The Good - 2004 Neil Year in Review

photo by Tim Mosenfelder

2004 was another good year for Neil Young. Here's the first segment of the Good, The Sad, & The Ugly: Neil Young's Year 2004 in Review.

During 2004, Neil had quite a few memorable moments:

- concluded the one year world tour of Greendale,

performed at:

- Farm Aid Benefit,
- Berkeley Community Theatre Benefit,
- Clean Air Benefit Concert in Duncan, Canada,
- Vote For Change tour,
- Adopt-A-Minefield Benefit with Paul McCartney, and

- headlined the Bridge School Benefit Concert 2004 with Paul McCartney.

If all those good causes were not enough, Neil helped to make a difference by touring Greendale with a bus run on bio-diesel fuel. Here's Neil and Willie getting pumped up on bio-diesel at Farm Aid. Save the planet for another day, Neil!

Onto the next segment of the Good, The Sad, & The Ugly: Neil Young's Year 2004 in Review - The Sad.

The Sad - 2004 Neil Year in Review

2004 was also a sad year for Neil Young. Here's the second segment of the Good, The Sad, & The Ugly: Neil Young's Year 2004 in Review.


Carrie Snodgress: 1946 - 2004

Actress Carrie Snodgress, whose career included an Oscar nomination for "Diary of a Mad Housewife", died on April 1, 2004 at the age of 57.

Snodgress and Neil Young had a son named Zeke. Zeke Young was at Carrie's side when she died. Snodgress had been hospitalized at the University of California Medical Center in Los Angeles, awaiting a liver transplant when she died of heart failure.

Neil recorded several songs which reference Snodgress. The most well known song is "A Man Needs A Maid" from the album "Harvest"containing the lines:

"I fell in love with the actress
She was playing a part I could understand"

More on Carrie Snodgress and Neil Young.


Rick James: 1948 - 2004

Funk legend Rick James, the Motown Records artist best known for his 1981 hit 'Super Freak,' died on August 7, 2004 at age 56. While much is known about James' "Super Freak" period, relatively little is known about the period during the 1960's when he formed a band known as the Mynah Birds with Neil Young.

From the book "Shakey", Jimmy McDonough writes of the electrifying gigs with James and Young. "Neil would stop playing lead, do a harp solo, throw the harmonica way up in the air and Ricky would catch it and continue the solo."

Now how cool would that have been to see? Certainly way far out cool for the 1960's.

More on Rick James, The Mynah Birds and Neil Young.


Bruce Palmer: 1946 - 2004

Bruce Palmer died of a heart attack at age 58 on October 1, 2004.

All Music Guide's biography of Bruce Palmer:

"The enigmatic Bruce Palmer is known mostly as the original bassist in Buffalo Springfield, one of the greatest rock groups of the 1960s. Although Bruce Palmer did not sing or write any material during his time in the band, he was a vital member, both on-stage and (at least in the beginning) in the studio, for providing much of the "rock" muscle in the band's folk-rock with his powerful, creative basslines."

More on Bruce Palmer and Buffalo Springfield.

Sadly, drummer Kenny Buttrey passed away this year, too.

Rest In Peace Kenny, Carrie, Rick, and Bruce.

Onto the final segment of the Good, The Sad, & The Ugly: Neil Young's Year 2004 in Review - The Ugly.

The Ugly - 2004 Neil Year in Review

2004 was also a ugly year for Neil Young. Here's the third segment of the Good, The Sad, & The Ugly: Neil Young's Year 2004 in Review.

Lionel Trains Files For Bankruptcy
Lionel Trains, which is 20% owned by Neil Young, filed for bankruptcy protection after a U.S. jury found the company used designs for toy locomotives stolen from a rival.

Greendale Train Set Gets An Ugly Reaction
And if Lionel's bankruptcy wasn't bad enough, Lionel's Greendale themed train set was widely disparaged by train collectors and hobbyists. More on Lionel's Greendale Train Set Gets An Ugly Reaction.

Greendale train controversy
But it gets worse. Not that Lionel's Greendale train set chilly reception wasn't bad enough, but things got weird and ugly amongst the train collectors and Neil Young fans. More on the Greendale train controversy.

Pete Townshend, Michael Moore, Neil Young and Fahrenheit 9/11
There was quite a bit of controversary over the music that was -- and was not -- in the film Fahrenheit 9/11. Accusations flew between Pete Townshend and Michael Moore with Neil Young caught up in the collateral damage.

More on the song at the heart of the kerfuffle -- Rockin' In The Free World.

And that's The Good, The Sad, & The Ugly: Neil Young's Year 2004 in Review.

See y'all in 2005!

