Neil Young's Ditch Trilogy -- consisting of the mid 1970's albums "Time Fades Away", "Tonight’s the Night" & "On the Beach" -- is well documented as containing the "missing link" to the Rosetta Stone of understanding his entire body of work over the decades.



"Homegrown: Never Known to Fail" by Neil Young

(See reviews @ 1st THOUGHTS: Neil Young's New Album 'Homegrown')

And now -- at long last -- Neil Young's unreleased album "Homegrown" -- which was recorded in 1974 and 1975 -- is the "one that got away", Neil writes on NYA. At the time, Neil considered "Homegrown" to be "too personal and frank" to be released and chose to release the album "Tonight's The Night", instead. The Homegrown album has been described by Neil as "the missing link between Harvest, Comes A Time, Old Ways and Harvest Moon".





Neil Young wrote in 2019:

"I apologize.



This album Homegrown should have been there for you a couple of years after Harvest. It’s the sad side of a love affair. The damage done. The heartache. I just couldn’t listen to it. I wanted to move on.



"So I kept it to myself, hidden away in the vault, on the shelf, in the back of my mind.



But I should have shared it. It’s actually beautiful. That’s why I made it in the first place.



"Sometimes life hurts. You know what I mean. This is the one that got away."

In the often quoted hand written liner notes of Decade, Neil writes: " 'Heart of Gold' put me in the middle of the road. Traveling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch." Hence, the origin of the "Ditch" term -- which is sometimes also referred to as the "Doom" period or "The Wilderness Years".



The mid-1970's period was a very tumultuous time in Neil Young's life, as has been well documented. The success of the album Harvest collided with the implosion of Young's relationship with actress Carrie Snodgress and their son Zeke's physical disabilities. Along with the challenges of being in the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the death of his Crazy Horse guitar player and friend Danny Whitten, Young suffered from near debilitating back pain, so it's a wonder he recorded any albums at all during the period.



So Neil Young's mid 1970's albums period? The Ditch Trilogy/Quadrilogy/Quintology/Sextology in light of "Homegrown" release in 2020?

Neil Young's "Ditch Quadrilogy":

"Time Fades Away", "Tonight’s the Night", "On the Beach" & "ZUMA"

Some argue that there's actually no trilogy whatsoever and that the "ditch era was only made up of two albums; one jumping in, the other climbing out with "On the Beach".



Others argue for the "Ditch Quadrilogy" to include "ZUMA". Yet others argue for the "Ditch Quintology" with "Harvest - Time Fades Away - Tonight's the Night - On the Beach - Zuma.....Harvest being the prologue that leads to the Ditch. And Zuma serves as the light at the end of the tunnel."



As mentioned above, we have made our case before on Neil Young's Ditch Trilogy being the key to the Rosetta Stone of understanding his musical career. But we also expanded the argument in 2017 Neil Young's "Ditch Quadrilogy" Re-Re-Release is Finally Coming! Official Release Series Discs 5-8 (4CD): May 12 Release.



Lastly (but not really), an intriguing comment by kahunasunset who suggests that once Homegrown is released, maybe it'll really be a "Ditch Sextology"?!



Also, see more on the origin of the expression "Ditch Trilogy" as applied to Neil Young's 3 albums "Time Fades Away", "Tonight’s the Night" & "On the Beach". Also, see Neil Young's Ditch Trilogy -- Or is it a Quadrilogy? Or Quintology?.



Also, see The Beautiful, Enduring Gloom of Neil Young's Ditch Trilogy | PandoraMusic.

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So how about this for a thought exercise rusties?



Suppose Neil DID release Homegrown back in 1975 and NOT Tonight's The Night. Fast fwd to today and imagine Neil releasing the "unreleased" Tonight's The Night in 2020 instead.



What would folks think today of TTN? How would Neil's career arc have changed if he gave the public what they expected w/ Homegrown in 1975.



Here's a comment by Dan on the question:

I don’t actually think Neil’s career arc would have been any different had he released Homegrown instead of Tonight’s the Night back in the day.



Perhaps the fans arc would have been different, but I think Neil would have been right where he is now regardless. How his work is consumed by his fans has never been a concern for him, so we would have still gotten the same records we got.



Our perceptions might be different but not his.

Thanks Dan! Others? discuss.



"Though my problems are meaningless, that don't make them go away."

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