Neil Young - On The Beach

I'd like to hear it.

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

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.

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!

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.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/timefadesaway.png

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/jttp.png

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

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

Re: Time Fades Away, some of the songs are on YouTube if anyone is curious about them.

is there a two-disc version of Landing on Water in the works?

according to the great bio shakey neil won't release time fades away because the associated memories of that tour (last one with danny? first one after danny? something like that) are too raw for him still. could be complete bullshit though. neil's wily. could be saving that last ace up his sleeve for some master exit strategy

first one after danny, like a month or two later.

also from wikipedia:

Along with the soundtrack to Journey Through the Past, Time Fades Away remains the only officially released Neil Young album unavailable on CD. Many Young aficionados like to believe that this is due to bad memories of the tour that spawned the record, though the problem may be due to more of a technical nature than anything else. Time Fades Away was recorded directly from the soundboard to final 2-track masters using the Quad-8 CompuMix, the first and utterly unreliable digital mixing soundboard--against the wishes of producer David Briggs, who referred to it as the "Compufuck" but was forced to yield to the desires of Young. This resulted in a murky-sounding release; because the final mixes were those rough cuts, the album cannot be remixed.

at the end of the day it's bullshit tho cause the HDCD of time fades away sounds fantastic

oh wait this is an on the beach thread

jeez way to go Neil

I know, so odd for him to make a bad self-destructive decision

they don't call it the ditch trilogy for nothin'

I know, so odd for him to make a bad self-destructive decision

LOL

Thanks for humoring me re: Time Fades Away talk.
I voted On The Beach in this poll.
When I saw Neil play solo in 99 (maybe? 98?) he played Ambulance Blues and it was awesome.

he was doing it on the 2007 tour too

Thanks for humoring me re: Time Fades Away talk.

It's a curious album!

time fades away is pretty easy to find on vinyl. also: not nearly as good as on the beach.

Taking Ambulance Blues, but everything works.

I've always felt some of Will Oldham's stuff -- mostly the Palace stuff around Viva Last Blues -- and especially Jason Molina of Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co.'s stuff really attempts to get the same loose two-chord vibe. It can get a bit wearing in huge doses, but I would think in terms of RIYL sort of thinking, On the Beach fans would feel a kinship to that stuff?

Any one else hear this? Or am I losing it?

No, there's a connection. It's weird though, I don't really like Oldham/Molina and their soundalikes that much, but I do love Ambulance Blues. It's probably my favorite NY song. It's the breezy little harmonica sections that break up the song that elevate it beyond the "loose two-chord vibe" imitations. It sounds so effortlessly perfect.

I had a beautiful taxi ride after a gig feeling very exhausted and traveling all the way across Rome very late at night and the cabdriver was listening to this album and hearing "on the beach" while watching the rain in a dark city was perfect.

Revolution Blues or the title track for me. Ambulance Blues and generally held in much awe -- I think it's a great track, but it's not my fave on this album. He played Ambulance throughout the 2007 tour.

erm and is

if you're bummed out enough and playing an acoustic there's a 75% chance you sound like on the beach

also keep those otb stories coming especially ones involving rain and rome

<<if you're bummed out enough and playing an acoustic there's a 75% chance you sound like on the beach>>

very true.

I like Oldham and Molina, but I can see why others would grow restless since it's only one facet of Young's attack and is nearly the entire approach from these other guys, especially Molina. That said, it's like a color I prefer, so I'm a sucker for it. For anyone looking to sample, I'd suggest Didn't It Rain or Ghost Tropic from Songs:Ohia. That's the stuff I like best. But it's definitely not for everyone.

there's also a 75% chance you sound like pink moon

venndiagram.jpg

i don't see any connection between this album and nick drake

mood, vibe

I don't see it either. acoustic guitars /= Nick Drake by default, Nick used pretty specific tunings and finger-picking styles

can I just say if you're bummed out enough and playing an acoustic gtr you will probably sound something like on the beach or pink moon and less like motorhead and leave it at that

haha sure

unless you are like premier league guitarist, you don't sound like pink moon

also keep those otb stories coming especially ones involving rain and rome

― 鬼の手 (Edward III),

No lie: My old vinyl copy sustained back-cover damage due to rain! It was being stored in a (burned-out) basement, directly below a partially opened window. (Vinyl was already in lousy shape anyways - bought it from a dollar bin back in the 80s.)

