Neil Young.
A few months back on a random weekday I was sitting at a restaurant bar with a couple of friends when I heard the song “On the beach.” It was towards the end of the night and one of the last songs the DJ would play that night, which outside of all the Motown, was also the only song that I remember him playing.
Caught in conversation, I don’t remember the song starting or what we were discussing, but a silence must have befallen the room when I heard the first couple of notes and when the inviting groove and tempo of the song took me away from my friends.
“I need a crowd of people — but I can’t face them day to day” was the first lyric I remember processing from Neil Young’s harrowing and unmistakable vocal. It made me curious and anxious for the rest of the lyrics but by this time that curiosity was battling the prudent and ceaseless percussion lines and the space they created for the precise bass line that perfectly transitioned every bar which by now, had me in a gentle stupor that set me up for the best part of the night, Young’s unhurried but dexterous guitar solo.
It sounded “jammy” but perfectly calculated, restrained and lyrical, with a certain texture that was “wall of sound” rock and roll, minus the wall. The solo took me somewhere near the whimsical parts of Soda Stereo’s “Unplugged” album Comfort y música para volar but without the synthesizers and violins.
When the vocal came back when it did in the second set of verses, I wasn’t ready for it as I was still hooked in the allure of the solo. “Get out of town, think I’ll get out of town…I’ll follow the road, though I don’t know where it ends” was the next set of lyrics that I processed and I was now absorbed by that curiosity I spoke of earlier and which would lead me to go home and play the song on repeat and buy the record.
“On the Beach” is the 1st track on side 2 of the album by the same name. Outside of the song “On the Beach,” the album is more of what I consider to be classically Neil Young, with elements of folk and early grunge rock that I had always associated him with. “Ambulance Blues,” the song that closes the album, is the best example of the Neil Young that I was familiar with, acoustic guitar, harmonica, fiddle and a story or a statement. Which is probably why when I first heard “On the Beach” the song, and was taken by it the way that I was, I was surprised that that música para volar was Neil Young.
◊
David Morales Castañedais a lifelong Chicagoan and aficionado of things inspired and beautifully or masterfully created such as music, film, food, booze, words, pictures, etc. In his leisure he is occupied with such things and enjoys international travel and experiences and has had dwelling stints in Paris and Mexico City. Professionally he is subject to SEC and FINRA oversight. David earned his BA in History at DePaul University.
♦