REPORTS: The Bernard Shakey Film Retrospective: Neil Young on Screen

Neil Young at The Bernard Shakey Film Retrospective, IFC Center, New York City
Photo by Harold Lepidus

Last week, the IFC Center in New York City hosted the The Bernard Shakey Film Retrospective: Neil Young on Screen .

From Examiner by Harold Lepidus:

Last night, Neil Young made a few appearances at the IFC Center in Greenwich Village. The theater has been hosting a week long Bernard Shakey movie retrospective, ending tonight. Shakey is, of course, Young’s nom de cinema.

A late addition Wednesday night was a screening of the work-in-progress film, “The Monsanto Years,” which is also rumored to be the title of his new album. After tickets for a 11:20 p.m. screening, introduced by Young, sold quickly, another 11:45 showing on a neighboring screen, also with Young, was added. This was after a Q & A session with Young at the end of the 9:30 screening of his film “Muddy Track.”

“The Monsanto Years” is a one hour film, based around all new songs, with little bits inserted in between. I jotted down the song titles in the dark during the screening, so a few- listed below - might not be accurate. The titles were changed and added on the marquee outside of a movie theater before each song, by two people dressed in yellow Devo-esque hazmat suits. The theater itself was the “Teatro,” the name of a Willie Nelson album produced by Daniel Lanois, both closely associated with Young. The band that played on the album with Young, Promise of the Real, features two of Nelson’s sons.

Here’s the track list for "The Monsanto Years," as far as I can tell:

BIG BOX
A ROCK STAR BUCKS COFFEE SHOP (?)
RULES OF CHANGE
WORKING MAN
MONSANTO YEARS
A NEW DAY FOR LOVE
WOLF MOON
PEOPLE WANT 2 HEAR ABOUT LOVE
IF I DON’T KNOW

The movie/album is similar in tone to “Living With War” and “Fork in the Road”: Immediate, angry, politically charged songs, mostly drenched in trademarked, equine garage grunge. I’ll try to expand on what I saw in a future article, but here are a few highlights:

Young sings about Monsanto, critically and repeatedly, on a few songs. Safeway and Starbucks also receive tongue lashings.
The song “Monsanto Years” is over seven minutes long.
Young plays electric guitar on all songs except “Wolf Moon,” which features Neil on acoustic guitar and harmonica.
After members of the band quoted some avant garde Beatles moments from “Revolution 9” and the inner groove of “Sgt. Pepper,” following “People Want 2 Hear About Love,” the next song “If I Don’t Know” has a feel similar to “Dear Prudence.”

More on "Detailed notes on Neil Young’s work-in-progress, ‘Monsanto Years’ (Part one)" and "Detailed notes on Neil Young’s work-in-progress, ‘Monsanto Years’ (Part two)"


Neil Young & Jim Jarmusch: Muddy Track Q&A


Here is a clip of Neil Young introducing the rough cut of his latest film The Monsanto Years on April 22, 2015.

From official Neil Young | Facebook:

The Monsanto Years are here and we are living them. Monsanto is the poster-child for what is wrong with corporate controlled government in our world. Our upcoming record, “The Monsanto Years”, encompasses several associated subjects that millions of people world - wide are concerned about and active in.

No One Owns the Sacred Seed
GMOs & Toxic Farming*: dangers of GMO pesticides killing bees and other critical life forms by being bred into seeds, making food poisonous, how the main function of Monsanto and some other GMO products is to create plants that can endure more pesticides, the dangers of pesticides, how GMO & industrial agriculture squanders water, how unsustainable farming intensifies climate change, how GMO & pesticides are linked to Autism, Cancer & many more health problems, the crime of patenting genes & controlling the global seed supply, butterflies, birds, soil life, and more.

The Worldwide Solution to Climate Change
Sustainable Agriculture*: How organic farming practices conserve water, especially compared to Corporate Agriculture, rebuilding topsoil, protecting heirloom seeds, farmers markets, 'Carbon Farming' for sequestering co2, 'Green transportation', solar & wind power, stopping Tar-Sands, Fracking & Mountain Top Removal, Ending the Age of Fossil Fuel.

Separation of Corporation and State
Corporate Justice*: The Trans Pacific Partnership, Citizens United, corporate accountability, Government
subsidizing of Big Ag, Big oil & Big chemical companies, civil rights laws &
living wages.

The Age of Extinction
Protect Life on Earth*: extreme extinction rates, protecting forest &
ocean biodiversity, protecting national wilderness areas & indigenous sacred lands.

Corporate Media and the Disinformation Trends
News You Can Trust*: displaying magazines, journals & websites that
provide reliable news about these issues, which FOX News and many national newspapers ignore or deny.

World-Wide Water shortages.
Water & Drought*: How Chemical and GMO based Agriculture used by multi national corporations is wasting and poisoning billions of gallons of Earth’s precious water, the crime of privatizing water, the western US drought crisis, bottled water scams, using better water conservation techniques.

Local Solutions
Going Local*: Urban farming, supporting regional family farms,
supporting local businesses, protecting regional wilderness.

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