Neil Young - On The Beach

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.