After the Gold Rush

Here we have so many terrific songs like "Tell Me Why", "After The Goldrush", and his smash hit, "Southern Man", that it is hard to remember that this is just one of several such albums he released in short order over a three or four year period. IN a number of other songs, such as "Only Love Can Break Your Heart", which Linda Ronstadt later did a great cover of, Neil's genius and guitar virtuosity shines, as it does in songs like "Don't Let It Bring You Down", "Birds", "I Believe In You", and a personal favorite of mine, "When You Dance". Young may well be an iconoclast, someone who is unpredictable, unreliable from a business sense, and something of a prima donna, but he always plays straight from the heart (and groin), and one knows that the guy playing that axe so masterfully is absolutely in control of the incredible sounds emanating from it. Wow! Put this baby in the CD player and listen as the CD illustrates why Neil Young will never die! Long may his chrome heart shine!


The singer-songwriter statement of the seventies.   November 30, 1998
21 out of 21 found this review helpful

Neil Young's After the Goldrush stands as one of the most complete albums in rock N roll's mythology. He laces social commentary (Southern Man, After the Goldrush)with beautiful songs of anguish (Only Love can Break Your Heart, Oh, Lonesome Me). This album shows that Neil Young has few boundaries as an artistic voice. His backing band (Crazy Horse) lends a graceful accompaniment, but it's Young's show. Southern Man is quite frankly one of the most important rock songs of all time. It has a patented Young minimalist guitar solo and lyrics which cut straight to the heart of America's "silent majority" racist attitudes. Alternately, with Birds, Young still looks for hope through love. This album is essential for aspiring singer songwriters. All of the selections have a logical fit and tremendous aural dynamics. Young feels no need to create complex song structures; he bypasses this. His playing is emotive and instintive. The lush landscape resonates far after you stop listening to the pithy 30 minute gem. I wish he did a sequal to Goldrush instead of Harvest.


Classic Album By Neil Young!   July 18, 2002
Barron Laycock (Temple, New Hampshire United States)
17 out of 19 found this review helpful

In the shadow of his crushing success with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Neil Young released this solo album using some of his best studio friends to produce a landmark album that was a runaway best seller at about the same time as CSN& Y's "Deja Vu" was dominating the charts. There are a lot of memorable songs included in this album, all written by Young, and Neil's trademark guitar twang is audible everywhere. Also quite evident is his strange, eerie voice, which would be almost laughable were it not so memorable and also so effective a vehicle for his music. It drifts out at you like an echo in an alley, invading your private spaces as much as entertaining you.

The album opens with "Tell Me Why", a plaintive ballad delivered in a mostly acoustical format. Next is "After The Goldrush", a dreamy, sometimes nightmarish reflection on the state of the country at the turn of the seventies. Also included are ""only Love Can Break Your Heart", a long and rocking version of his famous "Southern Man" effort, including the afterward of "Till The Morning Comes". He does a terrific cover of Don Gibson's classic country song "Oh, Lonesome Me", and depresses us all with "Don't Let It Bring You Down". I simply love his song "Birds", and also like the rock treatment of "When You Dance". Finally, he delivers what has become a standard folk-rock ballad, "I Believe In You", which with "Cripple Creek Ferry" rounds out the album. This is a classic Neil Young effort, and like his work with Crazy Horse, is essential for any serious sixties rock fan. Enjoy!


After The Gold Rush   August 21, 2003
Richard Cunningham (United States)
16 out of 18 found this review helpful

A seminal Neil Young and Crazy Horse album. There are no weak songs. Strong lyrics and harmonies.


