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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.
Warren Zevon and Neil Young
Winter Park, Colorado, 1992 - Photo by Richard Creamer
The late, great Warren Zevon and Neil Young have a few interesting musical intersections.
From Sugar Mountain Set Lists, Warren Zevon and Neil Young performed together on 07-11-1992 in Winter Park, Colorado. Neil was a guest on two songs: 'Splendid Isolation' and 'Comes A Time'.
Neil also plays lead guitar on Warren Zevon's song "Gridlock" from his 1989 album, Transverse City.
"Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
A southern man don't need him around anyhow"
From Warren Zevon's biography, the sory is that he ran into Neil and invited him to play a benefit show. Neil then returned the favour by inviting him to the Bridge Benefit.
The biography uses passages from his diary. One passage reads:
July 10, 1992-Colorado
"Stopped to eat at what seemed like no more than a crossroads in the middle of nowhere: we walked in and there was Neil Young and his wife, Pegi. They're with their son at camp: pure coincidence.
July 11, 1992-Winter Park
...Up at 8:00 with a headache. Rode over to the festival site early with Randy Newman and his guy. Newman seemed to have no interest in me whatsoever...Neil and I running into each other was major local news. Later Neil and Pegi arrived, Neil wearing "Old Velvet Nose" boldly on his T-shirt...He asked me what we were going to do. We played Splendid Isolation and Cortez...great audience...great day. Neil and I spent some more time together. I sure like this guy and it was a thrill playing with him on stage.
Also, Warren Zevon wrote 'Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead'.
Lyrics:
I was working on a steak the other day
I saw Neil Young in the Rattlesnake cafe
Dressed black, tossing back a shot of rye
Finding things to do in Denver when you die
The Party Man wants to party all night, get drunk all night, and get drugged all night. He wants to waste his life. And if he can screw some people along the way, he will do it.
The late Allan Bloom declared in his 1987 meditation The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today’s Students that
“Nothing is more singular about this generation than its addiction to music…Today, a very large proportion of young people between the ages of ten and twenty live for music. It is their passion; nothing else excites them as it does; they cannot take seriously anything alien to music.”[1]
That statement is still true today. In fact, today’s young people know more about what is happening in the entertainment industry than what is currently taking place in the political or historical scene in the United States and elsewhere.[2] If you doubt this statement, then take a microphone, start interviewing some young people, and ask them basic questions about politics and history. Then switch the questions to pop culture and the entertainment industry. The answer may surprise you.
But there is a sense that young people are products of the culture in which they are raised. In other words, they are like sponges; they grab everything that the Powers That Be put in front of them without examination. They cannot realize that they are being manipulated, since they cannot recognize who is their enemy and who is their friend. Plato even perceived that point way back in ancient Greece. With respect to music, Plato concluded that “through foolishness,” the people
“deceived themselves into thinking that there was no right or wrong in music—that it was to be judged good or bad by the pleasure it gave. By their work and their theories they infected the masses with the presumption to think themselves adequate judges…As it was, the criterion was not music, but a reputation for promiscuous cleverness and a spirit of law-breaking.”[3]
I grew up listening to Prince, Madonna, Michael Jackson and other soft rock artists. They were big hits in the late 1980s and 1990s. In fact, one had to be deaf to miss the top 40 songs.
But as I began to think about some of life’s deepest questions—the question of origin, morality, meaning, and destiny—it eventually became very clear to me that these artists were living in a fictitious and sometimes irrational world precisely because they all have succumbed to the false idea that morality or practical reason has little or nothing to do with their personal life.
