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
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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.
INTERVIEW: Neil Young - The music icon on his 50 year career, making music and his new documentary | CBC
In a recent CBC interview, Neil Young discusses how he feels about recording music, what it means to be an authentic person and this current moment in Canada.
On reflecting on 50 years of his career and what he puts into the Neil Young online archives.
Neil Young: I'm looking forward to the next things that I'm going to put in it. We're searching through all kinds of stuff that we have —from unreleased Crazy Horse to unreleased Pearl Jam. It's just an amazing amount of stuff. I was going pretty fast for a while in the 70s, 80s and 90s. I made more records than I could put out and more films than I could put out. I didn't even have a chance to finish some of them. Now that's what I'm doing as I'm going through those projects that were roughed in and deciding while rough is good enough for those, you've got the feeling. Sometimes I have to do some kind of work to technically make them better. There's just so much to do that is in the future, compared to listening to what's there. I'm just creating all of this so that it's a cohesive record of what we all accomplished together.
On the importance of the first take and the pursuit of perfection in the recording process.
Neil Young: Usually take one's the best one if you're ready. If you're not ready, then you shouldn't have been there. Everybody should know the song and the changes. They should know the melody. They should know what the song is about before they go in the studio. You should never be running it down or practising it. You should have the roadies play the instruments so that everybody knows it works. Then the musicians go in and play. They play it once and they're done. If they want to play it 100 times to get it perfect, that's fine. That's somebody else's record.
Here's the deal, you get the vibe and you hear the song and you feel the song. You see the pictures in your mind that you thought of when you were writing the song. No amount of fixing is going to change that or no amount of unfixing is going to change that. The thing is, you have to let that be and fix it or not fix it. But if that vibe is there then that's the only thing that matters. You can't get that vibe. You can have a perfect record, but it wouldn't feel like that. So that's the way I do it because that's what I like to do. I'm not saying anybody else should do that.
COLORADO by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Release Date: October 25, 2019 - Pre-order now (Please shop locally & independently. But if you can't, we appreciate your supporting Thrasher's Wheat by clicking this link. Thank you!!!)
Neil has moved the possibility of live dates with Crazy Horse into 2020, saying he wants to concentrate on film work during the rest of 2019. Bruce Springsteen has indicated he’s getting back into the saddle in 2020 with the E Street Band. Do you know what next year looks like? And how does it feel to be someone working alongside two empire state songwriters and bandleaders?
Nils Lofgren: There are vast similarities between Springsteen and Neil in that neither micro-manages what you play.
They want to hear your ideas. As long as you’re down in it, they allow for raw emotion in your work. They prefer it. That’s a beautiful thing. With that, when it comes to their plans, my wife Amy and I are on hold with any of my (solo) shows until the year reveals itself. There’s nothing booked yet, so I’m laying low.
I will say that if were up to me, you’d see a lot from both bands out there.
You have worked with Neil or Crazy Horse several times, going back to the record the band did without him in 1971, as well as his “After the Gold Rush” (1970) and “Tonight’s the Night” (1975) albums. How did you find the dynamics have changed going into “Colorado”?
Nils Lofgren: I met Neil when I was 17.
I actually walked in on him 50 years ago this last May while he was playing at the Cellar Door (in Washington, D.C.) when he was first touring with “Everybody Knows This is Nowhere.” My band, Grin, was headed to Los Angeles, after that, and true to his word, when we got to L.A., Neil turned me onto (producer) David Briggs, who took me under his wing, and by the time I turned 19, had me on “After the Gold Rush.” That was a big deal. Now, long before I got there, or got with him, there was a plan for Crazy Horse to make their own album, without Neil, but with their own singer, Danny Whitten. They invited me to join in for that album, which was another great honor. Then sadly, Danny went and died on us, which lead to the “wake album” we call “Tonight’s the Night.” Later on (in the 1980s), I did Neil’s “Trans” album and tour with him as well.
We have this reoccurring history, which, save for my own stuff and with Grin, is my longest running musical relationship — my longest running musical family.
“I’ve passed all the tests; I’ve got my appointment, and if everything goes as planned, I’ll be taking the oath of citizenship” shortly after turning 74 on Nov. 12. The salient point being, “I’ll be able to vote,” said Young, who has lived roughly two-thirds of his life in the U.S. since arriving in Los Angeles in the mid-’60s and first making his mark on the rock ’n’ roll landscape with Buffalo Springfield.
“I’m still a Canadian; there’s nothing that can take that away from me,” he said. Young was at a studio in Santa Monica where he and his wife, activist-actress Daryl Hannah, assembled their new film, “Mountaintop,” documenting the recording of Young’s latest album, “Colorado,” which arrives Oct. 25.
