My rock & roll autobiography collection is slowly growing…
The latest book I’ve been reading is Neil Young’s Waging Heavy Peace, which has been thoroughly entertaining. I love the lack of linear story; instead Neil just tells whatever stories come to mind to him as he writes. It’s pretty great. Nothing too deep or cerebral (which I feel Pete Townshend’s book is going to be like)…it’s just a good read about making music and being on the road. One of my favorite parts so far has been the chapter “Stories from Topanga,” because the stories are amazingly very similar to my own experiences in Topanga Canyon (in other words, it hasn’t changed since the 60s).
Before reading this book I knew maybe two (or three?) Neil Young songs by name. Now I’m slowly becoming more familiar with his solo stuff, and even went to see him play at the Bridge School Benefit Concert this past weekend (more on that to come). Ahhh, I love becoming obsessed with musicians.
In honor of this, I’ve put together a video collection that I shall call The Many Faces of Neil Young:
Buffalo Springfield, “For What It’s Worth.” Check out Neil’s crazy sideburns at 1:50:
Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, “Down by the River.” This is just sooooooooo 60s:
Solo Neil, “Heart of Gold.” His stage banter is so rambly and excellent, I love it. This is probably my favorite song and era:
“Transformer Man” from the experimental album Trans. I’m at that stage where I don’t know the comprehensive history of a rock & roll artist yet and get really surprised when I see what they were doing in the 80s (same thing happened with The Who). So yeah, this is…different! Power to ya, Neil.
Super rock/grungy Neil with Crazy Horse:
So there you go, my first foray into the world of Mr. Young. Excited to read Pete Townshend’s book next; I have a feeling it’s going to be very different, haha. I love you Pete!
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
Flip the Record 