It also became clear that many of those people have sold their morals for money, fame, and power and have surrendered themselves to powerful forces which sometimes are beyond their control. As Angus Young of AC/DC put it way back in 1985, “I’m an automatic pilot…Someone else is steering me. I’m just along for the ride. I become possessed when I’m on stage.” Michael Jackson admitted:
“I wake up from dreams and go, ‘Wow, put this down on paper.’ The whole thing is strange. You hear the words, everything is right there in front of your face. And you say to yourself, ‘I’m sorry, I just didn’t write this. It’s there already.’ That’s why I hate to take credit for the songs I’ve written. I feel that somewhere, someplace, it’s been done and I’m just a courier bringing it into the world.”[4]
Similar admissions have been made by people like Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Little Richard, Bob Marley, Jim Morrison of The Doors, Pete Townshend of The Who, Alanis Morissette, etc.[5] Carlos Santana said the same thing back in 2000. Here’s how the Rolling Stone described it:
“His meditation spot is in front of the fireplace… a little higher up the hill, he calls the church. ‘Here’s where I hang out with Jimi and Miles and whoever, and play and meditate,’ he explains. The rest of the family likes to be in bed by ten, but Santana is a night person, so he’ll come up here until two or three in the morning.
“A card with the word Metatron spelled out in intricately painted picture letters lies on the floor next to the fireplace. Metatron is an angel. Santana has been in regular contact with him since 1994. Carlos will sit here facing the wall, the candles lit. He has a yellow legal pad at one side, ready for the communications that will come. ‘It’s kind of like a fax machine,’ he says.”[6]
People like Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin made it very clear that powerful forces are the bedrock upon which Led Zeppelin is built. Page in particular “has never really hidden his fascination with magick (as British occultist Aleister Crowley spelled it) …particularly his manifestation in his music.”[7] When asked the question, “Were your occult studies contributing to the vibe of your musical vision,” Page responded that they were “a point of reference.”[8] The interviewer continued, “It’s known that you have quite a collection of Crowley artifacts.” Page:
“Certainly. I made reference to it in my music. I’ve always made references to the sources of my ideas.”[9]
Page is not kidding here, and his own bookstore includes a wide range of literature, most specifically Kabala, tarot, alchemy, and Rosicrucian.[10] Quoting William Burroughs, another magician and author of Naked Lunch, the interviewer declared,
“The underlying assumption of magick is the assertion of will as the underlying primary moving force in the universe—the deep conviction that nothing happens unless somebody or some being wills it to happen.”[11]
Here we are faced with an essential point. Every human creature must submit his will or passion to practical reason, otherwise things will get irrational and chaotic—and sometimes diabolical. For example, a French aristocrat by the name of Marquis de Sarde refused to submit his will to the moral order during the French Revolution and consequently unleashed a hellish existence in France and its culture.[12]
Less than a century later, people like Charles Baudelaire, Alexandre Dumas, Theophile Gautier—all of whom were members of the Hashish Club in Paris[13]—followed almost the same irrational behavior. They deliberately ignored the moral order under the principle of “art for art’s sake”[14] and indulged themselves in behavior that eventually hastened their death.
Baudelaire’s manifestos, The Flowers of Evil and The Litanies of Satan, were written under the influence of opium. He likened hashish to sorcery and magic.[15] Opium obviously allowed Baudelaire to embrace radically blasphemous themes in his work.
We are witnessing almost the same thing in the music industry. Entertainers and musicians have submitted their wills to forces which are contrary to practical reason. Jimi Hendrix admitted:
“We try to make our music so loose and hard-hitting that it hits your soul hard enough to make it open. It’s like shock therapy or can opener. You hypnotize people to where they go right back to their natural state, which is pure positive…”[16]
Hendrix also declared that through music, you can “get people at their weakest point.” When that’s done, then “you can preach into the subconscious what we want to say.” This has had detrimental consequences for musicians. First, they have become subservient to what rapper DMX himself has called “The Industry.” DMX declared:
“The Industry: it doesn’t have to do with talent; it’s about playing the game. The Industry: money, bitches, and hate…The Industry—if you ain’t got a strong mind—will break you down, [and] it’s a matter of time. They want you to dress like this and talk like that…The industry vultures with nothing to feast on…The Industry plays in the dirt, stays in the dirt—test the wrong one in the industry and you will get hurt.
“The industry wanted, dead or alive, new artists to sell their souls…to survive. The Industry don’t give a fuck about you! But the industry couldn’t make a dime without you!”
