TONYA MOSLEY, HOST:
This FRESH AIR. Our rock critic Ken Tucker continues his summer series about great albums celebrating their 50th anniversary. And what could be more appropriate for a summer series than the Neil Young album called "On The Beach"? It's not all sunny, though. Young has referred to his 1974 album as one of the most depressing records he's ever made. Ken explains the context behind that remark and why he thinks Young's downbeat music is actually thrilling, even inspirational.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ON THE BEACH")
NEIL YOUNG: (Singing) I need a crowd of people, but I can't face them day to day. Though my problems are meaningless, that don't make them go away. I need a crowd of people, but I can't face them day to day.
KEN TUCKER, BYLINE: On the title song of "On The Beach," Neil Young sings I need a crowd of people, but I can't face them day to day. Two years before the release of this album in 1974, Young had put out "Harvest," a huge hit that attracted that crowd of people. It remains his bestselling album. But that success freaked him out. He started to write songs that were more downbeat, more guarded and prickly. His marriage to actress Carrie Snodgress was collapsing. When his guitarist, Danny Whitten, and one of his roadies, Bruce Berry, passed within months of each other in drug-related deaths, he told Rolling Stone that he held himself partly responsible. Young went into the studio and started talking about feeling like a blood-sucking vampire.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "VAMPIRE BLUES")
YOUNG: (Singing) I'm a vampire, babe, sucking blood from the earth. I'm a vampire, baby, sucking blood from the earth. Well, I'm a vampire, babe, sell you 20 barrels' worth. I'm a black bat, babe.
TUCKER: The recording sessions for "On The Beach" were gloomy affairs fueled by a lugubrious drug mixture the musicians called honey slides. In this context, "Revolution Blues," Young's rumination on psycho killer Charles Manson, fit right into the overall mood. Young enlisted Levon Helm and Rick Danko, the rhythm section of the band, to power up his memories of once trading guitar licks with Manson. The song ventures to get inside Manson's warped head with shocking, vivid details. It's one of the best songs Young has ever written and performed.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "REVOLUTION BLUES")
YOUNG: (Singing) Well, I'm a barrel of laughs with my carbine on. I keep them hopping till my ammunition's gone, but I'm still not happy. I feel like there's something wrong. I got the revolution blues. I see bloody fountains and 10 million dune buggies coming down the mountain. Well, I hear that Laurel Canyon - it's full of famous stars. But I hate them worse than lepers, and I'll kill them in their cars.
TUCKER: Is it any wonder Neil Young was Johnny Rotten's favorite hippie? The bleak but beautiful music Young was making during this period mixed folk and country with rough production and pinched, piercing vocals. It was Young's early, homegrown version of punk rock.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FOR THE TURNSTILES")
YOUNG: (Singing) All the sailors with their seasick mamas hear the sirens on the shore, singing songs for pimps with tailors who charge $10 at the door. You can really learn a lot that way. It will change you in the middle of the day. Though your confidence may be shattered, it doesn't matter.
TUCKER: One thing "On The Beach" demonstrates is that artists can make good art, no matter how hemmed in, churlish or depressed they may be. What might emerge from such low moods can prove revelatory and relatable in the way that the best songs about feeling bad can feel so good to a listener. With typical willfulness, the summarizing message of "On The Beach" can actually be found in its very first song, "Walk On." Quote, "sooner or later, it all gets real."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WALK ON")
YOUNG: (Singing) I hear some people been talking me down, bring up my name, pass it round. They don't mention the happy times. They do their thing. I do mine. Ooh, baby, that's hard to change. I can't tell them how to feel. Some get stoned. Some get strange. Sooner or later, it all gets real. Walk on.
TUCKER: The album cover depicts Neil Young alone, barefoot in the Santa Monica sand, his back to us, all but shouting, get off my beach. His songs are stormy warnings. Beware. I'm no role model. But its music also says, we're all in this together. A bummer and a downer, "On The Beach" takes us not to the edge of the ocean but to the abyss.
MOSLEY: Rock critic Ken Tucker reviewed Neil Young's 1974 album "On The Beach." On tomorrow's show, how one investigative reporter says Donald Trump has changed federal law enforcement. David Rhode argues that since 2016, Trump has used conspiracy theories, cooption and threats to bend Justice Department and FBI officials to his will. Rhodes' new book is "Where Tyranny Begins." I hope you can join us. To keep up with what's on the show and get highlights of our interviews, follow us on Instagram at @NPRFreshAir.
FRESH AIR's executive producer is Danny Miller. Our senior producer today is Sam Briger. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Ann Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Therese Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Nyakundi and Joel Wolfram. Our digital media producers are Molly Seavy-Nesper and Sabrina Siewert. Roberta Shorrock directs the show. For Terry Gross, I'm Tonya Mosley.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SEE THE SKY ABOUT TO RAIN")
YOUNG: (Singing) Signals curling on open plain, rolling down the track again. See the sky about to rain. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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