"Neil, you're God!" says Courtney Love

From Oh No They Didn't (via NY POST...PAGE 6) comes a rather bizarre item from the deeply troubled Courtney Love. I hesitated to exploit her anymore than she has already been exploited. But given the actual positive, uplifting aspect to her drug addiction treatment, Thrasher went ahead and pulled the trigger on this story about how Neil's music helped Courtney in her darkest hours.

"Neil Young gets the credit for helping Courtney Love kick her drug habit.

"When I was in rehab, I had some really cool CDs with me," the rock widow told Steppin' Out magazine. "I had Dylan and I had R.E.M. and I had Neil Young's 'Decades.' I put on 'Decades' and I heard 'Old Man.' It was 5 in the morning and I was kicking Xanax, and it was a [bleep]ing nightmare, and I saw Neil standing above me. And I was like, 'Neil, you're God! This is great!' . . . And that was huge. I thought, 'I can do this. I can get through this, and Neil is going to get me through' . . .

It was a deeply spiritual thing. It was cool."

In 1998 on the Hole album Celebrity Skin, sang "It's better to rise than fade away". The lyrics were written in response to her husband Kurt Cobain's suicide note which qouted from Young's song "Hey Hey, My My" from Rust Never Sleeps.

Randomly Noted - Pixies, Cash, Barenaked

The Pixies Cover Neil Young's "Winterlong".

June and Johnny Cash Walk The Line in upcoming film.

Barenaked Ladies "Deck The Stills" Parodies CSNY.

Randomly Noted - Richman, Earle, Torrents

Jonathan Richman on Neil Young.

FLAC download of Neil Young at Bridge School Benefit, 1999-10-30.

Steve Earle's "Rich Man's War" new video directed by Jonathan Demme.

Broken Arrow Magazine - November 2004 (#96)

Broken Arrow Magazine's November 2004 (#96) issue just came out and it's another fine issue. As usual, the Neil Young Appreciation Society magazine has lots of innaresting articles, including a fine remembrance on the passing of the Buffalo Springfield's Bruce Palmer by John Einarson.

The cover article is a Time Fades Away Retrospective by Pete Long. It is without a doubt, the most extensive analysis ever published in Broken Arrow Magazine. Or for that matter, the most extensive analysis ever published on the Time Fades Away album and tour.

The issue includes many never before published photos and stories from the era. I haven't made it through the 40+ page article yet, but already all sorts of unknown or forgotten nuggets have come floating up. Like the name of the Stray Gators being from Tim Drummond's touring with James Brown. When they were very drunk, it would be called "seeing gators."

Or this story regarding the vinyl album:

"The original album sleeve of the Time Fades Away vinyl album sleeve was printed on the reverse of black stock with the intention that the passage of time and normal wear and tear one would eventually see the images on the sleeve fading away -- a typical piece of Neil Young inventiveness."

More on the first segment of Neil Young's Ditch Trilogy.

Neil Young Covers Bob Dylan

From over on the Dylan Pool a track listing for a "I'll cover You Bob" compilation.

NEIL DOES DYLAN various dates/venues 1975-2001 (1 CD)

1 - Forever Young (11/3/91, with Grateful Dead ; Bill Graham tribute concert, Golden Gate Park Polo Fields, San Francisco

2 - Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (9/18/92) Third Solo Tour - Salem, Oregon 1992

3 - All Along The Watchtower (9/18/94) with Crazy Horse / Farm Aid 7, Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana. ( Frank Sampedro - guitar, / Billy Talbot - bass / Ralph Molina - drums) (This track appears to have been overdubbed with prominent acoustic guitar ? Trying to find original concert recording )

4 - Everything Is Broken (10/28/89 with Tom Petty ( Frank Sampedro - guitar. mandolin, vocals / Ben Keith - dobro, keyboards, vocals) Bridge School Benefit 3 Mountain View, California

5 - Blowin' In The Wind (4//9/91) with Crazy Horse / Portland, Oregon

6 - Forever Young ( * 4/2/91 appears to be incorrect date on above T-list) appears to be also 11/2/91 * Bridge School Benefit 5, Mountain View, California (song was performed twice ) with The Stray Gators & Nicolette Larson /Tracy Chapman / Willie Nelson,and Lee Ranaldo (Stray Gators - Ben Keith on dobro and slide; Tim Drummond on bass; Nils Lofrgen sat in at second guitar; Spooner Oldham on keyboards and Kenny Buttrey on drums).
(see review @ [www.thrasherswheat.org] ) (Only other known performances of song are track # 1 and 11 )

7 - Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (8/28/76) with Firefall / Santa Monica, California ; (during Stills-Young tour)

8 - Baby What You Want Me To Do (1/16/92) ? (no corresponding database info found except that NY has performed it 4 times )

9 - All Along The Watchtower (10/2/94) Solo / Bridge School Benefit 8, Mountain View, California

