I’ve played this album a lot this year during my deep dive into 1974 music. I just love it. It’s a great mix of what he could do. It’s dark side to After The Gold Rush to me. That one has its darkness too. Perhaps it was down to thoes “honeslides”😊
Great review and analysis of a great album, Shaggy! I came to ON THE BEACH later in my Neil deep-dive, long after ZUMA and AMERICAN STAR & BARS. Did the dilute the power and impact of BEACH? No one iota. This is peak Neil with the perfect balance of compassion and bile. Although we didn't know it at the time, he'd been very busy in the studio but this sounded like the logical progression/retreat from his period of being in the "middle of the road". It's a real 'state of the union' address and, as your review pointed out, still unsettlingly contemporary. One note I'd add: Neil is a big cinephile... he'd just dipped his toe in the world of movies and was married to actress Carrie Snodgrass. ON THE BEACH is also the name of a 1959 apocalyptic move (from a book by Nevil Shute). It's filled with fear, resignation and, maybe, a little hope: emotions Neil fully explores on his album.
Great review. Agreed. On The Beach is the best Neil album so far on the list. Every song is good. It 's damn near perfect. I woke up yesterday here in Chicago and there was 3 inches of snow on the ground and 30 degrees. No warming up this way
Great stuff! To me On the Beach is the thin wild mercury sound that Neil’s buddy Bob Dylan described for his 3 album run like Neil’s Ditch trilogy. Revolution Blues is the top of the mountain for me. To think he’s one week into CSNY summer 1974 tour and drops this masterpiece is a mind blower. They inserted On the Beach primarily into their setlist. This album continually astounds me.
I just like the perfect color coordination of the album cover..the yellow &white of the beach chairs and the umbrella/Neil's yellow& white outfit/The yellow& white. Cadillac (Hello,Cadillac in the sand/is this place at your command?) Even.dig this/The sky is white& the sand is yellow
So one thing that this next year will do is get me to visit albums I don’t often play. And for some reason even though i love it I rarely play this. I’ve been giving each 3 listens but this week I’ve played this at least twice that so far. Been thinking why doesn’t this get pulled out off the shelf more than the stuff either side of it in this early run?All I could think was it hasn’t got that one big song/or songs. What it does have are 8 amazing songs that work really well together. 1 everybody knows 2 after the gold rush 3 time fades away 4 on the beach 5 Harvest 6 self titled
Bought this album when it came out and loved it ever since. 10/10
I’ve played this album a lot this year during my deep dive into 1974 music. I just love it. It’s a great mix of what he could do. It’s dark side to After The Gold Rush to me. That one has its darkness too. Perhaps it was down to thoes “honeslides”😊
Great review and analysis of a great album, Shaggy!
I came to ON THE BEACH later in my Neil deep-dive, long after ZUMA and AMERICAN STAR & BARS. Did the dilute the power and impact of BEACH? No one iota. This is peak Neil with the perfect balance of compassion and bile. Although we didn't know it at the time, he'd been very busy in the studio but this sounded like the logical progression/retreat from his period of being in the "middle of the road". It's a real 'state of the union' address and, as your review pointed out, still unsettlingly contemporary.
One note I'd add: Neil is a big cinephile... he'd just dipped his toe in the world of movies and was married to actress Carrie Snodgrass. ON THE BEACH is also the name of a 1959 apocalyptic move (from a book by Nevil Shute). It's filled with fear, resignation and, maybe, a little hope: emotions Neil fully explores on his album.
Neil's best album, Nevil's best novel ...On the Beach is far and away Ava Gardner's best movie - go see it if you haven't
Great review. Agreed. On The Beach is the best Neil album so far on the list. Every song is good. It 's damn near perfect.
I woke up yesterday here in Chicago and there was 3 inches of snow on the ground and 30 degrees. No warming up this way
Great stuff! To me On the Beach is the thin wild mercury sound that Neil’s buddy Bob Dylan described for his 3 album run like Neil’s Ditch trilogy. Revolution Blues is the top of the mountain for me. To think he’s one week into CSNY summer 1974 tour and drops this masterpiece is a mind blower. They inserted On the Beach primarily into their setlist. This album continually astounds me.
Neil Young is just brilliant.
I just like the perfect color coordination of the album cover..the yellow &white of the beach chairs and the umbrella/Neil's yellow& white outfit/The yellow& white.
Cadillac (Hello,Cadillac in the sand/is this place at your command?)
Even.dig this/The sky is white& the sand is yellow
So one thing that this next year will do is get me to visit albums I don’t often play. And for some reason even though i love it I rarely play this. I’ve been giving each 3 listens but this week I’ve played this at least twice that so far. Been thinking why doesn’t this get pulled out off the shelf more than the stuff either side of it in this early run?All I could think was it hasn’t got that one big song/or songs. What it does have are 8 amazing songs that work really well together.
1 everybody knows
2 after the gold rush
3 time fades away
4 on the beach
5 Harvest
6 self titled
7. Deja Vu
6. Neil Young
5. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
4. Harvest
3. On The Beach
2. After The Gold Rush
1. Time Fades Away
Where the wave broke and rolled back. The trilogy is the shit
This album has some of his gloomiest and most depressing sounding songs, but part of that makes it so interesting and beautiful