Neil Young – Oceanside Countryside Music CD

Review

In the age of remixes, Oceanside Countryside is like a premix, presenting nearly finished versions of songs that wound up on such albums as Comes a Time, Rust Never Sleeps and Hawks & Doves.

Recorded in 1977 and promptly shelved, Oceanside Countryside is the latest in Neil Young's Analog Original Series, with the mixes and running order as planned before Young – as he's been prone to do throughout his career – changed his mind.

While the album was nixed, the songs were not, so "Human Highway" and "Field of Opportunity" made Comes a Time; "Sail Away" and "Pocahontas" went to Rust Never Sleeps; and "Lost in Space" and "Captain Kennedy" landed on Hawks & Doves.

"Dance Dance Dance," which later became "Love is a Rose," and the non-album track "It Might Have Been" also appear on the LP, which finds Young playing every instrument on the Oceanside and accompanied by a band on the appropriately named Countryside. In that respect, it owes more to 1980's Hawks & Doves than Comes a Time (1978) or '79's Rust Never Sleeps.

This is not an essential LP for anyone outside the completist circle. But Oceanside Countryside is another key piece of the puzzle for those seeking to make sense of Young's winding journey through the past to the present.

— Kristopher Weiss, jambands.com

Product Details

Oceanside Countryside is the latest of Neil Young's great “lost” albums to be released as part of his Analog Original Series. The album was recorded from May to December 1977, preceding the release of Comes A Time in 1978. The two albums share the same country/folk sound, and three songs (“Goin’ Back”, “Human Highway” and “Field of Opportunity”) appear on both albums.
The vinyl release of Oceanside Countryside includes some tracks that are on the CD of the same name in Neil Young’s Archives Vol. III. However, this track list is how Oceanside Countryside was originally planned to be released. Recorded on tape, these are the original mixes done at the time of recording.
All the songs on “Oceanside” are performed solo by Neil Young. On “Countryside,” Young is joined by a band of his friends: Ben Keith (Steel Guitar), Rufus Thibodeaux (fiddle), Karl T. Himmel (drums), Joe Osborne (bass). On “The Old Homestead” Tim Drummond plays bass and Levon Helm plays drums. “Pocahontas” is Young solo.
Please note that while the songs on Oceanside Countryside appear on Archives Vol.III, the versions are not always the same and the track list is the running order for the original Oceanside Countryside album. On this analog original vinyl release, the versions of “Lost in Space,” “Captain Kennedy” and “The Old Homestead” are from Hawks & Doves in 1980. “Sail Away”, “Goin’ Back”, “Human Highway”, “It Might Have Been”, and “Pocahontas” are the same versions as on Archives Vol. III  in digital. “Field of Opportunity” and “Dance Dance Dance” are the original versions that have Young on backing vocals instead of Nicolette Larson as they appeared on Archives Vol.III.