Quotes
Remember when you used to watch TV in the '60s and you'd see Perry Como in a cashmere sweater? That's what rock'n'roll is becoming. It's your parents' music.
- Neil Young
Why Is She Famous?
The acoustically based Prairie Wind appeared in the fall, with the concert film Heart of Gold, based around the album and directed by Jonathan Demme, released the following year. 2006 also saw the release of the controversial CD/DVD Living with War, a collection of protest songs against the war in Iraq that featured titles such as "Let's Impeach the President," "Shock and Awe," and "Lookin' for a Leader." Restless, prolific, and increasingly self-referential, Young issued Chrome Dreams II late in 2007.
Neil Percival Young OM (born November 12, 1945, Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, pianist and film director. Young has directed (or co-directed) a number of films using the pseudonym Bernard Shakey, including Journey Through the Past (1973), Rust Never Sleeps (1979), Human Highway (1982), and Greendale (2003). He is also an outspoken advocate for environmental issues and small farmers, having co-founded the benefit concert Farm Aid, and in 1986 helped found The Bridge School, and its annual supporting Bridge School Benefit concerts, together with his wife Pegi.
Neil Young was born in Toronto to sportswriter and novelist Scott Young and Rassy Ragland, who had moved to Toronto from their family home of Manitoba to pursue a sport journalism career. Neil spent his early years in the small country town of Omemee, in southern Ontario. A bout of polio at the age of 6 left him with a weakened left side, and he still walks with a slight limp. Although a new tour had been planned to follow up on the success of Harvest, it became apparent during rehearsals that Danny Whitten could not function due to drug abuse. On November 18, 1972, shortly after he was fired from the tour preparations, Whitten was found dead of an overdose. Young described the incident to Rolling Stone’s Cameron Crowe in 1975, " were rehearsing with him and he just couldn't cut it. He couldn't remember anything. He was too out of it. Too far gone. I had to tell him to go back to L.A. 'It's not happening, man. You're not together enough.' He just said, 'I've got nowhere else to go, man. How am I gonna tell my friends?' And he split. That night the coroner called me from L.A. and told me he'd ODed. That blew my mind. Fucking blew my mind. I loved Danny. I felt responsible. And from there, I had to go right out on this huge tour of huge arenas. I was very nervous and . . . insecure."
The album made in the aftermath of this incident, Time Fades Away (1973), has often been described by Young as "my least favourite record," and it is, in fact, one of only two of Young’s early recordings that has yet to be re-released on CD (The other being the soundtrack album Journey Through the Past). The album was recorded live over a tour where Neil struggled with his voice and called David Crosby and Graham Nash to help perform the music. The tour was also notable as Linda Ronstadt began touring as the opening act for the Time Fades Away tour. Time Fades Away occupies a unique position in Young’s discography as the first of three albums known collectively as the "Ditch Trilogy," and has also been referred to as the "Doom Trilogy" by some writers.
Using a barn on his Northern California ranch as a studio, he rapidly recorded Ragged Glory with Crazy Horse, whose guitar riffs and feedback driven sound showed his new admirers that he could still cut it. Young then headed back out on the road with LA punk band Social Distortion and alternative rock elder statesmen Sonic Youth as support, much to the consternation of many of his old fans. Yet the influence of Sonic Youth could be clearly heard on the accompanying home video and live album, Weld, which also included a bonus CD entitled Arc, a single 35-minute-long collage of feedback and guitar noise that Neil included, evidently at the suggestion of Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore. Arc was later sold separately.
In 1998, Young shared the stage with the rock band Phish at the annual Farm Aid concert, and later offered them an opportunity to headline both nights of the Bridge School Benefit concert. Phish passed on Young's offer and also declined Young's later invitation to be his backing band on a 1999 tour. Young spent the latter portion of 2004 giving a series of intimate acoustic concerts in various cities with his wife, Pegi, who is a trained vocalist. On March 31, 2005, Young was admitted to a hospital in New York for treatment for a brain aneurysm. He was treated successfully by a minimally invasive neuroradiological procedure. Prior to undergoing the procedure, he wrote the first eight songs of a new album, Prairie Wind, in Nashville, with session musicians that included regular Young sideman Ben Keith on lap and pedal steel guitars. The last two songs on the album were written after his aneurysm procedure. Many of the songs, such as "Fallin' Off the Face of the Earth," seem to be inspired by Young's brush with mortality, the recent death of his father (who suffered senile dementia), as well as a connection with his Manitoba roots. Two days after the procedure, Young was forced to cancel a scheduled appearance on the Juno Awards telecast in Winnipeg when the area where the surgeons did his procedure (via the femoral artery) suddenly began to bleed. Young finally was able to return to Winnipeg in 2006 with Crosby, Stills and Nash. It was announced January 16, 2007 that the next release in the Archives Performance Series project would be from January 19, 1971 where Neil performed at Toronto's Massey Hall. The new release, titled Live at Massey Hall 1971 was released March 13. In a large garage underneath his Woodside ranch, Young also maintains a large private collection of classic Detroit-made American cars.
