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.
Earlier this week, we posted on Donald Trump Discusses Neil Young. Yesterday, we tried to tie together in a single post our comprehensive world view. While it didn't turn out quite as well as we would have hoped and became way too ambitious, hopefully it resonated with a few folks.
At this point, we would like to add that the Earth's challenges are not going to be solved politically. Nor will they be resolved with economic, social or military solutions either. We must admit after many years of long hard thinking and discussion is that we have is a spiritual and moral crisis. IOW, corruption on THE HIGHEST FLOOR (and most of the floors below, too).
Which brings us to Neil Young Discusses Donald Trump.
Neil Young: “I can’t imagine what inauguration day is gonna be like this year, it’s gonna be unlike any other one at any time.”
“Maybe this election thing needs to be looked at again, maybe there’s something wrong with it, maybe there’s something wrong with the candidates, the choices, the availability, the forum that it is, the two-party system, the whole thing. Maybe the whole thing is a little bit off and people are looking at it, that’s why there wasn’t any interest,” he says. “Many people when Bernie went away just went away. They said, ‘He was the only one we liked, the other ones we don’t like and we’re not gonna vote for something we don’t like cause we felt what it was like when we were backing somebody we really believed in.’ So that’s what happened in my view.”
“But it’s all water under the bridge, I think for activism we’re going to be really nourished by what’s going on and people are gonna come together with music and social media and feeling and trying to keep the ideals of the country and do everything they can to preserve that which they believe in, that they’ve believed in their whole life, many of them have fought for,” he says. “I just think it’s not gonna go away slowly, not gonna go away quietly.”
“Art always reflects the times and these times are very intense and I would expect the art to get very intense and I would expect the generation of the youth to get very intense along with the art and the music and the social media,” he said. “The times are going to be shining very brightly for those people to see. And they’re gonna comment on it, they’re gonna have opinions. They’re not gonna go quietly into the night, they outnumber, there are many of them.”
Donald Trump & Neil Young - 2014
In 2008, Donald Trump went to so many Neil Young concerts that Rolling Stone reporter Andy Greene interviewed him about his Neil Young fandom. “[Neil has] performed for me at my casinos over the years and he just brings it down,” Trump said. “I’ve met him on occasions and he’s a terrific guy. … Whatever the hell ‘it’ is, he’s got it.”
Note:This article is written for hard core Neil Young fans and those who understand his songs, motives and methods. Because TW is committed to open source information, we believe that Neil's fans are entitled to uncensored opinions. If you are not up to speed on Neil Young's catalog, this article will probably be a waste of your time. FWIW, there have been significant actions to prevent these articles from ever being published. We must extend a big thank you to our readers who have allowed this article to be published and who are deeply committed to open source Neil Young news, making such available to all who are interested in the truth even when it is hard to fathom.
So how exactly do we get from Neil Young's song written in 1970 titled "Winterlong" to this so called impending "The Big Quantum Shift" (aka "Great Awakening")? What is this illusion that will shatter?
If things should ever turn out wrong
And all the love we have is gone,
It won't be easy on that day.
Waiting to follow
Through the dreamlight of your way
Is not so easy for me now.
Half the time has passed away
Things we thought of yesterday
Come back now, come back now.
Waiting to follow
Through the dreamlight of your way
Is not so easy for me now.
Half the time has passed away
Things we thought of yesterday
Come back now, come back now.
I waited for you Winterlong
You seem to be where I belong.
Next, back in 2015, Neil Young posed the following question on his official website asking "How hard should I try?". Certainly a thought provoking question for us all as we observe the ongoing chaos as "The Quantum BIG Shift" approaches (More on "The Quantum Big Shift", evolving awareness, mass consciousness, full disclosure and total transparency below.)
