After the Gold Rush, Neil Young, 1970, :34
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
I generally like Neil Young well enough, but came to his music mostly through his later material like Freedom and Harvest Moon (aside from the classic rock radio standards, of course). On this album we hear a young Young, his voice higher, his spirit a little less ragged. His fierce streak of independence and his refusal to censor his voice are already proudly on display, however. This is a career-making album, the kind that can keep an artist's reputation solid for decades. There's very few the heavy-handed maudlin lyrics of his later period (like on the leaden "Natural Beauty"). What we do get are thoughtful, earnest messages like "Southern Man" and "After the Gold Rush." But also love songs and (yes, at times) some dreamy, maybe-druggy-not-very-sensical lyrics. But there's a revelatory remake of "Oh, Lonesome Me" that shows that Young has power as an interpreter as well. Favorite tracks: "After the Gold Rush," "Southern Man." Favorites that are new to me: "Tell me Why," "Cripple Creek Ferry."
