Young Neil

Oceanside Countryside is the latest of Neil Young's great "lost" albums to be released as part of his Analog Original Series. The album was recorded from May to December 1977, preceding the release of Comes A Time in 1978. The two albums share the same country/folk sound, and three songs ("Goin' Back", "Human Highway" and "Field of Opportunity") appear on both albums.<br/><br/>The vinyl release of Oceanside Countryside includes some tracks that are on the CD of the same name in Neil Young's Archives Vol. III. However, this track list is how Oceanside Countryside was originally planned to be released. Recorded on tape, these are the original mixes done at the time of recording. <br/> <br/>All the songs on the "Oceanside" are performed solo by Neil Young. On "Countryside" Young is joined by a band of his friends: Ben Keith (Steel Guitar), Rufus Thibodeaux (fiddle), Karl T. Himmel (drums), Joe Osborne (bass). On "The Old Homestead" Tim Drummond plays bass and Levon Helm plays drums. "Pocahontas" is Young solo.<br/><br/>Please note that while the songs on Oceanside Countryside appear on Archives Vol.III, the versions are not always the same and the track list is the running order for the original Oceanside Countryside album. On this Analog Original vinyl release, the versions of "Lost in Space," "Captain Kennedy" and "The Old Homestead" are from Hawks & Doves in 1980. "Sail Away", "Goin' Back", "Human Highway", "It Might Have Been", and "Pocahontas" are the same versions as on Archives Vol. III in digital. "Field of Opportunity" and "Dance Dance Dance" are the original versions that have Young on backing vocals instead of Nicolette Larson as they appeared on Archives Vol.III.

Young Neil: Oceanside Countryside (1977) [Digipack / CD]

Neil Young's fourth solo album remains one of the most beloved in his catalog and is dense with songs that have long-permeated radio waves. The 50th Anniversary Edition Box Sets boasting the original album, three studio outtakes, an unreleased live 1971 BBC solo performance. <br/><br/>The film Harvest Time is a previously unseen 2-hour documentary filmed in 1971, documenting the Harvest sessions. Also included in the package is a hardbound book and fold-out poster. <br/><br/>Fans of the record will receive a new glimpse into Harvest through the two DVDs included in the box set. The first is Harvest Time, an unreleased two-hour film shot during the making of Harvest, with footage from Young's 'Harvest Barn' sessions in Northern California, recording sessions in Nashville and London. The second is a film of the unreleased solo BBC Concert recorded on February 23, 1971. Also included are three outtakes tracks from the original Harvest sessions: "Bad Fog of Loneliness," "Journey Through The Past," and "Dance Dance Dance." Additionally, the hardbound book will include never-before-seen photos along with extensive liner notes by photographer Joel Bernstein.

For the past two decades, Toast has been whispered about in collectors' circles in hushed tones, as Young has dropped pieces of information about it here and there, especially as it contains three never-before-released songs.<br/>Last year, in his online daily newspaper, The Times Contrarian, Young wrote about the album in-depth. "The music of Toast is about a relationship," he said. "There is a time in many relationships that go bad, a time long before the breakup, where it dawns on one of the people, maybe both, that it's over. This was that time."<br/><br/>Aptly, Toast is heavy and distressed, brimming with electrifying tension. Even its sweet-sounding opening track, "Quit," features the refrain, "Don't say you love me." "Standing In The Light of Love" and "Goin' Home" let the Horse off the tether in fields of overdriven guitar; an out-of-work logger grapples with his faith on the breakneck "Timberline;" and on "Gateway of Love," Young dreams of a less painful future over a hypnotizing 10 minutes, leading into the somber, brokedown "How Ya Doin'?" The songwriter sums up the album best during its shadowy finale "Boom Boom Boom": "All I got is a broken heart, and I don't try to hide it when I play my guitar."

The fourth installment in Neil Young's Official Release Series (ORS): a box set that includes his classic '80s records Hawks & Doves, Reoacotor, and This Note's for You, as well as his Eldorado EP, previously released only in Japan and Australia. <br/><br/>The ORS Vol 4 collects an eclectic set of decade-spanning sounds. Hawks & Doves (1980) revisits his folk roots and explores some of his most country-leaning offerings; the blistering Reoacotor (1981) showcases a stomping set of heavy, overdriven rock with Crazy Horse; and This Note's for You (1988) casts Young as a big band leader, belting out intricately arranged blues. The Eldorado EP (1989) is full of feral distortion and earthy crunch featuring Young backed by The Restless (Chad Cromwell and Rick Rosas). It includes two thundering tracks - "Cocaine Eyes" and "Heavy Love"- not available on any other album.

Young Neil: Freedom 1989 [Digipack / CD]

On his new album, BEFORE AND AFTER, Young has approached a totally eclectic collection of mostly obscure songs like a painter with a new palette. Picking from a vast array of his originals, Young chooses favorites from his playbook like a trip into his music history and performs them mostly alone, taking a solo acoustic journey to a new place. Each of the songs blend and create one continuous flow, clocking in at a 48-minute pure and intimate listening experience. Produced by Lou Adler and Neil Young and mixed by Young and Niko Bolas, aka The Volume Dealers, this is unlike any other album he has released to date.<br/> <br/>Young describes BEFORE AND AFTER succinctly: "The feeling is captured, not in pieces, but as a whole piece - designed to be listened to that way. This music presentation defies shuffling, digital organization, separation. Only for listening. That says it all".<br/> <br/>New versions of the songs themselves seamlessly move and morph with mesmerizing clarity, beginning with his earliest Buffalo Springfield appearance, "Burned," to the recent "Don't Forget Love" (from 2021's BARN) and including the previously unreleased song "If You Got Love".