This is actually the case with Jimi Hendrix. It was reported that his manager Michael Jeffrey connived in his death in order to collect millions of dollars on Hendrix’s life insurance.[17] Jeffrey, who died in a plane crash two years after Hendrix’s death, confessed:
“I had to do it. Jimi was worth much more to me dead than alive. That son of a bitch was going to leave me. If I lost him, I’d lose everything.”[18]
To use DMX’s words, did Jeffrey “give a fuck” about Hendrix? No. Describing the looting expedition which was at the center of the Whig oligarchs since the Reformation, economic historian R. H. Tawney declared, “The upstart aristocracy of the future had their teeth in the carcass, and, having tasted blood, they were not to be whipped off by a sermon.”[19] Jeffrey obviously had his teeth in Hendrix’s carcass, and nothing was going to stop him from drinking Hendrix’s blood.
But long before his death, Hendrix had already made a conscious decision to join The Industry. When you sell your morals for cheap and seasonal things like fame, power and money, then rest assured that you will be miserable in the end.
“I’m a tormented person…My pain is as big as my joy.”[21]
Lady Gaga is basically saying the same thing. Madonna and people in The Industry are tormented people because practical reason is absent from their careers. They don’t want to control their passion. Madonna again is a classic example. When asked to defend her recently provocative outfit, Madonna had this to say:
“When it comes to women’s rights we are still in the dark ages. My dress at the Met Ball was a political statement as well as a fashion statement. The fact that people actually believe a woman is not allowed to express her sexuality and be adventurous past a certain age is proof that we still live in an age-ist and sexist society. I have never thought in a limited way and I’m not going to start.”
Well, the first thing about practical reason is that you are going to think “in a limited way” because you will go by rational rules which are universal. In other words, irrational rules are not allowed. People like Madonna have been living in an irrational world for decades. In fact, Madonna built her entire career preying upon other people’s children. How does she raise her own kids? Listen to the “unapologetic bitch”:
“My kids don’t watch TV. We have televisions but they’re not hooked up to anything but movies. TV is trash. I was raised without it. We don’t have newspapers or magazines in the house either.”[22]
She won’t even allow her own children to express themselves. Why can’t she apply her own principles where they are really needed? Why the double standard? If she is right in saying that “the definition of freedom is being fearless,”[23] why is she putting fear in the heart of her children? If we all have to join her fight in “gender equality,”[24] why is she discriminating against her kin?
Well, the simple answer is that Madonna, like the late Prince, is working in The Industry, which does not allow her to put two coherent thoughts together. The Industry wants to turn all those artists into what Prince called “The Party Man.” The “Party Man,” Prince tells us, has no “rules and regulations,” which is to say that practical reason plays no part in his moral equation.
The Party Man has no loyalty to morality and to the ways things really are. He builds his substratum on a false or existentially weak foundation. He wants to party all night, get drunk all night, and get drugged all night. He wants to waste his life. And if he can screw some people along the way, he will do it. He lives by William Blake’s dictum, which states that “The road to excess leads to the palace of wisdom.”[25]
For “The Party Man,” reflections on life’s metaphysical questions is an afterthought. In fact, he is a man who does not want to think deep and act upon the basis of practical reason. He does not want to submit his lustful passion or appetite to the moral order. As a result, he becomes subservient to other principles, which inexorably are irrational, destructive, and sometimes diabolical. In that sense, “The Party Man,” to borrow a subtitle of a book, wants to create “chaos, disorder, and revolution.”[26]
This chaos-disorder-revolution principle is quite congruent with two of Aleister Crowley’s famous maxims: “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law” and “There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt.”[27] This essentially satanic principle has been the bedrock upon which The Industry is built. In fact, the vast majority of bands from the late 1960s to this very day have implicitly or explicitly given allegiance to this oath.
John Lennon for example made no secret about Crowley’s principle when he said: “The whole Beatle idea was to do what you want … do what thou wilst, as long as it doesn’t hurt somebody.”[28]
If you look at The Sgt Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band album, you will see Crowley’s picture in the background.
The same thing can be said of Led Zeppelin. Jimmy Page was so enthralled by Crowley’s black magic that he bought Crowley’s own house in Loch Ness, Scotland.[29] Similarly, Scottish comic book writer Grant Morrison and British comic book writer Alan Moore have also been bitten by Crowley’s black magic.[30] Crowley was also steep in the Kabbalah, and it is no coincidence that his disciples, Morrison and Moore, got drawn in to this Jewish magic.
Moore started to study Crowley’s magic and the Kabbalah intensely back in 1993,[31] but he had known about Crowley since he was twelve years old, when he first read Dennis Weatley’s occult book. Actually, Moore’s interest in the occult and Tarot began at the age of five, when he first read The Magic Island by occultist William Seabrook (1884-1945),[32] who himself was a friend of Aleister Crowley.
“There are references to Crowley in V for Vendetta,” Moore added. What is the message that Crowley taught Moore, which he included in V for Vendetta? Here it is: “destruction… is the first step in the creative process.”[33]
Moore had to leave the rational world behind and embrace irrationality in order to come up with his “creative process.” He admitted:
“I found that I couldn’t progress any further with writing by strict rationality. If I wanted to go further with my writing, make it more intense, more powerful, make it say what I wanted to say, I had to take a step beyond technique and rational ideas about writing, into something that was trans-rational if you will. This being magic.”
What more ends up saying here is that his acclaimed comic books The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Batman: The Killing Joke, V for Vendetta, From Hell, Watchmen, Superman, Promethea, etc., were all born out of the irrational world, which to Moore means the world of magic and Crowley’s New Aeon.
This is one reason why Moore’s graphic novels, most specifically Lost Girls, is littered with pornography. One scholar writes that “with Lost Girls, Moore sought to bring ‘legitimacy to the genre of pornography,’ a ‘revolution’ similar, he argues, to the one that he brought to the comics industry.” According to Moore, Lost Girls is actually “an ongoing dialogue on the marvelous tradition of erotic art.”[34] With Lost Girls and other subversive works, Moore attempts to challenge “the dominant discourse of morality and etiquette.”[35]
In short, one can arguably say that modern pop music and the entertainment industry are largely based on Crowley’s maxims,[36] and it is no accident that people like Jay Z are going back to their sources.[37] Pop music, to a large extent, is also Judeo-Masonic,[38] which is to say that it is essentially Talmudic. “Jay Z refers to himself as Jayhovah, a variation of the Kabbalistic tetragrammaton, or the so-called divine name.”[39]
Prince actually grew out of this Kabbalistic culture. After his death, there was actually “a Jewish tribute” to him.[40] Prince made a conscious decision to join The Industry, and that morally and spiritually killed him.
Because Prince was living a life that was completely outside the moral order, his only recourse was drugs. And psychiatrists in The Industry were more than willing to provide those drugs to him.[41] In fact, it was reported that Prince was addicted to drugs like opiates for over twenty-five years.[42] Aleister Crowley would have almost certainly applauded Prince for his contribution to the “New Aeon.”
[1] Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today’s Students (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987), 68.
[2] Gemma Mullin, “How much do YOU know about British military history? Youngsters have no idea what D-Day is research reveals… so can you do any better?,” Daily Mail, May 16, 2014.
[3] For a historical study on these, see David Tame, The Secret Power of Music: The Transformation of Self and Society through Musical Energy (New York: Destiny Books, 1984).
[4] Quoted in Gerri Hirshey, “Michael Jackson: Life as a Man In the Magical Kingdom,” Rolling Stone, February 17, 1983.
[5] For further research on similar issues, Mickey Hart, Spirit into Sound: The Magic of Music (Petaluma, CA: Acid Test Productions, 1999); David Henderson, ‘Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky: The Life of Jimi Hendrix (New York: Atria Books, 1978 and 2008); Tony Sanchez, Up and Down with the Rolling Stones: My Rollercoaster Ride with Keith Richards (London: Blake Publishing, 2010); Robert Palmer, Rock & Roll: An Unruly History (New York: Harmony Books, 1995); Stephen Davis, Hammer of the Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga (New York: HarperCollins, 2008); Pete Townshend, Who I Am: A Memoir (New York: HarperCollins, 2012); Mike Stark, Black Sabbath: An Oral History (New York: HarperCollins, 2002); Charles White, The Life and Times of Little Richard (New York: Da Capo Press, 1994); David Sheff, The Playboy Interviews with John Lennon & Yoko Ono (San Francisco: Berkley Books, 1982); Albert Goldman, The Lives of John Lennon (New York: William & Morrow, 1988); Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugarman, No One Here Gets Out Alive: The Biography of Jim Morrison (New York: Warner Books, 1980).
[6] Chris Heath, “The Epic Life of Carlos Santana,” Rolling Stone, March 16, 2000.
[7] Brad Tolinski, Light & Shade: Conversation with Jimmy Page (New York: Crown Publishing, 2012), xv.
[12] See for example E. Michael Jones, Libido Dominandi: Sexual Liberation and Political Control (South Bend: St. Augustine’s Press, 2000).
[13] See for example Martin A. Lee, Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana—Medical, Recreational, and Scientific (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012).
[14] See Jonathon Green, “Spoonfuls of paradise,” Guardian, October 12, 2002.
[15] Rosemary Lloyd, Baudelaire’s World (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2002), 83.
[16] Jimi Hendrix, Starting at Zero: His Own Story (New York: Bloomsbury, 2013), 139.
[17] Sadie Gray, “Hendrix murdered by his manager, says former aide,” Independent, May 31, 2009.
[19] Quoted in E. Michael Jones, Barren Metal: A History of Capitalism as the Conflict Between Labor and Usury (South Bend: Fidelity Press, 2014), 1343.
[20] E. Michael Jones was indeed a prophet in arguing way back in 2000 that sexual liberation and political control go hand in hand. To understand what Madonna is doing here in a historical context, see Jones’ Libido Dominandi: Sexual Liberation and Political Control (South Bend: Fidelity Press, 2000).
[21] Quoted in Patrick Goldstein, “COVER STORY : IT’S NOT EASY BEING NOTORIOUS : . . . Unless you’re Madonna. Nothing’s off limits to the pop icon, whether it’s ripping open her shirt to bare her breasts, bickering with Beatty or dumping on Costner. ‘Truth or Dare’ is her latest Big Event in which Madonna plays Madonna, flirting with reality in a film of her Blond Ambition Tour,” LA Times, May 5, 1991.
[22] “Madonna: ‘I’m a Disciplinarian,’” Fox News, October 14, 2005.
[23] Quoted in Heather Saul, “Madonna claims Met Gala dress is political statement about ageism,” Independent, May 5, 2016.
[25] William Blake, The Complete Poetry & Prose of William Blake (New York: Anchor Books, 1988), 35. No doubt that Blake placed that line in a poem entitled, “Proverbs of Hell.”
[26] Jason Draper, Prince: Chaos, Disorder, and Revolution (New York: Backbeat Book, 2011).
[27] Aleister Crowley, The Book of the Law (Boston: Weiser Books, 1938), 9.
[28] Quoted in David Sheff, The Playboy Interviews with John Lennon & Yoko Ono: The Final Testament (San Francisco: Berkley Books, 1982), 61.
[29] See for example Holly George-Warren and Patricia Romanowski, ed., The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001), 554.
[30] Eric L. Berlatsky, Alan Moore: Conversations (Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 2012); Richard Metzger and Grant Morrison, eds., Book of Lies: The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult (San Francisco: Red Wheel/Weiser, 2003 and 2014).
[31] Annalisa Di Liddo, Alan Moore: Comics as Performance, Fiction as Scalpel (Jackson: University of Mississippi, 2009), 86.
[32] Lance Parkin, Magic Words: The Extraordinary Life of Alan Moore (London: Aurum Publishers, ), 271.
[33] Barry Kavanagh, “The Alan Moore Interview,” Blather.net, October 17, 2000.