The Quantum BIG Shift is All About Our Own Consciousness
As we alluded to, this is a big subject that can not be easily summarized. The theory of "The Quantum Big Shift" goes by many, many other names, as well, with various interpretations. Sometimes referred to as "Full Disclosure" or "The Event", for many -- for a very long time -- this has been considered to be the Second Coming of Christ, i.e., a really big deal happening that would be rather hard to miss.
Our take on this at TW is less biblical in nature, but still rooted in cosmic spirituality.
We see "The Quantum Big Shift" as a moment of Truth. We often talk about Neil's song "Winterlong" with the "It's all illusion anyway" lyric as being keystone. Another simple yet insightful lyric from the canon.
We tried to clarify the question of what is "The Quantum Big Shift" in the context of this post regarding energy. Undoubtedly, energy is key to "The Quantum Big Shift". Not just as one considers energy in a conventional sense like oil, gas, electricity, etc. But energy in all it's manifestations -- awareness and consciousness.
Consciousness
By Robert Fludd, an English Paracelsian physician, 17th Century
(Click to enlarge)
Our awareness -- our consciousness -- our ability to seek and know the truth is "The Quantum Big Shift". A tectonic event which will truly lead us all to the next level for humanity. Not to be too esoteric here when so many are just trying to make it from pay day to the next pay day. But there is way more to life than chasing a paycheck. Trust us.
"Winterlong" ...After time has passed away, things we thought of yesterday..
Can't say when. If even in our lifetimes. But there are more encouraging signs that we are on the cusp of "The Quantum Big Shift" than ever before. Let's let's all do our part and make it happen.
We are reluctant to point folks to specific links and sites since everyone has a small piece of the big puzzle and when one starts going down these rabbit holes it can be quite strange and bizarre and frightening. This is The Matrix. Which, btw, is a good start for attempting to understand "The Quantum Big Shift". You are Neo. Find your Morpheus. Take the Red Pill. (From the film "The Matrix" , the red pill and its opposite, the blue pill, are symbolic. They represent the choice between embracing the sometimes painful truth of reality (red pill) and the blissful ignorance of illusion (blue pill).)
In response to a comment, we observed that the US election of Donald Trump on November 8th was merely a slight political shift from left to right -- not The Quantum BIG Shift. Go back and watch The Wizard of Oz again. Dorothy got the BIG Shift right when the curtain was pulled back and all was revealed.
Recall what Witch Glinda says to Dorothy:
"You don't need to be helped any longer. You've always had the power to go back to Kansas."
Use your power and the force will be with you. And we'll see you when you get home.
Yes, "For What It's Worth", there is definitely something happening here and what it is -- while not exactly -- clear, there is a man with a gun over there telling us we got to beware. Fifty years after FWIW, still same as it ever was... but the Quantum "Big Shift" inexorably rolls on and on....
@Dominic Holdem--While I don't completely disagree with you--I was frustrated by the difficulties the Democrats had in rallying around their eventual candidate, while understanding of how Clinton's flaws were a part of the problem and, ultimately, I thnk both major parties muffed it.... majorly--I suppose I'm trying to transcend all of that right now, at least for a few moments.
Honestly, when it comes to politics and spirituality, I have strong feelings on both and it can be hard to find a balance. How do I reconcile my strong ideological convictions--which I know can cause conflict and act as a barrier between me and people who don't share my ideas--in the context of my ultimate belief that all life is part of the same beating heart and that we must, in spite of our considerable differences, learn to come together as one human family? How do my abstract, sweeping beliefs find grounding in coherent, pragmatic, doable policy concepts? How can I even be politically involved while saying that the material world is bathed in illusion?
Sometimes being politically active feels like participating in the illusion, perpetuating it. But if I don't stand up for what I believe is right, I feel that we're only going to get further away from being able to understand and penetrate the illusion. And of course anyone who sees the world as one family, sees every individual as being connected to the whole and sharing a universal Self, cannot possibly countenance the wars, the suffering and dying, the destruction that happens because, ultimately, of the illusion's corrupting power. One cannot countenance human hands continuing to damage our planet through the forces of climate change and human-manufactured pollution.
These are the questions I wrestle with at times like these. There are no definite answers in life; as I like to say, one thing I know is that I don't know. The near-impossibility of being certain (of anything) is one of the great existential struggles, which in turn is why people have developed philosophical and spiritual belief systems.
For longtime TW readers, you know that with 2003's release of Neil Young's "Greendale" -- which hit us like a sledgehammer to the anvil of truth -- we have been covering the ever expanding vortex of corruption while trying to mix in some of Neil's activities in the areas of music, film, literature, and technology, among other assorted random musings.
'She was welded to the eagle's beak
sun green leaned into that megaphone
and said, "truth is all i seek" '
"Sun Green" by Neil Young
Again, for longtime TW readers, you know that we have been quite alarmed by the accelerating events propelling us well beyond the prophecies laid out by George Orwell's 1984 and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Today, we have an ever growing clamor by the elite media to reign in "fake news" that would make the crusading anti-Communist Joseph McCarthy quite proud. It is without irony, that nowhere in the establishment is there a concern whatsoever about infringing on our Constitutional rights of free speech and free press.
Officer Carmichael in Greendale
Officer Carmichael Pulling Over Jed ' "Carmichael you asshole,"
the new widow sobbed beneath her veil,
"shot down in the line of duty is this how justice never fails?" '
As everyone is recognizing, the real threat to democracy and freedom is the propaganda spewing elite mainstream media which is ramping up their war on "Fake News". And the irony of ironies is that the war on "Fake News" is being waged with -- what else -- fake news.
Clearly, the evolution/revolution continues. Is 2017 The Year We Find Out Who's Really Going To Stand Up? Will the looming "Quantum Big Shift" roll on incrementally or suddenly? In the meantime, here we all are -- both irrevocably changed -- and yet still much the same as we ever were.
Neil Young was so shaken by photos of the four unarmed students killed by military gunfire at Kent State that he wrote "Ohio" for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young right away. By the end of the week, it was playing on the radio. That was 1970. Now, in 2014, outrage over police brutality has become much more widespread, inspiring protests and "die-ins" nationwide for Michael Brown and Eric Garner, two unarmed black men killed in confrontations with cops. Days ago in Brooklyn, two NYPD officers were murdered while sitting in their patrol car. But this year will end without a defining protest song.
...
"I think a lot of it is just due to fear of being blackballed and not making a living," Questlove of The Roots told Billboard, referring to the backlash the Dixie Chicks faced in 2003, when Natalie Maines told an audience that the band was "ashamed" that President Bush was from Texas."We were like, 'Man, if a white woman can lose her career in the United States for speaking up for what's right, then shit, we'll get the electric chair.' I think that was the bottom line.
As always, we live in dangerous times where those who stand for freedom are often accused of treason and worse. Such times are now and the struggle for freedom -- even among those who feel they are actually free -- is more paramount than ever. The right to live and speak freely is an inalienably human right that can never be assumed nor taken for granted.
So, for what it's worth... we're protesting the lack of protest music. Who's gonna stand up and make some protest music?
"First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me."
~~ Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945
The levels of corruption are so off the charts historically it really is truly breathtaking in not only the magnitude and scope, but in the sheer levels of depravity and evil. Oh sure politicians have been grifting cash from day one, but things have gone far, far beyond pay to play.
Basically, the best we can all hope for at this point, is the utter, complete destruction of the two party monopoly system. The demise of the Republican party is well underway, but this could be the final election for the traditional Democratic party as well. If that is the outcome of the Nov 8 election, than it will be for the good of all of us in the long run.
The really, truly inconvenient truth of Greendale is its uncomfortable confrontation with themes such as the power of mass media and global corporations, loss of personal freedoms and privacy, destruction of the environment, rampant fraud and corruption, an out of balance government and breakdown of the family. All of which we've detailed before here, here, and here.
And, yes, there is corruption on the highest floor. Quite obviously... at least to us from where we stand. Maybe not to you. Maybe not yet. But if it is not obvious to you as of yet, hopefully it will be before it's too late. Not to sound ominous here or anything, but into your life it will creep.
We all remember those post 9-11 days when so much made so little sense. For us, Greendale was like a sledgehammer to the anvil of truth and awakened this blog from it's post-9/11 dormancy. We can specifically recall receiving a comment back in late 2002/early 2003 which said: "Something has gone seriously wrong."
But what? How? And more importantly, how to fix this derailed streetcar named "Democracy"?
Over the intervening years, we've often alluded to the problem and solution. Sometimes directly, sometimes obliquely. And while we could just type it all out plainly in all caps HERE'S THE PROBLEM and HERE'S THE SOLUTION, we know that this approach will not work. Here's why.
Everyone has to find their own truth and deal with it. Right now, our truth and our solution is likely to be so vastly different for so many that to do so would be unhelpful. That said, anyone who puts in the effort can find that liberating freedom, inner peace and unconditional love.
Back on January 1st, 2011, we wrote here about Freedom in a New Year, which has been viewed -- in hindsight -- as somewhat prophetic for the events that would soon unfold.
NEW LYRICS: "Rockin In The Free World" - Neil Young + Promise of the Real, Antwerp, Belgium Concert - June 24, 2016
"Got a water cannon for the standing man
Got misinformation from the corporation
In the endless search for a drop of oil
People's lives get shattered while we suck it from the soil
Gotta show the children
We just don't care
So we keep on burnin' it
And put it in the air"
Written by Thomas Jefferson, the American Declaration of Independence is now seen as a universal human rights statement:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
The album contains the song "Rockin' In The Free World" and is one of Young's most popular, important and prophetic songs of his vast catalog.
The song has become an iconic anthem and it's status continues to rise as more and more artists cover the song. Young's lyrics are considered to be an indictment of the politics of the 1980's. In today's post-9/11 world, the lyrics seem prophetic and even more meaningful than when originally written on the eve of the '90's as the Berlin Wall fell.
Twenty five plus years on, the song "Rockin' In The Free World" has become an encore finale for bands around the world, as well as, a coda for the days that used to be.
So. Freedom ... Is It All Really Just An Illusion Now?
"The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it.
...
For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence--on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations.
Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried, not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed. It conducts the Cold War, in short, with a war-time discipline no democracy would ever hope or wish to match.
Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment. That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it is in my control. And no official of my Administration, whether his rank is high or low, civilian or military, should interpret my words here tonight as an excuse to censor the news, to stifle dissent, to cover up our mistakes or to withhold from the press and the public the facts they deserve to know."
"[We have an] obligation to inform and alert the American people -- to make certain that they possess all the facts that they need, and understand them as well -- the perils, the prospects, the purposes of our program and the choices that we face.
Without debate, without criticism, no Administration and no country can succeed -- and no republic can survive. That is why the Athenian lawmaker Solon decreed it a crime for any citizen to shrink from controversy. And that is why our press was protected by the First Amendment-- the only business in America specifically protected by the Constitution -- not primarily to amuse and entertain, not to emphasize the trivial and the sentimental, not to simply "give the public what it wants" -- but to inform, to arouse, to reflect, to state our dangers and our opportunities, to indicate our crises and our choices, to lead, mold, educate and sometimes even anger public opinion."
"And so it is to the printing press -- to the recorder of man's deeds, the keeper of his conscience, the courier of his news -- that we look for strength and assistance, confident that with your help man will be what he was born to be: free and independent."
JFK - 1961
Yet the song "Rockin' In The Free World" is often misunderstood and attacked on false interpretations and misplaced understandings. Witness some of the near violent comments that have been left on this blog over the years in reaction to some of our previous postings on the song's lyrical analysis (see comments here and here.)
There are those who have argued that "Rockin' in the Free World" espouses anti-freedom ideals, to which we have taken serious issue with in the past.
As always, we live in dangerous times where those who stand for freedom are often accused of treason and worse. Such times are now and the struggle for freedom -- even among those who feel they are actually free -- is more paramount than ever. The right to live and speak freely is an inalienably human right that can never be assumed nor taken for granted.
You need only understand the true context of George Bush’s “thousand points of light” reference. It has nothing to do with a call to civic and charitable involvement. Rather, it is a reference to Illuminism, an encoded esoteric call to arms signaling to all the wreckers throughout the world that the time has come to declare out in the open (in George Bush’s own words), a “New World Order”.
For us, we try to be wise enough not to “feed the chaos” further with our own fear, anger, or hate. For our own sake, we try to turn our backs and head towards what is true and pure and loving. We try as best we can to devote our lives to that which makes us happy, healthy, and complete. We are all made to enjoy music, nature, beauty, and the company of our loved ones. We try to live the life we believe is right, no matter the consequences. Without fear and with unconditional love.
Our plan is to continue forward and keep on bloggin' until the power goes out and our battery's dead. Thanks to all of you who support what we do here at Thrasher's Wheat. Thank you all for your contributions, support, and helpful efforts throughout the year. We can’t begin to tell you how much we appreciate every single one of you as you manage to keep us refreshed, stimulated, and stepping through your constant sharing of ideas that nudge us onward. We couldn't do it without you. Again, we don't want to sound paranoid that forces are at work to shutdown our advertising, deprive us of revenue, and thwart our freedom of communication. But at the same time, we can't brush all this off in a blase fashion. On the bright side, we consider this to be another validation of a sort of what we do here at TW. In the past, the attacks on this site have reinforced our belief that we have taken the less traveled fork in the road on our journeys.
So believe in what we both together are doing. Knowing we can succeed. Our time is coming. Nothing will stop this now so we begin this year of 2017 with love in our hearts. Make peace our goal, and vow to be true to ourselves. Working to create a world that we can be proud of, and that which we helped to create. May the beautiful energy of music and love surround you and yours, and let it be your traveling muse and guiding light. That is our wish for our world today ... and tomorrow. Look at everything with the eyes of love and we will create harmony and peace. Lastly, we’d again like to thank all of you out there for your amazing support. Thank you for taking the time to read our posts and comment; send heart-warming notes, photos, and links; and thanks for spreading the word.
Dreams can come true... if you want to work hard to make them happen. We are all making a difference together and feel the world is taking notice. Having said this, let’s all prepare for what is to come in what we believe will be a future of positive, lasting change.
this blog is my blog, this blog is your blog, this blog was made for you & me.
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
~~ Benjamin Franklin, Pennsylvania Assembly Reply to the Governor, 1755
But really, the bottom line -- The Big Secret -- is that it's all about The Bridge Kids. Seriously.
UPDATE:
As Neil Young asked in 2006, so, "What if Al Qaeda blew up the levees?" Good question. To elaborate precisely on this "Quantum Big Shift". Full Disclosure leads to Transparency. Transparency leads to Awareness. Awareness leads to "Waking Up". "Waking Up" leads to Consciousness. Consciousness leads to The Truth. And The Truth leads to your own personal "Quantum Big Shift". Thanks again to so many out there trying to bring it all back home by plowing those fields of wheat, amber waves of grain. Call it channeling. Call it synchronicity. Or just call call it the magic of TW Rising, The Big Shift, The Ascension or "Great Awakening", we love it and revel in the White Rabbits chasing the Men in Black back down the rabbit hole.
Be Alice. Be Dorothy. Be Toto. Be Neo. Be the RAIN ... but use disCERNment at all times.
As you may recall in June 2015, Donald Trump's quixotic Presidential campaign announcement began to the music of Neil Young’s "Rockin’ in the Free World."
"Donald Trump was not authorized to use "Rockin' In The Free World" in his presidential candidacy announcement. Neil Young, a Canadian citizen, is a supporter of Bernie Sanders for President of the United States of America."
At the time, we wrote that the song's selection as campaign theme music raised very serious concerns about the candidate's judgement and wisdom, as well as, that of his staff's who appeared to be either totally inept or merely sycophantically obeying orders from "The Donald" in fear of being a victim of Trump's anger and "You're Fired!" mentality. Clearly, the campaign seemed totally oblivious to the song’s lyrics and themes and was a very poor fit for the Trump campaign's issue platform based on divisive rhetoric.
Make no mistake, Donald Trump is a huge Neil Young fan.
Donald Trump has been to so many Neil Young concerts that Rolling Stone reporter Andy Greene interviewed him in 2008 about his Neil Young fandom. Trump said: “I’ve met him on occasions and he’s a terrific guy. … Whatever the hell ‘it’ is, he’s got it.”
Commenting on attending the Bob Dylan Tribute at Madison Square Garden in 1992:
Donald Trump: “He’s got something very special.
I’ve listened to his music for years and I’ve seen him before that, but I went to the concert where they were honoring Bob Dylan and Neil got up and totally brought the house down. There was nobody close.
He’s performed for me at my casinos over the years and he just brings it down. I’ve met him on occasions and he’s a terrific guy.”
Donald Trump attended Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young at Madison Square Garden in 2006, Young’s solo show at the United Palace Theater in 2007 and Crazy Horse at Madison Square Garden in 2008. Trump also attended at least one of the 4 Carnegie Hall solo concerts by Neil Young in 2014.
Which all brings us to the video clip above of Donald Trump in Baltimore, Maryland on June 26, 2015. As you can see, Trump attempts to explain his relationship with Neil Young and the arrangements made to license the song. [Full speech here.]
When we were first directed to this clip back in 2015, we did not even bother to post it for a number of reasons. Primarily, the statement is very convoluted, disjointed and fails to reach a takeaway point. Fail. Secondarily, we pretty much assumed -- like everyone else -- he was not a serious candidate and would quickly fall off the radar screen. Wrong.
NEW LYRICS: "Rockin In The Free World" - Neil Young + Promise of the Real, Antwerp, Belgium Concert - June 24, 2016
"Got a water cannon for the standing man
Got misinformation from the corporation
In the endless search for a drop of oil
People's lives get shattered while we suck it from the soil
Gotta show the children
We just don't care
So we keep on burnin' it
And put it in the air"
So why post the video now, Thrashers?
Well, obviously because, tomorrow this man will be inaugurated as President of the United States of America.
And let us hope that he's able to speak more coherently tomorrow, for everyone's sake. That said, it is instructive to watch and listen how Mr Trump thinks and acts. From what we gather, this performance is fairly typical. Maybe he will be a great President? We shall soon find out. The whole world is watching.
PARODY: "Conan Look At My Life" - A Barbarian Take on Classic Neil Young Song
In these strange end times/new times, what could be more fulfilling than a goofy Neil parody to lighten the mood?
Neil Young's classic song "Old Man" is revamped for this video using Conan the Barbarian film footage.
Simply beyond goofy and must be seen to be believed. Jimmy Fallon, view this and weep!
"One might think that a parody of this classic rock ballad that mixes sorrowful nostalgia with John Milius' vision of Conan the Barbarian would come across as silly. It doesn't. Nat Kramer's parody music video "Conan Look at My Life" works because it adheres to the first rule of parody songs, above all things make sure that your song is good." (Thanks Advanced Dungeons and Parenting!)
Slave. Warrior. Wagnerian Role Model.
The media alchemy no one was waiting for: A tender and powerful song by Neil Young meets the peak physique of Arnold and the unflinching, savage vision of Milius and Howard.
