On The Beach  by Neil Young

After the great success of Harvest, Neil Young released the soundtrack for the movie "Journey Through the Past" and a live recorded album, Time Fades Away. Therefore, On The Beach in 1974 was the highly anticipated work of the Canadian. This fifth album musically moves between country rock and blues rock, but also with clear folk references here and there. It stands as a typical classic Neil Young album from the 1970s.

The main producer of the album is the artist himself, but he also collaborates with David Briggs, Mark Harman, and Al Schmitt. Most of the album's songs were recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood, while some others were ready as Neil Young had recorded them a short while before at his ranch. The distinctive album cover - which is one of Neil Young's favorites - came about accidentally and unplanned. Young and photographer Gary Burden were driving around in his car to get inspiration. They found themselves on a beach in Santa Monica, after previously finding the back of a Cadillac in a used car lot and sinking it into the sand. The scene was completed with the newspaper that was lying on the beach, whose main headline read: "Prosecutor Buckley Calls on Nixon to Resign." It was an intense time for the USA, with the "Watergate scandal" at its peak.

On The Beach would become another successful milestone in Neil Young's discography. The album would reach No. 16 on the Billboard and sell 500,000 copies in the USA.