Neil Young - On The Beach

Great album. For me: See The Sky About To Rain. I've overused this word today, but it's "bluesy," and melancholy, and sounds like a jaded good-bye note to the era.

Ambulance>Motion>Revolution>Beach>Turnstile>Walk>Sky>Vampire

my favourite Young record for sure. his most special,most delicate and nuanced thing he ever did.
same goes with the cover art btw.

Walk On, narrowly over Ambulance Blues

motion pictures

isn't even a question imo

for the turnstiles...omg this album rules!

it's a good album, I like all of these songs. will rep for vampire blues, that guitar solo rules

The last three songs are probably my favorite side OF ALL TIME.

every song is classic but title track is just...beyond.

I could vote for every song here, but I'm in an "Ambulance Blues" mood.

voted the title track, its like a morphine addled roll down the stairs.

I'd be amazed if anything other than "Ambulance Blues" won.

do any balearicy edits exist of anything on this?

least favorite of the doom trilogy. gotta go with "turnstiles"

"Revolution Blues", I love the pop sound on the drums on this hippy apocalypse; final solo is pretty tremendous too.

b side is a perfect thing of beauty

in the face of that impossibility I'm going with "revolution blues"

contains one of my favorite young lyrics

well I hear that laurel canyon is full of famous stars
but I hate them more than lepers and I'll kill them in their caaarrrs

^^^ ed III otm.

There was a summer when I listened to this album every single morning on my walk to work. Three miles to wash dishes at Old Country Buffet. Some days it was my only moment of bliss. Gonna re-listen a few times before I vote. Great album.

^i love this story.

i used to listen to it a lot while riding the bus to & from work at a hole in the wall diner. "See The Sky About to Rain" has always stuck with me more than any of the others. The keys just resonate in a profound way that sucks me in & holds me tight. i never liked happy music before work, but i didn't want to be depressed either. That song is a perfect melancholic work & i still play it a lot. The rest of the songs are brilliant as well, my personal fav NY album.

may be an impossible poll for me. just pulled it out for a listen and i gotta be up in a few hours...

^^great stories btw - this is the perfect album to create memories with

Revolution Blues and for that lyric - best thing he ever wrote.

Ditto.

Seems to be a bit overrated these days, this album, not that it isn't good... very good. "See the Sky About to Rain" is pretty. Has to be "Ambulance Blues" though.

Favourite NY album, probably my 8 favourite NY songs. Hard to choose, but I'll go for On The Beach. This is also the only NY album my wife can bear to listen to.

ambulance blues, "we're all just pissing in the wind"

Not sure if I prefer Sky or Ambulance.

This album... I mean, you'd think a '70s hippy album called "On The Beach" would be a sunny shiny affair, but it's just so RAINY. It's dreary, but beautifully so. It reminds me of a particularly miserable lunch time, sitting in the sandwich shop and staring out the window at the windscreen wipers on the cars working furiously as people's umbrellas shot up.

OTB=RAINY=OTM
That's the detail I forgot in the story above. The first notes of Walk On always retrieve, more than anything, really vivid smells of rain while walking up Madison Ave.

Before the 2003 CD release, did y'all just copy the vinyl version to a tape?

My vinyl version (well, my dad's vinyl version) has the parasol pattern inside the sleeve. Is this on every vinyl copy or am I sitting on a goldmine?

what's neil young got against lepers?

They're not all that popular in general, historically

They remind him of David Crosby.

in some way, i think on the beach is Neil Young response to Nick Drake (only so much better)
it is known that Ambulance is influenced by Bert Jansch's "Needle of Death", and i think Drake was influenced by Jansch as well.
all those gentle, beautiful touches, like Rusty Kershaw fiddle in Ambulance (and the hand drums), or the banjo in Turnstiles,were never represented in any other Young record.
even the rock songs here arent row and heavy like most of Young rock songs,and present a more creative aspects:
the guitar has no distortion, and the playing is not the regular chords-solo-chords you usually get from Neil.
same goes with the drums.
i think only in Harvest he did something similiar but it wasnt as gentle,delicate and beautiful as On The Beach.

Definitely my favourite NY album. Revolution Blues for the surly, apocalyptic anti-LA vibe. It sounds so poisonous.

in some way, i think on the beach is Neil Young response to Nick Drake (only so much better)

Be surprised if he'd heard him

even the rock songs here arent row and heavy like most of Young rock songs,and present a more creative aspects:
the guitar has no distortion, and the playing is not the regular chords-solo-chords you usually get from Neil.
same goes with the drums.

This is why they are not so good, in my opinion

Ambulance Blues by a mile. best thing Neil ever done.

I love this album, and its great that he finally reissued it, but I'm a little tired of it. I've been listening to Time Fades Away a whole lot lately and I'd rather talk about that one and why in the hell its still out of print.

wait till you get tired of time fades away and get hooked on journey through the past

^ serious talk

time fades away is out of print because neil is a fidelity nut and the master tapes are all 2 track tape that you can't really remix

he prepared an SACD version that sounded fantastic but then declined to release it

I have a leaked copy that I think I've leonardo'd in the past?

I'd like to hear it.

i thought it was because Neil didn't like the album?

xp I'll see if I can dig it out

from http://www.thrasherswheat.org/tnfy/timefadesaway_album.htm

The problem with "Time Fades Away" is even worse, as it naivély stated on LP labels: "This Recording Was Mastered 16-Track/Direct To Disc (acetate) by Computer"; the multi-track master tape was recorded/mixed LIVE, leaving little room for remixing the "warts & all" tape hiss, bad notes & crowd noise.

