Neil Young's new release ""World Record" w/ Crazy Horse is now available for pre-order. Order here (Please shop locally & independently. But if you can't, we appreciate your supporting Thrasher's Wheat by clicking this link
or YOUR COUNTRY's FLAG. Thank you!!!) ADVERTISEMENT
An unofficial news blog for Neil Young fans from Thrasher's Wheat with concert and album updates, reviews, analysis, and other Rock & Roll ramblings. Separating the wheat from the chaff since 1996.
Learning from Neil Young: Nearly all of the acts paid lip service to supporting family farms, but Young spent nearly half his time on stage talking up the cause. Ultimately, it was the lecturing that earned him a standing ovation. 'Maybe you don't realize what's really going on with factory farms in this country, how they are displacing family farms at an alarming rate,' Young said. 'Factory farms are the reason why we have food alerts. They are the reason why we have dying people and disease. Try to buy something from a family farm, something that's sustainably grown. You deserve the best. Your children deserve the best.'
Farm Aid 25: Growing Hope for America will be held today in Milwaukee, WI.
Farm Aid 25 will be broadcast live in HD on YouTube and DIRECTV starting at 6pm Eastern on Saturday, October 2.
In the meantime, Farm Aid board members Dave Matthews, John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson talk about Farm Aid and its 25 years of inspired music, taking action and total commitment to making a difference.
Announced Lineup:
Willie Nelson
Neil Young
John Mellencamp
Dave Matthews with Tim Reynolds
Kenny Chesney
Norah Jones
Jason Mraz
Jeff Tweedy
Jamey Johnson
Band of Horses
The BoDeans
Amos Lee
Robert Francis
Lukas Nelson and The Promise of the Real
The Blackwood Quartet
Randy Rogers Band
Farm Aid 25: Growing Hope for America will be held today in Milwaukee, Wi.
In the spirit of the event, we bring you Farm Aid Memories from one of our dear friends, Kevin "Union Man" Woodard. we've known "Union Man" for a long time now and go back in the years of seeing Neil Young concerts. Kevin aka "Union Man" has been to more Farm Aid concerts than just about any Neil fan that we know. This year will mark his ~18th Farm Aid concert -- a remarkable achievement.
Here are some of Kevin "Union Man"'s Farm Aid memories based on attending the concerts over the past 25 years including the first concert in 1985 in Illinois.
---
I first started watching Farm Aid in 1985. I am a huge Neil Young fan. That is what first got my interest. It soon became a yearly ritual with my wife and I. We would donate fifty dollars and get a t shirt. I got the odd years she got the even years. We became very interested in the cause.
I live on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. In 1999 Farm Aid came to Virginia. I had to go! My brother, David went with me. My brother Chuck and his wife Terri also went. I attended this Farm Aid and caught "The Fever" ! I told myself that I would not ever miss one.
Dave Matthews, John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson, Neil Young
The next year it was back in Virginia, no problem! I had a great seat. I think it was fourth row on the aisle. I was approached by security early on and was told that they would give me a concert t-shirt to move to seats further in. I said I didn't want to and they said they weren't asking! My wife and I took the shirts and moved. A little while later Tipper Gore and her entourage came in and took our seats! That was pretty cool!
In 2001 came my first challenge. I had only flown once in my life. I was flying to Indianapolis alone! Then came 9-11. Made me a little more nervous about flying but I had to get to Farm Aid. I was fortunate to have met a friend through the Neil Young Internet community who lived near Indianapolis. He actually picked me up at the airport, took me to his home, kicked his kid out of his room and treated me like royalty all weekend. Thanks John!
Then came Pittsburgh. We drove to this one. My wife and several friends attended.
Some old friends of mine, Cope and Diane, attended and have gone to every one since with me! I think this might be the year that my friend Kathy Popple brought Chief Dennis to dinner and I got to meet him. One thing I remember about this show is purchasing my STOP FACTORY FARMS shirt directly from Roger Allison and the folks at Patchwork Family Farms before they were sold by Farm Aid. One of the highlights for me every year is stopping by to chat with Roger and eat some of his great food. This is usually the first thing I do when I arrive.