"Don't Let It Bring You Down"   March 30, 2008
Metamorpho (Budd Lake, N.J.)
16 out of 23 found this review helpful

Oh my people, I have been very busy of late. Aside from the daunting task of saving humanity, I have been asked by reknown editors to submit my reviews for a book they are considering. It will be called, "Metamorpho: The Seering Stone Reviews". Catchy title, ey? And, many of them will be culled from the very reviews my fanatical fans have read on these very pages! Oh, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking why you should pay for old, retread reviews? Not so my people! Proofreaders will be on hand to spice things up and apply the honored Hemingway method of economical writing (still popular in Florida and France) to my masterpieces. Of course, I will have final approval. Don't I always? ;)

But, to the point, this is about Neil Young's folk-rock paragon "After the Gold Rush". This one stands out and is notable for the obvious growth in songwriting and lyrics. In this offering, Neil Young discovers the piano, and how that instrument can augment his compositions in many wonderous ways. He utilizes this for quiet, reflective mood. But also, as an integral part for his externalized topics. We have varying degrees of emotion in love. We have dismay and elevation. We cover the gamut of human concerns here. This is what makes it so extraordinary.

There are many interpretations of the title. Ask yourself what comes after the "gold rush"? Certainly that could apply to the depletion of mother earth, but also to what comes after that initial fascination and "rush" of emotions with new love. A clever title. And Neil is more than competent to deal with these issues.

He begins with "Tell Me Why", a straight on folk tune. But I am taken with the lyrics here. The imagery and superb lyric of "sailing hardships, through broken harbors" is a wordplay of the highest form. But then, a familar Neil Young dilemma enters, "Is it hard to make arrangements with yourself? When you're old enough to repay but young enough to sell"? Again, Neil's constant challenge: that old netherworld between childhood and adulthood. This theme plays out in many of his songs.

Next is "After the Gold Rush", a mournful piano excursion dream that encompasses medieval times, the apocalypse, and leaving a dying planet. "Look at mother nature on the run". Indeed. Next up is "Only Love Can Break Your Heart". A beautiful soft folk-rock ballad that, for all it's simplicity, conveys the wisdom of mature truth. How true. Only love can, and does, break one's heart.

"Southern Man" then gives Neil a chance to not only express his outrage towards historic treatment of the black man in the south, but also gives him a chance to qualify that transgression with blistering lead. Notice here how his admonitions change voice. He takes on the voice of a southern bossman. But, taking liberties such as this makes the whole song work on a visionary level.

Next, Neil asks us to wait "Till the Morning Comes". A very, short bouncy tune, it begs further investigation. Obviously, not telling you who, what, where and why, leaves it up to your mind to interpret what it means. Artistry at work folks! We then proceed onwards to that Don Gibson classic "Oh Lonesome Me", which conveys lost love and loneliness perfectly with slow moving piano and harmonica. All the gold miners have long gone home after this composition.

Next song is a gem. Depressing signs and ominous situations beg an inner reflection of truth. "Com'on down to the river of sight", Neil urges. The truth, finally revealed -

"Don't let it bring you down,
it's only castles burning,
find someone who's turning,
and you will come around".

"Birds" is a beautiful piano and chorus composition. It's about love that has died and the need to fly away. It is in a song like this that Neil has the ability to show courage, compassion and the strength to move on. This is why he is such a superb songwriter. He then rocks, just a bit, with "When You Dance You Can Really Love", a romantic joy romp which leads into the plea of a dissolving relationship with the waltz-like "I Believe in You". A last stand perhaps?

Neil then returns to the south with "Cripple Creek Ferry". A short snippet that conveys so much about relationships. In his own way, Neil knows that he is a gambler in love, just as we all are. The gold rush is over. It is the second half of the cruise. He hates to lose but, after all, he is on a "cripple" boat at best. With Neil, all these connections and visions come into play. I think this is one of the reasons he is the artist he is today.

In many ways, this was an overwhelming and gigantic step in Neil Young's career. I have loved it from the moment I heard it, and it has lost nothing over the years. If you like folk rock, even tempered and balanced with reflection in full supply, then this is definitely one of the very best. Beautiful and one of a kind, I recommend it highly! Now I must get back to the proofreaders about my reviews. We are fighting about the inclusion or exclusion of the word "the" in one of my reviews. I fear this may be a long process and you might see my book in, hmmmmm.... maybe five years? Oh well.....

Turning -----keep the faith, Metamorpho ;)