To reassemble the album, someone would need to sort through fifty or so ¼" and/or 2" multi-track reels & "a few" cassettes. Finding the right version by date would be easy enough, but at what stage would the mix be at? Raw recording? Truck monitor mix? Mono PA monitor recording? And what about necessary over-dubs ("L.A.", "Last Dance")? Where are Crosby's vocals? How'd they layer the voices like that? ...impossible.

My vinyl version (well, my dad's vinyl version) has the parasol pattern inside the sleeve. Is this on every vinyl copy or am I sitting on a goldmine?

Mine has this. assumed they all did? I got mine about a dozen years ago for .50 ... great copy, too!

yeah, time fades away clearly isn't neil's favorite album but he went so far as to get it ready for HDCD rerelease along with the rest of the "missing 6" in 2004 (on the beach, journey through the past, time fades away, american stars & bars, hawks & doves, reactor)

the only two that didn't get a final release were time fades away and journey through the past, even though they were given a catalog number, had copies pressed, etc. and from what I understand it was due to unhappiness w/ the final sound quality.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/timefadesaway.png

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/jttp.png

frankly I'm shocked that he's gonna release journey through the past (the film) on DVD as part of the archives

Doing what you least expect him to do is his thing really

Re: Time Fades Away, some of the songs are on YouTube if anyone is curious about them.

is there a two-disc version of Landing on Water in the works?

according to the great bio shakey neil won't release time fades away because the associated memories of that tour (last one with danny? first one after danny? something like that) are too raw for him still. could be complete bullshit though. neil's wily. could be saving that last ace up his sleeve for some master exit strategy

first one after danny, like a month or two later.

also from wikipedia:

Along with the soundtrack to Journey Through the Past, Time Fades Away remains the only officially released Neil Young album unavailable on CD. Many Young aficionados like to believe that this is due to bad memories of the tour that spawned the record, though the problem may be due to more of a technical nature than anything else. Time Fades Away was recorded directly from the soundboard to final 2-track masters using the Quad-8 CompuMix, the first and utterly unreliable digital mixing soundboard--against the wishes of producer David Briggs, who referred to it as the "Compufuck" but was forced to yield to the desires of Young. This resulted in a murky-sounding release; because the final mixes were those rough cuts, the album cannot be remixed.

at the end of the day it's bullshit tho cause the HDCD of time fades away sounds fantastic

oh wait this is an on the beach thread

jeez way to go Neil

I know, so odd for him to make a bad self-destructive decision

they don't call it the ditch trilogy for nothin'

I know, so odd for him to make a bad self-destructive decision

LOL

Thanks for humoring me re: Time Fades Away talk.
I voted On The Beach in this poll.
When I saw Neil play solo in 99 (maybe? 98?) he played Ambulance Blues and it was awesome.

he was doing it on the 2007 tour too

Thanks for humoring me re: Time Fades Away talk.

It's a curious album!

time fades away is pretty easy to find on vinyl. also: not nearly as good as on the beach.

Taking Ambulance Blues, but everything works.

I've always felt some of Will Oldham's stuff -- mostly the Palace stuff around Viva Last Blues -- and especially Jason Molina of Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co.'s stuff really attempts to get the same loose two-chord vibe. It can get a bit wearing in huge doses, but I would think in terms of RIYL sort of thinking, On the Beach fans would feel a kinship to that stuff?

Any one else hear this? Or am I losing it?

No, there's a connection. It's weird though, I don't really like Oldham/Molina and their soundalikes that much, but I do love Ambulance Blues. It's probably my favorite NY song. It's the breezy little harmonica sections that break up the song that elevate it beyond the "loose two-chord vibe" imitations. It sounds so effortlessly perfect.

I had a beautiful taxi ride after a gig feeling very exhausted and traveling all the way across Rome very late at night and the cabdriver was listening to this album and hearing "on the beach" while watching the rain in a dark city was perfect.

Revolution Blues or the title track for me. Ambulance Blues and generally held in much awe -- I think it's a great track, but it's not my fave on this album. He played Ambulance throughout the 2007 tour.

erm and is

if you're bummed out enough and playing an acoustic there's a 75% chance you sound like on the beach

also keep those otb stories coming especially ones involving rain and rome

<<if you're bummed out enough and playing an acoustic there's a 75% chance you sound like on the beach>>

very true.

I like Oldham and Molina, but I can see why others would grow restless since it's only one facet of Young's attack and is nearly the entire approach from these other guys, especially Molina. That said, it's like a color I prefer, so I'm a sucker for it. For anyone looking to sample, I'd suggest Didn't It Rain or Ghost Tropic from Songs:Ohia. That's the stuff I like best. But it's definitely not for everyone.

there's also a 75% chance you sound like pink moon

venndiagram.jpg

i don't see any connection between this album and nick drake

mood, vibe

I don't see it either. acoustic guitars /= Nick Drake by default, Nick used pretty specific tunings and finger-picking styles

can I just say if you're bummed out enough and playing an acoustic gtr you will probably sound something like on the beach or pink moon and less like motorhead and leave it at that

haha sure

unless you are like premier league guitarist, you don't sound like pink moon

also keep those otb stories coming especially ones involving rain and rome

― 鬼の手 (Edward III),

No lie: My old vinyl copy sustained back-cover damage due to rain! It was being stored in a (burned-out) basement, directly below a partially opened window. (Vinyl was already in lousy shape anyways - bought it from a dollar bin back in the 80s.)

"Revolution Blues" for me.

I love the sound of Crosby's rhythm guitar on "Revolution Blues." Someone upthread praised the electric piano sound on "See The Sky About To Rain." I just love what Young's engineers got out of the instruments here.

^^
Fully agree. On The Beach (the song) has an amazing sonic feel to it. Fantastic bass sound as well.

Since reading the story behind it, On the Beach always makes me want to try a honey slide. The combination of weed and honey pretty much sums up the sound of the record.