“But I live down here; I pay taxes down here; my beautiful family is all down here — they’re all Americans, so I want to register my opinion” about this country.
US President Trump appears to have been listening to the new Neil Young & Crazy Horse album "COLORADO" (Kiddingly).
Take #2 - In response to the news that Neil Young will become an American citizen, US President Trump tweeted that he will be building a wall around the interior state of Colorado. (Kiddingly)
COLORADO by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Release Date: October 25, 2019 - Pre-order now (Please shop locally & independently. But if you can't, we appreciate your supporting Thrasher's Wheat by clicking this link. Thank you!!!)
Are Neil's announcement of US citizenship, album release "COLORADO" and President Donald Trump's "bizarre Colorado tweet" just a coincidence?
Never forget -- and always remember -- what happens in the field of wheat. The danger is REAL & Abel, so LIVE WILD - STAY FREE. Crowdsource the wheat, burn the chaff, don't get "sandboxxed", reverse engineer the TRUTH (as opposed to social engineering lies).
CAMPAIGN UPDATE: Willie Nelson for Nobel Peace Prize: #Willie4Nobel
Willie Nelson
The campaign for a Nobel Peace Prize for Willie Nelson's Farm Aid work and other causes continues. Thus far, over 20,000 have supported the effort by liking Willie Nelson for a Nobel Peace Prize page on Facebook.
Willie Nelson's efforts for Farm Aid, his work on alternative fuels, and world peace initiatives deserve a nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize. (Full details of Nelson's career and commitment to humanitarian efforts are here.)
Willie Nelson has been helping family farmers for over 25 years and has raised awareness of healthy foods while raising funds for the cause.
Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp organized the first Farm Aid concert in 1985 to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm families on their land. Dave Matthews joined the Farm Aid Board of Directors in 2001. Farm Aid has raised more than $37 million to promote a strong and resilient family farm system of agriculture. Farm Aid is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to keep family farmers on their land.
John Mellencamp is campaigning to get Willie Nelson a Nobel Peace Prize. The interview took place on SIRIUS XM Willie's Place at Farm Aid 25 in Milwaukee, Wisc.
Willie Nelson's work on sustainable agriculture, alternative fuels, and world peace initiatives deserve a nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Willie Nelson has been helping family farmers for over 25 years and has raised awareness of healthy foods while raising funds for the cause.
A Tribute To The Nobel Peace Prize
"NOT TO KNOW" by Matthew Moore
(Willie Nelson @ ~2:00)
Here's the semi un-official YouTube video for the campaign for a Nobel Peace Prize for Willie Nelson. The campaign is based on Willie's work on sustainable agriculture, alternative fuels, and world peace initiatives.
The video was made by Matthew Moore and features previous Nobel winners and poses the question "Not To Know".
Also, Willie Nelson is the founder of the Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute. (http://willienelsonpri.com)
The Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute believes in the Promise of Peace on Earth in Our Lifetime as the Birthright of Our Global Human Family. (more below)
Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp organized the first Farm Aid concert in 1985 to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm families on their land. Farm Aid has raised more than $37 million to promote a strong and resilient family farm system of agriculture.
Farm Aid is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to keep family farmers on their land. Farm Aid accomplishes this mission by:
Promoting Food from Family Farms
We know that to keep family farmers on the land we have to increase the number of people buying their good food. From our annual concert event that features family farm food and unites farmers, artists, and concerned citizens, to our inspiring and informative tv, radio, mail and web campaigns (including our HOMEGROWN.org website), we are building a powerful movement for good food from family farms.
Taking Action to Change the System
Farm Aid works with local, regional and national organizations to promote fair farm policies and grassroots organizing campaigns designed to defend and bolster family farm-centered agriculture. We've worked side-by-side with farmers to protest factory farms and inform farmers and eaters about issues like genetically modified food and growth hormones. By strengthening the voices of family farmers, Farm Aid stands up for the most resourceful, heroic Americans—the family farmers who work the land. Farm Aid's Action Center allows concerned citizens to become advocates for farm policy change.
****
Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute
http://willienelsonpri.com
The Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute believes in the Promise of Peace on Earth in Our Lifetime as the Birthright of Our Global Human Family.
* Peace on Earth is possible NOW with Unconditional Love.
* Do unto others as you would have them do unto you is the Golden Rule from the Highest Order.
* Peace on Earth is possible NOW with Unyielding Hope.
* Replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts to create positive results.
* Peace on Earth is possible NOW with Unlimited Compassion.
* Open your heart and make connections to people everywhere and to the world around us.