"Revolution Blues" for me.

I love the sound of Crosby's rhythm guitar on "Revolution Blues." Someone upthread praised the electric piano sound on "See The Sky About To Rain." I just love what Young's engineers got out of the instruments here.

^^
Fully agree. On The Beach (the song) has an amazing sonic feel to it. Fantastic bass sound as well.

Since reading the story behind it, On the Beach always makes me want to try a honey slide. The combination of weed and honey pretty much sums up the sound of the record.

A buddy and I tried these "slides" a few years ago, in blatant imitation of what we read in Shakey. It tasted like ass. For thirty minutes we felt nothing, then... wow. We couldn't move.

I assume "tasted like ass" is a negative. But was the "couldn't move" part a positive?

I had a friend who described angeldust as being unable to figure out your own name or how to walk across the street and that was his endorsement. I decided to skip it. That didn't sound like a good time to me. But then again, I can't even smoke weed since it makes me think the world is out to kill me. Maybe it is?

can we talk about the drumming on sky for a second?

I just love what Young's engineers got out of the instruments here.

Exactly. The instruments all coincide perfectly & stand alone beautifully as well.

can we talk about the drumming on sky for a second?

Oh yeah. I love that late-night stumbling, careening-forward drum vibe in the last 1:30 or so.

alright, if we're gonna talk about sound quality: gtr on "walk on". it's reason enough to track down the HDCD version of OTB. sometimes neil's audiophile nuttiness strikes me as o_O but moments like that I'm like ok ok I get it. the song itself is pretty slight but the sonics are magnifico.

the bridge of 'walk on' has some of my favourite ever neil guitar sounds

"Walk On" is a peculiar opener; doesn't he say something about this in the liner notes to Decade?

I came to this album pretty late in my Neil life so I tend to think of this as "Revolution Blues", on the one hand, and then the second side as a unit on the other.

I wish I had this album with me right now; I'd really like to hear "Motion Pictures" b/c I'm away from home and I'm deep inside myself right now.

well, i'm drunk

walk on is one of those songs. Those perfect kiss offs. I've never felt a real kiss that left such a salty acidic taste in my mouth.

i feel like this whole album is trapped in a squirming layer of ectoplasm. walk on.

tripmaker, et al, have at it

time fades away HDCD

for illustration purposes

walk on

for euler

motion pictures

thankig u

Neil's, from Boz's Out of the Blues album.

the definitive reading of neil’s on the beach is, of course, mick hucknall’s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDbctjmjvXg

If the implication is that Simply Red is capable of neutering that song, they're not, it still slays. You just can't keep that song down.

(not stop sure about the guitar solo though -- it kinda makes a good case, by way of contrast, for the genius of neil's soloing on the original)

xp idk abt that

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wNO1b8UOuY

I don't see it mentioned above but if you are curious about Rusty Kershaw, the Cocaine & Rhinestones country music podcast did a very entertaining episode about Rusty and his brother Doug. Later in the episode about 20 minutes are devoted to a Rusty-centric view of the making of On the Beach. https://cocaineandrhinestones.com/rusty-doug-kershaw-cajun-way

Thanks! for those who want some rumblin' Danko, over on the The Band Thread, we were talking about "Small Town Talk," usually a poignant ballad, co-written w Bobby Charles---his version here is something else
Danko's version! Louder, faster than expected. hey fuck that small town talk!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hxOI1M5bpk

^ great bounce on that one