A buddy and I tried these "slides" a few years ago, in blatant imitation of what we read in Shakey. It tasted like ass. For thirty minutes we felt nothing, then... wow. We couldn't move.

I assume "tasted like ass" is a negative. But was the "couldn't move" part a positive?

I had a friend who described angeldust as being unable to figure out your own name or how to walk across the street and that was his endorsement. I decided to skip it. That didn't sound like a good time to me. But then again, I can't even smoke weed since it makes me think the world is out to kill me. Maybe it is?

can we talk about the drumming on sky for a second?

I just love what Young's engineers got out of the instruments here.

Exactly. The instruments all coincide perfectly & stand alone beautifully as well.

can we talk about the drumming on sky for a second?

Oh yeah. I love that late-night stumbling, careening-forward drum vibe in the last 1:30 or so.

alright, if we're gonna talk about sound quality: gtr on "walk on". it's reason enough to track down the HDCD version of OTB. sometimes neil's audiophile nuttiness strikes me as o_O but moments like that I'm like ok ok I get it. the song itself is pretty slight but the sonics are magnifico.

the bridge of 'walk on' has some of my favourite ever neil guitar sounds

"Walk On" is a peculiar opener; doesn't he say something about this in the liner notes to Decade?

I came to this album pretty late in my Neil life so I tend to think of this as "Revolution Blues", on the one hand, and then the second side as a unit on the other.

I wish I had this album with me right now; I'd really like to hear "Motion Pictures" b/c I'm away from home and I'm deep inside myself right now.

well, i'm drunk

walk on is one of those songs. Those perfect kiss offs. I've never felt a real kiss that left such a salty acidic taste in my mouth.

i feel like this whole album is trapped in a squirming layer of ectoplasm. walk on.

tripmaker, et al, have at it

time fades away HDCD

for illustration purposes

walk on

for euler

motion pictures

thankig u

voted "ambulance blues" but already wishing i'd voted "motion pictures." not that you can really go wrong here.

now that you mention it, there is no wrong answer

thanks so much for "Motion Pictures", needed it badly tonight; the song is so exhausted, he makes the harmonica sound discrete rather than continuous, like it takes these massive steps rather flowing, like flowing would take too much energy and anyway I've got mine.

rather *than* flowing

It's funny, I've only ever owned the CD version of this, but always having thought of those last three tracks as a side-b epic trilogy (I read about the album before hearing it) I can't conceive of voting for them individually. My gut's saying Revolution Blues, but I'm gonna hold off on voting another day or two in case I decide I should have gone with Sky About To Rain.

I like that in all the talk of this album as being so down and rainy, I still can't think of it as anything but a positive force.

Terrific album, great thread too! I was so happy to find this on vinyl, half a year before the CD reissue as it later turned out... Still very happy with it as the I dig the artwork a lot. Upon hearing the CD I got the impression that the songs felt a bit slower then on the vinyl I bought, most evidently (to me anyway) in the case of "Walk On". Makes it a bit more upbeat, musically.

Anyway, my vote goes to "Sky About to Rain". Instruments, arrangement, the slightly restrained playing (as I perceive it) - it all adds up to this melancholic beauty of a song.

basically been listening to this on repeat since this thread started, thanks thread.

^

hehe, me too!

otm also about "see the sky about to rain" - my favourite bit of pedal steel guitar this side of m.ward.

Thanks, EdIII!

Eddie, you're a star!

a good T/S would be "on the beach" vs. the unreleased "chrome dreams"

or on the beach, tonight's the night, and time fades away

"I'd rather start all over a-gain."

yeah i'd still go w/tonight's the night. but it just blows my mind he left an album as good as "chrome dreams" unreleased.

if he ever does the next volume of "archives" it could be so dope.

probably my favorite Neil Young album, and that's saying something. i think discovering this album when i was a kid and realizing that it wasn't on CD was one of the formative moments in my music obsession. Sooner or laterrrrr it all gets real! and not to be captain plug-a-blog here but if you haven't heard this show: http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/83610034/citizen-kane-jr-on-the-beach-first-post download it NOWWWWW.

If you keep linking to stuff like that, I'll follow you anywhere, cap'n.

i voted for "Motion Pictures" btw. Though I could've voted for any of them. "Motion Pictures" is my favorite to play on guitar, just five lovely chords circling around each other.

"On The Beach" for the lyrics alone.

Perfect album, duh

Thanks for the link tylerw!

no prob -- lots more Neil on the blog if you dig around.
i do love that electric piano/wurlitzer whatevs on See The Sky -- Neil doesn't play that anywhere else, does he? interesting that Levon and Rick from the Band show up here -- I dream that the next volume of the Archives will have like a full session with them ... doing songs from Zuma or something.

that's a hard one as that is really one of neil's most intimate and best albums and there are no duds on it. i'd say sky is the one as the simple & sad tune touches something deep inside me. that pedal steel sound totally kills me every time. it is not cheesy at all. and it does not give the song a country vibe. yes, i still can't take country most of the time. the title track is almost on par and revolution blues and walk on are phantastic too.

hello, long time lurker but very infrequent poster...
see the sky is beautiful but at this stage i'm in danger of over-familiarity. walk on, on the other hand, can't see this one ever getting old. love that lurching/funky rhythm. looking forward to seeing NY @ Primavera festival in Barcelona in a couple of weeks too!

It's not the best song, but I'd sort of like to rep for Vampire Blues! It's overlooked because jesus every song on this album is gold, but I love love love this song/recording. It sounds like what I thought Tonight's the Night would sound like just from descriptions of it before I actually heard it. It just nails the exhausted/strung out/at least I got my band feeling.

hellz yeah
http://i1.tinypic.com/nzrbia.jpg

definitely his best cover/design -- love that the inside of the album is the same pattern as the beach furniture
http://jq.weblog.com.pt/arquivo/on-the-beach.jpg

http://www.jazzeddie.f2s.com/images/Muppets/muppets2floyd10.jpg

No Time Fades Away thread that I can find...who is THIS^ dude, before "Yonder Stands The Sinner" who responds to Crosby (I presume), saying, "It's gonna be good, though"?