In 2004, Nelson and his wife Annie became partners with Bob and Kelly King in the building of two Pacific Bio-diesel plants, one in Salem, Oregon, and the other at Carl's Corner, Texas (the Texas plant was founded by Carl Cornelius, a longtime Nelson friend and the namesake for Carl's Corner). In 2005, Nelson and several other business partners formed Willie Nelson Biodiesel[12] ("Bio-Willie"), a company that is marketing bio-diesel bio-fuel to truck stops. The fuel is made from vegetable oil (mainly soybean oil), and can be burned without modification in diesel engines.[13]
Nelson is a co-chair of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) advisory board. He has worked with NORML for years for marijuana legalization and has produced commercials for NORML that have appeared on Pot TV programs. He has also recorded a number of radio commercials for the organization. In 2005, Nelson and his family hosted the first annual "Willie Nelson & NORML Benefit Golf Tournament," which appeared on the cover of High Times magazine.
On January 9, 2005, Nelson headlined an all-star concert at Austin Music Hall to benefit the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Tsunami Relief Austin to Asia raised an estimated $120,000 for UNICEF and two other organizations.
Nelson was a supporter of Kinky Friedman's campaign in the 2006 Texas gubernatorial election. In 2005, he recorded a radio advertisement asking for support to put Friedman on the ballot as an independent candidate. Friedman promised Willie a job in Austin as the head of a new Texas Energy Commission due to Nelson's support of bio-fuels. (Friedman was on the ballot but came in fourth with 12.43 percent, losing to Republican Rick Perry).
Nelson supported Dennis Kucinich's campaign in the 2004 Democratic presidential primaries. He raised money, appeared at events, composed a song ("Whatever Happened to Peace on Earth?"), and contributing a quote for the front cover of Kucinich's book for the campaign.
In January 2008, Nelson filed suit against the Texas Democratic Party. Nelson alleges that the party violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution when it refused to allow co-plaintiff Dennis Kucinich to appear on the primary ballot because he had scratched out part of the loyalty oath on his application.[14]
Nelson is an honorary trustee of the Dayton International Peace Museum.[15]
Nelson is an advocate for horses and their treatment. He has been campaigning for passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 503/S. 311) with the Animal Welfare Institute. He is on the Board of Directors and has adopted a number of horses from Habitat for Horses.[16]
Willie has also been working on behalf of the animals as Tennessee and other states try to legalize the slaughter of horses. He supports the federal Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act, which would ban horse slaughter in the U.S. and stop the current practice of exporting horses out of the country for slaughter in Mexico and Canada.
In 2008, Nelson signed on to the Animal Legal Defense Fund's campaign to warn consumers about the cruel-and illegal-living conditions for calves raised to produce milk for dairy products. Nelson wrote letters to Land O'Lakes and Challenge Dairy, two of the major corporations that use milk from calves raised at California's Mendes Calf Ranch, which employs an intensive confinement practice that was the subject of a lawsuit brought by the national nonprofit Animal Legal Defense Fund.[17]
In March 2007, Ben & Jerry's released a new flavor, "Willie Nelson’s Country Peach Cobbler Ice Cream", with a portion of Nelson's proceeds donated to Farm Aid.[18] Ben & Jerry's voluntarily recalled 250,000 pints of the new flavor on March 19, 2007, as wheat was incorrectly excluded from the list of ingredients.[19]
Willie Nelson founded the Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute in April 2007. Nelson and his daughter Amy Nelson wrote a song called "A Peaceful Solution", which they released into the public domain, and encouraged artists to render their own version of the song, which he would feature on the Institute's web site.[20]
Nelson questions the official story of what happened on September 11. On February 4, 2008, Nelson appeared on Alex Jones's radio show and talked about the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, stating his belief that the Twin Towers and WTC7 were imploded: "I saw one fall and it was just so symmetrical. I said wait a minute, I just saw that last week at the casino in Las Vegas and you see these implosions all the time and the next one fell and I said hell there's another one - and they're trying to tell me that an airplane did it and I can't go along with that."[21]
Nelson released the song "Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other", a song promoting the awareness and acceptance of homosexuality, in reference to gay cowboys, as a digital single through the iTunes Music Store on Valentine's Day 2006, shortly after the release of the film Brokeback Mountain. The song was encouraged by Nelson's tour manager and close friend David Anderson, who said "This song obviously has special meaning to me in more ways than one. I want people to know more than anything—gay, straight, whatever—just how cool Willie is and … his way of thinking, his tolerance, everything about him."[22] Regarding the song, Nelson quoted "The song's been in the closet for 20 years. The timing's right for it to come out. I'm just opening the door."
Page established Sept. 29, 2010 and inspired by John Mellencamp's suggestion:
http://youtu.be/615irrT6DjY
***
“I take it not only a day at a time, but a moment at a time, and keep it at that pace. If you can be happy right now, then you’ll always be happy, because it’s always in the now.”~~Willie Nelson
“There are more serious problems in life than
financial ones, and I've had a lot of those. I've been broke before, and
will be again.”
