Neil Young - After The Gold Rush (1970)

Neil Young is a prolific Canadian singer-songwriter who has been releasing records since the 60s.

In early 1970 Neil Young had joined with his friends Stephen Stills, David Crosby and Graham Nash to release the chart-topping Deja Vu album as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Though the album only included two Young songs, it was nevertheless a big step in making him a star, raising his public profile in a way that his first two solo albums hadn't quite managed.
For his follow-up solo album, he planned to combine CSN's lush acoustic folk-rock with the rough garage rock of Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, his 1969 album with Crazy Horse. With this in mind he assembled a band consisting of Crazy Horse drummer Ralph Molina, CSNY bassist Greg Reeves, and a young Nils Lofgren of the band Grin on piano. Lofgren's role as pianist was a typically idiosyncratic decision of Young's, as he was actually a proficient guitarist and had never played keyboards on a regular basis until After The Gold Rush (though he did get to play some acoustic guitar on one song). This core band recorded the bulk of the album at Young's make-shift basement studio. Other guest musicians who appear throughout the album are Stephen Stills, pianist/producer Jack Nitzsche and the rest of Crazy Horse (guitarist Danny Whitten and bassist Billy Talbot - the entirity of Crazy Horse do back him on three songs).
Though it has moments of electric rock, most of After The Gold Rush is in a laid-back, acoustic country-rock style. It wasn't immediately a hit with the critics, but it reached #8 on the charts, the highest placing of any of his solo albums at the time, and confirmed his place as one of rock's rising stars. Today it is still considered one of his best albums.

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (1969) <|> Harvest (1972)
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