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Motion Pictures 4:20 4

???????????????????

dude, with that track selection i don't think 4 votes for any one song is too much of a shocker

this album is kinda perfect though

do we need a run-off now between Revolution Blues and Ambulance Blues? Ties are unacceptable. We must have a winner or civilization will cease function.

as great as those two songs are but... they cannot be the best songs on this album. impossible. we have to vote again. sorry about that.

This part is right: "this album is kinda perfect though."

What difference does it make?xpost

you know what is surprisingly good? neil playing "Ambulance Blues" with REM at one of those Bridge benefit things in the late 90s. Mighta been the first time he'd played it live since the 70s, and you can hear him be sort of surprised by his own words.

as great as those two songs are but... they cannot be the best songs on this album. impossible. we have to vote again. sorry about that.

― alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, May 26, 2009 5:22 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

for an album that's dedicated to sounding out life's great unresolvables, this outcome is entirely appropriate, poetic even

neil's neuroses FTW

I didn't vote! I couldn't decide!

Missed the vote but prob. would have gone for "On the Beach", that guitar tone is unreal.

whoever voted for vampire blues:
why?
maybe because you don't like the rest of the album so much?

there's no accounting for taste? just the same I expected you to be more stoic about this, zeno.

i am stoic about it, just curios.
i mean, this song is so different than the rest of the album, it makes me wonder if whoever voted for it, really likes only that song.
(regardless, i think Vampire blues is boring)

Vampire Blues is demented and hilarious and perfectly placed - this shuffling little quirky song before the slab of intensity that is side 2. it's pretty adorable really.

Yeah, gives the whole thing this extra dimension and character. kinda can't imagine the rec w/o it.

only got around to listening to this album this month. def. one of his best. title track is th best for me. the line "i need a crowd of people but i cant face them day to day" is hitting the spot for me.

top 5 neil just for the helluvit

after the gold rush
everybody knows this is nowhere
on the beach
rust never sleeps
harvest

I expected you to be more stoic about this, zeno.

― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Wednesday, May 27, 2009 7:16 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark

lolling @ self is bad form but

ooh baby that's hard to change
i can't tell them how to feel
some get stoned
some get strange
sooner or later
it all gets real
walk on

haters gonna hate!

ha, chorus'd play great to that gif

http://www.stylebubble.co.uk/.a/6a00e5508e95a988330120a51e163d970c-800wi

Perfect album. Second side is justly celebrated, but my favorite moment is when the turbulence of "Revolution Blues" dies down and the first notes of "For the Turnstiles" are plucked out on banjo

can never decide if this or tonight's the night is the best neil

they're both perfect basically

in this land of conditions i am not above suspicion

all the bush league batters
are left to die on the diamond
in the stands the hometown scatters
for the turnstiles

This album is so, so good. I heard it for the first time only a couple months ago. Neil Young was always one of those classic rock guys in the canon who I sort of respected but didn't really feel strongly about - until I heard this album. The mood is so perfectly expressed.

Used to prefer After The Goldrush to this, but these days? Definitely OTB. Don't know if I mentioned this upthread, but this album reminds me very clearly of a time about 6 or 7 years ago, working on a tiny commercial estate in a small town, and going to a sandwich shop in my lunchbreak, looking out the window and watching the rain drizzle down while the cars rolled past. It's not an important memory, in fact it's rather mundane, but On The Beach fit the situation perfectly.

I would like to see Vampire Blues played in Breaking Bad in a scene where Walt takes a long monotonous drive through the desert.

you know what is surprisingly good? neil playing "Ambulance Blues" with REM at one of those Bridge benefit things in the late 90s.

The thing I especially love about this version is the way he changes the Nixon verse into a Clinton/Lewinsky verse. Totally in the moment, totally great.

whenever discussion of this album comes up, i feel it is my duty to point people in the direction of this bootleg: http://gratefulbreed.blogspot.com/2011/01/neil-young-citizen-cane-junior-blues-05.html

Is that the one where Neil talks about "honey slides"? Great set if so.

yeah, it's the bottom line 1974 show, where he debuts a bunch of on the beach

Okay, thats what I thought after glancing at the tracklist. I think I originally got that from your blog. Such a great, great set.

DAMN DAMN DAMN good album. First time I heard it was last week. It was halfway through a 2-week tour and we were exhausted and it was a hot summer night and we were driving through Virginia or something. I found this cassette at a thrift store that had this dubbed from vinyl, and it was a little slower than what is on the remasters, so it ended up sounding even heavier. Plus yeah we were pretty buzzed, so it really hit the spot.

Woulda voted for "Ambulance Blues" slightly over "Motion Pictures".

nice that someone is discovering this record. if i made a 10 favorite albums ever list, this would be near the top

Unbelievable album for a drive in the middle of nowhere. Heard it while driving through Utah two months ago and it was religious.

DAMN DAMN DAMN good album. First time I heard it was last week. It was halfway through a 2-week tour and we were exhausted and it was a hot summer night and we were driving through Virginia or something. I found this cassette at a thrift store that had this dubbed from vinyl, and it was a little slower than what is on the remasters, so it ended up sounding even heavier. Plus yeah we were pretty buzzed, so it really hit the spot.

Next time you drive around fucked up to this record, please don't do it in my neck of the woods.

Let's assume the driver was not high.

This album sounds so good when you're sick in bed.

