Following the 1973 Time Fades Away tour, Neil Young wrote and recorded an Irish wake of a record called Tonight's the Night and went on the road drunkenly playing its songs to uncomprehending listeners and hostile reviewers.
Reprise rejected the record, and Young went right back and made On the Beach, which shares some of the ragged style of its two predecessors.
But where Time was embattled and Tonight mournful, On the Beach was savage and, ultimately, triumphant.
"I'm a vampire, babe," Young sang, and he proceeded to take bites out of various subjects: threatening the lives of the stars who lived in L.A.'s Laurel Canyon ("Revolution Blues"); answering back to Lynyrd Skynyrd, whose "Sweet Home Alabama" had taken him to task for his criticisms of the South in "Southern Man" and "Alabama" ("Walk On"); and rejecting the critics ("Ambulance Blues").
But the barbs were mixed with humor and even affection, as Young seemed to be emerging from the grief and self-abuse that had plagued him for two years.
But the album was so spare and under-produced, its lyrics so harrowing, that it was easy to miss Young's conclusion: he was saying goodbye to despair, not being overwhelmed by it.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walk OnNeil Young | Neil Young | Play | 02:42 | 6 MB | 17 MB |
| 2 | See the Sky About to RainNeil Young | Neil Young | Play | 05:02 | 11 MB | 27 MB |
| 3 | Revolution BluesNeil Young | Neil Young | Play | 04:03 | 9 MB | 25 MB |
| 4 | For the TurnstilesNeil Young | Neil Young | Play | 03:15 | 7 MB | 16 MB |
| 5 | Vampire BluesNeil Young | Neil Young | Play | 04:14 | 9 MB | 23 MB |
| 6 | On the BeachNeil Young | Neil Young | Play | 06:59 | 15 MB | 38 MB |
| 7 | Motion PicturesNeil Young | Neil Young | Play | 04:23 | 10 MB | 22 MB |
| 8 | Ambulance BluesNeil Young | Neil Young | Play | 08:56 | 20 MB | 49 MB |
| 39 mins | 90 MB | |||||
| 39 mins | 221 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Briggs | Audio Production, Producer |
| 2 | Gary Burden | Art Direction, Design, Repackaging |
| 3 | Gary Burdon | Art Direction, Design |
| 4 | Crosby & Nash | Guitar (Rhythm) |
| 5 | David Crosby | Guest Artist, Guitar, Guitar (Rhythm), Main Personnel, Vocals |
| 6 | Rick Danko | Bass, Bass Instrument, Guest Artist, Main Personnel |
| 7 | Tim Drummond | Bass, Bass Instrument, Drums, Main Personnel, Percussion |
| 8 | Rick Griffin | Lettering |
| 9 | Mark Harman | Audio Production |
| 10 | Mark Henry Harman | Producer |
| 11 | Levon Helm | Drums, Guest Artist, Main Personnel |
| 12 | Jenice Heo | Repackaging |
| 13 | Ben Keith | Bass, Dobro, Drums, Guitar, Guitar (Steel), Hand Drums, Main Personnel, Organ, Slide Guitar, Vocals, Vocals (Background), Wurlitzer, Wurlitzer Piano |
| 14 | Rusty Kershaw | Fiddle, Guitar, Liner Notes, Main Personnel, Slide Guitar, Violin |
| 15 | Ralph Molina | Drums, Hand Drums, Main Personnel, Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 16 | Tim Mulligan | Digital Mastering |
| 17 | Graham Nash | Guest Artist, Main Personnel, Vocals, Wurlitzer, Wurlitzer Piano |
| 18 | John Nowland | Analog Transfer |
| 19 | Al Schmitt | Audio Production, Producer |
| 20 | Bob Seidemann | Photography |
| 21 | Billy Talbot | Bass, Bass Instrument, Main Personnel |
| 22 | George Whitsell | Guitar, Main Personnel |
| 23 | Joe Yankee | Bass, Harp, Main Personnel, Tambourine |
| 24 | Neil Young | Art Direction, Audio Production, Banjo, Composer, Design, Guitar, Harmonica, Main Personnel, Primary Artist, Producer, Vocals, Wurlitzer, Wurlitzer Piano |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |