On the Beach [Original recording remastered]

The centrepeice of the so-called Doom trilogy (also featuring the as yet unavailable on CD Time Fades Away and Tonight's the Night) makes it to CD at last, and it's been worth the wait. Long acknowledged as a pivotal album in Young's career, On the Beach is also one of the greatest albums of the mid seventies, rooted in the uncertainties and contradictions of the Nixon era.

It's also a fairly subdued affair, the world weary tempos of much of the album echoing the stoned ennui of the time. This is perfectly encapsulated in the iconic cover shot of Young standing on the edge of the ocean surrounded by the detritus of the disintegrating west coast lifetstyle. Revolution Blues, with its images of bloody fountains and murder, captures the feeling of impending disaster and paranoia endemic in LA after the Manson murders had ended the hippy dream - clearly all was not right in paradise.

For the Turnstiles, with its spare banjo and dobro backing and tense, strained vocal, bemoans the creeping spectre of commerce which was gradually taking over music in the 70s, inspired by the bacchanalian excesses of the 1974 CSN&Y stadium tour. The title track finds Young simultaneously acknowledging the need for adulation even as he recoils from it (I need a crowd of people, but I can't face them day to day) - there's no better emblem for Young's reclusive and enigmatic nature. Walk On, with its jaunty guitar riffs and playful slide playing, is offset by a lyric in which Young hits back at his critics and also looks back to the days before money got in the way of art. This theme of lost innocence also informs the epic closer, Ambulance Blues, one of Young's greatest and most widely analysed compositions.

On the Beach may not be to everyone's taste. For Young fans more enamoured of his Harvest persona of sensitive acoustic troubadour, it may make for difficult listening. It also lacks the full on rock approach of his work with Crazy Horse. However, its ramshackle approach is part of its appeal, matching the world weariness of its lyrical concerns and lending the whole an appealingly live feel.

Why this album has never been released on CD before is quite frankly astonishing, considering the presence of such turkeys as Old Ways and Everybody's Rocking in the racks. Of the latest batch of Young reissues, this is by far the best, followed distantly by the uneven but interesting American Stars'n'Bars. All we need now is for Time Fades Away to come out and the doom trilogy is complete and we can all retreat into our luxury mansions, shut the door and cower in the corner with nothing but the hi-fi, tequila and paranoia for company. Now that's a good night in!

After the success of the single Heart of Gold from the hugely popular Harvest album, Young famously said "the song put me in the middle of the road, which became a bore so I headed for the ditch". To prove the point he made three albums that contained none of the mainstream appeal of Harvest. On the Beach was the last of the three 'ditch' albums recorded, but was second released; Tonight's The Night (second recorded) was kept on ice, but apart from this, Tonight is the only other album in the trilogy currently available on CD. Not only is On The Beach the best album Neil ever made, it is also one of the three best albums I have ever owned by anyone. I came to the table via the oft travelled Harvest/Goldrush route, and amazingly, when I think about it now, when I first heard Beach I hated it and put it in the cupboard for two years. When I heard it again, I became progressively enchanted.

The despairing tone of Tonight's the Night is replaced with barbed cynicism that is musically and lyrically mesmerising. The album simmers with brooding classics like Revolution Blues, an apocolyptic vision of LA and the Manson murders, which occured after Young had recommended Manson to the record company. "I hate them worse than lepers and I kill them in their cars" is probably a reference to the bloody murder of an 18 year old kid in his car on the night of the Tate masacre. He was visiting staff and was unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The word Revolution is too respectable for Manson's Helter Skelter madness. Vampire Blues, is a swipe at the culture of big cars and the oil industry. (A typical bit of Young hypocricy since his penchant for thirsty vehicles at that time is well known).

The mood continues to darken right up to the last track, and man, what a last track! Ambulance Blues is a few seconds shy of nine minutes long; the very finest nine minutes in the history of recorded music. A brooding, bitter-sweet tirade about the old folky days, his musical critics, Nixon, and the ambiguous status of Young's collaborational band, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, ("You're all just pissing in the wind"). I know the song is similar to Bert Jansch's 'Needle of Death' but like other 'borrowed tunes' Young makes it sound far better than the song its melody was influenced by. On Ambulance Blues, the 'Dylan Kit' - what Neil called his harmonica and brace - is used to its best ever effect. Dylan did great things with that whistle, but even he never made it sound this good.

If you're eager to move on from Harvest and Goldrush, or you're working your way through the back catalogue, buy this album, listen to it once only, then listen to Zuma, American Stars 'n' Bars, his self named debut (underated) or something mellow like Comes a Time, then take this out again. But be warned, continued playing of this masterpiece may seriously damage your appreciation of anything else.

ON THE BEACH is one of Neil Young's finest artistic statements, lyrically and musically it is certainly of it's time and yet in emotional terms, it's concerns are timeless. The death of the hippie dream and the cracking veneer of 70s LA are beautifully expressed in the frazzled, insouciant sound and the weariness of Young's vocals. The album is short but the quality of the songs is incredible. Whilst being quite an intense and certainly dark piece of work it possesses a wonderful summer, stoned vibe to it. It's certainly my favourite Neil Young album is right up there with Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Tonights the Night and Sleeps With Angels as one of his greatest achievements. It is pointless to go into detail regarding the individual songs when the album as a whole is so effective but if I had to pick my personal favourites it would have to be; 'Walk On', 'On the Beach' and 'Motion Pictures.' If you enjoy N Young then this is an essential purchase, as is it if you have any kind of affinity for 70s West Coast Rock. ON THE BEACH is often a draining experience but when being drained sounds this sublime then it is definately worth it!!