Neil Young – On The Beach

RECOMMENDATION OF THE WEEK

Neil Young – On The Beach

This Week’s Recommendation Of The Week is one of my favorite albums ever recorded! On The Beach by Neil Young is such an underrated masterpiece in his long, illustrious career. I first discovered and fell in love with this album in my teenage years, and, for a while, I listened to it every morning.

Released in July 1974, it was a transformational album for Neil. He had just ended his tumultuous relationship with actress Carrie Snodgress, was still mourning the death of his bandmates from heroin, and was processing the fallout from the creative differences he was having within CSNY.

Neil was in a very low place at the time of this recording, and was struggling with mental health issues and exhaustion. As the sessions began, he and the band felt they just needed to push through the record, which definitely affected the quality of the early demos. Rusty Kershaw, a session player on the album, tried to and succeeded in instilling a different approach. He felt that they should be loose and laid back, relax a bit and take their time with the record. Neil brought in some more session players, assembling this new band of stoners, misfits, and outlaws from the country world, and he just decided to jam and let it roll from there. They played long, all day sessions, going deep into the night, on “Honey Slides”. This was a concoction created by Rusty Kershaw, which is marijuana cooked down to a liquid and infused into honey. Then they’d eat it by the teaspoon and it would mess them up so much they’d be transported to another dimension, another universe, completely numb and hallucinating like never before. Once they were in deep, the music would hit that groove and the album started to unfold.

As the album flows from track to track, you can hear and feel the hazy, mellow, wobbly dissonance woven throughout. Neil’s writings were some of his most personal, as he had a lot of emotional demons to unload. Each song is a heartfelt, melancholic journey through the emotional toil burning within Neil during those sessions.

“Ambulance Blues”, the final track on the album, is sort of a resignation and a final thought on the first chapter of Neil’s career. Lyrically, it may not reflect this but you can hear and feel it in every swell in his vocals. It has an echoey, almost isolated quality to it. It makes one feel very reflective and seems like Neil could be singing this in a quiet corner to no one, or on top of a mountain to reverberate the heavens. It is a beautifully haunting song that has sat deep in my soul since my first listen. It was also the show opener when we saw him perform live in August 2025, a show that will remain in my heart and soul for the rest of my years.

On the album's second track, “See The Sky About To Rain”, Neil finds the perfect mix of Country, Pop, and even Jazz infused melodies. There is a dissonant sadness layered throughout, but it also wraps you up and comforts you. I listened to this album quite a bit during the Pandemic, especially when the chaos was too much and I needed a quiet moment to breathe. That’s what this album does best. This album lets you breathe, and this song was one I leaned on for comfort quite a bit.

On the track “Revolution Blues”, Neil tries to make an assessment and make sense of The Manson Murders in August 1969. Of all the songs written, I think Neil really captured some truths with what he was feeling. He knew Manson personally, played music with him a few times, and felt that Charles Manson tapped into something that was really unique in his music. If you’ve never heard the music of Charles Manson, I would recommend it. It is weird, unsettling and uncomfortable for sure. The whole story overwhelms your thoughts when you hear it, which is completely understandable. It’s not easy to separate the art from the monster. I will say that there is definitely substance to a few songs, albeit the recordings are very rough. “Cease To Exist” and “Mechanical Man” have very particular views on society, hitting on some of the ills and perils that I think we can all relate to. That being said, it is still Charles Manson and there is an unforgiving anger and tension present in each verse that can definitely give you chills of discomfort. It is worth the listen though, if you care to.

Here is a quote from Neil on his experiences with Manson:

”I met him through Dennis Wilson. He wanted to make records. He wanted me to introduce him to Mo Ostin at Reprise... Musically I thought he was very unique. I thought he really had something crazy, something great. He was like a living poet... But I think he was very frustrated in not being able to get it, and he blamed somebody…”

“Revolution Blues” is a synopsis on how Charles Manson and his followers went too far, and in turn, tore and destroyed the fabric of love, peace and unity that the 1960s counterculture was built upon. In the aftermath, the Utopian dream of Hope that had been at the heart and soul of every progression in the 60s, had crashed and was overwhelmed and washed away by the fear and hatred created by the events of August 1969. It was a sad truth to see what came from what might have been.

Fortunately, Love and Hope has always continued to live on. It lives on in Neil’s music too, as over 50 years later, he is still giving us the Hope we need in these very dark, unsettling times.

Overall, On The Beach is an absolute masterpiece. I go back and forth on this, but I feel it is his greatest album. Yes, I know that is coming from a legacy and discography that includes Harvest and Harvest Moon, two of the greatest albums ever made.

This album just has so much emotion, and is so personally revealing and vulnerable. That is not always present in Neil’s music, as he tends to build characters, as is common with the great songwriters in history. However, on this album, he cuts his soul open and bears it all for us to see and feel.

I find great comfort and solace in this album. It’s a top 5 all-time for me. It’s beautiful, haunting, but most of all, paired with his soft, wounded voice, the dissonant but stunning melodies give me a sense of calm, comfort and safety and a hope that it might all be okay.

Essential Track: “Ambulance Blues”