On The Beach 50

A 50th anniversary for a seminal album is an opportunity to reflect and re-evaluate. A half century on, and it can take on a new life and a new meaning, especially when that album is Neil Young's "On The Beach".

In the 1st half of the 1970’s, as Young was recording collections of songs that would each take on an aura of their own, "On The Beach" became its own achievement.

This new anniversary limited edition of "On The Beach" will be pressed on clear vinyl, with "50" added to the front cover to mark the passage of time, and is set for release on November 8th, 2024, via Reprise Records and Warner Music.

The songs range from "See The Sky About To Rain" to "Ambulance Blues", and explore the evolving counterculture in the 1970s in ways which had not been done. These were songs that he took into a new realm of where he and the country were going, and where that would take them.

"On The Beach" became a very special moment in the musical history of Neil Young. It was his 5th studio album, and was recorded with a stellar range of musicians, including Crazy Horse's rhythm section Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina, along with other key players Ben Keith, Tim Drummond, Levon Helm and Rick Danko from The Band, Rusty Kershaw, David Crosby, Graham Nash and George Whitsell from The Rockets.

Sessions were held at Young’s Broken Arrow Ranch in Northern California and Sunset Sound in Hollywood, and there was a definite feeling of expanding elements of musical styles being added to the playbook.

This was Young at his most adventurous, and pointed to several new musical directions for him, yet to be defined.