Neil Young - On the Beach Review

Neil Young On the Beach

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Tracklist:
1.Walk On
2.See the Sky About to Rain
3.Revoloution Blues
4.For the Turnstiles
5.Vampire Blues
6.On the Beach
7.Motion Pictures (For Carrie)
8.Ambulance Blues

Ranking: #3 for 1974

user rating

4.4
superb

Chart.

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On 8 Lists

5.0
classic

Broken Arrow USER (10 Reviews)

2005-01-16 | 10 comments | 1,592 views

3 of 3 thought this review was well written

The Band
Neil Young-Guitars, Vocals, Harmonica, Piano and Banjo
Ben Keith-Guitars, Vocals, Piano, Dobro, organ, percussion and bass
Ralph Molina-Drums and Vocals
Tim Drummond-Bass and Percussion

Guest Musicians
Billy Talbot from Crazyhorse -"Bass on Walk On"
Rick Danko from the Band-Bass on "Revolution Blues"
Levon Helm from the Band-Drums on "See the Sky About to Rain" and Revolution Blues
David Crosby from CSN&Y-Rythym Guitar on "Revolution Blues"
Graham Nash from CSN&Y-Piano on "On the Beach"
George Whitshell-Guitar on "Vampire Blues"
Rusty Kershaw-Slide Guitar on "Motion Pictures" and Fiddle on "Ambulance Blues"

Released:September 1974

Walk On-This is a great feel-good song that starts with a very cathcy guitar rythym. The lyrics are about not getting worked up when something doesn't go your way. You just have to "Walk On". The chorus adds some nice background vocals to Neil's nasaly lead. Ben Kieth also pulls off a couple short slide guitar soloes which just adds to this great opening track. 5/5

(See the Sky) About to Rain-The organ leads this song right from the intro. Neil sings the vocals with some great emotion as the pedal steel guitar adding a relaxing feel to the song. Levon Helm from the Band guests on the drums in this song and does a good job keeping a steady beat and adding in fills. This is a good song to chill/relaz to but it can be pretty boring if you've heard it enough .4/5

Revolution Blues-Another song featuring Levon on Drums and also David Crosby on rythym guitar and Rick Danko (also form The Band) on bass. The lyrics are supposed to be about Charles Manson who Neil was freinds with in the 60's. The music is great with a nice loud rythym section and nice guitar solo, but the thing that makes this song so amazing is the lyrics.

"We have 25 rifles just to keep the population down"
5/5

For the Turnstiles-This song is only Neil and Ben Keith. Neil on the banjo and Ben on a dobro. They both sing but Neil's voice overshadows Ben's. This is a fine example of Neil playing folk music. The actual music is very minimal and the the vocals lead the song wiiht the great lyrics. Ben Kieth also adds in a little solo on the dobro.5/5

Vampire Blues-Neils attempt at playing the blues is accutally very good. The song is played in a blues shuffle with organ playing in the backgorund. The guitar soloes are pretty low key but at the same time erratic, playing out of scale stacatto notes but at the same time fairly quietly. The lyrics seem just for fun blues lyrics but I think it might have to do wasting fossil fuels but I'm not too sure.

"I'm a vampire babe, sucking blood from the Earth"
"I'm a vampire babe, I'll sell you 20 barrels worth"

5/5

On the Beach-This song features Graham Nash on the Wulizter Piano and you can hear him from the very start. Also this song features some bongo drums and a drum set which harmonmize very well together. The thing that holds the song together though is the super smooth bass and Neil's incredible vocals. Neil also has two very slow and emotional solos on his electric guitar that adds alot to this song. This is just a great long song to chill out clocking at 6:59 min.
5/5

Motion PIctures (for Carrie)-Ahh my favourite side of Neil Young, the acoustic folk Neil. This song was probably wrote for his girlfriend at the time Carrie Snodgrass who was an actress and also inspired him to write the epic"A Man Needs a Maid" on "Harvest". This is a great song wiht Neil singing in his low key voice and also features some first class lyrics. Finally this song is stung together with the gentle and smooth harmonica Neil uses a number of times in this song.5/5

Ambulance Blues-Yay, Another great folk tune. This song arguably has the best lyrics on the whole album. Neil plays a mean acoustic guitar and there is some violin during the chorus. Once again Neil uses his lower key voice which goes really well with the song. Also there is harmonica too which is great because it too strings this peice together so well. This epic at 8:56 ends of this terrific album beautifully.5/5

This is one of Neil's best albums. It features some of his best work and many of his genres. This album however is criminally underated and hardly ever gets recognistion. If I didn't give this album a 5/5 I would probably end up regreting it so here it is. 5/5 ;)

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