MUST HAVE NEIL: Neil Young - On The Beach (1974)

It is impossible for me to define what is my favourite Neil Young album.  Or what is the definitive Neil Young album.  There are at least 11 albums of his that I consider "must-haves".  They run the gamut from country to garage rock to grunge, sometimes all within the same album.

One of my absolute favourite albums of any artist in any genre though, is On the Beach.  It is what I like to refer to as my "hangover album".  The perfect record for those mornings when you feel ragged and raw - because this music is ragged and raw.  And powerful.

On the Beach arrived at an interesting point in Neil's life.  The 1970s had seen him hit it huge with Harvest, a radio-friendly country album spawning "Heart of Gold," "Old Man," and "The Needle and the Damage Done."  As he was rehearsing to tour in the wake of that success, Crazy Horse guitarist and friend Danny Whitten tragically overdosed on a mixture of vodka and Valium.  The story goes that Whitten was too far gone to perform during rehearsals and Neil gave him $50 and told him to head back to LA.

Danny Whitten, Crazy Horse

"We were rehearsing with him and he just couldn't cut it. He couldn't remember anything. He was too out of it. Too far gone. I had to tell him to go back to L.A. 'It's not happening, man. You're not together enough.' He just said, 'I've got nowhere else to go, man. How am I gonna tell my friends?' And he split. That night the coroner called me and told me he'd ODed. That blew my mind. Fucking blew my mind. I loved Danny. I felt responsible. And from there, I had to go right out on this huge tour of huge arenas. I was very nervous and ... insecure.”

Neil's guilt over his death permeated the resulting shows, which saw Neil trot out a band that bore little in resemblance to the country-tinged sounds of Harvest.  He introduced new songs to the set.  The band fought with one another.  The crowd reacted angrily to the new material.  Neil drank to the point of developing a throat infection.  The tour was commemorated with a live album, Time Fades Away - a mythical, never re-released album only available on the original vinyls and featuring all new material.  Listen to a track on youtube HERE. 

The aftermath of the tour lead to harrowing and bleak recording sessions, resulting in two of Neil's most critically acclaimed albums.  Indeed, they are arguably two of the best albums in the rock canon.  Tonight's The Night and the aforementioned, On The Beach.

While Tonight's the Night was recorded first, On the Beach was released first.  Functioning as the first studio album since Harvest, the sound was shocking to fans of that album.  Sparse production lends itself to a record that is at points alternatively vicious and lonesome.  Neil's increasing isolation from his stardom permeates the record: "I need a crowd of people, but I can't face them day to day."  It is heavy territory, much as Time Fades Away and Tonight's the Night were.  A snapshot of an artist struggling with the pressures around him and pushing back against them.

On "Revolution Blues," Neil sings of cults in the infamous Laurel Canyon 'armed to the teeth' and threatening the celebrities living there.  The album also contained two songs about one of Neil's favourite subjects: the environment: "See the Sky About to Rain," and "Vampire Blues," where Young plays the role of the oil tycoon ("I'm a vampire baby, sucking blood from the Earth").  The album closes with "Ambulance Blues," a long, rambling narrative referencing old folk joints in Toronto, the plight of the Natives, and hitting back at his critics.  Running almost 9 minutes, it features a gorgeous fiddle throughout, courtesy of famous multi-instrumentalist Rusty Kershaw.   

The last thing that needs to be known about this album, as discussed in the excellent biography Shakey: during the recording of the album, the musicians indulged in a concoction of sauteed marijuana and honey called "Honey Slides" that "felt like heroin."  It's no wonder the album moves at the pace it does.  It is as relaxed and mellow as you would expect from a group of musicians indulging in honey slides.

So, do what you have to do, but find this album and listen to it, front to back.  It's an all too rare thing when an artist bares their emotions and insecurities and challenges the listener to meet them on their terms.

Huzzah!  You have made it through my first ever blog post.  Congratulations.  You have travelled where few have before.  If you enjoyed this blog post you may also enjoy: my next blog post.

I will randomly throw out what I affectionately refer to as my "MUST HAVE NEIL", which is exactly like it sounds, you just must have it.