Neil Young

Album By Album Career Retrospective

Part 2

1973/1975

Three Shades of Gloom

By Andrew Barclay

‘Time Fades Away’ 1973

After the success of ‘Harvest’, Young hit the road to packed out arenas all across America. He’d played venues this size with super group Crosby Stills Nash and Young, but this was the first time he was to play at such large places on his own merit.

The resulting tour was recorded, and as it was full of new material, Young elected to release a collection of some of the new songs as a live album. ‘Time Fades Away’ is perhaps the least known of Young’s albums, but it’s worth seeking out. The tour it comes from was fraught with troubles, and this frustration is carried across into the music.

Danny Whitten, guitar player with Crazy Horse had died of a heroin overdose just prior to the tour, and this put Young in a grim mood. The music here isn’t the country tinged material on offer on previous albums; here we get ragged rock work outs and a few very precious ballads.

‘L.A’ and ‘Yonder Stands the Sinner’ are the best examples of the albums strengths, rugged and chunky guitars are the order of the day.

Young is often called the god father of grunge, and this, if any album, could lay claim to being the incubation of that sound. Young for the most part seems to be on self-destruct mode, his voice often cracking during songs, and his guitar playing, paired down to its simplest form.

‘Journey Through The Past’ and ‘Don’t Be Denied’ are wonderful piano ballads and perhaps the best moments on the album. Young was going against the grain, he purposely wasn’t giving the large crowds what they wanted, and this album serves as a document from what was the start of a dark, dark road for Neil Young.

‘On The Beach’ 1974

With his first large scale tour behind him, Neil Young decided to record a tequila fuelled album called ‘Tonight’s The Night’. His label rejected the record, and Young swiftly handed in its replacement in the form of ‘On the Beach’.

If his record label were looking for more singles like ‘Heart of Gold’, then they were sadly not in tune with Neil Young at this time. ‘On The Beach’ is a dense and gloomy album, but don’t allow that to put you off. ‘Walk On’ is perhaps the most joyous sounding tracks of the record, until you discover that the song is in fact, a rebuttal against the press and paranoia that the gossip they spin can create.

‘Revolution Blues’ was Young’s take on Charles Manson, and was full of threatening imagery and doom, conveyed via some witty and sometimes funny lyrics, even if the subject was close to Young’s heart (Neil Young knew Manson in person).

‘Vampire Blues’ is another meandering track, and for me, perhaps the dullest moment in Young’s career to date; One to skip.

The title track is similar to ‘Vampire Blues’ in tone, but this time it really works, and you really start to feel the extent of loss that Young was feeling at the time “the world is turning, hope it don’t turn away’’ sings Young in his most world weary voice.

‘Motion Pictures’ is a classic Neil Young song, and one that’s criminally under played in concert. Perhaps mining the same ground as ‘Walk On’, although by far the better song, ‘Motion Pictures’ perfectly sums up the album. Realizing that their artist was perhaps right to follow his instincts and release more downbeat albums, the already recorded ‘Tonight’s the Night’ was soon to follow.

‘Tonight’s The Night’ 1975

It seems crazy with hindsight, that Young’s record label refused this album a release when he first turned it in. For many, this album is cited as his most challenging work, and I concur with that. To understand the album, you should know that the deaths of Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten, and roadie and friend Brice Berry were weighing heavily on Young’s mind.

The album is bookended with two versions of the title track, and the song ‘Tonight’s The Night’ features a chant like mantra, quite unlike anything else he has written. After the near spooky opener, a lighter hearted song, ‘Speakin Out’ is next. A light and airy blues song, it’s somewhat out of place on this record, but enjoyable in itself.

One of the most sublime songs in Young’s career is on this album, ‘Albuquerque’ is near perfect, and recalls the better melodies on the Harvest album. Elsewhere, the darkness is never too far away, and the likes of ‘World on a String’, ‘Mellow My Mind’, and ‘Tired Eyes’ capture a man at the limits of his endurance.

‘Tired Eyes’ is of particular note, and is quite easily one of Young’s best emotional pieces. Young narrates the songs verses, about a drug deal gone wrong, before he screeches the chorus at the top of his already high pitched voice. For many the unrelenting bleak tone of the record was a turn off, especially coming after the previous two albums, and they are commonly referred to as Young’s ‘Doom Trilogy’. Of the three albums ‘Tonight’s The Night’ is by far the best, and if you haven’t heard it yet, I implore you to seek it out.

Young was about to reunite for a full album with Crazy Horse for the first time since ‘Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere’, and expectations were high, if only at the thought of Young sounding a little more upbeat than he had on ‘Time Fades Away’, ‘On The Beach’ and ‘Tonight’s The Night’.