Neil’s third album is an album of and for its time. Despite its humble beginnings as a soundtrack to a Dean Stockwell film that was never made, After The Goldrush seems to capture Neil at the summit of his powers following the success of the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young album Déjà Vu, released earlier that same year. Guitarist Danny Whitten’s escalating drug problem was by now becoming problematic — this would be the last Neil Young album Whitten would play on before his death by overdose two years later — forcing Neil to augment Crazy Horse with an assortment of other musicians including Jack Nitzsche, Crosby, Stills and Nash, and child prodigy Nils Lofgren. The approach proved fruitful: After The Goldrush plays like a greatest hits package, containing classics like the Graham Nash-inspired “Only Love Can Break Your Heart,” the sci-fi piano ballad “After The Goldrush,” the pounding and accusatory “Southern Man,” and the stoner-logical “Tell Me Why” among its many highlights. It’s not merely one Neil Young’s best albums, or even one of the finest albums ever made — it’s Scripture.