Book Description

As a writer in Wired magazine puts it, Neil Young is a "folk-country-grunge dinosaur [who has been] reborn (again) as an Internet-friendly, biodiesel-driven, multimedia machine." In Neil Young and the Poetics of Energy, William Echard stages an encounter between Young’s challenging and ever-changing work and current theories of musical meaning—an encounter from which both emerge transformed.

Echard roots his discussion in an extensive review of writings from the rock press as well as his own engagement as a fan and critical theorist. How is it that Neil Young is both a perpetual outsider and critic of rock culture, and also one of its most central icons? And what are the unique properties that have lent his work such expressive force? Echard delves into concepts of musical persona, space, and energy, and in the process illuminates the complex interplay between experience, musical sound, social actors, genres, styles, and traditions.

Readers interested primarily in Neil Young, or rock music in general, will find a new way to think and talk about the subject, and readers interested primarily in musical or cultural theory will find a new way to articulate and apply some of the most exciting current perspectives on meaning, music, and subjectivity. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

A good review
I didn't realize this book was focused on the Rock and Roll Cowboy bootleg. I didn't have the bootleg when I bought the book but I still was able to enjoy it. I found Williams reactions to the songs interesting and it made me want to get the bootleg even more. When I finally did get it I reread the book and enjoyed it even more.

The music but not the man
Williams has written an ambitious book which attempts to review Young's music from his earliest commercial releases in 1966 through 1994. As the other reviews indicate a large portion of the book is devoted to a song by song review of the Italian bootleg 4 CD retrospective "Rock and Roll Cowboy". Unlike those reviewers I had owned "Cowboy" for years before reading "Love To Burn" so my criticism of the book is a little different. Put simply, this book should be titled "What Neil Young's music means to Paul Williams." While Williams has some interesting thoughts about some songs that's all they are -- his thoughts. Second, Williams sometimes succumbs to the dread rock reviewer's affliction of writing pretentiously and sometimes sounds like a sophomore English Lit major who just had his first class in music theory. For hardcore Neil Young fans it is in an enjoyable read because it is interesting to compare and contrast one's thoughts with Williams' but the book offers little insight into the thoughts of Neil himself. Of course, no available book has done that because Neil is not forthcoming and does not allow the authors opportunity to pick his brain. Which is a shame because Young is the most important figure in rock history (a bold assertion I know but one that could be amply illustrated by the RIGHT book), and his personal life is a remarkable story as well. We need but lack the magnum opus which chronicles how a kid from Canada came to L.A. formed a seminal and hugely influential band moved on to superstardom as a solo artist and with CSNY, then deliberately abandoned mainstream acceptance with a series of the darkest, rawest albums ever released by a pop musician (Time Fades Away, On the Beach and Tonight's the Night), only to end the 70's with a series of successful albums that contained not a hint of compromise to commercial formulas. Then after reaching the top a second time, Young again (to borrow a phrase from Dylan) threw it all away-- with a series of albums so determinedly eccentric as to alienate all but his most devoted fans. Then at an age when his contemporaries were all either dead, retired or all but irrelevant he soared again for a third time with a stunning series of albums including Freedom, Ragged Glory, Weld and Sleeps With Angels ( and more after the book was published). Williams meticuoulsy chronicles the music but misses them man who produced the largest, most daring and most compelling body of work in rock history. Unfortunately we Rusties have to make due with books such as this rather than the definitive biography (or dare we pray, autobiography) because of the Neil's reluctance if not refusal to divulge his essence to others. But in the end it is maybe just that reluctance, or maybe ambivalence is a better word that makes Neil what he is. The man clearly wants acceptance and success--- but only on his terms. He does what moves him at the moment and hopes it is popular but won't change a note or a word to make his music more accessible or commercial. And, in the end he has succeeded. I can listen to the music and discuss it with my friends so william's book gives relatively little to the hardcore Young fan (and who else is going to read a book like this?) other than an enjoyable night's read while blasting Rock and Roll Cowboy or other Neil on the stereo----- but you can do a lot worse than that with your time.

It should include the bootleg
This book could have been titled: "Review of a Bootleg."

I would have enjoyed this book a LOT more if I had had the bootleg "Rock and Roll Cowboy" to listen to while reading it. Williams is a great writer, but he spent far too much time discussing this bootleg that the average joe can not get. Thus I ultimately found the book to be incredibly frustrating and ended up TRADING IT FOR THE BOOTLEG! There's some kind of justice in that.

