Product Description

AFTER THE GOLDRUSH mixes up the hard rock of EVERYONE KNOWSTHIS IS NOWHERE and the folk and country leanings Young pursued with Crosby, Stills And Nash in one of his most eclectic and satisfying releases. The acoustic picking on the opener, "Tell Me Why", frames Young's vulnerable warble beautifully, signalling the softer aspect of the album. But the electric crunch of "Southern Man", a raging tour de force protestsong that captures the special chemistry between Young and backing group Crazy Horse, balances Young's sensitivity withaggression and amplification.
The album continues its collage of styles, from the wistfulness of "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" to song fragments like "Til the Morning Comes"to the transformation of Don Gibson's "Oh Lonesome Me" fromcanter to ballad. But the crowning achievements are the album's magnificent title track, a vividly drawn portrait of post-'60s melancholy, and the gorgeous, aching "Birds", a swansong heralding emotional departure. Both songs are graced by Nils Lofgren's delicate piano, and stand as two of Young'sfinest compositions. In a catalogue filled with rock classics, AFTER THE GOLDRUSH still ranks among the best.

Track Listing

1. Tell Me Why
2. After The Goldrush
3. Only Love Can Break Your Heart
4. Southern Man
5. Till The Morning Comes
6. Oh Lonesome Me
7. Don't Let It Bring You Down
8. Birds
9. When You Dance I Can Really Love
10. I Believe In You
11. Cripple Creek Ferry

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #826 in Music
• Released on: 1987-07-31
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
After labouring in Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Neil Young finally hit perfect pitch--if his endearing off-centre whine can be called "perfect"--with his third album. He's equally passionate with trippy riddles (has anybody figured out what "We've got mother nature on the run" means in the title track?) and pointed protest (after 30 years of rock-radio overplay, "Southern Man" still rings with truth about redneck racism). His creaky ensemble, including pianist Jack Nitzsche and rotating members of Crazy Horse, transforms ramshackle country and folk songs into soulful hippie hymns. --Steve Knopper

Customer Reviews

Mother Nature on the run
After the Goldrush the song itself. Is a brilliant song, only 3 verses. The third verse is the most important with regard Mother Nature. I would advise people to read Arthur C Clarkes story called Childhoods End. Verse 3 of the Neil Young song puts that story into 5 lines:-
"Well I dreamed I saw the silver spaceships lying In the yellow haze of the sun
There were children Crying and Colours flying All around the Chosen ones
All in a dream all in a dream, the loading had begun
Flying Mother Natures silver seed to a new home in the Sun
Flying Mother Natures silver seed, to a new home."
A truly inspirational song and an album which shows great versatility and lasting power. Along with Harvest my favourite Neil Young Albums.

A Rush of Gold
Boy did he find the style with one of the greatest albums of all time. Gone is the waffle. Everything on Goldrush is stripped down to its bare essentials This album regularly appears in top 100 lists and it is easy to see why. I defy anybody to listen to Goldrush and not end up singing along. Every single song is a gem in its own right. Here Young had created a style and feeling all of his own.

This was near genius at work as the list of songs shows: Tell Me Why, After the Gold Rush, Only Love Can Break Your Heart, Southern Man, Till teh Morning Comes, Oh Lonesome Me, Don't Let It Bring You Down, Birds, When You Dance I Can Really Love, I Believe in You and Cripple Creek Ferry - virtually unsurpassed songs.

The brilliance is that so many people have heard these songs but probably don't realise that every one of them was penned by young apart from Don Gibson's Oh Lonesome Me which Young still manages to twist into his own. Young's voice was never better, his songwriting superlative and arguably the height of his career.

Review
Neil Young after the Gold Rush

Neil Young has made so many albums now, some of them terrible, but some an inspiration for generations of today and the future alike. After the Gold Rush is one, if not the best album he has done. It was after the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young period that he created this almost masterpiece like third album. The album fits nicely into the genre of Country/ Rock with a mix of warm acoustic love songs to the anti-racial protest song of Southern Man.

The opening track, Tell Me Why, is just Neil, his Martin D-28 acoustic and a few backing singers. Still with this thin arrangement he manages to make the recording sound as thick as a full orchestra playing to their limit. It is a story of love and how a young girl can not make up her mind about her life.
The second track and one of the highlights of the album is the dreamlike and emotional, after the Gold Rush. A story of protest with a `post war' like trumpet solo that has to be one of the most tear jerking sounds ever recorded. Neil's thin country voice floats seamlessly on top of an aesthetically perfect Recording.

The fourth track on the album, Southern Man, is an eccentric Rock/ blues protest song about the state of racial abuse in the Redneck area of America. With lines such as `I see your black man coming round, swear by God I'm gonna cut him down. I heard Screaming and bull whips cracking.' A brutal attack on the Rednecks in South America.


Overall an incredibly versatile album. The best he has done.

5 stars