Neil Young was born in Toronto to sportswriter and novelist Scott Young and Rassy Ragland, who had moved to Toronto from their family home of Manitoba to pursue a sport journalism career. Neil spent his early years in the small country town of Omemee, in southern Ontario. A bout of polio at the age of 6 left him with a weakened left side, and he still walks with a slight limp. Although a new tour had been planned to follow up on the success of Harvest, it became apparent during rehearsals that Danny Whitten could not function due to drug abuse. On November 18, 1972, shortly after he was fired from the tour preparations, Whitten was found dead of an overdose. Young described the incident to Rolling Stone’s Cameron Crowe in 1975, " were rehearsing with him and he just couldn't cut it. He couldn't remember anything. He was too out of it. Too far gone. I had to tell him to go back to L.A. 'It's not happening, man. You're not together enough.' He just said, 'I've got nowhere else to go, man. How am I gonna tell my friends?' And he split. That night the coroner called me from L.A. and told me he'd ODed. That blew my mind. Fucking blew my mind. I loved Danny. I felt responsible. And from there, I had to go right out on this huge tour of huge arenas. I was very nervous and . . . insecure."
The album made in the aftermath of this incident, Time Fades Away (1973), has often been described by Young as "my least favourite record," and it is, in fact, one of only two of Young’s early recordings that has yet to be re-released on CD (The other being the soundtrack album Journey Through the Past). The album was recorded live over a tour where Neil struggled with his voice and called David Crosby and Graham Nash to help perform the music. The tour was also notable as Linda Ronstadt began touring as the opening act for the Time Fades Away tour. Time Fades Away occupies a unique position in Young’s discography as the first of three albums known collectively as the "Ditch Trilogy," and has also been referred to as the "Doom Trilogy" by some writers.
Using a barn on his Northern California ranch as a studio, he rapidly recorded Ragged Glory with Crazy Horse, whose guitar riffs and feedback driven sound showed his new admirers that he could still cut it. Young then headed back out on the road with LA punk band Social Distortion and alternative rock elder statesmen Sonic Youth as support, much to the consternation of many of his old fans. Yet the influence of Sonic Youth could be clearly heard on the accompanying home video and live album, Weld, which also included a bonus CD entitled Arc, a single 35-minute-long collage of feedback and guitar noise that Neil included, evidently at the suggestion of Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore. Arc was later sold separately.
In 1998, Young shared the stage with the rock band Phish at the annual Farm Aid concert, and later offered them an opportunity to headline both nights of the Bridge School Benefit concert. Phish passed on Young's offer and also declined Young's later invitation to be his backing band on a 1999 tour. Young spent the latter portion of 2004 giving a series of intimate acoustic concerts in various cities with his wife, Pegi, who is a trained vocalist. On March 31, 2005, Young was admitted to a hospital in New York for treatment for a brain aneurysm. He was treated successfully by a minimally invasive neuroradiological procedure. Prior to undergoing the procedure, he wrote the first eight songs of a new album, Prairie Wind, in Nashville, with session musicians that included regular Young sideman Ben Keith on lap and pedal steel guitars. The last two songs on the album were written after his aneurysm procedure. Many of the songs, such as "Fallin' Off the Face of the Earth," seem to be inspired by Young's brush with mortality, the recent death of his father (who suffered senile dementia), as well as a connection with his Manitoba roots. Two days after the procedure, Young was forced to cancel a scheduled appearance on the Juno Awards telecast in Winnipeg when the area where the surgeons did his procedure (via the femoral artery) suddenly began to bleed. Young finally was able to return to Winnipeg in 2006 with Crosby, Stills and Nash. It was announced January 16, 2007 that the next release in the Archives Performance Series project would be from January 19, 1971 where Neil performed at Toronto's Massey Hall. The new release, titled Live at Massey Hall 1971 was released March 13. In a large garage underneath his Woodside ranch, Young also maintains a large private collection of classic Detroit-made American cars.
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