~~ Willie Neslon
“The fight to save family farms isn't just about
farmers. It's about making sure that there is a safe and healthy food
supply for all of us. It's about jobs, from Main Street to Wall Street.
It's about a better America.”
~~Willie Nelson
"The resilience and
perseverance of America's farm families are helping to build a new
system of agriculture.”
~~Willie Nelson
“I been a long time leaving but I'm going to be a long time gone.”
~~Willie Nelson
“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.”
~~Willie Nelson
“The winds of change are always blowing
And every time I try to stay
The winds of change continue blowing
And they just carry me away.”
~~Willie Nelson
“I got along without you before I met you and I'll get along without you a long time after you're gone.”
~~Willie Nelson
“Hope remains when pride is gone, And it keeps you moving on. . . .”
~~Willie Nelson
"The Night Life Ain't No Good Life but it's My Life"
~~ Willie Nelson
“We create our own unhappiness. The purpose of suffering is to help us understand we are the ones who cause it.”
~~Willie Nelson
"Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results.”
~~Willie Nelson
"Fly on, fly on. Past the speed of sound. I'd rather see you up, than see you down. Leave me if you need to. I will still remember, angel flying too close to the ground."
~~Willie Nelson
“Most of the stuff I've read about me has been true.”
~~Willie Nelson
General Information
This page is an un-official page and started by a fan of Willie Nelson. This page is not affiliated with Willie Nelson, Farm Aid, or any other formal organization.
We're just trying to get Willie recognized for what we feel he deserves.
Yes, Willie Nelson for Nobel Peace Prize!
Let's all make it happen in 2020. Willie's hard work for Farm Aid and his work on alternative fuels, and world peace initiatives. As well as, work for wild horses, the children, hemp industry and family farmers.
Neil Young: "I think that I do the best when I'm right here."
"We're thinking about making it sound real, like you can feel that this means something to the people playing it," he says. "We're not trying to impress anybody."
"The raw thing that we create is the soul of music and the stories and the feelings of being human. The technical thing that happens is trying to capture that. If you try to capture that and you use tools that are less precise, then you get less of it. You know the feeling that you have when you hear something that's really great and it touches your soul? The chances of it really touching your soul are much better if you hear all of it."
"Mostly I would like a lot of people to see what's going on [with] the planet — that's so obvious to me," he says. "I just don't know why people don't get it. Or if they do get it, then why don't they get with it?"
COLORADO by Neil Young & Crazy Horse Release Date: October 25, 2019 - Pre-order now (Please shop locally & independently. But if you can't, we appreciate your supporting Thrasher's Wheat by clicking this link. Thank you!!!)
COVER: Neil Young on MOJO Magazine #313 – December 2019
MOJO 313 – December 2019: Neil Young
The cover of MOJO Magazine #313 features Neil Young, with an interview on his new Colorado album along with a 15 track guitar wig-outs CD titled "Ragged Glories".
The interview is titled "The Past, Present & Future of Neil Young: All Hell's Gonna Break Loose", and described as "From high up in the Rockies, the patron saint of Doing Your Thing delivers his latest thunderbolt, forged with the help of weed hits, eco ire and rock’n’roll’s most storied backing band: Crazy Horse.
AN EXCLUSIVE NEIL YOUNG interview – with the lowdown on his new Colorado album and more – heads up a vibrant issue, with its own CD soundtrack of epic guitar jams (including Dinosaur Jr, Kurt Vile, Big Thief and Ty Segall) attached. Read how Neil’s fighting the power and back on the weed, with Crazy Horse back in harness.
Also: Nick Cave’s incredible new album; Mark Lanegan’s hair-raising tales; Debbie Harry’s complicated history; the Rolling Stones’ watershed 1969; The Clash, unseen! Plus: R.E.M. defend Monster; The Kinks revive Arthur; Laurie Anderson writes about Lou Reed’s lyrics. And: Betty Wright; Cate Le Bon; Prince’s memoir; Duran Duran’s prehistory; a farewell to Ric Ocasek; the birth of Madness and more.
Tell Me Why: A Conversation with Neil Young (1997)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JULY 8, 2012 - UPDATED: SEPTEMBER 9, 2018 & 10/21/2019
Neil Young
Slamdance 2012
(Click photo to enlarge)
Editor: We are updating this post upon learning of the publication of the book "I NEED TO KNOW: The Lost Music Interviews" by Bill DeYoung. The book contains two vintage Neil Young interviews included in the new anthology. The first one (Sept. 16, 1985) was only recently fully transcribed from the original cassette. Neil talks passionately about Farm Aid (the first concert was six days away), and why he was so into country music ("Old Ways" had just come out), why it resonated with him as a family man, and why rock 'n' roll just wasn't doing it for him any more. He then reads the entire "Open Letter to President Reagan" he'd just finished writing, and would send to USA Today the next morning.
