In the 15 months between the release of
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and
After the Gold Rush,
Neil Young issued a series of recordings in different styles that could have prepared his listeners for the differences between the two LPs. His two compositions on the
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young album
Déjà Vu, "Helpless" and "Country Girl," returned him to the folk and country styles he had pursued before delving into the hard rock of
Everybody Knows; two other singles, "Sugar Mountain" and "Oh, Lonesome Me," also emphasized those roots. But "Ohio," a
CSNY single, rocked as hard as anything on the second album.
After the Gold Rush was recorded with the aid of
Nils Lofgren, a 17-year-old unknown whose piano was a major instrument, turning one of the few real rockers, "Southern Man" (which had unsparing protest lyrics typical of
Phil Ochs), into a more stately effort than anything on the previous album and giving a classic tone to the title track, a mystical ballad that featured some of
Young's most imaginative lyrics and became one of his most memorable songs. But much of
After the Gold Rush consisted of country-folk love songs, which consolidated the audience
Young had earned through his tours and recordings with
CSNY; its dark yet hopeful tone matched the tenor of the times in 1970, making it one of the definitive singer/songwriter albums, and it has remained among
Young's major achievements.