly addresses the song's emotion in Uncut Magazine: "The lyrics are very personal to Neil and Pegi.

"[8] Three of the album's songs, "Born in Ontario", "Twisted Road" and "For the Love of Man" were previously attempted for 2010's Le Noise.

Guitarist Poncho Sampedro explains in a January 2013 interview for Guitar World Magazine: "For that one, Neil just started playing it and we all joined in.

Young describes the process in his book, Special Deluxe: "I did a lot of work on these tracks with Johnny Hausmann and Jeff Pinn, my two engineers.

Most of the time was spent on editing the long instrumental passages, balancing the numerous vocal parts, and preserving the feeling and vibe of each song.

"[10] A High Fidelity Pure Audio Blu-ray Disc version of the album, with 24-bit/192kHz resolution and two bonus tracks, was released November 19, 2012.

Douglas Heselgrave, writing for Paste Magazine, said: "Psychedelic Pill may be the best album Neil Young has ever done with Crazy Horse.

Dan Stubbs, giving the album 8 out of 10 stars for NME, writes: "two tracks here – 'Ramada Inn' and 'Walk like a Giant' – could sit among Young's best."

Other reviewers were less generous, such as the Chicago Sun-Times, which stated that the album "boasts a few brilliant moments amid numerous typically thundering and meandering dull diversions."