& when yer sick in the head, tbh

Some dissent: compared to the albums in close proximity, I don't think this is nearly as good as Tonight's the Night or Zuma, and I'd also take Time Fades Away over it. "Ambulance Blues" is a masterpiece, and there are a few good weird ones if you're in the right mood. I think there are three songs that are among his most mediocre of the decade. Maybe his greatest album cover, though.

I was not driving.

I don't think this is nearly as good as Tonight's the Night or Zuma

Agree with this

me too. plus i've always felt it's the weakest of the doom trilogy. 'time fades away' is still underrated

Sorta agree -- the 2nd side is a complete masterpiece, first side has a couple that I might skip if I wasn't listening on vinyl. Tonight's the Night is quite a bit better IMO.

"I went to the radio interview/But I ended up alone at the microphone"

Love that line. Probably my favorite of his, such a great image.

The mood/vibe of the title track is just incredible. It takes you somewhere else, far away.

I love when this thread is revived when I need this album the most & don't even realize it.

OTM. I was telling someone how much I love this only on Sunday night and then this. I think this album is my favourite of Young's but it's not an every day record - only special occasions.

looking back on it, On The Beach is definitely what sent 14 year old me down the rabbit hole of music obsession. the fact that it wasn't on CD, the ominous artwork and of course, the incredible music all made me realize that I had to go out and find great music, it wasn't just going to show up on mtv or the radio or wherever. and also that i had to get a record player. thinking about it, it's amazing that neil young -- who was one of the biggest rock stars in the world when OTB was released -- was able to put out such a mysterious, strange record that sort of disappeared from the radar for so long. obviously hardcore fans loved it and it was easy to find in used record shops, but it's only been in the past decade or so that it's been hailed as one of his best, i think.

I snagged this from my local record store while the owner was cleaning it at the checkout counter. I've been trying to find it for 8 years (I don't like to buy used records online). This really is a great rainy October record. During Side A, I was convinced that ILX got it right with Revolution Blues. After hearing the title track, I now have my doubts. Now Ambulance Blues is playing. That's it. Tie-breaking vote for Ambulance Blues.

Best side 2 in the history of rock and roll

otm. "Motion Pictures" vs. "Ambulance Blues" for me but they sort of feel like two sides of the same song.

Reactor was side 2 of the tape i had this on, so those records kind of go together for me.

"Got Mash Potatoes/Ain't Got No Motion Pictures"

For the longest time, I thought that Zuma was the third album in the ditch trilogy. I've never even heard Time Fades Away. Is it as strong as On the Beach and Tonight's the Night?

Ambulance blues vs the title track imo. Motion Pictures is a standout track in Neil's catalog but the other two are v v innaresting man

tbh, the hardest part about rating Ambulance Blues above the title track is the lack of drums. The drums sound so good on the title track and revolution blues imo.

i also want to give a shoutout to the foot taps on For the Turnstiles

you definitely need time fades away. might be third place in the ditch trilogy but it's a masterpiece too.

it has taken over for On the Beach as my new vinyl white whale

I see it around a fair amount, seems like. My buddy has been looking for Zuma for years and can't find it.

I found Zuma at the same record store in town. I bought a Technics 1600 mk II and got Zuma thrown in for free! I think it was reissued in Europe. On the Beach is overdue for reissue imo. On the same day, I also got to see Kenny Loggins' turntable, which was in for repairs. Dude has a linear tracking turntable, fyi.

Actually, I had to pay for Zuma. I got Trans thrown in for free. I love that record too, tbh. I owe the ILX thread for even hearing Trans, though.

Zuma reissue on amazon for $17 in the US, fyfi.

"an ambulance can only go so fast" is a fucking DEVASTATING line

Kinda weird that "Revolution Blues" tied for 1st with this poll.

The drums, bass, and driving rhythm guitar on Revolution Blues are a highlight for me. I can live with it tied for 1st. The Laurel Canyon line is especially great, as Ed III noted above.

Sufjan: I found a vinyl copy of TFA at a garage sale about 10 years ago for nothing. It's in perfect shape and has the poster. I just put it away, since I of course already have it. If you're okay with paying postage, I'll send it out to you--use board e-mail, or click on my username. White-whale status sounds like you really want it.

oh wow, clemenza. you are awesome!

I used board e-mail. I got the captcha right the third time...for my third album of the ditch trilogy. The fates and such.

You need TFA - great album

On The Beach is also great because it reminds us of a time when Neil gave a shit about writing lyrics.

TGA is awesome and raucous and has Don't Be Denied on it

Back in March I was at Flea Market (to work a car show--Neil would approve) and was hitting up one of the record stores. I'd been browsing for awhile, not really finding much to be interested in when the owner comes up to me and drops about 50 lps into my empty arms, telling me he'd just got 'em in and that I'd probably find what I was looking for in there. Lo and behold, about halfway in, I find...Ralf and Florian by Kraftwerk. Also, just a few records later, a nice clean Time Fades Away w/the poster to replace my hissy, poster-less and falling apart sleeved copy at home. Together they were mine for $10.

i wonder if Homegrown is just as good as On The Beach. time will tell..i hope...

MAN, Ralf and Florian and Time Fades Away both need to be in my collection someday. I don't go out of my way to buy records too often, so I hope I get a similar opportunity at some point -- $10!

I came home from the lab tonight to find Time Fades Away on my doorstep (thanks again clemenza!). I'm listening to it now (on headphones since everyone is asleep). After the first side, I can tell that Yonder Stands The Sinner -> LA -> Love In Mind is gonna be a favorite run on side 1. I'd heard Love In Mind on Massey Hall, but wow at the other two, which I am hearing for the first time. Side 2 is awesome the whole way through. That riff in Last Dance is insane! "No, No, No." God this is awesome...and raucous, as Drugs says above.