In July of 2003 I broke my leg. Did this stop me? No way! My wife and I flew to Columbus, cast and crutches and all. Cope and Diane drove. A volunteer met me at the venue gate with a wheelchair and took me down to my seat.
The longest trip came next, Seattle! We decided to turn this into a vacation and stayed a few days longer than usual. My wife, Suella and Cope and Diane went along this time. Seattle was awesome! We had a little incident with parking downtown. A tow truck and a long walk in the rain was involved!
The 2005 show was particularly special for us because our oldest daughter, Rachel, then 15 years old went to Chicago with Suella and I for her first Farm Aid. She has not missed one since. Rachel is a vegetarian but she goes to see Roger with me and he gives her a roll! Cope and Diane were with us and Chuck and Terri were back on board also! They have not missed one since!
We drove to the Camden show. Cope and Diane and Rachel and I. Chuck and Terri went also. Rachel and I rode to NYC with Chuck and Terri. Cope and Diane drove separate. My brother David made this one with his wife and nine year old daughter. I got my picture taken with Al Sharpton in front of my hotel and Rachel got to get her picture taken with one of the guys from Guster, one of her favorite bands!
Neil Young at Farm Aid Press Conference Neil Young - 2006 Photo by Kim Buchheit
Then came Mansfield. By far the best trip! After a great deal of consideration we decided to drive. Diane borrowed a conversion van and drove the whole way! Over 400 miles! Cope sat up front and David, Rachel, Rebecca (my other daughter) and I sat in back. We laughed and carried on the whole way. Stopped in New Haven for pizza and ended up turning a long drive into a very long drive!
The girls got their picture taken with Carson Daly and with Steve Earle. Then they convinced Steve Earle to get a pic with me and one with David. Fun memories. Neil performed " A Day In The Life " at this one. A performance that I will never forget.
Last year, Cope, Diane, Chuck, Terri, Rachel and I flew to St Louis. We attended the Homegrown urban county fair and I got to meet Cornelia. What a pleasure!
Phish & Neil Young - "Down by the River"
Every year I look forward to seeing other regulars. There are several of us who met through the Neil Young Internet community that usually get together the night before and at the show. I have met several others such as Roger Allison and some farmers from Virginia, Debbie and Jackie Seale.
The whole atmosphere at the concert appeals to me. I love being there. I have hardly mentioned the music. As you know it is always fantastic. I love hearing the guys talk about the issues etc. I would love to get a chance to attend the press conference one year.
Looks like my regular gang, Chuck, Terri, Cope, Diane and Rachel will be going to Wisconsin with me this year. In my wife's defense, we have been putting both girls through college and she elects to stay home to save the expense. I on the other hand don't have that choice. I HAVE to go! :-)
Neil Young at Press Conference Photos by Paul Natkin/Photo Reserve Inc. 2008
I am 53 years old and work for a large grocery chain. One of the Farm Aid enemies sort of. As produce manager I do however continuously expand the offering of orgainic produce as well as purchase everything I can from local family farms. Try to make a difference in my own little way...
I hope you had as much fun reading this as I had writing it! I could go on and on...
See you in Milwaukee and thanks for all you do, Kevin "Union Man" Woodward
Fast forward to this week's release of Le Noise and listeners are just now hearing the "sonics" which Producer Daniel Lanois has introduced in the post-production process. So naturally, for those of us lucky to have experienced the raw and stripped down Le Noise tracks performed live, it is quite an exhilarating experience to re-discover so quickly the song's treatments with Lanois' studio touches.
Much, much, much has been made of this collaboration between Young and Producer Lanois. While it seems clear that the partnership works on many levels -- as evidenced not only by the results which speak for itself -- one can not help but plainly sense the apparent comfort and palpable mutual respect on display in their numerous joint interviews.
So has Neil Young found his new David Briggs? Or is Lanois now Young's Rick Rubin with the magic touch? We shall see, but we're thinking more the latter than the former.
The other fascinating aspect of Le Noise is the reaction of critics who suddenly now are waxing rhapsodic in their reviews over the latest Neil Young release.
Reading some of the latest reviews, we find ourselves shaking our heads at critics (and even some "fair weather fans" too) for re-discovering Neil Young's unique charms and peculiar fondness for turning expectations on their heads. As if, lo and behold, Young has somehow re-emerged from the shadows of creativity and returned once again to form.
