Neil Young - Oceanside Countryside (2025)

One of the best releases of 2025 so far happens to be this lazy, breezy, folk-country gem from 1977. Oceanside Countryside is part of Neil Young's Analog Originals project, designed to preserve the sound quality of the original masters, and it's a real joy to dive into this era and hear anything new (or in this case, newly reconstituted).

Young has more unreleased "lost" albums in his backlog than other artists have regular releases, and wading through his catalog can be a bit confusing for the beginner. Oceanside Countryside was recorded between May and December of 1977, preceding the release of 1978's Comes A Time. In fact, three songs ("Goin' Back," "Field of Opportunity," and the tremendous "Human Highway") appear on both. The album also shares more than a little bit of DNA with 1980's Hawks & Doves; not only do both contain the wonderful "Lost in Space" and the elegiac "Captain Kenedy," but they each have one folk side (here, it's Oceanside) and one country side (literally, Countryside), as well as a rather short running length.

Fans as well might be confused, as there is already a section of Archives Vol. III titled Oceanside Countryside. These mixes are the original versions done at the time of recording, and this is the intended running order of the original album before it was shelved.

The overall experience is a bit like diving into the director's cut for a film you're obsessed with. You're likely already in love with "Pocahontas," but this mix is different from the one on 1979's Rust Never Sleeps, with more backing vocals by Young himself. And this drumless version of "Goin' Back," with the acoustic instruments buoyed atop a bed of synthesizers, is a revelation.

Of the songs that will likely be new even to super diehards, the single-entendre, straight-up country rebound number "Field of Opportunity" is the only real pickle. Rarely did Young jump so headfirst into old time country, though it's neither trying to be Chet Atkins countrypolitan or overly rough-hewn. Levon Helm drums a bit, and Ben Keith lends much ambience with his pedal steel. The version of "Dance Dance Dance" is similarly whiskey-soaked—a woozy midtempo and fiddle-heavy take.

You can always count on Neil Young to surprise his listeners, even when simply digging through his own archives. Oceanside Countryside is an introspective, dusty, and drunken delight.

TRACKLIST

1 Sail Away
2 Lost In Space
3 Captain Kennedy
4 Goin' Back
5 Human Highway
6 Field of Opportunity
7 Dance Dance Dance
8 The Old Homestead
9 It Might Have Been
10 Pocahontas