Neil Young-After the Gold Rush

After the Gold Rush

This was the album the prolific Neil Young released right after his first flirtation with CSN&Y, and once again he shows just how wide and deep his musical talents are. All we aging sixties kids all have a copy of both this album and his "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" album; it is standard issue for older babyboomers. Indeed, out of the welter of so many artists with so much in the way of incredible and unforgettable music, Neil Young stands alone as a sixties icon, someone who has consistently done the music his way, and with great sincerity, consistent authenticity, and a singular verve. No one has produced the range and quantity of memorable songs and melodies, as has Mr. Young, who has always produced what he wanted on his terms, and has never sold out to commercialism or tried to appeal to the mainstream audience.

Here we have so many terrific songs like "Tell Me Why", "After The Goldrush", and his smash hit, "Southern Man", that it is hard to remember that this is just one of several such albums he released in short order over a three or four year period. IN a number of other songs, such as "Only Love Can Break Your Heart", which Linda Ronstadt later did a great cover of, Neil's genius and guitar virtuosity shines, as it does in songs like "Don't Let It Bring You Down", "Birds", "I Believe In You", and a personal favorite of mine, "When You Dance". Young may well be an iconoclast, someone who is unpredictable, unreliable from a business sense, and something of a prima donna, but he always plays straight from the heart (and groin), and one knows that the guy playing that axe so masterfully is absolutely in control of the incredible sounds emanating from it. Wow! Put this baby in the CD player and listen as the CD illustrates why Neil Young will never die! Long may his chrome heart shine!

The original uncropped picture has Graham Nash in it