Neil Young published this memoir in 2012 and wrote it when he was 65 years old (Young was born in 1945). Young, of course, is the singer-songwriter who started his musical career in the 1960s and played with Buffalo Springfield; Crosby, Stills, and Nash; and Crazy Horse. He is best known however for his solo career and his many critically acclaimed albums including Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, After the Gold Rush, and Harvest.
This memoir was written exclusively by Young and was not edited by a ghost writer as many rock bios are. The narrative is very rambling and goes from one era to another without any chronological order. Young also talks a lot about some of his pet projects including PureTone (later called Pono) which was what Young wanted music to be. It was a portable digital media player and music download service for high-resolution audio. (According to Wikipedia, it met its demise in 2017). He also discusses his prototype for an electric luxury car called LincVolt which was a 1959 Lincoln Continental converted into a more fuel-efficient vehicle. Young talks about other loves including his Lionel trains and of course family and friends. He also seems to have a very love/hate relationship with new technology including streaming services such as Spotify and YouTube. He had this to say about YouTube: "If you forget what you are doing, it shows up on YouTube. If you remember what you are doing, it shows up on YouTube....If snot comes out of your nose while you are playing the harmonica and slithers down the harmonica rack onto your T-shirt, it is on YouTube..."
But he also talks about his love of music from his early days in Winnipeg, Canada, up to when the book was published and his expected recording of a new album with Crazy Horse. He spends a lot of time discussing many of his friends and technicians that worked on his albums and unless you are familiar with them, the names kind of get lost in the telling. His love of family is also very apparent, especially for his two sons Zeke and Ben who were both born with cerebral palsy. At the time he wrote the book he was married to Pegi Young who he also felt great love for (however, they divorced in 2014).
Overall, by reading this book you end up really feeling like you know him. The book is somewhat rambling and Young has a tendency to go off on tangents but I would still recommend this to anyone who lived during the 60s and 70s and who loves the music of that time. Young is a classic!
This memoir was written exclusively by Young and was not edited by a ghost writer as many rock bios are. The narrative is very rambling and goes from one era to another without any chronological order. Young also talks a lot about some of his pet projects including PureTone (later called Pono) which was what Young wanted music to be. It was a portable digital media player and music download service for high-resolution audio. (According to Wikipedia, it met its demise in 2017). He also discusses his prototype for an electric luxury car called LincVolt which was a 1959 Lincoln Continental converted into a more fuel-efficient vehicle. Young talks about other loves including his Lionel trains and of course family and friends. He also seems to have a very love/hate relationship with new technology including streaming services such as Spotify and YouTube. He had this to say about YouTube: "If you forget what you are doing, it shows up on YouTube. If you remember what you are doing, it shows up on YouTube....If snot comes out of your nose while you are playing the harmonica and slithers down the harmonica rack onto your T-shirt, it is on YouTube..."
But he also talks about his love of music from his early days in Winnipeg, Canada, up to when the book was published and his expected recording of a new album with Crazy Horse. He spends a lot of time discussing many of his friends and technicians that worked on his albums and unless you are familiar with them, the names kind of get lost in the telling. His love of family is also very apparent, especially for his two sons Zeke and Ben who were both born with cerebral palsy. At the time he wrote the book he was married to Pegi Young who he also felt great love for (however, they divorced in 2014).
Overall, by reading this book you end up really feeling like you know him. The book is somewhat rambling and Young has a tendency to go off on tangents but I would still recommend this to anyone who lived during the 60s and 70s and who loves the music of that time. Young is a classic!