Le Noise is a special Neil release unlike anything he has ever given us.
And as a guitar player who also loves raw tones, gritty production and 'real' playing, there is a lot to love. From the insane overdriven electric of Walk With Me to the gorgeous acoustic tone of Peaceful Valley Boulevard, Neil hits this one so far out of the park, the ball is the next county.
I'm listening to the full album for the first time right now.
I'd be surprised if Le Noise wasn't listed in many critics' year-end best of lists. It's that kind of album. It takes risks and sounds ugly (depending on one's perspective). I think this was the right album for Neil to make. He could have done something familiar, but he chose not to, and that's why he's still relevant.
That said, it's a challenging album simply because the sounds aren't friendly or inviting (like Harvest Moon or Ragged Glory for instance). The lack of traditional instrumentation will prevent it from gaining wide acceptance. Neil has put out other challenging albums of course. Some have ultimately rewarded over time, others haven't so much. I won't even dare to speculate where Le Noise will fall. I think Fork In The Road is challenging as well, and I also think it's really good.
Le Noise, however, is something entirely different.
Beyond the sonics which add richness and verve, the songs are excellent ... somehow I keep coming back to love and war which for me feels like an enduring classic ... originally I thought he'd put out a dark album to mourn the losses of LA and Ben, ... I've come around to thinking he's left that sadness off the album and instead, both on the album and in the interviews, is expressing, among other things, themes of resiliency and continuity, and within that he seems as vibrant, relevant, and fresh as he ever has. He also seems relaxed, at peace, and comfortable with himself and his scene.
These days fewer and fewer artists seem to actually have something to say, and of those that do, not many are saying something worth hearing. Pop has never been so pop. But what do we do than when we, the all-consuming music-buying public, want to hear something tangible? Something personal.
Something that makes a statement – and no, not a fashion statement…we have plenty enough of that already. Something real. It’s a mission to find a contemporary artist whose music really has a voice and that thing called soul – there are some of course, but most of them are hiding away in obscurity and poverty, far removed from the sales charts. Leave it to the epitomist Neil Young to come along with a new album that delivers something that is both very real and very much worth listening to. The anti-pop star has created his ultimate anti-pop record.
But wait. Who's ever heard of Music Vice and what does a blog's opinion matter anyway?
How about the elite professional music critics (as compiled by Metacritic)?
From Chicago Tribune: The album is full of those kind of unexpected juxtapositions, a stunning statement from an artist who shows no signs of slowing down.
Los Angeles Times: Le Noise is not an epic -– if it were a book, you could read it in an afternoon -– but it's statement enough from a man who's already said so much.
Rolling Stone: Le Noise is also the most intimate and natural-sounding album Young has made in a long time: just a songwriter making his way through a vividly rendered chaos of memoir, affection and fear.
Boston Globe: It builds a rich sonic arch around Young's voice and guitar, bottling the essence of what makes him such a compelling singer-songwriter at 64.
The Guardian: Le Noise demands more effort than some listeners might be willing to put in, but at its best, it repays that effort pretty handsomely. In that sense at least, it pretty much sums up Neil Young's entire career.
But the most personal thing about Le Noise is the sense of a restless master caught in the pursuit of ideas, shaping their expression. 'Peaceful Valley Boulevard,' one of two acoustic-guitar songs, is a detailed American history lesson from Indian wars to electric cars. Yet in one line ('A mother screamed, and every soul was lost'), Young's voice cracks on the peak note — an impulsive, moving flaw.
And in 'Love and War,' Young — his creaky whisper and acoustic guitar buoyed by Lanois' watery treatments — confesses an uncertainty hard to believe in one of rock's most driven stars: 'When I sing about love and war/I don't really know what I'm saying.' But then the conviction comes back. He only has that one way forward, through the music: 'I sang in anger, hit another bad chord/But I still try to sing about love and war.' Le Noise is, ultimately, an extreme simplicity: the sound of a man who won't give up.