10 - Helpless/Knockin' On The Dragon's Door (3/23/75) with Bob Dylan & The Band - SNACK benefit , San Francisco

11 - Forever Young (11/2/91 ) w / Nicolette Larson; Bridge School Benefit 5, Mountain View, California /( Neil Young - harmonium ) (see track 6)

12 - Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues, (10/16/92/ BobFest , MSG New York City (Steve Cropper -guitar / Booker T. Jones - organ / Donald "Duck" Dunn - bass / Jim Keltner - drums)

13 - All Along The Watchtower (10/16/92/BobFest); (as above w Anton Fig - drums)

14 - Blowin' In The Wind (10/21/01) solo - Bridge Benefit 15 / Mountain View, California

15 - Louie Louie (unattributed)

More on Bob Dylan's influence on Neil Young.

Randomly Noted - Dylan, Swedish Buf, Covers

Thoughts on Bob Dylan on 60 Minutes.

A "Swedish Buffalo Springfield"?!

"Only Love Can Break Your Heart" listed as one of the Top 50 Cover Versions.

Honey Slides Album by The Bluerunners

Thrasher did a double take when he came across this upcoming release title. I wondered if it might have anything to do with Neil's infamous honey slides recipe?

Well sure enough. From The Bluerunners site:

"Cajun rockers The Bluerunners have broken a four-year silence with the impending release of Honey Slides, once again combining the native sounds of their Southwest Louisiana heritage with alt-rock and blues. The new album features a duet with Susan Cowsill (“Ghost of a Girl”), who follows an eclectic list of previous collaborators that includes Michael Doucet and Sonny Landreth. Honey Slides is set for January 25, 2005 street date – the week leading up to Mardi Gras.

The album’s curious title refers to an herbal concoction developed by fellow Louisiana native Rusty Kershaw for Neil Young during the latter’s On The Beach sessions. Having a nearly coma-inducing effect on its users, it’s basically just weed, fried up in a skillet, then covered with honey and then eaten. The effects are along the lines of hash brownies. Between the honey slides and the unorthodoxy of its recording, On The Beach became a pretty bizarre album -- and a favorite of the Bluerunners."

More on those famously bizarre On The Beach sessions. And don't have a coma, dudes.

An "After the Gold Rush" Ripoff?

A loyal Thrasher's Wheat reader forwarded this item on Slate titled "That's Homage to You, Pardner":

"I'm not saying Neil Young should call his lawyer, but doesn't the annoying Big & Rich's tedious single, "Holy Water," sound a whole lot like Young's "After the Gold Rush"?"


I listened to "Holy Water" on Big & Rich (see header bar's player) and must say there's passing resemblance to "After the Gold Rush". I'm not familiar Big & Rich but after listening I can hear why. Talk about making Hank Williams turn over in his grave.

And speaking of ripoffs, here's one I'm a little more certain about.

Over on the Twin Cities' City Pages, Jim Walsh writes on the Voters For Change concert:

"Neil Young performed "Rockin' in the Free World" for the first time on February 21, 1989 at the Paramount Theater in Seattle. Since then it has been covered by countless bar bands and big bands, including Van Halen, Pearl Jam, the Dickies, K's Choice, the Indigo Girls, Slobberbone, Patti Smith, and Bon Jovi. It was heard on newscasts all over the world when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989; it was dedicated by Young often from the stage to "the Chinese boy in Tiananmen Square who stopped the tanks"; and it abruptly concludes Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. It has been performed by Young approximately 370 times, though it is unlikely that it has ever felt more crucial, purposeful, or illimitable as it did the 371st time--last Tuesday, just before midnight, in a hockey arena in St. Paul."

Now let's take a look at the Thrasher's Wheat page on the analysis of the song "Rockin' In The Free World":

"Rockin' In The Free World" was first performed live in concert on February 21, 1989 at the Paramount Theater, Seattle, WA with Neil Young's band The Restless. Since then, the song has been performed 368 times through the Greendale tour's conclusion on March 21, 2004 at the Mullins Center in Amherst, MA according to The Neil Young Tour Statistics page."

and this...:

"Some of the other bands that have covered "Rockin'" include: Van Halen, Patti Smith, Vines, Slobberbone, David Byrne, Phil Lesh & Friends, Indigo Girls, Richard Thompson."

and this...:

"On November 9, 1989 The Berlin Wall fell and Young's song lyrics "Keep on Rockin' In The Free World" could be heard over newscasts of the historic occasion."

and this...:

"Neil Young, upon seeing this photo and video, began commenting before performing "Rockin' In The Free World" that the song was going out to that "Chinese boy in Tiananmen Square who stopped the tanks."

Hmmm. I think that's plagiarism Mr. Walsh. Maybe you need to credit your sources, eh?

Thrasher reports... you decide.

