Product Description

From his early days with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young through his long solo career, Neil Young has been one of the most prolific, passionate and - at times - perplexing artists of our times. Influential and idiosyncratic, his career has never followed a predictable, linear progression. From album to album, he's changed styles and explored new musical territory, sometimes frustrating his fans but more often than not delighting them. One of rock's most restless spirits, he's now in his fifth decade but has never stopped writing, recording and performing and his work remains as vital today as it ever was. With detailed accounts of the writing and recording of his classic songs, Journey Through the Past is an essential companion to one of the most important of all rock repertoires.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5533796 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

About the Author
Nigel Williamson bought his first Neil Young album in 1969 at the age of 15. A former political editor of Tribune, he then worked a political correspondent and columnist on The Times, before becoming that paper's news editor. Now freelance, he continues to write for The Times about music and culture, is a contributing editor to Uncut magazine and has a weekly column in Billboard. He is also one of the judges of the Technics Mercury Music Prize.

Customer Reviews

Just Okay
First of all, did anyone proof read this book? There are typos on almost every page. Also, a thesaurus would have come in handy. If I had to read the words "Canon" or "Pastiche" one more time I would have had to gouge my eyes out. Also, the pictures are inverted, showing Neil and others playing guitar left handed. The information in this book is interesting, but it's all rehashed from other sources. Skip this one and buy "Shakey".

This book is terrible...
Not only is this book full of typos, its full of blatantly false information, most notable is the assertion that Neil stopped playing "Hey Hey My My" after Kurt Cobain quoted it in suicide note. I have personally seen him play that song at least 5 times since then and before this book was published. I have also read several interviews in which Neil dicounted the stories that he stopped playing it. There are numerous other errors that any serious Neil fan would clearly pick up on. Did the author do any research? Or did he just write on what he thought his personal knowledge was.

Secondly, alot of the stories or assertions behind the meanings of songs, seem to be just speculation, such as perhaps it means this or perhaps it means this. It would be better if the author actually delved into the circumstances under which the song was written.

I also don't like the clear personal bias and thoughts from the author. Instead of reading like a volume of information it reads like one mans opinions of the quality and meanings of Neil Young songs.

If it weren't for the full colour glossy photos (which someone else pointed out are sometimes reversed showing Neil playing guitar left handed!) this book wouldnt be worth the 3.99 I paid for it from the bargain bin at my local bookstore.

Some personal bias, but otherwise a great book
I give this book four stars instead of five because the author tends to write off entire albums as [bad] not bother giving the songs adequate review space, especially "Re-Ac-Tor" and "Hawks and Doves," which I think are two of Young's best albums. In fact, the author doesn't like much of anything Young did in the 80s, except "This Note's For You," and this is largely due to his own personal biases (sp?) against the content and genres of the albums. Other than that, this is a adequately insightful book about Neil Young's songs, and I do enjoy it. Anyone who's interested in how his songs came to be written should get this book without hesitation; just be prepared for some of your favorite albums to take a beating.