[34] Todd A. Comer and Joseph Michael Sommers, Sexual Ideology in the Works of Alan Moore: Critical Essays on the Graphic Novels (London: McFarland & Company, 2012), 6.
[36] For scholarly studies on Crowley’s work and impact on pop culture, see for example Henrik Bogdan and Martin P. Starr, Aleister Crowley and Western Esotericism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012); Hugh B. Urban, Magia Sexualis: Sex, Magic, and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism (Berkley: University of California Press, 2006); Lawrence Sutin, Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000); Gary Lachman, Aleister Crowley: Magick, Rock and Roll, and the Wickedest Man in the World (New York: Penguin Group, 2014); Richard Kaczynski, Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley (Tempe, AZ: New Falcon Publications, 2002).
[37] See for example Richard Price, “Forget Scientology, celebs are now falling for an even more sinister ‘religion’: Introducing the Satanic sex cult that’s snaring stars such as Peaches Geldof,” Daily Mail, April 21, 2013.
[38] The Jewish Daily Forward has tried very hard not to say this, but the implication is undeniable. “Punk Rock’s Secret, Semitic History,” Jewish Daily Forward, July 16, 2009; “’Jews Who Rock’ Only Scratches Surface of Fame and Faith,” Jewish Daily Forward, July 30, 2014; Michael Kaminer, “Growing Up Jewish in Rock’s Golden Age,” Jewish Daily Forward, February 20, 2014; Seth Rogovoy, “The Secret Jewish History Of U2,” Jewish Daily Forward, October 14, 2014; Seth Rogovoy, “The Secret Jewish History of Pink Floyd,” Jewish Daily Forward, November 19, 2014; Seth Rogovoy, “The Secret Jewish History of The Rolling Stones,” Jewish Daily Forward, June 3, 2014; “The Secret Jewish History of The Who,” Jewish Daily Forward, April 20, 2015; “Glenn Frey and the Secret Jewish History of The Eagles,” Jewish Daily Forward, January 19, 2016; The Secret Jewish History of Bruce Springsteen — on His 65th Birthday,” Jewish Daily Forward, September 23, 2014; “Secret History of Paul McCartney, the Jewish Beatle,” Jewish Daily Forward, November 4, 2014; “The Secret Jewish History of the Beach Boys,” Jewish Daily Forward, August 26, 2014; “Blue Öyster Cult Explains the Umlaut,” Jewish Daily Forward, April 17, 2013; “The Secret Jewish History of Patti Smith,” Jewish Daily Forward, October 15, 2015; “The Secret Jewish History of David Bowie,” Jewish Daily Forward, January 11, 2016; “The Secret Jewish History of Aerosmith,” Jewish Daily Forward, November 13, 2013; “The Secret Jewish History of Cher,” Jewish Daily Forward, January 6, 2014; “Why Do So Many Grammy Nominees Have Jewish Grannies?,” Jewish Daily Forward, December 9, 2015.
[39] “Judeo-Masonic Rock,” Culture Wars, May 2013.
[40] Jay Michaelson, “A Jewish Tribute to Prince, Holy Unifier of Spirit and Sex,” Jewish Daily Forward, April 24, 2016.
[41] See for example “Man who prescribed Prince drugs before death is obstetrics specialist,” Guardian, May 12, 2016; “Prince Reportedly Treated for Drug Overdose Before Death; 911 Details Released,” Variety, April 21, 2016.
[42] Jon Boon, “Prince’s Alleged Drug Dealer Claims Late Star Had Secret Drug Addiction — Report,” Hollywood Life, April 23, 2016; “EXCLUSIVE: Prince’s former drug dealer tells how the legend spent $40,000 at a time on six-month supplies of Dilaudid pills and Fentanyl patches – highly addictive opioid pain killers – for 25 years,” Daily Mail, April 23, 2016.
How To Get Neil Young's Sound? | Discussion on 'Effects, Pedals, Strings & Things'
Neil Young's Les Paul Guitar "Old Black"
Neil Young's electric guitar sound has been described as like "a jet plane in a thunderstorm" and those who have witnessed and directly felt in their chest the aural assault that is known as "Crazy Horse-style" know that which we speak.
