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Waging Heavy Peace is the remarkable memoir of rock icon Neil Young
Neil Young is a singular figure in the history of rock and pop culture in the last four decades, inducted not once but twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Reflective, insightful and disarmingly honest, Waging Heavy Peace is his long-awaited memoir. From his youth in Canada to his crazy journey out to California, through Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash, to his massively successful solo career and his re-emergence as the patron saint of grunge on to his role today as one of the last uncompromised and uncompromising survivors of rock 'n' roll - this is Neil's story told in his own words.
Young presents a kaleidoscopic view of personal life and musical creativity; it's a journey that spans the snows of Ontario to the LSD-laden boulevards of 1966 Los Angeles to the contemplative paradise of Hawaii today. Along the way he writes about the music, the victims, the girls and the drugs; about his happy family life but also about the health problems he and his children have experienced; about guitars, cars and sound systems; about Canada and California and Hawaii. Candid, witty and revealing, this book takes its place beside the classic memoirs of Bob Dylan and Keith Richards.
'Wryly funny, deeply moving, painfully honest' Guardian
'He's talking to you, not at you, unravelling himself as well, and you don't want it to end . . . You see rock and roll history from the inside out, and in the present tense' Independent
'Young appears bounteous and joyful, a genuinely happy hippy . . . Unusually for a rock memoir, this one is almost completely angst-free' Sunday Times
'Dryly hilarious . . . poignant . . . Waging Heavy Peace shows that Young is still in full possession of that stubborn, brilliant, one-of-a-kind instrument' Rolling Stone
'A real treat . . . he writes openly and movingly abut the key figures in his life...you feel you know Young better for reading it' Metro
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPenguin
- Publication date25 Sept. 2012
- File size6258 KB
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Product description
Review
Neil Young has never been your average rock star and this is not your average rock star autobiography . . . Over the course of its 500 pages, Waging Heavy Peace is variously wildly idiosyncratic, unpredictable, bafflingly digressive, wryly funny, deeply moving, painfully honest . . . infuriatingly elusive and shot through with moments of rare insight and beauty, which you might say makes it the perfect literary counterpart to the 50-year career it describes (Guardian)
He's talking to you, not at you, unravelling himself as well, and you don't want it to end . . . You see rock and roll history from the inside out, and in the present tense (Independent)
Young appears bounteous and joyful, a genuinely happy hippy . . . Unusually for a rock memoir, this one is almost completely angst-free (Sunday Times)
Dryly hilarious . . . poignant . . . Waging Heavy Peace shows that Young is still in full possession of that stubborn, brilliant, one-of-a-kind instrument (Rolling Stone)
A real treat . . . he writes openly and movingly abut the key figures in his life...you feel you know Young better for reading it (Metro)
A ride through Young's many obsessions . . . Waging Heavy Peace eschews chronology and skips the score-settling and titillation of other rocker biographies. Still, Young shows a little leg and has some laughs. The operatics of the rock life give way to signal family events, deconstructions of his musical partnerships and musings on the natural world. It is less a chronicle than a journal of self-appraisal (New York Times) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Neil Young was born in Toronto in 1945, and later went to live with his mother in Winnipeg after his parents split up. He moved to California in 1966 where he co-founded Buffalo Springfield before joining the hugely successful Crosby, Stills & Nash, and then embarking on a stellar solo career. He has been inducted not once but twice into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which describes him as 'one of rock 'n' roll's greatest songwriters and performers'.
Young is an outspoken advocate of environmental issues and the welfare of small farmers - he co-founded Farm Aid in 1986. He is also active in educatonal projects for disabled children, and co-founded The Bridge School which assists children with physical impairments and communication needs.
Widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation, Neil Young continues to live on his ranch in northern California and in Hawaii.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.From the Back Cover
Neil Young is a singular figure in the history of rock and pop culture in the last four decades, inducted not once but twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Reflective, insightful and disarmingly honest, Waging Heavy Peace is his long-awaited memoir. From his youth in Canada to his crazy journey out to California, through Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash, to his massively successful solo career and his re-emergence as the patron saint of grunge on to his role today as one of the last uncompromised and uncompromising survivors of rock 'n' roll - this is Neil's story told in his own words.
Young presents a kaleidoscopic view of personal life and musical creativity; it's a journey that spans the snows of Ontario to the LSD-laden boulevards of 1966 Los Angeles to the contemplative paradise of Hawaii today. Along the way he writes about the music, the victims, the girls and the drugs; about his happy family life but also about the health problems he and his children have experienced; about guitars, cars and sound systems; about Canada and California and Hawaii. Candid, witty and revealing, this book takes its place beside the classic memoirs of Bob Dylan and Keith Richards.