Enjoyable insights -but you must have the CD's discussed.
Book is very enjoyable as a listening companion to the music discussed. As usual, the author brings enlightening, personal observations on the music and artist. However, the majority of the book centers on the unofficial 4 CD bootleg "Rock and Roll Cowboy", which covers live performances for most of Neil's career. Until I tracked this bootleg down, reading the book was frustrating (to say the least). Once I got the bootleg, the book was immensely enjoyable. (So, there is no point to reading the book without having the music discussed.) (By the way, the music in this bootleg is a MUST for serious Neil Young fans.) - WGL ... Read more

Book Description

Ann Saddlemyer's biography of W. B. Yeats's wife, George, portrays an extraordinarily talented, intelligent, and self-effacing woman, whose creative influence has never before been fully understood. She was wife and manager of a famous poet, and mother to his children, but in her own right also an inspired visionary and a practical woman of the arts. Georgie Hyde Lees was raised in London's literary salons, where arts, anthroposophy and the occult met. An accomplished linguist, art student and literary scholar, she married W. B. Yeats when she was 25, and he 52. Her supernatural "automatic writing" became the inspiration of Yeats's poetry and thought for the last 20 years of his life, yet she always concealed the depth of their collaboration. Close friend of many writers and poets, among them Frank O'Connor and Ezra Pound, she spent her long widowhood steering the "Yeats industry" and actively assisting younger scholars and writers. For the first time, this intelligent and creative woman is allowed to take center stage. Drawing on memoirs and a wealth of unknown and unpublished sources, this biography by the distinguished scholar Ann Saddlemyer reveals someone much more significant than just '"Mrs. W. B. Yeats"--a personality at once visionary and practical, and an important figure in twentieth-century literary history. ... Read more

Book Description

Interweaving biography, criticism, and history, David Pierce follows the life of Ireland`s leading poet from his birth in Dublin in 1865 to his death in the south of France in 1939. Enriched with a wide range of illustrative material, including specially commissioned photographs, this absorbing new study provides a fresh perspective on Yeats, attending as much to his English contexts as his Irish ones and to the preoccupations of his art. ... Read more

Book Description

The correspondence of two poets form the pages of this book. ... Read more

Book Description

This unique, best-selling series features quotes gathered over the years from family, friends, and the artists themselves giving the reader a personal insight into their music and world. Fully illustrated throughout with black and white photographs. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Disappointing
"In His Own Words" is nothing but a compilation of previously published quotes lifted from old magazines, liner notes and the like. To even a diehard Young fan this book is a major disappointment. Unless you are a collector who simply wants any Neil related material available I would advise against purchasing this book. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An enjoyable trip down memory lane.
I took to this book very quickly as the descriptions that the author gave of growing up in Cork were right on the money.I found myself walking with him, having spent some time in Cork I could vividly picture the city. I also felt as though I knew the people that he spoke of in the book.I found it to be a pleasant trip back to Cork, as well as a well written story. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Like R. F. Foster in W. B. Yeats: A Life, Canadian scholar Keith Alldritt concentrates on Yeats's public activities and his relationships with others. (The poet's interior struggles and creativity are amply considered in Yeats's memoirs and Richard Ellmann's 1948 critical biography.) Alldritt's succinct work covers the entire life in broad strokes and links Yeats to developments in Europe as well as Ireland. His Yeats is no dreamy mystic, but a "brawler and scrapper," an ambitious careerist preoccupied with status and money--very human and accessible to the general reader. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Neil deserves better than this...
Despite this book being a little on the old side (1994), its subject is such an interesting one that it's hard to see how it could not succeed. Neil Young's career spans 35 years and has seen him performing with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young as well as with his own Crazy Horse and as a solo artist. While not generally considered the smartest rock voice on the scene, Young has more than made up for it with his refusal to compromise. Both in the creation of his records and in his personal life, he's always made it clear that things run his way or he's gone.

One could assume that a book about Neil's life would include many anectodes of life on the road and the rock star excesses along the way. One could also assume that the same book would dive deep into the interview archives and utilize the artist's own words to explain his actions. Neither is done here, though. Instead, we get an below average rock bio with more speculation than fact (and the facts are mostly common knowledge among fans). Oh, no, Neil's fighting with Stephen again! Oof. Young has always led a fairly private life, espcially since the 1980s. This book just doesn't know any more than the average fan.

The only thing that kept me interested in the slightest was the author's sometimes awkward interpretations of Neil songs and albums. While not every fan will want to see songs like "Welfare Mothers" and "Homegrown" put down as being "appalling" and "horrible", I was curious to see what the author was going to think of the next song or the next album (if only to cringe and shake my head).

