Neil Young: On the Beach

It was definitely reading Johnny Rogan's original 1980s Neil Young book that lead me to buy On the Beach (as well as Tonight's the Night). It was the picture that he painted of that whole era in Neil's life, together with his (strong) case for Ambulance Blues being among his best ever songs, that drew me in. And that was what tipped me over from being a keen follower into a dedicated hard-core fan. That must have been around 1984; the same time I joined the Neil Young Appreciation Society, the only club of which I've been a member for over two decades, without break.

From what Paul, who knows Rogan reasonably well, tells me, he is clearly an eccentric. But the things he wrote in the 100th issue of the NYAS's Broken Arrow showed a generosity to other biographers and a true devotion to his subject. A gentleman and scholar. I had hoped to meet him at the celebrations for Neil's 60th and Broken Arrow's 100th, and get him to sign my copy of Neil Young: Zero to Sixty, but he didn't show. Apparently he doesn't like big boozy crowds.

Nowadays you don't need me, or Johnny Rogan, to tell you how great this album is. I still find new things to enjoy in it on each listen (this time it was Levon Helm's drumming on Revolution Blues). For three years at the start of the decade, there was a petition to get the album released on CD, which attracted over 5,000 signatures before the CD came out in 2003. I didn't participate: my LP copy has always been more than adequate.

MusicBrainz entry for this album