The second interview is from H.O.R.D.E. in '97, explaining (among other things) why he skipped Buffalo Springfield's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that year, which is partially excerpted below. (More book details below)
ORIGINAL INTRODUCTION PUBLISHED JULY 8, 2012 A little blast from the past, an interview with Neil Young before the 1997 H.O.R.D.E. tour, TELL ME WHY: A conversation with Neil Young by Bill DeYoung.
Funny how some things never really change...
Goldmine: Six of your catalog albums remain unavailable on compact disc [For the record, the missing titles are Journey Through the Past, Time Fades Away, On the Beach, American Stars 'n' Bars, Hawks & Doves and Re*Ac*Tor.] Recently, you told an interviewer you would burn the tapes before you let them come out on CD. Why?
Neil Young: Until we get the technology. I'm pushing for better technology. And CDs don't cut it, to me. HDCD is a real great improvement on digital sound, no matter what the format of the sound is. That's a process you can make CDs through, and it makes them sound more detailed. If you have an HDCD playback system, it sounds incredibly more detailed.
Goldmine:Is that one of those technologies that we'll 'see by the year 2000'?
Neil Young: It's out there now. There's about 40 different companies, small audiophile companies that make stereo equipment that carries the HDCD chip.
Goldmine:There are something like 15 of your albums out on CD on Reprise. How come they're out, and these six aren't?
Neil Young: Those were made during the beginning of CDs. When it hadn't really dawned on everybody how inferior the CD was. But during the mastering of all of those, and listening to what we ended up with compared to what we started with, everyone became aware of the problems. And that was maybe more than 15 years ago. And there's been no improvement, in 15 years, from a bad standard.
Meanwhile, we got 64-bit video games, and 32-bit this, and 16-bit sound. Running at a slow speed. So we really need to get a standard together for recorded sound that doesn't destroy it.
Goldmine:But Reprise is still making those discs.
Neil Young: Oh yeah, that's right, you can't stop that. But I'm not gonna do any new ones until there's a standard.
Goldmine:Let me play devil's advocate. Since you're committed to this, can't you just put a stop to those that are still in print? Can't you tell the label 'They sound like shit; let's take 'em out'?
Neil Young: You can do that with the new ones. When you put out a master, you put it out , OK, it's out. Until then, you have it.
Goldmine:You know, those six albums aren't available on vinyl or cassettes, either. They've all been deleted.
Neil Young: I 'm trying to use that leverage to get some tonal quality on the recordings.
Goldmine:Well, what can I do? I'll make a call. As a fan, it bugs me that I can't put, say, American Stars 'n' Bars on the CD player.
Neil Young: It's tough for me, too, but I'm not gonna put out 'Hurricane' sounding like a piece of shit. That's the way it is. There's the ability to have it better, and I can make a statement. I'm not gonna let it keep happening.
Goldmine:Hawks and Doves, a great record. Can't hear it. That makes me a little sad.
Neil Young: Right, me too! I feel the same way. When it comes out, it'll sound great.
Goldmine:What about your long-rumored multi-disc Archives project?
Neil Young: It's the same thing there. We're close enough to the new standard. There's all kinds of people throwing ideas for the new standard around. The latest new standard that came out for sound is worse than the CD. That's the DVD. That is totally a piece of crap. A thousand times more distortion, and I'm not exaggerating. That is a clinical number.
It's a terrible thing, and they say that you can play CDs on it. You can play 'em, but they have to be interpolated and translated and everything before your ear hears 'em; by then, they're so distorted, they're just not there any more.
So what they've done is, they're killing an art form through greed, and not being able to focus on using a decent standard. They're more interested, it seems, in putting out more product, and more real time information on a disc, than they are in putting out more quality on a disc. And one plays against the other.
So a lot of things have to be worked out before the new standard is set, but the wheels are turning right now, it's happening.
Goldmine:Do you have a time frame, i.e. 'They'll be out in four years' or something?
Neil Young: They may never be out on the market if the standard's not right.
... Goldmine: You're 51 now. What does life look like to you?
Neil Young: Well, I love playing. I love playing music, and I love being around lots of other people who play music. That's why the H.O.R.D.E. tour is so much fun.
I Need to Know includes 23 revealing conversations with seminal music artists including Tom Petty (four lengthy interviews conducted between 1985 and 1993), Beatles producer Sir George Martin, Neil Young, Merle Haggard, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Bo Diddley and others.
The majority of the in-depth interviews have never been published in their entirety. They were conducted for various newspaper stories – which utilized a few quotes here and there – or for the international music magazine Goldmine.