Over the years, we've seen and heard quite a few Neil Young enthusiasts try and replicate his unique sound, with various degrees of success.
Lately I've been searching on how to get that open, big, heavy, unpredictable Neil Young's guitar sound.
There have been few threads regarding my question, but nothing concrete.
I am not interested in what he used to get it. Buying the exact same gear is used/uses is pointless.
The particular sound I am interested in is the electric guitar sound from the movie "Dead Man".
So if anyone can recommend a distortion / overdrive pedal(s) or any other pedals that deliver this type of sound, I'll be very grateful :)
First for me - you won't get to that guitar sound without approximating the signal chain.
There are many suggestions above - but none of them sound like 'that' guitar track. If you really want it - you should run down the wiggly Young path and start hunting for wrecked equipment such as below. From the sound of everything I imagine everything he's plugging into is out of specifications - and probably teetering on the edge of blowing up. Larry Cragg if fond of saying Youngs Guitar and Rig are a trainwreck waiting to have already happened.
Old Blackie is a 53 Goldtop that now has a Firebird Mini Humbucker in the Bridge Position and a late Metal covered P90 neck Pickup most likely borrowed from a Gibson ES330. The neck was reported to have been replaced by Gibson in the 1960s with one of the SG Les Paul Necks. Young had a mini toggle switch installed in the middle of the controls - what it does is send the pickups directly to the output jack bypassing the controls. That is what I believe is at the crux of why that guitar sounds so good.
If you look at the back of Blackie - there is a round aluminum disc underneath where the bridge is situated on top. I've hear rumor that their is some kind of Cragg built string locking mechanism in there.
The sound on the track you cited - is probably the bypassed pickups into an overdriven Tweed Fender Deluxe biased to 6l6 tubes (and he uses those older Bottle type) with his 'Whizzer' attached. His Current Whizzer controls three knobs - and has several presets positions to get that 'Young Sound'. From the sound of this track I'll bet Young is running the output of the Deluxe into his Magnatone Stereo 2 x 12 ( not the amp just the speakers).He's known to use both an EP2 Tube Echoplex and possibly a MXR Analog delay. The EP2 is famous for the tube distortion produced (and for being extremely finicky) - and the MXR has a long history of sound cool when pushed (often attributed to the transistors used). Also At the end of that track he's got some kind of Octave Divider going on.
Through it all Young sure gets some magic going - even the bass farting lows have a very musical quality - and the lead notes are very dynamic.
Birthday Tribute to Neil Young: "Like A Hurricane" w/ Randy Bachmann + Others
On November 11, 2016 -- Neil Young's 71st birthday -- The Canadian All-Star band paid tribute in Ottawa by performing "Like A Hurricane". The charity concert was held on behalf of the Canadian Public Service Union.
Randy Bachman with Luke Doucet and Melissa McLelland of "Whitehorse", Kelly Prescott, Terra Lightfoot as well as Travis and Dallas Good of "The Sadies" are featured. (Thanks Rusted Moon!)
Happy Valentine's Day: Our Hearts of Gold Say "We Love You!"
Happy Valentine's Day!
It's been roughly 45+ years now since "Heart of Gold" entered our lives, and we'd like to wish that every day could be Valentine's Day.
And no Neil Young song seems to say Happy Valentine's Day more than "Harvest Moon" it would seem by gauging the song's popularity as a "First Dance" song.
Often, we've found ourselves trying to explain Neil Young's music to others with varying degrees of success. In the end, we find that his music isn't really something that can be explained.
While we've expended quite a few words on this blog making an attempt, it really is the stories of others which transcend the gap much better.
So Happy Valentine's Day to all of the hearts of gold out there.
Here's a very rare performance of Neil Young's "Love in Mind" at Carnegie Hall, NYC on 1/9/14. As everybody knows, "Love in Mind" -- from Time Fades Away -- is only available on vinyl*. (* As everybody knows, "Love in Mind" also is on the "Live at Massey Hall" CD (same tour as the TFA version, different date)
And Happy Valentine's Day to my Heart of Gold, Thrashette. I love you!
