After The Goldrush
After the Goldrush is an album I haven’t listened to for a very long time; I don’t listen to a lot of Neil Young. There’s is no particular reason for that, he just isn’t someone who crops up in my listening. As with so many ‘classic’ 1970 albums, that means listening to this again, after who knows how long, had a genuine voyage of discovery vibe, and perhaps also some objectivity.
Something that struck me straight away was that this album could be released today, when the west coast is burning and the GOP are in their pomp, and it would still sound new and ‘relevant’.**
Musically, there is nothing especially complex about it: it doesn’t rely on anything except melodic songs given whatever arrangement felt right at the time by Young and his associates, principally a young Nils Lofgren, Jack Nitzsche and Danny Whitten, which is a pretty good collection of associates.
The ‘big’ songs come out of it well, the enigmatic title track, Southern Man and Only Love Can Break Your Heart, all on side one of the original LP, Don’t Let It Bring You Down on side two.
If I have a criticism, it’s that the songs are a bit same-y in terms of construction, despite variations in key, instrumentation and tempo. Not surprisingly, I was reminded more than once of CSNY. The songs I mention above are all more than capable of standing on their own, as are the others on the album; all gathered together in once place, they had me flagging around the middle of what was side two thinking ‘I’ve heard this before.’
I have friends who love this album, and I can understand why. It is often cited as one of the greats of the era. If it doesn’t quite do it for me taken as a whole, notwithstanding the big songs on it, then no doubt that’s a problem with me not everyone else.
**It then occurred to me that it’s continuing ‘relevance’ after fifty years says a lot about change and progress requiring more than just a handful of good songs.
Available from the usual sources.
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