Classic Album of The Week

It's hard to believe that After The Gold Rush will be forty years old next year. The album that I first heard on vinyl nearly twenty years ago was my first introduction into what I would term "proper" music. A unity of work that is non-existent in much of today's album it flows nicely from one track to the next and was not designed with the thought of a shuffled playlist.

Amazingly there were only two singles released from the album and the highest peaked at 33 ("Only Love Can Break Your Heart", thank you wikipedia). As most people know the track "Southern Man" caused an outcry in some parts and lead to Lynrd Skynard recording "Sweet Home Alabama". That is enough pointless trivia for one post I think, although a member of the E Street band was also heavily involved in the recording of the album (Nils Lofgren).

The stand out tracks for me is the ever so slightly trippy "After The Goldrush" and the epic "Don't Let It Bring You Down", a typical Young story song that will continue to inspire future songwriters. There is so much to admire of the album and it's impact increases with each listen and remains as fresh today as it was fortyish years ago. Of course only Young could follow it up with something of equal quality with the album "Harvest" but that review is for another day.