A 50th anniversary for a seminal album is an opportunity to reflect and reevaluate. A half-century on, and it can take on a new life and a new meaning, especially when that album is Neil Young’s ON THE BEACH. In the first half of the 1970’s as Young was recording collections of songs that would each take on an aura of their own, ON THE BEACH became its own achievement. It followed the release of 1972’s HARVEST, which reached Number 1 on the Billboard sales chart. This new anniversary limited edition of ON THE BEACH will be pressed on clear vinyl, with “50” added to the front cover to mark the passage of time, and is set for release on November 8th, via Reprise Records. The songs range from “See The Sky About To Rain” to “Ambulance Blues,” and explore the evolving counterculture in the 1970s in ways which had not been done. These were songs that he took into a new realm of where he and the country were going, and where that would take them. Click HERE to pre-order.
ON THE BEACH became a very special moment in the musical history of Neil Young. It was his fifth studio album, and was recorded with a stellar range of musicians, including Crazy Horse’s rhythm section Billy Talbot (bass) and Ralph Molina (drums), along with other key players Ben Keith, Tim Drummond, Levon Helm (The Band), Rick Danko (The Band), Rusty Kershaw, David Crosby, Graham Nash and George Whitsell (The Rockets). Sessions were held at Young’s Broken Arrow Ranch in Northern California and Sunset Sound in Hollywood, and there was a definite feeling of expanding
elements of musical styles being added to the playbook. This was Young at his most adventurous, and pointed to several new musical directions for him, yet to be defined.
The level of expansion of ON THE BEACH became a mark in the sand for how Young’s future would grow. The new musicians he was recording with was a path the man would follow the rest of his life, and the subject matter of the songs opened up new vistas which would stay open to the present day. In some ways, ON THE BEACH was an announcement of a freedom that allowed the artist to go wherever he wanted to go in his songs, in the studio, and perform with whoever he wanted to perform with. It has a sound of freedom to it which marked his future. The music of ON THE BEACH is a half-century of an openness that has become one of rock & roll’s wonders. And a mark of all our futures.
ON THE BEACH 50th Anniversary Edition will be available at the Greedy Hand Store at Neil Young Archives (NYA) and music retailers everywhere. All Greedy Hand Store purchases come with free hi-res digital audio downloads from the Xstream Store © at NYA.
On the Beach tracklisting:
Side One:
- Walk On
- See the Sky About to Rain
- Revolution Blues
- For the Turnstiles
- Vampire Blues
Side Two:
- On the Beach
- Motion Pictures
- Ambulance Blues
