Comment of the Moment: Encountering Neil Young

Neil Young at Broken Arrow Ranch
June 28, 1971
Photo by Henry Diltz

The Neil Young Comment of the Moment is from Neil Encounters by astrololee:

I first heard "For What It's Worth" when I was only around 13 years old not knowing who Neil Young really was until he teamed up with CSNY. I was into "Marakesh" at the time and started to wonder about the Y bit, later on when I was into "Woodstock".

Nearly the best thing about the Archives is it's history. Wow there is nothing that this man has not had a go at doing and the Archives really puts all of his different genres into one neat package and so far ,we’ve only got the first few years of his career. Up until now and listening to the many albums I have of Neil, I have only observed that it was Neil singing and no matter what he sang, I seemed to like it, could relate to, could sing along too and generally look forward to what NY was gunna come up with next.

Everyone so far on reviewing the Archives has mentioned the technology, the sound, the vast amount of songs, his guitar style and technique.. but.. little has been said about the feelings that the Archives evokes. Since I have received the Archives and watched it, replayed it, had fun with it, cursed it, marvelled at its technology and appreciated it etc I have also never laughed so hard in my life (audience expectations interview), I have cried like a baby and cursed Neil for making himself more vulnerable than ever to the public and for letting the audience see a glimpse of his soul and for that alone, I feel very privileged to own Archives 1.

Remember this is a man whom is suppose to not give a shit about the rest of the world and how it thinks about him...but here in the Archives is living proof of a man, whom has been vulnerable to life, its catastrophic experiences which have shaped his life and sometimes veered him into totally different directions and he’s had the audacity to put it into film and let us see him warts and all and then shock and horror he’s even let us have an opinion of it all. This man named Neil Young whom supposedly doesn’t give a F!@#K about what even his fans think of him shows that he really cares and for that alone he will get my undying loyalty and support for whatever he decides to do for the rest of his life.

In my opinion only, the Archives has given us the gift of Neil himself in such an intangible way that I feel beholden to him for giving us nearly too much himself. It’s like the Archives has affected the viewer so personally that I can feel empathy oozing out of my being for this restless soul whom will keeping revealing his beliefs through his music. Sometimes whilst watching the Archives I have this feeling that I’m nothing but a voyeur..lol...because I am getting a disgusting amount of pleasure out of pawing over each disc. Gee I’m not even game to let my friends come and watch it with me ‘caus they’ll think I’m stranger than usual!

The Archives has not only taken a lot of time to produce a chronological sequence of events on film but it has also been done with courage and conviction and I therefore believe its Neil's gift to us that we must accept unconditionally as a thank you from him to his fans, friends and family. It’s his autobiography told in a way that no amount of written words could express.

Thanks astrololee!

More on what fans really think of the Neil Young Archives. No, what they really think.