I get the impression Young’s new album, “Living with War,” will make quite a splash. You can go to this post at TalkLeft for lyrics to “Impeach the President” and links to sites promoting the CD. The big news for Young fans — and there may be more of them in a few weeks — is that the album will be streamed on the Internet (yes, free) before the CD is in stores. Starting tomorrow, in fact. Check the info at the above link to find out where.
Meanwhile, my wife and I saw the “Neil Young: Heart of Gold” concert movie the other night, and it was wonderful. Made me proud as hell for us boomers. The movie covered his “Prairie Wind” album debut show at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville last August. I hadn’t paid much attention to ol’ Neil for a long time, but those songs from the early days are part of the aural background of my life, and he seems to be one helluva 60-year-old performer. Highest possible quality, folks. He even has Emmylou Harris for a backup singer.
As for “Living with War,” I read in an interview that he said he was waiting for some younger guys to write those songs, but no one ever did. Yeah. Tell me about it. Neil Young has been around long enough to speak with authority, and I’m glad he decided to use it. Gather round, chilluns, and dig the transformational power of rock & roll.
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AHEM!!!
I just edited the post and rendered your comment incomprehensible, Frank, but the extra stuff was diluting the message.
AHEM!!! indeed.
I’ve been lucky to see Neil perform live a number of times over the past 5 or so years, including with CSNY and on his own with various musicians. Yes, my partner and I went on some kind of binge traveling to places like Denver, Chicago and Reno to see various combos of these musicians and/or solo concerts for awhile when we were making better money.
I can say Neil is still absolutely riveting in concert. Goose bump city, whether he’s doing acoustic or raging on Ol’ Black. Perhaps the best concert of his I saw was what amounted to a theatrical presenation of the entire album “Greendale.” At Tingley Coliseum no less. He definitely overcame the limitations of that barn and filled the stage with dozens of musicians and “actors,” creative stage scenery and lighting and just kickass performances. The finale even featured many dancers from a number of Pueblo tribes joining into the mix.
Poking around on the web looking at sites about Kent State in 1970 — May 4th will be 36 years — prompted me to listen to Young’s Ohio again. Still makes my hair stand up on end after all these years. We had the national guard on my campus during the nationwide student strike that followed Kent State, and we had that 45 in our hands before it was over.
Neil comes through again.
Haven’t heard from you in a while, glad to have you back, Barb. I very much appreciate your personal take on Young. And I ESPECIALLY AGREE with your last two paragraphs! Just thinking about Kent State does the same thing to me.
When the national guard killed those kids, I was just a few years older than them, teaching in a wretched Texas junior college to keep from being drafted. I never felt so betrayed by my country. I yelled at my students (yeah, I know … ), asking them how they could just sit there after this had happened to four of their own. That summer I took off for New Hampshire to visit some homesteading friends of mine. I was driving a souped-up VW bus, the old kind with the split windshield. “Ohio” came on the radio a couple of times along the way and made me feel like a warrior. Goosebump city, all right.
Haven’t had much of a chance to see Neil, but did catch a Young and Crazy Horse show a few years back. Normally hate the ‘shed’ shows, you know, just the singer and me and 20,000 of our closest friends but made an exception for this.
He brought along Social Distortion and Sonic Youth for sonic cover. Some of the older folks didn’t really care for the noisy punks, but the Sonics came on and name checked our local noise merchants, Die Kreuzen and I was rocked. This was the stuff that Neil inspired; he isn’t called the Godfather of Grunge for nothing.
Loud, cathartic, and freewheeling. Still all it takes to make rock n roll.
Oh, and by all means, check out Greendale. A somewhat more restrained railing against some of America’s less exalted traits.
I’m definitely getting Living With War as soon as I can get the digits. Until then, Bill Hicks.