On second listen, the title track is great, too. I think that I prefer the Massey Hall "Journey Through the Past," however.

John Barbata's drums are just nuts on TFA the song.

You need TFA - great album

On The Beach is also great because it reminds us of a time when Neil gave a shit about writing lyrics.

― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Saturday, October 20, 2012 11:12 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah it's kinda funny, over time neil lost interest in writing lyrics and dylan lost interest in writing music

(not that i don't like stuff they've both done recently, but you know what i mean)

maybe it's just because i'm not a big neil young fan in general, but the most salient characteristic of this album to me is its complete unremarkableness. it seems neither terrible nor great. i can never remember a single song 5 minutes later.

let the torrent of personal abuse and namecalling begin.

naw man neil is good vibes, i recommend listening to this around dusk, on vinyl, beer or other drink of choice in hand. cool if it's water or soda. weed? maybe. not necessary.

poop head

FOR THE TURNSTILES!!!!

*lights self on fire*

maybe it's just because i'm not a big neil young fan in general, but the most salient characteristic of this album to me is its complete unremarkableness. it seems neither terrible nor great. i can never remember a single song 5 minutes later.

i mean... you have a right to your opinion... and taste is taste... but... /cries/.

it's cool if you don't like it as long as you are ok with not being a good person.

[just kidding, it's ok]

fuck you Poliopolice, FUCK YOU

Self-professed non-fan declares Neil Young album "neither terrible nor great." Stay tuned to find out the album's "most salient characteristic."

God this is awesome...and raucous, as Drugs says above.

If there was a box of that tour -- like Miles' Cellar Door or Plugged Nickel boxes -- I'd lap that shit up.

who yells "LAST DANCE!" at the end of the song Last Dance? Lil Jon?

Love that.
LAST DAAANCE!!
Don't Be Denied is a pretty singular song in Neil's catalog, no?

I like to think "Hitchhiker" is "Don't Be Denied Pt. II: The Drug Years".

man, the next time i really want a record, i should pop onto a neil young thread, call it a white whale, and see if someone magically offers to send it to me!
lucky duck.

Top ten album of all time for me. Completely slays me

guess this is the point where I once more lament that the remastered HDCD of time fades away was never released

thank god it leaked, sounds fantastic

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/timefadesaway.png

poop head

FOR THE TURNSTILES!!!!

*lights self on fire*

― seasonal hugs (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, October 30, 2012 5:02 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otmfm

I like to think "Hitchhiker" is "Don't Be Denied Pt. II: The Drug Years".

― 50 Shades of Greil (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, October 30, 2012 9:39 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

you read this somewhere and forgot it, this is almost a direct quote from a Neil interview. let me see if I can dig this up.

didn't take long at all:

Q. But Don't Be Denied for example is one of your best songs. It's also your most openly autobiographical...

A. Yeah, certainly. It's one of them, anyway. The other one's called Hitch-Hiker. It's a contemporary of Don't Be Denied from 1975 and it was all about all the different drugs that I took. I started at the beginning and ran right through my years of drug usage up to that time, drawing parallels with other stuff. It's a very interesting song (laughs). Eventually I mutated it partly into a song called Like An Inca [on Trans]. Only the chorus lived, though all the verses were gone. Hitch-Hiker is now probably bootlegged 'cos I played it six or seven times on some acoustic tour I did in the '90s.

http://thrasherswheat.org/tfa/mojointerview1295pt2.htm

(interview from 95 btw)

direct quote is overstating my case, my bad.

La Lechera: if you've been searching for a copy of Hall & Oates' Ooh Yeah! for most of your life, your ship has just come in.

i have an extra copy of rumours as well

Will trade you for one Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack, drunkenly purchased one night for $0.25. "You don't understand! Harold Faltermeyer! Harold..."FUCKING"... Faltermeyer. HUGE influence on dance music today. This is a fucking FIND."

Happy halloween to me!
I have a spare copy of Liza Minelli THE SINGER that someone must want

Anyone?
http://images.hhv.de/catalog/detail_big/00093/93344.jpg

so is you're so vain on there twice? I'm really confused.

Just once, toward the end of side 1. She was just really excited about singing it so it's on the cover twice.

one of the versions of You're So Vain is with a full orchestra and a fuzzbox on her vocals, the other rendition is nearly a capella, accompanied only by a faint, authentic lyre

First one not too far off - there are cartoonishly cheesy horns and some sick drumming. Segues awkwardly into Where Is the Love To really keep the good times flowing.

I'll throw in The Sterile Cuckoo sdtk if someone sends me a copy of Ragged Glory.

thread got awesome

liza is cuuuute on that album cover. did she ever cover neil young?
he was pretty into her mom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ9AV7C7EX8

She does look super cute on the cover, that's why I posted the photo! She was cute in Sterile Cuckoo too -- one of the original MPDGs iirc. I don't know how Neil Young would feel about that, he seems like he likes his women a little more down to earth, but what do I know.
http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BOTcxNzk4MTEzMl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwMjIwMjU2._V1._SX450_SY363_.jpg

She did work with Alice Cooper

she was dating scorsese at the time of the last waltz, maybe she was backstage? important things to know.

We're getting off topic but I love her hair and moves here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR_mjkxc7Ys

Sorry to add to the somewhat surreal derailment--started by me, perhaps...--but I find Liza much more attractive in The Sterile Cuckoo than in Cabaret.

Guys if this thread gets derailed where will we be able to talk about Neil Young?

liza on the beach
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_XeWEPV5kBvQ/S17xCqP7XtI/AAAAAAAAFYk/NKIVzhwLwbc/s400/Liza+Minelli+bathing+suit.bmp

she is 4'4"

not that there's anything wrong with that

"Pocahontas, Liza Minelli and me"

she is 4'4"

she once recounted to Neil her deep desire to "walk like a giant"

As a person of short stature, I can identify with that.

she isn't 4'4" really is she?