Those who brought this jewel to light, in all its facets:
This Music Performance & Video:
Producer/Editor: Nat Kramer
Associate Producer/Lyrics: Adam Masek
Guitar/Lead Vocals/Faux Pedal Steel: Rob Fitzgerald
Drums: Robin Chestnut
Bass: Bad Bad Dan
Banjo: Conbat
Engineered by Jeremy Averitt
Secondary Engineering by Rob Fitzgerald/Nat Kramer
Post-Production Audio: Fitzgerald/Averitt/Kramer
Assistant Wordsmith Flava: Sasha Strong/Kramer
Further Well-Deserved Credit, Respect, and Admiration to:
Music:
Original Song "Old Man" by Neil Young, from the album Harvest (1972).
Film:
Starring
Conan - Arnold Schwarzenegger
Thulsa Doom - James Earl Jones
Valeria - Sandahl Bergman
Subotai - Gerry Lopez
Mako - The Wizard
Writer/Director - John Milius
Director of Photography - Duke Callaghan
Editor - Carroll Timothy O'Meara
Music - Basil Poledouris (We didn't use any here, but it was too good not to mention! Bravo.)
Executive Producer - Dino De Laurentiis
Executive Producer - Edward R. Pressman
Executive Producer - D. Constantine Conte
Producer - Raffaella De Laurentiis
Producer - Buzz Feitshans
Story - Edward Summer
Writer - Oliver Stone
Sword Master - Kiyoshi Yamasaki
Art Direction - Pier Luigi Basile & co.
Costume Design - John Bloomfield
Set Decoration - Giorgio Postiglione
...and of course Robert E. Howard, original creator of Conan.
*AND* every single other person who helped accomplish the spectacular vision of Conan... in and around 1982.
With the global political climate managing to piss off everyone: ["Peace Trail"] is a protest album from everyone’s favourite seething uncle, Neil Young, almost the epitome of inevitable.*
Yes, Peace Trail is anything but: Young is at his most righteous here, turning out a collection of would-be ‘Ohio’s in the knowledge that, as prolific as he might be (the guy is better at turning out albums than I am at turning out reviews; again, sincere apologies to our beleaguered reviews ed), if he can’t be first then he will damn well be the most pissed off.
The thing is, the sentiments are never sustained. “‘I think I know who to blame, it’s all those people with funny names movin’ into our neighbourhood” he sings over a chopping acoustic guitar and distorted harmonica (fuck yeah) on ‘Terrorist Suicide Hang Gliders’. It’s a good line, its delivery dripping with venomous irony on the album’s best song, but, at barely more than three minutes, far too short for Young to fully exploit its sarcastic fury. For someone so adept at extracting the most out of every song and every idea – as anyone who has heard anything from Ragged Glory live will attest – this is awfully ... pithy.
The flip side of that is that this is Young’s most accessible album in god alone knows how long. While it may be disingenuous of the singer to call it a 'primarily acoustic' record, the electric guitar parts – pleasingly familiar and scuzzy as they are – are interludes rather than the jams we have come to expect. This is presumably down to the decision to record the album only with drummer Jim Keltner and bass guitarist Paul Bushnell, rather than his latest band, Promise of the Real. This feels like a slightly odd decision, given how strong they sounded on his last studio album, The Monsanto Years; notably another protest record.
The temptation is to say Peace Trail is underdone, its ideas not fully explored in the way we know Young is capable of doing. But this feels churlish: we complain that audiences’ attention spans are too short these days then complain again when an album such as this comes along. ‘John Oaks’, for example, is an uncompromising tale of death at the hands of law and order; it is the boldest example of a handful of songs here that waltz in, slap you in the face and leave.
And let’s face it: we all need a metaphorical slap in the face once in a while.
"Ev'rybody's talkin' 'bout
album sales, lyric quality, cover art, aging, vocals
This-ism, that-ism, ism ism ism
All we are saying is give peace *trail* a chance
All we are saying is give peace *trail* a chance
All we are saying is give peace *trail* a chance
All we are saying is give peace *trail* a chance"