“These lost-and-found interviews don’t just form an important historical document; they’re also a trove of musical and personal insights into important artists of our time,” said John Capouya, author of the acclaimed Florida Soul: From Ray Charles to KC and the Sunshine Band. “DeYoung’s subjects – partners, really – clearly know and trust him, so they offer deeper and less guarded responses then we’re used to seeing in music journalism. Highly recommended.’’
In I Need to Know, Petty talks in detail about the formation of the Traveling Wilburys, what he learned from Bob Dylan and the creation of the albums Southern Accents, Let Me Up I’ve Had Enough and Full Moon Fever; Martin reveals which songs he would have preferred the Beatles left off the White Album; Young explains his passion for Farm Aid, and his reasons for skipping Buffalo Springfield’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; Haggard explains what led him to pen the controversial “Okie from Muskogee.”
Ronstadt confesses her disdain for many of her biggest hits. “Sometimes,” she says, “they just flat out bored me until I was cross-eyed.”
As a bonus, the book includes never-before-published conversations with acting legends Gregory Peck and Robert Duvall.
A native of St. Petersburg, Bill DeYoung was Arts and Entertainment Editor of the Gainesville Sun for 20 years, before moving on to publications in South Florida and Savannah, Georgia. The author of the Florida-centric books Skyway: The True Story of Tampa Bay’s Signature Bridge and the Man Who Brought it Down and Phil Gernhard Record Man, he currently writes and edits the Culture section of the St. Pete Catalyst. DeYoung is one of the interview subjects in the forthcoming documentary film The Skyway Bridge Disaster.
I Need to Know includes conversations with:
Tom Petty, Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Seals & Crofts, George Martin, Mary Hopkin, Emmylou Harris, Merle Haggard, Dave Mason, Rodney Crowell, Rosanne Cash, Linda Ronstadt, the Bangles, Guy & Susanna Clark, Bo Diddley, Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson and Martin Barre, Robert Duvall, Gregory Peck.
The Difference in Greatness: Bruce Springsteen or Neil Young?
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 11, 2013 - UPDATE: 10/20/2019
Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young
"You know, the difference between the greatness of Bruce Springsteen and that of Neil Young as someone once explained to me back in college: Bruce makes you think you, too, can be as great as he is; Neil makes you think he is really no better than you are to begin with. Remember that." Dr. Eric Alterman - Altercation
There are a great many similarities between Neil and Bruce.
The only real differences are the tone in their guitars and their voices. Both want things to be immediate and emotional, not over-rehearsed. They don’t micromanage. They both like ragged, emotional rock ‘n’ roll. I guess when you look at things like “Tonight’s the Night,” Neil might let things get a little more ragged. But in both bands I’m given enormous latitude to play what I feel.
Nils Lofgren w/ Bruce Springsteen & E Street Band and w/ Neil Young & Crazy Horse
And both Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young have films scheduled for release in 2019. Bruce's film is titled "Western Stars" while Neil's film is "Mountaintop" to support the album "Colorado".
Our regular readers know we're always up for a spirited debate on the relative merits of our respective musical heroes. And of course -- as we always predispose -- it's not a competition and there are no winners and losers. Only players.
Now that said, here's a poll with the very simple question: "Bruce Springsteen or Neil Young?" over on Steve Hoffman Music Forums, an audiophile forum where we've found the folks to be highly musically knowledgeable and technically savvy. So FWIW, here's the data:
Well, Bruce is a great artist and a great guy too. Bruce has this attitude of crowd pleaser. Neil has probably more artistry than Bruce. Neil seems less conditioned by the fame and money than Bruce. Neil, at a certain point of his career, chose the ditch. I hardly could think now about a concert of Harvest or After Gold Rush songs. Bruce plays for the stadium masses and can play the entire Darkness, BITUSA albums for the fans. Neil plays for himself according to his actual vision. Bruce plays 150 songs, Neil his preferred 15 for that tour.
I think that recording contracts of 70,000,000 dollars or playing in the stadiums have a price on your artistic freedom. Neil "plays" in a smaller scale.
Finally, Bruce wants to be great. I don't know, but he has 15 people playing with him. Neil plays solo or with 3-4 people. Often the Boss productions are overblown. Bruce "butchered" his old Darkness outtakes with new overdubs for his Promise album, Neil just edited a couple of songs for his Archives.
Both great artists, but I love more Neil. It's challenging to be a Neil fan.
Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young
Vote For Change tour 2004 (with Mike Mills on bass)
Photo by Danny Clinch
Both are brilliant artists. But I much prefer Springsteen's music. I find I rarely listen to Young, but I often listen to Springsteen. Springteen has continued to do great work late in life. I don't think Young's recent work has been anywhere close to the caliber of his earlier work or of Springsteen's later work, so much so that I mostly stopped keeping up with Young after Mirror Ball -- I did hear his last few albums and didn't like them much at all; I though the songwriting on Psychedelic Pill was weak; Americana while it sounded like an interesting idea for an album didn't make for very good listening, Le Noise was just bad and underbaked. By contrast I think some latter day Springsteen, like Magic and Wrecking Ball, were excellent albums. So, I could make the argument that Springsteen's better because he's remained more consistent and more consistently good throughout his career. But of course Young's more prolific and more of an experimenter which is one of the things that's great about him although it's a quality that I think has produced spotty results. It's really just preference. Springsteen's music interests me more and touches me more, but I have profound respect and admiration for Neil Young.
One thing I would disagree with for sure is Caryn's observation that Springsteen worries too much about what his fans think and doesn't take enough chances.
I would actually compare the Springsteen of the nineties to the neil Young of the eighties in many ways.
Think about it. Neil confounded his fans in the eighties by making a string of wildly experimental genre-bending albums...from the electro synth of Trans to the rockabilly of Everybodys Rockin to the country of Old Ways.
Bruce meanwhile confounded his fans in the nineties by firing the beloved E Street Band; releasing two albums simultaneously with a group of non-descript studio musicians and then touring with the same; and then pretty much disapearing off the radar altogether for the rest of the decade save for a decidedly dour and non-commercial record based on a Steinbeck novel (Tom Joad).
Right now, Neil is basically back on track doing one of the two things his fans love (there's that duality again) with the Prairie Wind/Heart of Gold accoustic thing. From what I read of his speech at SXSW, his next move is going to be a "loud one", which should please those other fans who dig the cranked to eleven thing.
Meanwhile, Bruce is doing an album of cover tunes by a folk music icon...complete with the fiddles and banjos...less than a year after a solo accoustic tour. Personally, I'd be lying if I said "The Seeger Sessions" has me exactly quivering with anticipation. To be honest, the song snippets I have heard from that record thus far haven't thrilled me much either.
And much as diehard fans like myself will tell you they liked Nebraska and Devils and Dust (both of which I did very much), I would also maintain that the quiet accoustic sound just sounds a lot more natural (at least to me) when Neil Young does it.
So you tell me who is the artist most pleasing his fans right now?
The E Street Band aren't getting any younger and with every minute Bruce spends exploring his "inner folkie", the clock ticks down on the possibility of one last E Street album and tour.
Quite the contrary. Bruce seems to have no problem exploring his muse and basically saying "Folk You" to those of us fans who don't like it right now.
Thanks Glen and all for your Bruce & Neil thoughts.
So how does the Canadian Young become labeled an American treasure? From On Milwaukee by Bill Zaferos on Neil Young's place in American music:
"Other than, say, Bruce Springsteen, who else has better expressed the late 20th and early 21st century American experience? Whether it was "Ohio" or "Rockin' in the Free World," or "Southern Man" or "Unknown Legend" or even "Old King," Young has always given voice to the meaning of life among the amber waves of grain, the crack-laden neighborhoods or the romantic longing of an American heart."
For many, Springsteen brings a rare combination of complex singer-songwriting and entertaining showman together in ways that Bob Dylan or Neil Young failed to achieve. From the U.K.'s Telegraph
by Neil McCormick on arguably the greatest solo performer of all time:
"Springsteen is both the most populist and (in terms of sales and live audience) the most popular. His songs spring out of the American maverick tradition with echoes of Steinbeck, Kerouac, Ginsberg and (in his new collection) Cormac McCarthy. His music has the blood of tradition in its veins and high art in its sights.
Yet unlike many of his singer-songwriting peers, Springsteen does not neglect his role as an entertainer. With the E Street Band, he comes from the American school of road-tested rock and roll that has, in lesser hands, given us so many efficient but essentially soulless showbands.
Springsteen combines the best of two very different worlds, the highly personal songwriter and the crowd-pleasing entertainer. He is, in effect, Bob Dylan and Elton John rolled into one. It is an unusual but compelling combination that makes him arguably the greatest solo performer of all time."
"Neil Young constitutes with Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen the great triad of 'moral' voices of American popular music.
As is the case with the other two, Young's art is, first and foremost, a fusion of music and words that identifies with his era's zeitgeist. Unlike the others, though, Young is unique in targeting the inner chaos of the individual that followed the outer chaos of society. While Dylan 'transfers' his era's events into a metaphysical universe, and Springsteen relates the epic sense of ordinary life, Young carries out a more complex psychological operation that, basically, bridges the idealism of the hippy communes and the neuroses of the urban population. His voice, his lyrics, his melodies and his guitar style compose a message of suffering and redemption that, at its best, transcends in hallucination, mystical vision, philosophical enlightenment, while still grounded in a context that is fundamentally a hell on earth."
