14th CD

After the Gold Rush. Four and a half stars.

In 1970, after his collaboration with Crosby, Stills & Nash (resulting in the extremely successful Deja Vu, which I still haven't heard), Neil Young went back to his solo career with another successful record. Keeping his backing band Crazy Horse, he also got Jack Nitzsche from the first album for piano and Greg Reeves (bass player for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young) on board. Oh, and Stills gets to do backing vocals.

So it sounds a lot like the hard rock/country and folk/country of previous efforts, with the difference of Bill Peterson (whoever that is) playing flugelhorns.

Tell Me Why. Neil starts singing almost immediately on a lovely acoustic number with harmonizing. It's everything I like about his music in one song.

After the Gold Rush is a piano ballad. The lyric makes no sense (that's probably because it's based on a screenplay for a film of the same name. The film never materialized, by the way.) The melody is nice; the horns get their first airing on the bridge. For some reason, I really haven't warmed to it.

Only Love Can Break Your Heart also leaves me cold. It's really quite fragmented, like he had something he meant to say, but couldn't find the words to say it. There's not much to it, but it got to # 33, so what do I know?

Southern Man makes up for these weaknesses. It starts seemingly right in the middle of an epic rock song. Most of it is taken up by guitar soloing, but the piano steals the show for me (that's an unknown Nils Lofgren, by the way). Anyone who played on this song can walk tall for the rest of their life, that's how good it is. Great lyric too; a stark, sweeping glance at the South's slave legacy.

Then, Side 1 finishes with Till the Morning Comes, an extra lavished with horns and harmonies that turn Neil Young into a barbershop quartet. It's treated like a real song, when in fact it is two lines and an infectiously good-natured piano riff. At one minute, its nearest relatives may be found on the Beatles' White Album.

Oh Lonesome Me is a cover of country artist Don Gibson. Harmonica! Pure country, of course. Neil's delivery is as sincere as it gets, which is good, as the lyric is a bit old-fashioned. It's a dirge, but rather nice.

Don't Let It Bring You Down is packed with vivid imagery, centered on the city (which is a bit of a scenic shift) and one of the most gripping songs herein.

Birds is a mercifully short piano ballad. It's pure heart-on-your-sleeve material. Just listen to him sing the line "It's over..." It is absolutely beautiful and sublime and chokes me up.

When You Dance, I Can Really Love is a rock song, and the other single. Rather low-concept, but a thankful change of pace from all the harrowing songs about lonely people.

We go right back to that with I Believe in You. It's an acoustic guitar partner to Birds and gets much the same reaction.

Side 2 wraps with another throwaway. Cripple Creek Ferry is one verse and a chorus. The simplicity makes it somewhat ridiculous, though the story it paints has a lot of potential.

I'm rubbing my hands in anticipation of Harvest and Live at Massey Hall 1971, though I must say After the Gold Rush is a little bit uneven.

Also, despite my lackluster readership, I have to say I'm enamoured of this job I've undertaken, and I have no intention to stop until I've reviewed everybody from Abney Park to ZZ Top.