Damn I just looked it up and she's taller than I am!

Google tells me she is 5'4" (1.63 m)

In a further thread-derail, and having found how easy it is to Google people's height..., I'm disappointed to learn that Iggy Pop is not actually Five Foot One, but 5'7".

Prince is 5'2" right?

You never know......

40 years young today

He should have taken a chance and held it back for three weeks--could have released it the day Nixon resigned.

heh heh.
i've been listening to this album for 20+ years now... still so good.

Motion Pictures should have been much, much higher

What would've been perfect: if Altman had interspersed the title track into The Long Goodbye the same way he used "The Stranger Song" in McCabe & Mrs. Miller

(Though I guess this album was released a year too late for that...)

Robert Altman came to my school for a Robert FIlm Festival and said that the idea for McCabe and Mrs. Miller appeared to him (in snowy images of the title characters) while listening to an LP by L. Cohen, forget which one, He was high at the time but he remembered (made notes).
As said on CSNY thread, I saw them on tour in Memphis, about five weeks after OTB was released, I think, although I hadn't heard it, and it was so exciting to encounter some of those surgin' songs in the midst of all that porridge. Y warbling true after all the "harmonies," then S-Y guitar wars wah-wahing all over C & N's hapless handclaps (okay, some of the group efforts worked, but best on Young & Stills songs). I realized that he wasn't just gonna run that Harvest sound into the ground, or turn into James Taylor. And the audience as a whole really woke up for his new stuff (though prob some wanted to get back to the mellow).

Robert Altman Film Festival, not just any Robert.

Neil Young, 6' 0" (1.82 m)

Stood in a record store and held the Ditch box set in my hand yesterday. So much money--$179. Happily, no need for it.

The Pono versions won't be near as expensive.

Idk it's hard to imagine the long goodbye having any other theme song than the long goodbye.

Wow I thought Neil was taller, not that 6 feet is short but I guess the ppl he's in band's with must by short

i'd rather start all over again

the world is turning

yow, neil played "revolution blues" last night in texas ... first time since 1987. those promise of the real-ers must be real on the beach heads.

really dug the show I saw w them even tho we didn't get any deep cut/rarities like that honestly I might put them just behind Crazy Horse as his best backing band

I like every song on this record, but could probably agree if they were ranked according to these poll results.

Feeling totally appropriate after the chaos of Christmas Day.

Underrated part

Remember your guard dog?
Well, I'm afraid that he's gone
It was such a drag to hear him whining all night long
(mocking whine)

According to setlist.fm, Vampire Weekend debuted a cover of--wait for it--"Vampire Blues" w/opener Kingfish Ingram (new blues dude) at their Austin shows,

this was one of my all-time favorite albums in college. for some reason in the past decade i haven't been putting on that much neil, but homegrown put me right back in the position to really take in how brilliant this record is on every level from songcraft to arrangement. those screaming guitar tones in "walk on" @_@

i love every song on this album

would've voted for the title track because it's the perfect encapsulation of being stoned and depressed, just this long bummed-out smear of an experience

Motion Pictures should have been much higher.Agreed on Vampire Blues though- i always skip that track

motion pictures would have been my vote

the solo on motion pictures is glorious

Can’t remember if I voted in this, but Motion Pictures is like a top 5 favorite song for me, so that would have been it

I have such vivid memories of hearing this album for the first time when I visited LA for the first time in Summer of 1999.

A friend got me super high after a night of drinking and he gave me his discman and a bootleg CD of OTB that he had burned. The first side just blew my mind and I think I passed out after Revolution Blues.

It's only been within the last five years or so that I realized the second side is just as good.

get out of towwwwn...think i'll get outta toowwwwn

Best song

the title track and 'cortez the killer' share a lot of dna--both sun-scorched slow burns. if one of those isn't my favorite neil song, the other one is.

idk about these results. i think "revolution blues" is one of the weaker tracks, along with "see the sky about to rain"

"walk on" probably one of the best songs ever by anybody, that would've been my vote

the rest are top-tier neil, with possibly the exception of "vampire blues" which has great lyrics but, insofar as its more or less a genre exercise, for me functions as a bit of funky levity before the devastating closing trio of tracks

also "vampire blues" guitar solo v underrated, it's so creepy and garbled, a complete subversion of what you'd expect from "blues rock"

Young's electric piano in "See the Sky About to Rain"

.......

I know it was easily available on vinyl, but it was a huge fuckin' deal in my circle when Young reissued it in 2003.

I love "Vampire Blues" but that may also be related to having actually seen him do a very rare live performance of it a few years back. I do think it works perfectly in the context of the album in terms of sound and feel.

xp yeah i love that wurlitzer / steel guitar combo

yeah, not gonna tolerate any 'see the sky' slander. inevitably the first song i played the few times i've sat in front of an actual wurly

it's not slander, it's an excellent song that's on a record full of perfect songs

I know it was easily available on vinyl, but it was a huge fuckin' deal in my circle when Young reissued it in 2003.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, June 25, 2020 7:45 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, this getting reissued that year was my gateway into NY. Read lots of press around then about this masterpiece was getting rereleased. Thankfully, this was around the time you could still buy used vinyl copies of albums like that at record stores for just a few bucks.

There's gotta be a Bernie Sanders cover out there somewhere.

I saw it today but don't remember where

Am7 has never sounded better than the opening chords of On the Beach

Is there a bad song on this record? I don't think so. I guess See the Sky About to Rain is the weakest, but it's still pretty enjoyable and works in the flow of the record.

in terms of being furthest off the overall vibe of the record, “Walk On” is fairly singular in mood.

eternally grateful that I saw him jam that one live

I would agree with the results of this poll that "Vampire Blues" is the weakest song, but it's still pretty good and is a nice modest closer for side one before we begin the slow healing process of side two.
"See the Sky" is generalized melancholy against the specific melancholy or bitterness of the other songs.

