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.

― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 13 May 2009 22:53 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― Zeno, Wednesday, 13 May 2009 22:53 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― Zeno, Wednesday, 13 May 2009 22:55 (4 years ago) Permalink

Walk On, narrowly over Ambulance Blues

― kornrulez6969, Wednesday, 13 May 2009 23:09 (4 years ago) Permalink

motion pictures

isn't even a question imo

― iatee, Wednesday, 13 May 2009 23:11 (4 years ago) Permalink

for the turnstiles...omg this album rules!

― even corpse management will be at risk (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 13 May 2009 23:25 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― sonderangerbot, Wednesday, 13 May 2009 23:33 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― ^ Z S on the internet here (Z S), Wednesday, 13 May 2009 23:56 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― jesus is the man (jabba hands), Thursday, 14 May 2009 00:14 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― Bud Huxtable (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 14 May 2009 01:12 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― ❉❉❉❉❉❉❉❉Plaxico❉❉❉❉❉❉❉❉❉ (I know, right?), Thursday, 14 May 2009 01:14 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― clemenza, Thursday, 14 May 2009 01:37 (4 years ago) Permalink

do any balearicy edits exist of anything on this?

― ❉❉❉❉❉❉❉❉Plaxico❉❉❉❉❉❉❉❉❉ (I know, right?), Thursday, 14 May 2009 01:38 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― kamerad, Thursday, 14 May 2009 01:39 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― dulce est desipere in loco (Euler), Thursday, 14 May 2009 01:49 (4 years ago) Permalink

b side is a perfect thing of beauty

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

― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 14 May 2009 04:10 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 14 May 2009 04:11 (4 years ago) Permalink

^^^ ed III otm.

― ian, Thursday, 14 May 2009 04:59 (4 years ago) Permalink

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.

― SQUIRREL WITH A PEOPLE FACE (╓abies), Thursday, 14 May 2009 05:30 (4 years ago) Permalink

^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.

― myndbloom, Thursday, 14 May 2009 06:29 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― sknybrg, Thursday, 14 May 2009 07:20 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― sonofstan, Thursday, 14 May 2009 08:37 (4 years ago) Permalink

Ditto.

― Enemy Insects (NickB), Thursday, 14 May 2009 08:38 (4 years ago) Permalink

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.

― Dante ... Bruno . Vico .. Passantino (Tom D.), Thursday, 14 May 2009 08:47 (4 years ago) Permalink

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.

― nate woolls, Thursday, 14 May 2009 08:47 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― Ward Fowler, Thursday, 14 May 2009 09:25 (4 years ago) Permalink

Not sure if I prefer Sky or Ambulance.

― the next grozart, Thursday, 14 May 2009 10:22 (4 years ago) Permalink

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.

― ch4rlie fr4m3, Thursday, 14 May 2009 11:20 (4 years ago) Permalink

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.

― SQUIRREL WITH A PEOPLE FACE (╓abies), Thursday, 14 May 2009 11:30 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― Bud Huxtable (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 14 May 2009 11:31 (4 years ago) Permalink

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?

― nate woolls, Thursday, 14 May 2009 11:43 (4 years ago) Permalink

what's neil young got against lepers?

― ch4rlie fr4m3, Thursday, 14 May 2009 11:45 (4 years ago) Permalink

They're not all that popular in general, historically

― Dante ... Bruno . Vico .. Passantino (Tom D.), Thursday, 14 May 2009 11:46 (4 years ago) Permalink

They remind him of David Crosby.

― Bud Huxtable (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 14 May 2009 11:47 (4 years ago) Permalink

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.

― Zeno, Thursday, 14 May 2009 11:50 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― Dorian (Dorianlynskey), Thursday, 14 May 2009 11:51 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― Dante ... Bruno . Vico .. Passantino (Tom D.), Thursday, 14 May 2009 11:56 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― Ludo, Thursday, 14 May 2009 12:08 (4 years ago) Permalink

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.

― Trip Maker, Thursday, 14 May 2009 14:01 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 14 May 2009 14:04 (4 years ago) Permalink

^ serious talk

― Dante ... Bruno . Vico .. Passantino (Tom D.), Thursday, 14 May 2009 14:06 (4 years ago) Permalink

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?

― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 14 May 2009 14:06 (4 years ago) Permalink

I'd like to hear it.

― Trip Maker, Thursday, 14 May 2009 14:09 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― ch4rlie fr4m3, Thursday, 14 May 2009 14:11 (4 years ago) Permalink

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.

― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 14 May 2009 14:20 (4 years ago) Permalink

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!

― Plunge Protection Team, Thursday, 14 May 2009 14:28 (4 years ago) Permalink

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.

― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 14 May 2009 14:30 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― 鬼の手 (Edward III), Thursday, 14 May 2009 14:32 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― Dante ... Bruno . Vico .. Passantino (Tom D.), Thursday, 14 May 2009 14:33 (4 years ago) Permalink

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

― seasonal hugs (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 30 October 2012 20:45 (6 months ago) Permalink

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

― seasonal hugs (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 30 October 2012 20:45 (6 months ago) Permalink

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.

― Poliopolice, Tuesday, 30 October 2012 20:57 (6 months ago) Permalink

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.

― sug ones (omar little), Tuesday, 30 October 2012 21:02 (6 months ago) Permalink

poop head

FOR THE TURNSTILES!!!!

*lights self on fire*

― seasonal hugs (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 30 October 2012 21:02 (6 months ago) Permalink

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/.

― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Tuesday, 30 October 2012 22:19 (6 months ago) Permalink

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

― tylerw, Tuesday, 30 October 2012 22:26 (6 months ago) Permalink

[just kidding, it's ok]

― tylerw, Tuesday, 30 October 2012 22:26 (6 months ago) Permalink

fuck you Poliopolice, FUCK YOU

― but the boo boyz are getting to (Z S), Tuesday, 30 October 2012 22:32 (6 months ago) Permalink

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

― da croupier, Tuesday, 30 October 2012 23:08 (6 months ago) Permalink

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.

― 5-Hour Enmity (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 30 October 2012 23:23 (6 months ago) Permalink

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

― Eccsame the Photon Guys (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 00:32 (6 months ago) Permalink

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

― Trip Maker, Wednesday, 31 October 2012 01:31 (6 months ago) Permalink

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

― 50 Shades of Greil (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 01:39 (6 months ago) Permalink

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.

― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 03:43 (6 months ago) Permalink

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

― pun lovin criminal (polyphonic), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 03:55 (6 months ago) Permalink

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

― space dokken (Edward III), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 04:11 (6 months ago) Permalink

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

― o. mane (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 06:38 (6 months ago) Permalink

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.

― o. mane (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 06:39 (6 months ago) Permalink

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)

― o. mane (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 06:41 (6 months ago) Permalink

direct quote is overstating my case, my bad.

― o. mane (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 06:42 (6 months ago) Permalink

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.

― clemenza, Wednesday, 31 October 2012 12:05 (6 months ago) Permalink

i have an extra copy of rumours as well

― but the boo boyz are getting to (Z S), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 13:09 (6 months ago) Permalink

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."

― how's life, Wednesday, 31 October 2012 13:13 (6 months ago) Permalink

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

Anyone?

― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 13:39 (6 months ago) Permalink

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

― Trip Maker, Wednesday, 31 October 2012 13:54 (6 months ago) Permalink

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

― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 13:58 (6 months ago) Permalink

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

― but the boo boyz are getting to (Z S), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 14:04 (6 months ago) Permalink

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.

― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 14:18 (6 months ago) Permalink

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

― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 14:21 (6 months ago) Permalink

thread got awesome

― space dokken (Edward III), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 18:28 (6 months ago) Permalink

liza is cuuuute on that album cover. did she ever cover neil young?
he was pretty into her mom

― tylerw, Wednesday, 31 October 2012 18:32 (6 months ago) Permalink

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.

― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 18:44 (6 months ago) Permalink

She did work with Alice Cooper

― Named locally as Tom D (Tom D.), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 18:50 (6 months ago) Permalink

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

― tylerw, Wednesday, 31 October 2012 18:56 (6 months ago) Permalink

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

― the ones that I'm near most: fellow outcasts and ilxors (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 18:58 (6 months ago) Permalink

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.

― clemenza, Wednesday, 31 October 2012 19:51 (6 months ago) Permalink

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

― trebek sajak iii (cwkiii), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 20:08 (6 months ago) Permalink

liza on the beach

― tylerw, Wednesday, 31 October 2012 20:10 (6 months ago) Permalink

she is 4'4"

― but the boo boyz are getting to (Z S), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 20:10 (6 months ago) Permalink

not that there's anything wrong with that

― but the boo boyz are getting to (Z S), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 20:10 (6 months ago) Permalink

"Pocahontas, Liza Minelli and me"

― 50 Shades of Greil (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 20:37 (6 months ago) Permalink

she is 4'4"

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

― Duke, Wednesday, 31 October 2012 21:27 (6 months ago) Permalink

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

― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 21:33 (6 months ago) Permalink

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

― tylerw, Wednesday, 31 October 2012 21:43 (6 months ago) Permalink

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

― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 21:45 (6 months ago) Permalink

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

― Duke, Wednesday, 31 October 2012 22:08 (6 months ago) Permalink

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".

― Duke, Wednesday, 31 October 2012 22:13 (6 months ago) Permalink

Prince is 5'2" right?

― Iago Galdston, Wednesday, 31 October 2012 22:21 (6 months ago) Permalink

You never know......

― Duke, Wednesday, 31 October 2012 22:22 (6 months ago) Permalink