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ON THE BEACH LP released
July 4th 1974 CAt no: US R2180 // UK K54014
LP Dedicated To Elliot Roberts Credits include C.S . believed to be Carrie
Snodgrass
# No 42 UK charts
# No 16 USA charts
Album Credits:
(as they appear on the inner sleeve - see the artwork page to see what it looked like!)
Walk on
Produced by Neil Young and David Briggs
Guitar and vocal - Neil Young
Slide guitar and vocal - Ben Keith
Bass - Billy Talbot
Drums andvoal - Ralph Molina
See the sky about to rain
Produced by Neil Young and Mark Harman
Wurlitzer piano and vocal - Neil Young
Steel Guitar - Ben Keith Bass - Tim Drummond
Drums - Levon Helm
Harp - Joe Yankee
Revolution blues
Produced by Neil Young and Mark Harman
Lead guitar and vocal - Neil Young
Rhythm guitar - David Crosby
Wurlitzer piano - Ben Keith
Bass - Rick Danko
Drums - Levon Helm
For the turnstiles
Produced by Neil Young and David Briggs
Banjo and vocal - Neil Young
Dobro and vocal - Ben Keith
Vampire blues
Produced by Neil Young and Mark Harman
Lead guitar and vocal - Neil Young
Organ, vocal and hair drum - Ben Keith
Bass - Tim Drummond
Drums - Ralph Molina
On the beach
Produced by Neil Young and Al Schmitt
Guitar and vocal - Neil Young
Wurlitzer piano - Graham Nash
Hand drum - Ben Keith
Bass - Tim Drummond
Drums - Ralph Molina
Motion pictures (for Carrie)
Produced by Neil Young and Al Schmitt
Guitar, harmonica and vocal - Neil Young
Slide guitar - Rusty Kershaw
Bass - Ben Keith
Hand drums - Ralph Molina
Ambulance blues
Produced by Neil Young and Al Schmitt
Guitar, harmonica and vocal
Fiddle - Rusty Kershaw
Bass - Ben Keith
Hand drums - Ralph Molina
Electric tambourine - Joe Yankee
Dedicated to Elliot Roberts
Thanks to everyone who gave everything
All songs
recorded at Sunset sound, Los Angeles, except
"Walk On" and "For The Turnstiles", recorded at Broken
Arrow studios, San Francisco
All songs published by Warner Bros. ® & © 1974
Levon Helm and Rick Danko courtesy of Capitol Records, Inc.
Art direction
and design - Gary Burden for R. Twerk & Company
Photography - Bob Seidemann
Lettering - Rick Griffin
C.S.
THE MUSICIANS:
(information thanks to johnnyrideon ;-)
A total of 11 musicians appeared on OTB, from the regular, Ralph Molina to the strange, Joe Yankee, who doesn't really exist, but never fear, all shall be revealed.
BEN KEITH A multi-talented Musician who Neil first met in Nashville in February
1971 when Neil was Recording the LP Harvest, Neil asked Tim Drummond if he
knew any pedal -steel players, Tim contacted Ben, who lived in town and off
he went to the studio quote: "i didn't know who anyone was, so i asked, who's
that guy over there" and was told "thats Neil Young " nearly 30 years later
with numerous tours and appearances on 15 Album releases, he is as much apart
of Neil's music as is Crazy Horse Neil also appeared on his 1994 Christmas
songs CD Seven Gates
BILLY TALBOT well what is there to say about the Master, who makes one Bass
chord sound like Beethoven's 5th, a founder member of the Rockets which Neil
took in 1969 and moulded them into the musicial sound we call Crazy Horse
RALPH MOLINA Another founder member of The Rockets, A solid drummer who surprised
us all when called upon to perform musicial gymnastics with Neil's future
releases, performed admirably, Here and with Crazy Horse
TIM DRUMMOND Another Harvest musician who was walking down the street in Nashville
February 1971 when a friend told him that Neil was in the local studio and
looking for a Bass player, so he took himself off to the studio and introduced
himself, another session player turned friend who has appeared on tours and
played on non-Crazy Horse Album releases, his most famous persona was being
a bopping member of the Shocking Pinks
LEVON HELM An unusual inclusion here seeing that Levon was a member of THE
BAND and certainly not a session player, but he was in LA along with Rick
Danko and being a friend of Neil from the early Canadian years, he was made
an offer from Neil he couldn't refuse
RICK DANKO In town along with fellow BAND member Levon Helm and got roped
in to play the Bass on one track
DAVID CROSBY & GRAHAM NASH Fellow members of CSN&Y and good friends of Neil
[ excluding the musicial disagreements of course ]
GEORGE WHITSELL ex member of The Rockets, who lived the 70's Californian lifestyle
and just turned up to jam around with his old partners in the LA Studio thus
ending up playing on Vampire Blues
RUSTY KERSHAW A country musician who was introduced to Neil in 1974 and got
to play the most incredable Fiddle music, Cruel, Angry and Violent Re; Ambulance
Blues yet touched with a sadness that only a Neil song could carry off to
perfection Rusty also wrote the sleeve notes to OTB Though doomed never to
appear on another album nor tour with Neil Rusty Kershaw has the distinction
of having Neil guesting on 8 tracks off his 1992 CD release Now & Then
JOE YANKEE one of Neil's alternative personas Part of an Article from Broken
Arrow Noveber 1990 issue #41 by Ron Scarlett copied by Kind permission NYAS
After reading an interview with Neil Young in Broken arrow 40, specifically
the part about him working on "Songs For Beginners" under a different name
and then Joe Yankee also appearing on CSN's " Wild Tales " I have come to
the conclusion that he and Joe Yankee must be one of the same He next pops
up again on Time Fades Away, playing Bass , considering that Tim Drummond
was the Bass player on the tour and album, perhaps the Bass was lost on the
live recording of "Yonder stands the Sinner," and maybe Neil Needed a Overdub
The apparently final appearance of Joe Yankee was on OTB , playing Harmonica
on "See The Sky..." and the so-called Electric tambourine on "Ambulance Blues
" with the harmonica sounding a lot like Neil's style Again I have a theory:
in that particular phase of Neil's career he wasn't into overdubbing too much,
if he is still playing harmonica on " See the Sky," it's an overdub, because
he is singing at the same time, it's a similar situation with "Ambulance Blues,"
he couldn't play both guitar and tambourine at the same time, So i suspect
he may have used the name as his "overdub persona" on his own records and
also to begin with, as a way to avoid contractual problems with Atlantic records
[ Nash & CSN] but if anyone ever bumps into Joe Yankee, please, let me know
THE LINER
NOTES BY RUSTY KERSHAW
(my best effort at transcribing them!)
I can't read or write
very well, so I don't quite
understand why anyone
would want me to write
liner notes
Except for what I saw
and heard.
The first time I saw neil
his spirit was down
The next time I saw neil
I tryed to boost his spirits
with my music and I did
and it work.
In return neil played, sang,
and wrote, the best of any music
in a while.
Not to speak of the fun we had.
We laughed so hard we all had bruised ribs.
On revolution blues, I turned
into a python than an
aligator, I was crawling like one
making noises like one.
Plus I was eating up the
carpit and mike stands and such
and in the meanwhile I started
to crawl up towards neil,
which is pretty spooky
when your trying to sing
but any ways by that time
the necktie people ask my
friend Joe what are we gonna
do about Rusty, and my friends
answer was Hell I don't know
I'm just hanging around
to see if he'll swallow him
ore not.
But what the hell
I give you my word
there is good music in this
album.
Rusty
Kershaw
Cause Ben is
my friend R.K.