A biography that I wrote ...

[BeardofPants]

I wrote this for a music site (link in sig). It's a rather lengthy Neil Young biography. Feedback welcome. Some expletives.

Neil Young – a waffly biography of sorts.

"**** reviews. Reviews don't really matter. You can't believe 'em when they ****in' praise you, and you can't believe 'em when they criticize you." -- Neil Young

I have been a devoted fan of Neil Young’s unique style for quite some time – ever since I first heard bits and pieces of the After the Gold Rush album after the other half’s uncle ripped a CD for me. I say ‘bits and pieces’ because, this uncle, who shall be forthwith known as Bob, has this crazy inclination to only burn half the songs off an album. Songs, I might add, that only HE likes. In other words, songs that can only really be appreciated AFTER 50 years of listening to ‘em. I hesitate to impart the rest of the story because I know that many music fans will read these words with horror. I know that they will get the same sense of quivering shock from this tale that I did when I first entered into Bob’s study, and saw rows and rows of ripped CDs with nary a vinyl collection in sight. It was like a tale of horror imparted by Poe; a universe crafted by HP Lovecraft; a meandering sense of undeniable horror penned by Stephen King. Just replace homicidal pepper-shakers with rows and rows of ripped half-complete CDs, and you’ll get the picture. It wasn’t pretty. Not satisfied with mangling the odd record, this mad man did this to his entire collection, burning half of the more obscure songs (and avoiding the popular “hooks�). Once this had been completed to his satisfaction, he then proceeded to flog off his collection, and keep the ripped CDs… and this was my first introduction to Neil Young. Not the best foot forward by any means, and it would be a couple of years before I revisited him properly.

I don’t even remember the first song I listened to now. I know that it was off the aforementioned album (After the Gold Rush), because that is what my gut tells me. What my gut is doing talking to me, I don’t know. I reckon it may have something to do with eating muesli, which has this way of giving me diarrhoea … whoops, that was prolly too much info. *BoP ponders on whether to make a clever joke regarding the title of the CD and the stomach affliction, but decides against it* ….

To this day, I still haven’t gotten me arse around to buying the full album. I have a little bit more than the few sparse crumbs that ‘Bob’ threw my way now thanks to certain music programs that shall not be named, but it is still as mangled as when I first received it. And for all that, it remains one of my favourite Neil Young albums – a testament to how earth-shattering this album is. I need not mention here that I have a few other “mangled� albums given to me by the mad uncle (including Get Yer Ya Yas Out by The Rolling Stones, minus… yep, you guessed it, Jumping Jack Flash), because that is not necessary to this particular tale, which has its unremarkable beginnings in Toronto, Canada.

Now, I should add that this will not be so much a review, as a lengthy, waffly bio, so you have been warned: turn away now, and save yourself getting bogged down with excessive detail! That being said, let’s head back to 1945, to a little backwards place called Canada…. where a stork would deliver Neil to two Young parents on November 12th, one of who happened to be a sports writer (Scott Young of Toronto Sun fame). The marriage was not to last, with his parents soon divorcing, and Neil and his mother moving to Winnipeg. It was here that Neil first joined several high-school bands, and started to exhibit a taste for all things musical – a last remaining relic of his parents marriage, when his father gave him a banjo. One of the bands – the Esquires – (a garage rock band) even managed to achieve a local hit with the song, The Sultan’, and Neil, already a poor student, dropped out of high school to pursue the rock dream. It was during his duration at Winnipeg, and later Toronto, that he started hanging around in folk lounges, doing the odd performance, and meeting up with fellow musicians, Joni Mitchell, and Stephen Stills. It is interesting to note that even at this stage in his career, Neil was a music whore, cycling through several different bands, leaving some in the lurch mid-way through commitments, with other relationships disintegrating apart like a naked hippy in a post-apocalyptic cold winter’s day; this was, it seemed, to be something that would characterise his lengthy career in the music industry.

In 1965 Neil split off from the Squires (previously the Esquires), and moved back to Toronto, forming another band by the name of the Mynah Birds. Neil toured briefly with the Mynahs, but there was the growing realisation that if they were to have a chance at ‘making it’, they would have to re-locate to Los Angeles. However, the Mynahs were doomed to be short-lived, and only half moved to LA. Neil soon reformed with another band called Buffalo Springfield, with fellow bandmates, Stills (vocals, 2nd lead guitar), Furay (vocals, rhythm guitar), Palmer (bass), and Dewey Martin (vocals, drums), with Neil being on vocals, piano, lead guitar. From this liaison, three albums were released, and a handful of tours were arranged. The stage was set, the band was ripe, groupies may or may not have been in abundance. However, three short years later, the karma was to kick in again, and the band busted up not long after one of the band member’s had been busted, and deported back to Canada for drugs. Things had been disintegrating for a while, and Neil had already had creative differences leading to his withdrawal from the band. Such, it seems, is to be the fate of a rock band clutching to the coat-tails of Neil Young.

This brings us forward to a year that would change music forever. The year was 1968. The place: Babylon 5… er, wrong script. Heh. Flying on the wings of the Summer of Love, Sgt Pepper had taught us well, and there were spotty teenagers aplenty getting higher than the hair on Bon Jovi. This was the year that Neil decided to clip his wings and go solo. His first solo album (the first of many) was released in early 1969, and the year was initiated with Neil touring around Canada. It was also at this time that Neil acquired Joni Mitchell’s manager. The album was not a spectacular success and was compiled mostly of folk-country tunes. With the intention of looking for a harder rock sound, Neil met, and attempted to recruit three of the individuals traveling around under the banner of The Rockets. They were: Danny Whitten (guitar), Billy Talbot (bass) and Ralph Molina (drums). They soon joined Young, and renamed their band Crazy Horse, leaving the shattered remnants of their old band in the wayside to rust like an unwanted automobile. Still in early 1969, Neil and the Crazy Horses released their first album, the ‘edgy’ Everybody Knows This is Nowhere. It included the hits, Cinnamon Girl, and Down By the River (both ostensibly written in one day when Neil was struck down by the flu’), and had a harder, heavier rock edge than Neil’s previous country-influenced album. It also has one of my favourite Neil Young tracks, Round and Round (it won’t be long), which is characterised by Neil’s unique high-pitched melodic singing voice, and flavoured by strong acoustic influences.

Round and round and round we spin,
To weave a wall to hem us in,
It won't be long, it won't be long
How slow and slow and slow it goes,
To mend the tear that always shows.
It won't be long, it won't be long…..

[end part one]