Fans of Neil Young realize that you never know for sure what you’re going to get with one of his albums. By 1974 when On The Beach first came out, Neil Young had soared in popularity with the albums After The Gold Rush and Harvest. After that #1 album in 1972, Young pivoted in 1973 to a live album of new songs, Time Fades Away. It has its moments, but even Neil was not satisfied with it. Then came On The Beach.
This one was a regular studio album, but it wasn’t similar to the Country Rock feel of Harvest. It had more of a Blues Rock style with inherently depressing lyrics. Here’s the track list, which is the same for both the original album and the 50th Anniversary version. It was released on November 8th, 2024.
Instead of selling millions like Harvest, the original On The Beach album sold a fraction of that (about 500,000 eventually), and made it to #16 on the Billboard album chart. Critics’ reviews were mixed at the time, but now it’s looked upon as an important step in Young’s development as an artist who explored a wide variety of musical styles.
As someone who owns most of Neil Young’s albums, On The Beach isn’t among my favorites, but it does have one of my favorite NY recordings, “See The Sky About To Rain”. The single from the album, “Walk On”, is also good, even though it only made it to #69 on the Hot 100 chart. Fans of the album tend to focus on the trio of songs with “blues” in the title… “Revolution Blues”, “Vampire Blues”, and “Ambulance Blues”.
The 50th Anniversary edition comes on clear vinyl, but with no other extras. So it’s mainly for fans who don’t own the album yet, need to replace their old ones, or simply like the clear vinyl. The reality of this release is that Neil Young sold the rights to a lot of his music, and investors are likely looking for ways to get a return for their money. That’s not a criticism, just financial reality. There’s nothing wrong with consumers having choices of ways to enjoy their favorite artists.
Just for fun: Here’s an alternate shot from the cover photo session.
Wanted to add this section from an earlier CSNY article, because there’s a song connection: Old friends Stephen Stills and Neil Young are working together again. Besides mixing the live recordings for the new release CSNY Live At Fillmore East, 1969 (released on Oct. 25th, 2024), the two performed at the Harvest Moon charity event October 5th, 2024.
Stills & Young started their set with “Long May You Run”, and then played a crowd-pleasing assortment of songs that went all the way back to Buffalo Springfield (including “Bluebird” & “For What It’s Worth”) from the 1960s. There were of course CSNY songs, and some Neil Young classics (including “Vampire Blues” from his On The Beach album). The two were supported onstage by bassist Corey McCormick and drummer Anthony Logerfo. Later they were joined by John Mayer, who had performed a solo acoustic set earlier.
And a reminder of how Stills & Young were 50 years earlier.
Great guitar player, and to me, one of the best song writers, who is able to move people with his music and lyrics. Big fan.
I got “On the Beach” on vinyl when it came out. After enjoying mainly After the Gold Rush, and Everybody Knows…
I love it. It’s one of my favorites. CSN&Y did their big stadium tour in 1974 the year of it’s release and much to my delight Neil played Revolution Blues off of it. Maybe other songs during the tour.
Anyway, I get great satisfaction listening to this record. I don’t particularly see it as negative. Maybe just a man making music when difficult times in life happen. The blues are always about healing to me.
Editor: Checked my CSNY 1974 live set, and “Revolution Blues” & “On The Beach” are both on it. Glad you saw them live! Thanks for sharing.