Also, from our good friend at WBKM.org, Tony Gallucci, the following review:
Yes, indeed our once young Neil is nearing 70.
Well, on Sunday night July 19, 2015, Neil Young proved that 70 is the new 45. Playing with a band of musicians who were just barely born when "Ragged Glory" was released, Neil should have seen that he finally met his match. Instead, what he has met is a group of musicians equally passionate and dedicated and concerned about the future of our world...and as unafraid as he is to speak up about it. Tools sharpened. Prepare to rock.
With a balance of fury and delicacy, youthful vigor and appreciation of all that had come before them, Promise of the Real, along with younger brother Micah, gives me a deep hopefulness about the future of music. Sitting behind the band on the drums, Anthony Logerfo is no click track drummer. Strong, talented, self-assured, and always smiling. Tato Melgar on percussion adds a touch of the exotic, just the right amount of Allman Brothers quixotic style. Corey McCormick plays a solid and rhythmic baseline, the perfect bottom laid down as he stands on the stage between Lukas, leader of his band, and Mr. Young, leader of this strange and beautiful new horse of a different decade.
The brothers, sons of Neil's Farm Aid cofounder Willie Nelson, bookend the stage in the perfect circle of family. Their bond is beautifully portrayed when Neil introduces a special song, and Lukas, moving to piano, begins the beautiful and emotional "Moonlight in Vermont". It was a very special moment for me, as the language spoken only in the eyes between Lukas and Micah as the song ended, silently given witness by Neil's smile, was unmistakable. "Hey brother, this is just like we used to do with pop, at home, only here we are with Uncle Neil and 10,000 folks in Vermont !" No need to say it out loud. All who know how dear the song is to father Willie could hear it too.
"Strong Vermont...Standing up while other states lie down", shouts Neil as he punches the air to the loving delight of the crowd. Words...Between the lines of age...Only Love Can Break Your Heart...Country Home...Looking for a Love. How can we ask for more? But more comes...
Time for some nice non-GMO coffee, don't you think? It's best brewed up by two of my favorite new songs: "A rock star bucks a coffee shop", with the infectious whistles of the four front men standing abreast..."Let our farmers grow, what they want to grow". Then a little later, The very hopeful "Working Man", telling the story that changed the world in 1996... Naming names like Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a former Monsanto employee clearing the way for patent infringement lawsuits on the sacred seed, giving ownership to what was once given freely from God. "Well I don't know you, but I do know who I am!" Defiant, as Lucas plays the country lead on his Stratocaster with his teeth. He and Cory bouncing like hippie cowboy versions of Tigger.
Crazy horse favorites played with great respect and wild abandon...DBTR, with the brothers, Corey and Neil huddled in a tight circle playing their hearts out. The sonically booming "love and only love", ending with Neil standing on the drum riser in front of Anthony, each wild man pulling the last speck of energy from each other's souls.
A special treat, standing at the bottom of the stairs backstage as each man in his own way prepared to leave the arena. Neil, surrounded by the necessary protectors, depleted, exhausted, having left nothing behind. "Thank you Neil, thank you for coming to Vermont", I shout, the steady eyes and small nod of the head acknowledging my presence, respecting me. Then comes the youth, looking like they could do it all over again...Lukas, grasping me tightly, soaking me with rockstar sweat as I try to find some words that will convey my feelings of appreciation. Anthony, smiling still, Corey, Tato...And finally comes Micah, whose genius grafted the distinctive progressive rock/jazz madness of his own band, the wonderful Insects versus Robots, into this new Real, and this new promise...that Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler, the proud musical overseers of the careers of Neil Young and Willie Nelson, could indeed this night rest in peace, knowing that their never ending influence would continue on into yet another generation...
Tony Gallucci Founder and CEO Music Guild International
Thanks Tony for the eyewitness report from Vermont!
Warren Zevon - Sentimental Hygiene
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