Producer Daniel Lanois, on making of the track "Walk With Me"
It’s not an easy listen, obviously, but acclimatisation to the unfamiliar, monochromatic sound of such raw electric guitar brings with it the ability to recognise that Young’s songwriting skills haven’t dulled with age. Examined as a part of his overall body of work, furthermore, it’s amongst the more fascinating left turns he’s made, and once again confirms the evergreen restlessness of this gnarly and frequently inspiring Canadian. Once again, he’s not let us down.
In a way, Le Noise should feel like a cheap attempt to reach out to young people.
The album was promoted on Facebook, Young debuted videos on Pitchfork and Stereogum, and the record is being released as an iPad and iPhone app. It sounds like a cheap marketing ploy. Apps? Social media? Hip music sites? He’s a Twitter account away from covering all the buzzword bases. But, in reality, this is one of Young’s best albums in years, so the Internet-wide promotion is well worth the effort. With just a guitar and some fine studio work by Lanois, the soundscape here is huge and mystifying.
Not since he first recorded “Cortez the Killer” has a Young album been so full of mystique.
It’s as nakedly personal as anything Young has written since the Ditch Trilogy. The first several verses are straight autobiography, a laundry list of drugs, infidelities, and other transgressions. About four minutes in, it takes a turn for the surreal: “I thought I was an Aztec / Or a runner in Peru.” Young has previously said that his songs often don’t have literal meanings, so much as connotative meanings arising from words and dreamlike images. But coming after verses with such clear autobiographical content, and relying on such well-worn Young tropes as time travel and indigenous peoples, it’s hard not to see this as some sort of commentary on Young’s songwriting, perhaps as a vehicle for escape. After that verse, the song ends abruptly on a more direct and sobering note:
I tried to leave my past behind But it’s catching up with me … I don’t know how I’m standing here Living in my life I’m thankful for my children And my faithful wife
The juxtaposition of the Incan fantasy and this conclusion seems to present an intriguing dilemma: disappear into art and fiction (and drugs), or take a chance on real-world redemption, which carries with it the inescapable fact of past mistakes? “Hitchhiker” also casts some previous songs in a new light, perhaps revealing the source of some of the frustration in “Angry World”, and amplifying the reflective tone of “Love and War”. In short, it’s exactly the sort of song you’d hope to hear from an elder statesman of rock and roll: mature, with wisdom and perspective, but still vital and rebellious.
Neil Young’s bulletproof status as the other ’60s rock icon you can still depend on—take a bow, Bob Dylan—has become increasingly reliant on albums boasting catchier concepts than songwriting. It’s easy to praise Young for getting fired up about the environment (Greendale), the war in Iraq (Living With War), and electric cars (Fork In The Road), but when it comes to songs, he’s been penning iffy lyrics and recycling the same by-the-numbers guitar-rumble for years. Young’s cultural engagement makes him impervious to charges of coasting, but with Le Noise, he’s once again made an album that sounds better on paper than through speakers.
But to wrap things up quietly on Le Noise (incidentally the albums name is a pun on the producer's last name which we'd be re-miss to point out since every review does as well), from Culture Belly by Chris DeLine:
Young, yourself, all of us: who knows how long any of us are meant for this world?
In all honesty, we’re all just a fluke aneurysm away from calling it a day. I can’t speak for the man, but I imagine that Neil Young doesn’t want to die—I know that I most certainly don’t want to die—and it’s my hope that you don’t want to die. And if there’s one thing that I know I can rely on while I’m still on this side of the grave it’s the perspective I gained in part from “Ordinary People”. This is why I think the song is important when thinking about Le Noise: Even if you’re riding a series of thoughts and emotions that touch on the darkest parts of the human experience, you have to do your damnedest to keep that positive outlook and sense of humanity in mind, and remind yourself of what exactly it is you’re still thankful for.
Like Young, if you have children and a wife, I hope you’re thankful for them. If you have a husband, I hope you’re thankful for him. If you have parents or friends or siblings or an annoying little bijon shih tzu that refuses to stop barking at all hours of the morning: I hope you’re thankful for each and every one of ‘em. That’s what I’m taking away from Le Noise.
Neil Young and Producer Daniel Lanois with Le Noise crew
Complete Neil Young's "Le Noise - The Film" on YouTube -
The full length video of Neil Young's Le Noise is now posted on YouTube.
Directed by Adam Vollick.
