Neil Young: On the Beach (50th anniversary edition, clear vinyl) [REPRISE]

Why you'll love it

This 50th anniversary edition is remastered and pressed on clear vinyl, with updated cover art marking the half century. Young's fifth album is the middle of his celebrated Ditch Trilogy, and critics now count it among his finest.

This edition

• 50th anniversary edition
• Clear vinyl
• Remastered
• Limited edition
• Pressed in the Netherlands
• Stereo mix

About the album

After Harvest made him a superstar, Neil Young famously decided the middle of the road was a bore and headed for the ditch. On the Beach is the second stop on that detour, recorded after Tonight's the Night but issued first, and it trades the polish of his big hit for rough monitor mixes and a band of friends feeling their way through loose arrangements. Rick Danko and Levon Helm of The Band turn up on "Revolution Blues."

"Walk On" opens the record with a shrug at his critics and a decision to keep moving, "See the Sky About to Rain" dates back to the Harvest days, and "For the Turnstiles" pairs Young's banjo guitar with Ben Keith's dobro and harmony vocal. Side two is the heart of it: the slow, bluesy title track, "Motion Pictures," written for Carrie Snodgress in a Los Angeles hotel room, and the nine-minute "Ambulance Blues."

Later critics heard it as Young saying goodbye to despair rather than wallowing in it. His own verdict was brief: "Good album." Coming from him, that's practically a standing ovation.

Also at Kops: more Neil Young on vinyl · browse CDN Pop / Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Reprise, a reissue of the 1974 album.