Neil Young: After the Gold Rush (Reprise)
After the breakup of the Buffalo Springfield, Neil Young went in several different directions. In 1969 he released two LPs extremely contrasted character: his quirky, largely subdued, sometimes heavily arranged eponymous debut, and Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, a louder and more generally rocking effort thanks to the introduction of his backing band Crazy Horse. Then he raised his profile as a member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, whose Deja Vu topped the album chart. When he combined all three directions on the August 31, 1970 release After the Gold Rush, he achieved his commercial breakthrough as a solo artist.
The album had a somewhat convoluted genesis. Young read an apocalyptic screenplay (now lost) of the same title, mainly or entirely by his friend and Topanga Canyon neighbor Dean Stockwell (an actor of many roles), though the mysterious Herb Berman (supposedly Captain Beefheart's one-time manager and early co-writer) is also credited. Young wrote songs for a prospective soundtrack, though the movie was never made. Retrospectively, though, Young could only recall two songs specifically based on the screenplay: the weird, drugged-out hippy sci-fi title track and the brief, seemingly fragmentary "Cripple Creek Ferry"; nonetheless, to this day a note on the album says "[m]ost of these songs were inspired" by the screenplay. Work on the album, which began in 1969, was somewhat intermittent, as Young was also rehearsing, recording Deja Vu, and touring with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young for the first time.
The first studio sessions, done with Crazy Horse (back when it included Danny Whitten on second guitar and Jack Nitzsche on piano) at Sunset Sound in L.A. during the day because CSNY rehearsals were at night, yielded a brilliantly dolorous cover of Don Gibson's 11-year-old country hit “Oh, Lonesome Me” (also covered by Johnny Cash, Hank Snow, Ernest Tubb, George Jones, Bill Black, and more) the painfully questioning "I Believe in You," an early version of "Birds," and some fine outtakes never officially released until the first (and so far only) box of Young's Archives series a few years ago: "Everybody's Alone" and "Wonderin'." In February and March of 1970, Young toured with Crazy Horse (a Fillmore East performance from March was issued last decade). Whitten's new heroin habit made him unreliable, prone to nodding off even while performing. When the tour concluded, Young fired the band.
When Young resumed working on After the Gold Rush, recording was done in a miniscule studio built in his basement. He borrowed CSNY bassist Greg Reeves and Crazy Horse drummer Ralph Molina, recruited still-teenaged Nils Lofgren (and then, perversely, had the whiz-kid guitarist play piano), and had Stephen Stills add a little vocal harmony. The Topanga sessions yielded all the rest of the album's tracks, eight band numbers and the entirely solo remake of “Birds” The plaintive, harmony-vocal-heavy "Only Love Can Break Your Heart," seemingly influenced by CSN, landed in the lower reaches of the Top 40 Singles chart and set the tone for the California singer-songwriter explosion of the '70s. That's not to say that Young compromised his style in the least. It was already clear -- and has remained so throughout Young's long and twisting yet always respected career -- that he just put out what was on his mind and let the chips fall where they may. So "Southern Man" is an angry, political song with angry, squalling guitars (Young and Crazy Horse's ill-fated Danny Whitten), Still, the heart of this album is found in low-key laments -- not just "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" and "I Believe in You," but also "Don't Let It Bring You Down," "Birds," and "Tell Me Why" -- to which Young's high, creaky vocals are well suited.
After the Gold Rush and James Taylor's Sweet Baby James (with the hit "Fire and Rain") were the 1970 albums that paved the way for Jackson Browne and the national trend of the sensitive singer-songwriter.