After The Goldrush

by Neil Young

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One of Neil Young fans all time favorite album's, there is little argument that "After the Goldrush" defines that overused term "classic". In a Funhouse Review by Runar Igesund:

"After the Goldrush is a 'right' album. Right in the sense that it changes and grows, along with the listener. The first time I listened to it, I thought that 'Southern Man' was the only cool track on the album. Maybe because it, together with 'When You Dance I Can Really Love', were the only tracks that were with an electric band. But soon I learned to appreciate the fine lyrics of 'Tell Me Why,' and the ingenious melody of 'Don't Let It Bring You Down.' "

The title cut has provided endless speculation on the meaning of its lyrics. In an analysis of the apocalyptic lyrics, Randy S. wrote on the lines:

'Look at Mother Nature on the run
in the nineteen seventies'

:"The above lines bring to mind man upsetting the delicate balance of nature with pollution, runaway technology, and threats of (nuclear) war."

From the "Neil Young/Liner Notes" chapter by Brian Keizer on "After The Goldrush"'s somewhat split personality:

"In the interim between CSNY's Carry On Tour and the CSNY spring tour, interrupted by the breakup in which "Ohio" was penned, Young painted a sonic tapestry of Topanga Canyon, his third album, "After The Gold Rush." Young had taken Crazy Horse on a short tour and then gone into the studio to make a "country album." But Young was unhappy with the progress, disturbed by Crazy Horse's performance and especially by the escalating drug use of Danny Whitten. In a fit of disgust, Young fired them. During Crazy Horse's first tour in '69, Young had met a precocious and talented seventeen-year-old guitarist and songwriter from Washington D.C. at a show at that city's Cellar Door club. Nils Lofgren's spunk and purity charmed Neil and he took Nils under his wing. When Nils' band, Grin, recorded its first record almost a year later, Neil and Crazy Horse stopped by to add vocals. He called Nils up to the studio to jam. Soon after, Neil invited Crazy Horse drummer Ralph Molina back to the fold.

"After The Gold Rush" was a long compositional leap for Young. The title cut floated a haunting piano figure offset by Young's doomed keening as the lyrics detailed an apocalyptic natural nightmare, beginning in a pastoral medieval setting and ending with the vision of a "silver space-ship" come to take mother nature's seed from the dead who had misused it(which reminds me of the final scene of "Human Highway," the movie). The line "Look at Mother Nature on the run in the 1970's" would stand as a prophecy of the rape of America and the world's natural beauty by the military/industrial complex, and of the eco-conservation movement that would gain enormous power in the 1970's.

"Southern Man" was a sinewy, muscular rocker showcasing Young's guitar chops. As a political song it had all the knee-jerk power of Neil's reaction to Kent State in "Ohio," even though it was undermined by a simplistic vision of the American south as the land of Klansman and killers. The song evoked response from Southern rock kingpins Lynyrd Skynyrd in "Sweet Home Alabama": "I hope Neil Young will remember/Southern man don't need him 'round anyhow."

"Only Love Can Break Your Heart," "Don't Let It Bring You Down," "Birds," and "I Believe In You" were sad and gorgeous ballads unravelling voices and pictures of lives and loves in transit. The record's first single, "Oh Lonesome Me," a cover of the old Don Gibson country tune, was the only cut saved from the early "country" sessions. Though panned by many critics, it is a grand example of how Young, rather than burying his voice in the mix, began using it's unique edge to deliver true emotional power. Likewise the fact that the eccentric craftsman in Neil heard "Oh Lonesome Me" as a single was an early indicator of how unpredictable and uncompromising he could be in bringing his product to market. The second single, "Only Love Can Break Your Heart," rose to number 33 on the charts.

Buoyed by his greater recognizability courtesy of CSNY, Young's first truly great record rose to number 8 on the charts, making him a bona fide star, something those around him since the Springfield days said---no matter how reluctant he might have acted---he wanted to be. The movie "After The Gold Rush" never got made. The record stood as a soundtrack to a project gone bust. The cover bore a sun-drenched photo nearly turned to a negative of Neil passing an old woman on his way to a CSNY gig, the two of them caught in apocalyptic shadows."

From the Albums In Order Series by Mike "Expecting to Fly" Cordova, on After The Goldrush's artwork:

"I just loved the scribble sheet that came with the original vinyl album. It's a xerox copy of taped-together notebook sheets on which Neil has handwritten the lyrics. So cool. The inside cover has one of the best pics of Neil ever.

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