In the spring of 1977, soon after Neil Young released American Stars ‘n Bars assembled from both new sessions and tracks recorded as far back as 1974, he started working on songs for his next album. Never mind that at least three other albums were recorded and shelved over the past two years; it was full speed ahead for the prolific singer-songwriter and a group of musicians that included old compadres such as Ben Keith and Levon Helm.

That album, Oceanside Countryside, like others from the period –Homegrown, Hitchhiker, Chrome Dreams, among others – was destined to remain unreleased for over four decades. And like those abandoned ’70s records, the previously “lost” Oceanside Countryside has joined the Neil Young Archives, this time as part of the Analog Original Series.

The music is familiar; most of the 10 songs later appeared in rerecorded form on albums like Rust Never Sleeps, Hawks & Doves and Comes a Time, the 1978 LP that replaced Oceanside Countryside in Young’s official discography. More recently, Oceanside Countryside was part of 2024’s 17-CD Archives Vol. III (1976-1987) but in different versions and an altered running order. This marks the first time the album is being released as originally intended in 1977.

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While Oceanside Countryside isn’t as revelatory as the other formerly shelved records from the era, it does give a new perspective to songs such as the opening “Sail Away” (later on Rust Never Sleeps), “Field of Opportunity” (without Nicolette Larson’s backing vocals that were added for Comes a Time) and “Dance Dance Dance,” which Young first recorded in 1969 with Crazy Horse for another unreleased album before that band released a version on their 1971 self-titled debut. (Young later repurposed “Dance Dance Dance”‘s melody in “Love Is a Rose,” originally slated for Homegrown in 1974.)

Sharing a format with 1979’s Rust Never Sleeps, Oceanside Countryside has two distinct sides. Side 1 features only Young accompanying himself on guitar; the flip includes a group of musicians on pedal steel, fiddle, dobro and saw for music that recalls 1972’s country-rock classic Harvest. Oceanside Countryside shares three songs with Comes a Time, which included tracks from early 1976, heralded Young’s return to country music and was subjected to a fair amount of overdubbing before its release in late 1978. Comes a Time is a good album, but Oceanside Countryside offers a more pure depiction of the time.