Crank it.
And here's our Blu-Ray Tip of the Moment....
Play this video using your Blu-Ray player! We cued this up last night and cranked to "11" on our audio/video system and it ROCKED!
We try and do this with high resolution YouTube videos rather than play and listen thru crappy computer speakers while watching a little tiny square.
Now navigating URL's is tricky with the Sony PS-3. So what we do is that we have Thrasher's Wheat bookmarked on our Blu-Ray. So we just go to the TW bookmark and scroll to the video and play. Viola!
It was my first time to see Neil, and I never thought he'd come to my hometown. My understanding is that he'd performed in Mobile once before, with Linda Ronstadt back in the '70s, and that he'd been booed off the stage. I know he almost never tours in this part of the world, and I'd figured it was due to the 'Southern Man' controversy and that he felt people here didn't like him and wouldn't come to see him.
If that was indeed the case, then I hope he knows now how much he is loved here, and that he won't be such a stranger in the future. The crowd in the beautiful jewel-box Saenger was vocal about their appreciation from the moment he came out on stage until the moment he left after the final encore of 'Walk With Me.' I myself was the first person to shout 'We love you, Neil!' after his entrance, and my fellow concertgoers roared their approval.
What I liked about this particular show is that we got a little taste of everything Neil does - piano, organ, harmonica, and all of his guitars: Hank, Ol' Black, the white Gretsch, and the guitar he used on some of the songs from Le Noise (what kind of guitar is that? Someone please post if you can tell me).
We got some old and some new; I was especially happy to hear 'Helpless,' the song that originally made me fall in love with him. 'I Believe In You' was rendered on the same piano that Allen Toussaint rocked in his opening set. The falsetto Neil deployed on this song was very soft and tender, and unbelievably lovely - his is one of the most unique voices in all of rock, the epitome of 'high lonesome.' He's apparently suffering from a cold at the moment, but my ears sure couldn't hear it.
The most riveting material of the night naturally proved to be his newest songs.
My favorite song from Le Noise is 'Love And War,' and I was most anxious to hear it - and it didn't disappoint. I think it's the best song he's written in years; an admission that no, he doesn't always know what he's doing, but he keeps on doing it anyway because he believes it's worth doing. Love and war are in some ways two sides of the same coin; we can no more explain the hows and whys of war than we can the capriciousness of the human heart - and it is, after all, in that unfaithful vessel that all of the joy and pain that's known in the world originates. Everyone is fighting their own war, be it on the fields of battle or in their own backyards. Neil's gently delivered observations, combined with haunting, Spanish-inflected guitar work, add up to one of the most devastating songs I've ever heard, live or otherwise. But the song that literally pulled me to the edge of my seat was 'The Hitchhiker.' Delivered with the most passion of the evening, I was deeply moved by what seems to be Neil telling the story of his life through his bouts with substance abuse. The lines 'I don't know how I'm standing here . . .' brought tears to my eyes. You are still standing, Neil, because you are meant to be; you are here to keep doing what you do so well - singing about love and war, and all of the flawed facets of our human condition.
It was over way too soon, but not before he acknowledged every section of the audience by pointing to them; each section answered him back. I joined a small crowd of people waiting by his bus, hoping for a picture and an autograph, and to thank him for coming to see us and support us. It was not to be; I heard a crew member say he wasn't feeling well, and was sitting inside with his shirt open. When the blinders were taken down from the bus windows, I could see that this was indeed the case. He wasn't moving much, but he did give a couple of waves to that handful of us who were still waiting in the drizzling rain, which I appreciated greatly - worth waiting for.
Feel better, Neil, thanks for what you've done for our ravaged region, and come visit us again soon.
Thanks Melanie! Let's hope Neil once more "makes friends down in Alabama" and visits again someday...
A very, very cool new video announcing Neil Young's new album, Le Noise which will have a visual premiere this coming Thursday on YouTube.
Here is Neil personally delivering the goods to the YouTube master, Roosevelt, in his long range electro-cruiser, Lincvolt.
From the YouTube post:"This Shakey PIctures production celebrates the freedom of self expression that YouTube encourages for those who create their own original artistic content."