Neil Moments

Lots of updates here on Thrasher's Wheat. Sometimes folks ask about what's new and interesting on Neil. Besides the Neil News page you're looking at, check out the latest Thrasher's Wheat Neil Young Page of the Moment.

And while you're at it, try the Neil Photo of the Moment.

Not enough? Broaden your Neil horizons and surf the Neil Link of the Moment.

Keep on Surfin' in The Free World!

Albums in Order: Zuma

Over on the Rust list, Expecting To Fly has been posting his thoughts on listening to the entire Neil catalog chronologically. Certainly an ambitious enterprise for a noble cause which we're all for the better.

Here's a snippet on listening to Zuma:

"It's very difficult to describe what it was like for me to listen to Zuma for the first time. I had great respect for the previous three albums, the so-called "Doom Trilogy" -- albums and songs born of despair and deep emotional pain.

I must say, I didn't really know where Neil was headed after listening to Tonight's The Night several times. I realized that this album was actually recorded before On The Beach, but the music on that and the previous two albums really I felt could have led to some level of depth in which (banish the thought) Neil might not even want to record music anymore.

Yet nothing, and I mean nothing prepared me for how this album would impact my life. Zuma came out a mere 6 months after TTN (that's what releasing an album recorded 2 years previously can do for you) and I think there was something in Neil's muse that compelled him to put this out. The result is one of the greatest albums ever by anyone."

He cites Michal's excellent Traces site as a resource for more on Neil's "Wilderness Years" from the 1998 Uncut Magazine articles. It's interesting to note all of the different phrases that writers use to refer to the 1970's period of 'Time Fades Away', 'On The Beach' and 'Tonight's The Night'. Thrasher's preference is the Ditch Period.

Hopefully, we can get e2f to bundle up all of his reviews from the Albums In Order series and we'll get them archived here on Thrasher's Wheat. ;)

In the meantime, here's the rest of the Zuma review.

The Jury is Still Out on New Video for RITFW

Opinions are all over the map on the new video for "Rockin' In The Free World" with somewhat predictable responses from various Internet discussions.

Over on Democratic Underground, calimary posted:

"Neil Young's credentials are impeccable, as is his integrity. And if somebody wants to resurrect some of his stuff and apply it to a different/later era, then all the better for the rest of us. The best, most powerful and most relevant songs or artworks or commentaries are those that can apply to conditions that repeat themselves due unfortunately to relentless human stoooopidity across the years. A worthwhile message is a worthwhile message."

Over on Metafilter, there was this response by Sir BoBoMonkey Pooflinger Esquire III:

"But as for the video itself, what does it really show?

That both Neil Young and M. Moore are capitalist pigs exploiting their own art for financial gain? Probably not. Warner Reprise execs, probably more likely thinking along these routes.

Egomaniacs in self-masturbatory excess? Debatably possible.

Clinging desperately to their hopefilled ideals that they can make a difference in this nation seemingly on a downward slope of moral ignorance disguised/manipulated/confused as Patriotic fervor and self-defined good Christian Morality? Probably most likely, in my pathetic, tree-hugging opinion."

Over on Chromewaves, Frank posted:

"Interspersing footage from Fahrenheit 9/11 and live performances from Neil's recent Greendale tour, it's a pretty severe edit of the song and it plays more like a commercial for the film than a video for the song. Consider that Neil's Weld tour, which spawned a live album, came during the height of the first Gulf War and made this song a protest anthem of sorts, and now almost fifteen years later, a second Gulf War led by Bush Jr provides fresh, yet familiar, visuals for a second video. Well, that's just messed."

Also on Democratic Underground, Pigwidgeon posted:

"The Southern rockers got over "Southern Man" after a few years, but a lot of lefties can't forgive him for his infatuation with Reagan Conservatism in the early 1980s -- but, if I recall, it lasted all of about a year.

Neil drank the Kool-Aid, and then puked it up. Sadder, wiser, etc. He makes mistakes and learns from them, which is more than most people can say."

And so what does Neil himself have to say about music and politics? From over on BNB a story on World Entertainment News Network (via COMTEX):

YOUNG: "Half the people feel musicians should be listened to simply as artists and shouldn't step outside their area as political spokesmen.

"But the other half feel what musicians have to say is meaningful. Maybe it's not going to change your mind. But it's going to reinforce what you feel if someone whose music you relate to agrees with you.

"It can be a very effective thing if people go and vote for whatever they feel the music says."

On Kool 104, Young said about the video: "I just saw it for the first time half an hour ago. [Moore's] done a great job.'"

Surprisingly, the Rust list has been pretty quiet about the video. What's up with those oh-so chatty Rusties?!

So what did you think of the new video for "Rockin' In The Free World"? Vote and comment below.

Vote here.
More on this poll and previous polls. Also, see analysis of the song "Rockin' In The Free World" and the original music video.