"see the sky" is beautiful. i can't really be objective about any of neil's ballads from this era because they all hit me where i live.

ok, maybe not "a man needs a maid"

Walk On and See the Sky sound great together.

huge fan of see the sky, my fav on side 1

In this week's edition of "what was the last 'classic album' you got and were knocked out by?", I found a $4 copy of OTB at my local record store over the weekend. I was vaguely aware of it's classic status, but i've never owned any Neil Young, so I figured this might be a good entry point. And now I'm having to restrain myself from just playing it on a repeat loop and completely wearing it out in the first week.
Favorite details:
- the title track sounds like it's gonna be a standard I-IV-V 12-bar blues, but instead of the V, it goes somewhere else (to the III?), and it creates this sublime little oasis in the chord progression
- Rick Danko's bass on Revolution Blues
- "Remember your guard dog? Well, I'm afraid that he's gone. It was such a drag to hear him whining all night long. Aaa-ooooo"
- when i spotted a pattern inside the record sleeve, and then realized it was the beach umbrella pattern. Did other records do this trick?

If Revolution Blues is my north star, where do I go next? (does that mean I need to get into The Band? i'm not sure if i'm ready for that)

I got my copy of this for $1 thirty years ago, when it was still unavailable.
The title track is a minor blues that goes to the relative major instead of the fifth.
I remember another LP that had the credits printed on the inside of the jacket, but I forget what it was.
I feel that Time Fades Away is the companion to this record if you haven't heard that. The Band don't have a lot of stuff that sounds or feels like "Revolution Blues"; maybe try "Just Another Whistle Stop" ("Police siren, flashing light, and I wonder who went down tonight").

I feel like if you love On the Beach (as I do), Tonight's the Night makes a nice companion piece.

Yeah, The 'Ditch Trilogy' (Time Fades Away, Tonight's The Night, and On The Beach) is a must. Also make sure to check out Zuma and Homegrown!

If Revolution Blues is my north star, where do I go next?

As the others say, Murky Neil = Time Fades Away and Tonight's the Night. And when you're ready to open the window, go immediately to Zuma.

Time Fades doesn't do it for me on the same level. Love Zuma though.

Zuma's my favorite Neil Young album.

Ditto.

I would go for this order next, but they are all terrific and worth hearing in whatever order ends up working for you:

Zuma
Tonight's the Night
Time Fades Away
Homegrown

As far as The Band, I don't think you're going to find anything with that kind of angry drive to it (i.e. ala Revolution Blues). I like the Band but there's sometimes a bit of an earnest, wholesome family entertainment vibe to them that puts me off. Def not writing songs about hating celebrities on dune buggies and shooting dogs out of spite.

The other LP I was trying to remember, with credits printed inside the sleeve, was No New York.

Steely Dan has several misanthropic blues in the spirit of "Revolution Blues", maybe try "Black Friday".

A great song, but of course Steely Dan doesn't have Neil's ramshackle feel, if that is part of the attraction.

the Band dont have a lot of songs that sound like revolution blues in terms of dark edgy feel, but just in terms of dankos lunatic basslines they have plenty where he goes off in a similar style

"w.s. walcott's medicine show" has a similar ramshackle groove with a fun danko bassline. obv the mood is more old-timey fun than strung-out desparation

It's true; in the context of "Revolution Blues", the bass and drums communicate a very different feeling than they do on Robertson's songs, although the actual playing is not that different.

Al Schmitt, who produced side two of OTB, just died.

see this thread about to rain

He also worked a lot with the Jefferson Airplane.

how many more nights can i get whisky soaked to this record? cos it's literally all i seem to do anymore

what, no honey slides?

whoa that water has tequila in it!

haha, and two industrial boxes of fritos and cigarettes put out in the carpet, according to the shakey biography

As far as The Band,
Def not writing songs about ... shooting dogs out of spite.

Indeed, my interpretation has always been that they wrote (a) song (partially) about balking at shooting a dog!

(Wait a minute Chester, you know I'm a peaceful man)

As far as The Band, I don't think you're going to find anything with that kind of angry drive to it (i.e. ala Revolution Blues).

Think this is about as close as you're gonna get — recorded just a couple months before On The Beach. Pretty vicious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLP85S1PRC0

I wish Neil Young had covered "On the Beach":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yXVufG5oV0

the boz scaggs on the beach cover from a couple years ago was surprisingly pretty great

Chris Rea or Neil's?

Neil's, from Boz's Out of the Blues album.

the definitive reading of neil’s on the beach is, of course, mick hucknall’s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDbctjmjvXg

If the implication is that Simply Red is capable of neutering that song, they're not, it still slays. You just can't keep that song down.

(not stop sure about the guitar solo though -- it kinda makes a good case, by way of contrast, for the genius of neil's soloing on the original)

xp idk abt that

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wNO1b8UOuY

I don't see it mentioned above but if you are curious about Rusty Kershaw, the Cocaine & Rhinestones country music podcast did a very entertaining episode about Rusty and his brother Doug. Later in the episode about 20 minutes are devoted to a Rusty-centric view of the making of On the Beach. https://cocaineandrhinestones.com/rusty-doug-kershaw-cajun-way

Thanks! for those who want some rumblin' Danko, over on the The Band Thread, we were talking about "Small Town Talk," usually a poignant ballad, co-written w Bobby Charles---his version here is something else
Danko's version! Louder, faster than expected. hey fuck that small town talk!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hxOI1M5bpk

^ great bounce on that one