Randomly Blogged: Bettye LaVette covers "Heart of Gold", Neil's Eco-Socialism, Greendale Graphic Novel

From The Phoenix by Carly Carioli:

Legendary Detroit soul queen Bettye LaVette covering "Heart of Gold." As Simon would say, "Great song choice." Risky. Powerful. Unforgettable. Could be a hit on the radio today if they still played hits.

It's not as if she hasn't done this before -- when she played the Who's "Love Reign O'er Me" at the Kennedy Center, Barbara Streisand leaned over to Pete Townshend and asked him if he really wrote it. Bettye tends to have that effect on a song.

Backstory on this is that Anti- is leaking it to the blogs straight from a live set she played at Joe's Pub accompanied only by a pianist -- and if the set sounded anything like this, it'd be a no-brainer for a live record at some point. In the meantime, it's just another great day on the internets.

This is an exceptional Neil cover for the ages.

Bettye LaVette covers Neil Young's "Heart of Gold" - 3/8/2009, Joe's Pub, New York City, NY [mp3]

(PLAY icon will display once page fully loads in a few seconds)

Thanks Saori!

---

From Neil Young goes ecosocialist - sort of « Mac Uaid by Liam:

Neil Young: there is nothing a grumpy old man loves more than something to get really cross about and his contempt for George Bush and fierce opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan reinvigorated him musically and politically. He runs an anti-war website, recorded an an anti-war album and did an anti-war tour. Not much room for doubt there.

Having seen off Dubya Neil has turned his attention to the environmental situation. He’s got history here. His 1989 song Rockin’ in the Free World complained of the damage to the ozone layer caused by Styrofoam boxes and was almost certainly instrumental in getting the ban on CFCs. Neil is persuaded by the evidence on anthropomorphic climate change and has recorded an album dealing with it. The link for the video for the first single is below and is rather good though there are reports that some of the songs have been described as his worst ever. Even his best friends can’t deny he’s had more than his share of duffs.

[SNIP - But definitely check out full blog post]

Here we have the artist as harbinger of the change in mass consciousness and we need to see this work as a stage in the development in the understanding of the issues. He’s come up with a pro-working class solution and wants to engage in direct action in the seat of government. We know he’s a big model train fan and can be sure that is next album will take up the need for a socially owned free railway system.

In the short interview he discusses his take on cars and his part in the search for new ways of making them go.

---

The The New Yorker's "This Note’s Not For You" by Ben Greenman on how we -- along with most everyone else -- were thrown off track by the head-snapping, whiplash inducing, flip-flop on YouTube's decision to pull all of Neil Young's video:

Neil Young was mad at Warner Bros./Reprise for pulling his videos from YouTube, but he isn’t mad anymore. In a statement released over the weekend, he appeared to reverse his earlier position, which seemed to suggest that Warner Bros. was being greedy when it demanded payment for all YouTube videos. The new statement was far more conciliatory and corporate-friendly:

It is time for industry wide standards of artist’s compensation on the web. Reprise and Warner Bros artists deserve what artists from other labels are getting. Let the people decide what constitutes success. Warner Bros and Reprise are looking for a level playing field. Until they get one, these problems may not go away. That is the essence of the issue between Warner Bros Reprise and You Tube.

Young’s reversal seemed to throw everyone, even the people over at the Thrasher’s Wheat fan site, who have now spent days deciphering Young’s position. Is he mad at the record label? Is he mad at YouTube? Is he mad at everyone?

---

Well, ever since we ran a couple of Neil fan tattoo posts, folks have been sending us their colors. Gee, we hardly knew that anyone could be so passionate a Neil fan that they had love to burn?!

From Brian C.:

ok...had the t-shirt from the weld tour when i saw crazy horse at eisenhower hall-west point. son's mother couldn't find it after we split up....know i didn't throw it out.

so i looked inside the cover of weld and e-mailed a buddy and she sent me the pic that was on the shirt and said she still had the silk screen. just after my 45th birthday printed that pic and took the weld cd to the guy that did my wild turkey tat....had to find him....moved to butler nj, he drew it out and inked it. now i can see it when i'm riding my harley in my mirror........lol

when i was at the radio city horse show...guy in the row behind me had a tribal on his arm that he said meant crazy horse..figured i would do one better.....no mistaking what mine means.....lol

hope Neil see's it....lol...should have taken my shirt's off when i was damn lucky and had 4th row right in front of Neil at wallingford conn.

and thank you for your fantastic website....on it constantly!!!!!

Be The Rain

Brian C.

PS: need the Horse!!!!!!been to long......was at the last 2 shows at Radio City Greendale shows...cowgirl one night,dangerbird the other...awesome

---

From Scotsman.com News "Neil Young is back: The the album's mediocre, but his Lincoln convertible is lean, mean and green" by DAVID SMYTH:

"But be prepared, because there's no likelihood of the 63-year-old veteran rattling through the old favourites at Glastonbury, the Isle of Wight festival or London's Hyde Park.

Instead he'll be using the platform for a higher purpose. Young has often given the impression of writing songs with a guitar in one hand and a newspaper in the other – Let's Roll was about the 9/11 attacks – while Living With War was an entire album about George Bush's conduct in Iraq. His latest enemies, however, are the motor companies. He's using rock 'n' roll, long the vehicle for euphoric songs about getting the engine running and heading out on the highway, to kill the car industry as we know it."

---

Back in 2007, we ran some news that Greendale would go graphic -- as in graphic novel (comic for the layperson).

Now, the artist of the book, Cliff Chiang, talks about the book very briefly in this video interview at New York Comic Convention 2009.

To remind, Joshua Dysart is writing the script, and DC Comics' Vertigo imprint is publishing. According to Chiang, the book will probably be out sometime next spring.

Thanks Michael L.!

More on the eco-socialism of Greendale.

---