If you don't know that Neil liked to yell at Crazy Horse or about his (and his wife's) work with the Bridge School, go ahead and read it. It's also sort of fun to hear the retelling of the making of Tonight's The Night just because it's a (rare) revealing look at how rock and roll can beautifully fall apart. But for any true fan (anyone who's listened to Hawks and Doves in the last six months), don't waste the time. There are surely better bios of Young.

don't buy this!
Let me start off here by stating one big point, I am a very big fan of Mr. Neil Young, but I have great trouble accepting the fact that the author of this book, David Downing, is infact a fan of Neil Young himself. How many biographies of major artists have you read contain nothing but put-downs on EVERY ( yes you read right, no exceptions) SINGLE album that artist has ever released? In fact, this isn't even a straight ahead biography. The author seems to fancy himself with the idea that he is some great record reviewer who is "in the know" as to what is good. He spends his time ranting and raving about every album. Even a classic such as "Harvest" or "After The Goldrush" has this kind of crap. Okay, there are some tidbits of important information in this book, but nothing any fan wouldn't discover by going over a few record jackets to scan the liner notes. also, one more point to Mr. Downing (a suitable name for such a pessimistic attitude) next time you write a book, make sure it is about something you like, not something you DISLIKE! you see, when I buy a biography on an artist I expect that the author has the same passion and love of the artist's work that I have and that we both feel that the artist has made mistakes and taken wrong paths which they all have at times in their careers. I expect that for a person to go through the effort to write a bio about someone, surely they would write about someone they admire, not someone they loath, such as you "apparently" loath this great artist, Neil Young. Ofcourse, any person is entitled to their opinion about an artist, but, if I didn't like a person I wouldn't write a biography about that person for someone who does enjoy that person's work to read. If I had never heard of Neil Young before in my life, after reading your book, I would pay to go to one of his concerts just to throw rocks at him hoping I could aim at his head, fortunately for myself, and Mr. Young, I was a loyal fan to his work long before I read this book of yours. now, a note going out to fellow neil young FANS: if you wanna read a good bio about Neil Young read the bio entitled "don't be denied" it was so long ago that I read this book that I don't remeber the author or any other information, but I have been searching in vain for it because it was just excellent. don't buy this crap and be disappointed like me.

An unauthorized bio is better than none
"A Dreamer of Pictures" is a fairly by-the-numbers account of the life of the great Neil Young. It makes for interesting reading if only because the reclusive Young is such a fascinating fuiure and there simply are no other comprehensive biographies of his life. The most interesting fact that I did not know was that Young's first professional band included the one and only Rick James! Young obviously offered author Downing no assistance in putting this biography together, and it shows. Maybe someday Neil will get the proper treatment that his place in rock music history deserves. Until then, we'll have to be satisfied by this "Dreamer."

Excellent all-round review of Neil's career and music
I have loved Neil's music since buying 'Everybody Knows this is Nowhere'. For some years I knew very little about him so I was really knocked out when David's book appeared. It kept me in my seat for a whole weekend (well virtually) and I still go back to it. Yes there are other good books out there, but this is a really good basic guide to the man and his works.

I'd say skip it, but what else is there????
Strange, but somehow appropriate, that no one has yet to write a definitive bio on Neil Young. There were some elements in here worth reading, but only if you're the most rabid of Young fans. Otherwise, stick with the The Rolling Stone Files, a comprehensive collection of articles and interviews with the man from the pages of that magazine. ... Read more

Book Description

Like the previous volume of The Collected Letters this book presents Yeats's letters with his characteristic misspellings and odd punctuation, giving the full flavor of his idiosyncrasies as a correspondent. Fascinating and highly revealing of the poet, the letters show his political fervor and poetic sensibility, and convey his passion as friend, adversary, critic, and countryman. Annotated with a wealth of previously unpublished material and including a biographical register to the main figures who appear in the letters, this definitive collection is one all scholars of Yeats and lovers of poetry will want to grace their shelves. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An excellent outline of Neil Young's career (with photos)
This book is excellent for die-hard long-time Neil Young fans such as myself. It is essentially a chronological outline of Neil Young's musical career, with some narrative and many photographs interspersed with the outline. It starts at the begining of his musical career and ends at 1994, when the book was published. It also includes a discography. It is printed on high-quality glossy paper. The majority of the photos are black and white, but with a significant minority of the photos in color. It's fascinating to follow the twists and turns of Neil Young's career and his music. The outline tells when Neil Young recorded each of his songs, and it lists every concert he ever played by city and date. The narrative helps to expand on the outline and to move the story along. Highly recommended for serious Neil Young fans. ... Read more