'Wryly funny, deeply moving, painfully honest' Guardian
'He's talking to you, not at you, unravelling himself as well, and you don't want it to end . . . You see rock and roll history from the inside out, and in the present tense' Independent
'Young appears bounteous and joyful, a genuinely happy hippy . . . Unusually for a rock memoir, this one is almost completely angst-free' Sunday Times
'Dryly hilarious . . . poignant . . . Waging Heavy Peace shows that Young is still in full possession of that stubborn, brilliant, one-of-a-kind instrument' Rolling Stone
'A real treat . . . he writes openly and movingly abut the key figures in his life...you feel you know Young better for reading it' Metro
--This text refers to the kindle_edition_av edition.
From the Inside Flap
Neil Young is a singular figure in the history of rock and pop culture in the last four decades, inducted not once but twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Reflective, insightful and disarmingly honest, Waging Heavy Peace is his long-awaited memoir. From his youth in Canada to his crazy journey out to California, through Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash, to his massively successful solo career and his re-emergence as the patron saint of grunge on to his role today as one of the last uncompromised and uncompromising survivors of rock 'n' roll - this is Neil's story told in his own words.
Young presents a kaleidoscopic view of personal life and musical creativity; it's a journey that spans the snows of Ontario to the LSD-laden boulevards of 1966 Los Angeles to the contemplative paradise of Hawaii today. Along the way he writes about the music, the victims, the girls and the drugs; about his happy family life but also about the health problems he and his children have experienced; about guitars, cars and sound systems; about Canada and California and Hawaii. Candid, witty and revealing, this book takes its place beside the classic memoirs of Bob Dylan and Keith Richards.
'Wryly funny, deeply moving, painfully honest' Guardian
'He's talking to you, not at you, unravelling himself as well, and you don't want it to end . . . You see rock and roll history from the inside out, and in the present tense' Independent
'Young appears bounteous and joyful, a genuinely happy hippy . . . Unusually for a rock memoir, this one is almost completely angst-free' Sunday Times
'Dryly hilarious . . . poignant . . . Waging Heavy Peace shows that Young is still in full possession of that stubborn, brilliant, one-of-a-kind instrument' Rolling Stone
'A real treat . . . he writes openly and movingly abut the key figures in his life...you feel you know Young better for reading it' Metro
--This text refers to the kindle_edition_av edition.
Review
Product details
- ASIN : B008U7ZRHG
- Publisher : Penguin (25 Sept. 2012)
- Language : English
- File size : 6258 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 472 pages
- Page numbers source ISBN : 0399159460
- Best Sellers Rank: 121,233 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer reviews:
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The book finds Young in a drug and alcohol free state and the straightest he's been since he was eighteen. Recovering from a broken toe and needing to rest a while, he decides to both write his autobiography and start planning to record again with Crazy Horse (a band he refers to throughout in the third person, as a mystic entity) worrying a little if the muse has departed and whether he'll still be able to write songs in his new found sobriety. Despite having not written a new song for more than half a year, Young knows that patience is the key, " Songs are like rabbits and they like to come out of their holes when you're not looking, so if you stand there waiting they will just burrow down and come out somewhere far away, a new place where you can't see them. So I feel like I am standing over a song hole. That will never result in success. The more we talk about this, the worse it will get. So that is why we are changing the subject."
With a new album, "Psychedelic Pill", recorded with Crazy Horse due in October, Young's patience has clearly paid off, yet he remains a deeply contradictory person. A man with such reserves of patience he spends decades compiling his legendary archive releases or working on a definitive version of his thirty year old movie "Human Highway" yet someone who knows that first or second takes with Crazy Horse are usually the best and is not averse to "spontaneous change" waking up and halting a recording or changing musicians. As he puts it "Honesty is the only thing that works. It hurts to be honest, but the muse has no conscience. If you do it for the music, you do it for the music, and everything else is secondary. Although that has been hard for me to learn, it is the best and really the only way to live through a life dedicated to the muse. The muse says, 'If it isn't totally great, then don't do it. Change.'"
If patience is one of Young's core drivers, then his obsessive side clearly is too. A keen collector of cars (many of the stories involve one of his many classic cars, or start in Feelgoods, his garage) as well as model trains, manuscripts, photographs, records, clothes, and recordings. This obsessive ness sees Young immersed in several long term projects, including his work with Lionel, the model train company where he's searching for a method of accurately linking the sound and smoke effects of the models to the effort involved in pulling their loads; to Lincvolt, a four year project to power a huge Lincoln Continental by energy efficient means; and PureTone (currently renamed Pono) a sound system designed to "rescue my art form, music, from the degradation in quality that I think is at the heart of the decline of music sales".
Spanning his life from childhood in Omemee, Ontario up to 2011, Waging Heavy Peace takes a meandering journey, and if Young's reminisces of contracting polio aged five, of his old paper round route, or of mall shopping in Hawaii fail to grip you don't worry, shortly there'll be a chapter describing how he's illegally entering the States without a work visa heading for the golden promise of California looking for Stephen Stills and readying to form Buffalo Springfield. Or describing how Time magazine's famous photo of the Kent State shooting inspired him to write "Ohio" and record it the next day. Or, how holed up in his Topanga house semi-delirious with a fever he managed to write "Cinnamon Girl", "Down By The River" and "Cowgirl In The Sand" in one afternoon. Or, yes, how David Geffen sued him for making music "that was uncharacteristic of Neil Young" after Young delivered "Island In The Sun", "Trans", and "Everybody's Rockin' (the latter delivered in the guise of an old fashioned rocker after being told to go and make a rock and roll record).
Young goes to places he doesn't need to with a disarming honesty - be it failed relationships, his son's quadriplegia, his enduring love for wife Pegi, a brush with Charles Manson, or even to accidentally poisoning the attendees at his annual birthday party with poison oak. As you might expect in any memoir from a sixty five year old, the roll call of ghosts within the book is long. Crazy Horse Guitarist Danny Whitten and roadie Bruce Berry (both lost to heroin within a few months of each other), Ben Keith the pedal steel player, arranger and producer Jack Nitzsche, producer David Briggs and filmmaking collaborator Larry Johnson all brighten the pages when Young talks about them with love. The spectre of his own mortality also dances in the background - his near death recovering from surgery for a brain aneurysm and the worry of a potential descent into the dementia that claimed his father loom large. The book's final paragraph, which sees Young taking a nap near a creek, then in his dreamlike state enter a cafe where his departed friends Larry Johnson and David Briggs are both having a late breakfast and seemingly waiting for him simultaneously bring both a smile to your face and a lump to your throat.
Young says, "Writing this book, there seems to be no end to the information flowing through me" and this theme and enthusiasm seems to still apply to all aspects of his life, be it his music, his family, or his various projects. Happily, Neil Young has neither burned out nor faded away, and long may he continue to run.
But I've stayed with him for 40 odd years because of those towering moments on record or in concert when you realise all the frustration has been a cheap price to pay. Not surprisingly, Neil does it his own way when it comes to writing his autobiography.
In 2003 , an authorised story of Neil's life by music journalist Jimmy McDonough hit the stands, but only after the subject tried to prevent its release. If you have not already done so, I suggest reading that tome first and then moving on to Waging Heavy Peace. McDonough's meticulous research , a across many years, saw him interview all the major personalities in Neil's life as well as the man himself plus lesser lights.
The hurt felt by people Neil has discarded for one reason or another along the way, often by getting someone else to do his dirty work,can be brutal reading.
That book came before Neil was diganosed with a life-threatening brain aneurism in 2005. This event is covered in great detail by Neil here. It appears this brush with death and a fear of the dementia which afflicted his late father has shaped the impetus for Neil's book.
That and his determination to bring his holy grail of allowing people to listen to music with the warmth and detail digital downloads cannot even begin to reproduce. Oh, and he is still passionate about his project to produce an electric car, converting an old Lincoln Continental for his LincVolt project.
What each chapter amounts to is effectively a blog entry that cris-crosses the decades in no particular order other then the random one thrown up by Neil's oscillating train of thought. Many pages are about his classic American car collection, others about his model train layout or, more importantly, the audiophile quality music system he is developing called Pono.
Thus, we have a rare beast of an autobiography that looks forward to things that may or may not happen rather than a straightforward retelling of the past. But it is the past that still holds sway and is of main interest to devotees who will read this book.
Neil admits his failings with people in his life without ever going into great detail. He apologises and vows to change, if he can. He recalls those who have passed away such as his influential producer David Briggs , pedal steel player Ben Keith and original Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten in loving terms.
But even then ,he confesses he did not always heed what they had to say, despite his respect for them. He also makes general apologies to people he may have hurt down the years , explaining it was only his muse and search for perfectionism which made him behave that way. It was never personal. He wants to change and treat people differently. Perhaps he won't be able to.
Amazingly, he even stresses what a great guy record boss David Geffen is even though Geffen Records signed Neil then sued him for making what it claimed were non-represenative Neil Young albums during Neil's fallow Eighties period.
Some of the book's most moving moments are about Neil and wife Pegi's quadriplegic son Ben, born in 1978, whom Neil refers to always as "Ben Young ".
It is also obvious that Pegi is Neil's rock and he is at pains to emphasize just how lost he would be without her.
What you may have noticed from this review is how little anecdotal material there is about his creative process or relationships with other strong personalities such as Stephen Stills, David Crosby And Graham Nash. When they are mentioned , it is to detail what he admires about them and what makes them great companions.
It is like Neil wants to change so much, he cannot bear to revisit those events which his new self now wants to make amends for.
There are all too few moments of insight into his songwriting or recording.
We do get a wonderful chapter devoted to the incredible , understated epic Will to Love off American Stars and Bars . It had me immediately digging out my original copy of the album and slapping it on the turntable.
But great swathes of his recorded history are either not mentioned or else glossed over. It is the lack of this detail which moves me to give the book four, as opposed to five stars. Because after all, it is the music which brought us to Neil in the first place and it is the music we want to read about.
But he's an ornery old critter. And we love him.