NEIL YOUNG- On the Beach
The year was 1973 and old Shakey was coming off the darkest hours of the Tonight's The Night sessions. Everything was loose and burnt, a lament for hard times and personal loss. Yet, the industry balked, holding the record back, displaying shortsightedness eventually proved wrong. Made with members of The Band, On the Beach, a record of equal (if different) greatness was released instead in 1974, but then disappeared, out of print. A cult following grew up over the years, even a petition was started for its re-release. This time, though, Young resisted, keeping the tapes in his legendary archives. Perhaps the time wasn't right, the content too biting: with songs like Ambulance Blues, Revolution Blues and Vampire Blues, much of On the Beach is a open critique of various aspects of American life, what Young saw as its deficits and hypocrisy. If ever there was a time for self-analysis in America, now may be it. We can only guess that Young also thinks so, finally stewarding the re-release of this lost classic. As the man says on Walk On, On the Beach's opening salvo, "Sooner or later, it all gets real." Man, we hope so.