"I actually found one comment interesting...and that was the one about comparing Bruce fans who miss the E Street Band to the way Neil fans miss Crazy Horse.
Not the same at all.
Neil has carved out a very effective "duality" in my view.
The quiet, accoustic Neil resonates every bit as effectively as the cranked up to eleven Neil does.
When Neil is doing his full on, cranked up to eleven electric thing, it's more about Neil's guitar playing than it is about the band (Crazy Horse)."
"Bruce, regrettably, cares a little too much about letting his fans down. He needs to take more chances, not less. Neil doesn't care whether or not the fans get cranky, as evidenced on the Greendale tour and what happened with the audience reaction there. Neil just GOES. They are wildly divergent personality types and you might as well compare Springsteen to Sinatra."
"Even Bruce dropped in..."
Bruce Springsteen & Neil Young - Sydney, Australia
March 22, 1985
Photo from Thrasher's Archives
On March 22, 1985 in Sydney, Australia, Bruce Springsteen joined Neil onstage for an encore performance of "Down By The River". Bruce had performed the night before at Sydney's Entertainment Centre (3/21) and performed again the next night (3/23). In between Bruce's two concerts, Neil Young was scheduled to headline the Benefit for the Australian Cerebral Palsy Association concert. As noted in poster above, Neil's entire 1985 Australia tour was "ALL SOLD OUT".
Nils Lofgren, touring with Springsteen, joined Young onstage for several songs, including "Comes A Time" and "Helpless". At the conclusion of the 28 song setlist, Young invited Springsteen on stage. Bruce sang vocals on an amazing 20 minute version of "Down By The River".
Neil & Bruce
Bridge School Benefit Concert - October 13, 1986
"Helpless" - Neil Young with Bruce Springsteen
Neil Young invited Bruce Springsteen at the first annual Bridge School Benefit Concert in California in 1986. They performed Young's "Helpless" together. (Thanks Mike for reminder!)
Bruce & Neil
Jones Beach, New York on June 14, 1989
Springsteen joined Neil for an encore of "Down By The River" at Jones Beach, New York on June 14, 1989. Bruce is virtually inaudible on the tapes of the show. If Thrasher had not seen the video of the performance, it would have been hard to believe both Neil and Bruce sang at the mic.
Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young's music and careers have as many similarities as dissimilarities. Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World", has been compared with Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA," due to "the anthemic use of this song was based on largely ignoring the verses, which evoke social problems and implicitly criticize American government policies." (1) Neither artist has sold their songs for use as commercials, leaving them among a small handful not to do so.
Another Bruce and Neil connection occurred at the Academy Awards on March 21, 1994. Coincidentally, both Springsteen and Young were both nominated for Best Song in a Movie -- and in the same film -- Jonathan Demme's "Philadelphia". Bruce's nominated song was the film opening "Streets of Philadelphia" and Neil's was the closing title track "Philadelphia".
Bruce Springsteen won the Oscar award for his song "Streets of Philadelphia". In his acceptance speech, Springsteen acknowledged Young and said that the award really deserved to be shared by the other nominee's song.
In 1994, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Neil Young joined on stage at the Roseland in New York City to perform 'Rainy Day Woman' and 'Highway 61 Revisited'.
At the 1995 Bridge School Benefit Concert, Springsteen joined Young for an encore of 'Down by the River'. Young remarked: "Bruce says he doesn't have any more songs, so we'll do one of mine".
But not all are totally impressed with this juncture in Springsteen's and Young's careers. From Nude as the News: review of both Springsteen's Devils and Dust and Young's Prairie Wind by Ben French:
"Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young have both been playing this sort of acoustic, singer/songwriter-type music for more than 30 years, so it’s not a crime if they repeat themselves from time to time. On the other hand, it surprises me when other writers blatantly ignore the fact that none of this is worth listening to more than a couple times – especially if you already own the artists’ older albums. UK writers always have a flare for the dramatic, but I think Guardian pushes the limits by calling Prairie Wind, “one of Shakey’s best.” Outrageous. Rolling Stone gave Devils & Dust 4 ½ stars, which seems incredibly polite."
As for reviewer Ben French's comments above, we're looking forward to Springsteen's upcoming Seeger Sessions and the crimes of artists repeating themselves from time to time.
"Springsteen, because he has maintained a consistently high level of commercial success over the years, is a sell-out, and a manufactured creation of his manager. Whereas someone like Neil Young, because he hasn't been ashamed to release some real crap, is an artist of integrity, who won't give in to crass commercialism, by always giving his fans music that they will actually enjoy."
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