Complete CBC Neil Young and Daniel Lanois Interview
Last week, we blogged on the CBC Interview with Neil Young and Daniel Lanois, which was relatively insightful into the making of the album Le Noise.
Here is the full 30 minute unedited interview by CBC Q's Jian Ghomeshi.
Some observations on "Angry World" and the recording process. Neil discusses arranging Daniel Lanois's medical care after his near fatal motorcycle crash. And composer Franz Schubert's approach to making music, too.
Today's the day!!!
Le Noise by Neil Young (Click to Zoom Cover) Release Date: September 28, 2010
As for Le Noise, I am having a heck of a time with this one. It's so different. The only thing I can compare it to is Trans, in that it's so experimental and weird. At times it sounds like an experiment in literal one-man garage rock played in some kind of echo-chamber. The loops and delays permeate everything, and the songs are just awash in these 'sonics'.
One thing for certain is that the word 'sonics' has become a new favorite of rusties.
I like what Lanois is doing. I don't think it's 'innovative' per se', but it's definitely playful and fun. I feel like the songs are at once held aloft by the 'sonics' and overwhelmed by them. Sometimes I think I'd like to hear them with a band, like, the Horse should play these tunes, they'd really rock them. But at other times I can just let go and get into the vibe of them.
I love Angry World, and I love Love and War. Both beautiful comments on society and the general state of things, and each set to either this fusion of delay-drenched psychedelia and garage-rock (Angry World) or big, open-prairie style acoustic strumming that Lanois just paints the sky with.
Beautiful stuff. Strange electric production that might suffer in the end from a lack of percussion, I think - but who am I to criticize?
Mostly I love Neil's lyrical style of late. You know, the part that everyone keeps complaining about.
Neil has become a master of making complex statements about things using very simple statements.
What fascinates me is that this is the same artist who, 30 years ago, was using complex, psychedelic imagery to describe very simple feelings, and wrapping things in abstractions.
In true Neil Young fashion, he has managed to become the opposite kind of poet than he was originally.
Whereas young Neil can be described with references to poets like T.S. Eliot or John Keats, this more reflective, older Neil more reflects the style of William Carlos Williams, who mastered the art of simplicity with his poems 'The Red Wheelbarrow,' and 'This is Just to Say,' also in his later years.
The Red Wheelbarrow in particular, I think, is a good comparison point when one considers the overt simplicity of a song like Angry World.
It's a small and seemingly inocuous poem, but when you start thinking about what it means, it opens up into a world of complexity.
Simple lines like 'No doubt everything will go as planned,' in this song, are exactly that. A simply worded phrase that one could expound upon at great length - and that is the mark of a great poet.
So when people start getting down on Neil for his delvings into simplicity and apparently direct statements, I think they're generally missing the point of Neil as a poet, and what he's trying to convey in his simplicity. Deep, complicated thoughts about the world. While young Neil would have conveyed simple internal feelings using abstract imagery, also awesomely.
So, this is evolution. And in Neil's ever-entertaining way, it comes with experimentation, inversion and surprise.
Right now I am still feeling the residuals of nerve-endings tingling, shivering-goose-bump hairs on end. Rock n' Roll is alive- still breathing in swirling, grinding, sonic breaths on Le Noise. Neil(with help from Lanois) has somehow taken all his experience, his career and shouted it down the echoing hallway of time, down past fifty-five years worth of rock- in all its splendid and raged glory, mixed that sound with personal sorrow and all the the confusion, anger, and frustration of the evening news then plugged it in and and hit the power button. Le Noise is the chemical reaction caused when genius, anger and electricity are combined and fed through Guitar amps.
All the doubters, the haters can eat their shoe. From what I've heard so far this album is it! Its so different, yet unmistakably Neil. At a time when rock seems to be hobbling along with aging, sorry limp- here comes Neil, on two strong legs, with the juices flowing, head-bobbing, body swaying over his Gretsch. Its not 1969, 1979, or 1989 its 2010 and Neil is releasing what already looks like one his best albums ever.
