Kingtone

I’ve been on a real Neil Young kick of late. The more you delve into Neil Young, the more layers you find. Depth. Musically, Neil still puts out the sometimes great, sometimes horrible and sometimes challenging record. The thing is, he keeps going. And the back catalog? Holy smokes, talk about prolific.

What about the non-music stuff? Check out his website. New and ongoing projects like the Bridge School Benefit concerts, the Living With War newspaper, etc.

And then there is Linc Volt. Linc Volt is a ‘59 Lincoln Continental that is being retrofit with a diesel/electric hybrid engine in that will get 100mpg. Then they are gonna film a trip across the US making only two pit stops for fuel. Amazing.

Here’s a quote that really resonates from his bio, Shakey:

I love nature. To me nature is a church.

It was this exact sentiment that gave birth to one of my music alter egos, The Reverend Screaming Fingers at dawn in the Black Rock Desert, Nevada, 1996.

I’ve always been a fan of Neil Young’s guitar playing and sound. His haunting soundtrack for Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man is one of my top tens. Of late, I have been reading his ‘officially sanctioned’ and perfectly flawed (I think in a good way) bio, Shakey, by J. McDonough. It has given me an appreciation of the range of his music and as an artist.

One particular thing I’ve been intrigued with is Neil’s association with one of his crazed producers, Jack Nitzsche. A musician and fantastic film soundtrack composer in his own right, Nitzsche’s production on Expecting to Fly (which the pair spent 30 days working on) is some amazing 50’s inspired Phil Spector lushness with a late 60’s LA filter on. Great stuff. The video below is kinda nice eye candy for the music, despite being in mono. It is spectacular in stereo.