Much like "Tonight's the Night", "On the Beach" was not a commercial success at the time of its release but over time attained a high regard from fans and critics alike. The album was recorded in a haphazard manner, with Young utilizing a variety of session musicians, and often changing their instruments while offering only bare-bones arrangements for them to follow (in a similar style to "Tonight's the Night"). He also would opt for rough, monitor mixes of songs rather than a more polished sound, alienating his sound engineers in the process.