I absolutely loved it! I love the mix- all the sounds- it’s like waking up in a psychedelic battlefield; without all the death and with good melodies. Everything I've heard so far has completely blown me away. Like Neil Young in Ménage à trois with Sonic Youth and Jimi Hendrix- especially on Walk With Me. As much as I love the electric version of Hitchhiker I feel it was done better acoustic. Something about the solo acoustic renditions in 92' are just so hunting- but hey, it’s just a different version of the same spectacular song- either way I love it. The Hitchhiker is up there with Don’t Be Denied- hell of a song- I think Dylan said The Hitchhiker is as honest of a song as you get? Lanois, I think is a welcome fellow traveler for Neil- both Canadian, both mystical enough, both try to see under the surface and look for the undiscovered.
Rolling Stone says Le Noise is the sound of a man who refuses to give up and that’s pretty apt but for me it’s like Neil is still just starting out- I understand how that sounds but there is something to be said about an artist who refuses to believe he is past his prime, or that he knows all there is to know. Neil as retained an innocence that allows him to see into and navigate though a misty musical labyrinth where others (especially at his age) either won’t enter or just get too confused and turn back to more comfortable and recognizable quarters. Neil is innocent enough and has balls enough to tromp on in without a second guess. The result of which is always brilliant- misunderstood sometimes but this is Neil's art- not our own.
The blatant and the obvious does not always belong in art. Real art makes you FEEL and makes you THINK. Neil Young understands that in his line of work, to think you know everything is a death sentence- he needs to keep an open mind, and believe there is still much to learn and many ways to continue growing as an artist. Once you stop growing you start dying. Like the Young/Briggs credo; “The more you think, the more you stink” don’t let the conscious mind get in the way of the subconscious because that is where the art comes from, where the muse is. That’s why when Neil puts out a new album its exciting as hell- you want to hear (and see) what Neil has been up to. You know it will be different but you know him enough to trust that he’ll “never let you down”; you know it will be great, each in its own way because Neil is great. We know his beliefs and practices and they work, no matter who produces or who he plays with, its Neil’s ballgame- but the music- the muse makes the rules. This is way I say it’s like Neil is just starting out- it will always seem that way if Neil is keeps on his journey and retains his invaluable beliefs on art, music, writing ,life and creation.
Review: Neil Young's Le Noise "Weaving sonic tapestries"
A very passionate review of Neil Young's new album Le Noise by musician/blogger Zak Claxton:
First, yes: it's a solo album. There's no drums, no bass, no pedal steel guitar, no backing vocals to augment Neil's performance. But as opposed to the familiar solo acoustic songs that Neil's done many times, this is a solo electric album for six of the eight songs (the other two do use acoustic, but in ways you've never heard from NY before). Well, the electric guitar has never been the choice of the solo singer-songwriter. In its raunchier modes, its sound usually competes too much with the voice for the song to be highlighted.
And that, my friends, is where Daniel Lanois comes in. Neil had spoken to him about producing this solo album, and had originally intended on walking in with his old Martin guitar and doing something that I'm sure would have been acceptable to his fans. But after throwing ideas back and forth, apparently Lanois did or said something to Neil that allowed Neil to trust him.
The result is a combination of Neil's honest, heartfelt songwriting with Lanois' incredible ability to weave sonic tapestries. There are no overdubs here, despite what your ears may tell you. Neil and Daniel used some special gear and recording/mixing techniques to deliver a huge wall of sound that moves, changes, echoes, pans, fades in and out, and otherwise keeps you spellbound while you listen, despite the fact that the guitars and vocals were recorded live at Lanois' home studio here in the Los Angeles area. With Neil's blessing, Lanois treated the moods of the songs as if he were doing audio post-production for a movie, and the resulting picture is painted in a way that keeps the listener fascinated the whole way through.
>> Pre-Order on Amazon.com << 
Human Highway
Concert Review of the Moment
This Land is My Land
FREEDOM In A New Year
*Thanks Neil!*
![[EFC Blue Ribbon - Free Speech Online]](http://www.thrasherswheat.org/gifs/free-speech.gif)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being Neil Young
Pardon My Heart
"We're The Ones 
Thanks for Supporting Thrasher's Wheat!
This blog 
(... he didn't kill himself either...)
#AaronDidntKillHimself
Neil Young's Moon Songs
Civic Duty Is Not Terrorism
Orwell (and Grandpa) Was Right
What's So Funny About 
