Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #64824 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-03-27
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 60 minutes

Amazon.com
Neil Young has never been one to eschew change, and this 1983 concert certainly found him in a transitional mode. Recently signed to Geffen Records (who would later sue him for producing work they deemed insufficiently commercial), he had released Trans, an album that, with its computerized tracks and electronically altered vocals, remains one of the oddest (and more underrated) in his entire catalog. He was also touring with a band drawn from virtually all phases of his career, with bassist Bruce Palmer (from the Buffalo Springfield), drummer Ralph Molina (from Crazy Horse), guitarist Nils Lofgren (a longtime Young henchman before he joined Bruce Springsteen's group), steel guitarist/keyboardist Ben Keith (a Young accompanist to this very day), and others.

Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg (whose many other credits include the Rolling Stones' Rock and Roll Circus), the concert itself is also an eclectic mix, with classic rockers ("Cinnamon Girl," "Like a Hurricane," a rousing "Hey Hey My My") balanced by three Trans selections and a mostly acoustic interlude featuring "Old Man," "The Needle and the Damage Done," and "After the Goldrush." There's even a brand new (at the time, at least) tune named after the host city. The German audience eats up every second of it, and despite the lack of bonus features, Young fans are likely to enjoy this DVD as well. And with good reason: Neil Young in Berlin is undoubtedly one of the more interesting documents from a fascinating musical life. --Sam Graham

From the Back Cover
Neil Young has always been something of an enigma - creating music that ranges from lush orchestral arrangements, to solo acoustic arrangements to hard rocking anthems. He is called a visionary by Rolling Stone Magazine because "his art is one of absolute emotion." Neil has always maintained a fierce independent streak, making album after album, which reflected his politics and his life. He has been able to play simultaneously with various groups like Crosby, Stills & Nash while at the same time maintaining a solo career. He is one of a kind.

Recorded Live In West Berlin
Cinnamon Girl...ComputAge...Little Thing Called Love...Old Man...Needle and the Damage Done...After the Gold Rush...Transformer Man...Sample & Hold...Hey Hey My Way...Berlin.

Customer Reviews

In Transition
For a variety of reasons, this video is a must-own for avid fans of Neil Young. The setting is the final show of Young's 1982 European tour preceding the December 1982 release of 'Trans'. In contrast to other Neil Young video recordings, the European venue offers a minimum of crowd noise (unlike Red Rocks Live) as well as an opportunity to watch Neil and Nils Lofgren work the runway jutting into the audience. And, thankfully, we have only a few shots of audience members, often an editing nightmare threatening to destroy the integrity and impact of the performances (see 'Weld'). One also wonders if Young ever wore a tie on stage again, after watching him competing with it to pillage the six strings of Old Black on 'Like a Hurricane'.

The sound quality is excellent, while the film quality is very good... spoiled by today's standard, you will notice times when the filming blurs a bit, or the camera moves too fast to manage the light. Nevertheless, there are several stunning images captured that more than make up for the deficiencies of 1980's technology. In particular is a hypnotic 'drummers-eye-view' scene during 'Hey Hey My My', looking out over Neil's back as the audience throbs to the numbers incessant driving beat. Neil's personal appearance is as 'clean-cut' as you will ever see him... quite a contrast to his overriding 'Grandfather of Grunge' image.

The personnel surrounding Young, and the song selection make this video quite unique. Nils Lofgren brings an unbridled energy to the visual performance that is simply priceless. Ralph Molina, Bruce Palmer and Joe Lala are an unassuming, solid backbone of rhythm for Lofgren, Ben Keith and Neil as they trade places on a variety of instruments. Larry Cragg offers an understated banjo on 'Old Man', while Joel Bernstein adeptly manages the vocoder and synthesizer.

The hard rock numbers, 'Cinnamon Girl', 'Like a Hurricane', and 'Hey Hey My My' manage to sound simultaneously clean n' dirty in classic Young style. If there is any weakness in the show, it would have to be the acoustic renditions of Needle and the Damage Done and After the Goldrush, which feel a bit strained and plodding. The cuts taken from Trans, 'Computer Age', 'Transformer Man', and 'Sample and Hold', produce a compelling flashback as we witness Young perceptively addressing the embryonic advance of digital technology into Western culture which is rapidly becoming our second nature. 'Computer Age' and 'Sample and Hold' rock out, while 'Tranformer Man' is thoughtful, and features some theatrical miming from both Young and Lofgren. Another Trans cut, 'A Little Thing Called Love', is a bouncy, effortless foray that seems out of character for the Trans LP, but nicely supplements the overall song selection for this video.

The concert, and the tour, is capped off with the completely appropriate 'After Berlin', seemingly written for the moment of its performance, and not performed since. It's the only blues-rock number in the set, and Young's guitar is crisp and wailing throughout. Seeing this rare performance was worth the price of admission for the fortunate few in Berlin, and owning it is well worth the price of the video or DVD for the rest of us.

Mr Young - a master of different styles
This DVD is a welcome addition to any music library - excellent sound quality and very well photographed. The video is a documentary of the last show of the 1982 European "Trans Band" Tour (which supported the release of Neil Young's "Trans" LP), held on 10-19-1982, Deutschlandhalle, in West Berlin. The actual concert features 21 songs, with 11 of them selected for the DVD.

Mr Young and his band , ( Bruce Palmer(of Buffalo Springfield), bass, Ralph Molina(Crazy Horse) drums, Joe Lala congas, Ben Keith, pedal steel/keyboards and Nils Lofgren on guitar and keyboards) play with absorbed intensity, and are very, very "tight".

The highlights for me include the performances of the songs from Trans featuring the "vocoder", a device developed by Mr Young which gives his voice a mechanical/robotic tone, so that when he sings "Transformer Man", and "Sample and Hold", he sounds alienated and cold, appropriately expressing the inability of a human being to actually communicate with another human being via a keyboard or video screen.

The performance of "Like a Hurricane" is out-of-this-world, and Ben Keith is special with his steel-guitar work on "Old Man".

However, the best is left for last, where the song "After Berlin" is performed for the first and last time. This is a poignant song and the feeling Mr Young conveys with his singing and playing visibly moves the audience in Berlin.

I highly recommend this DVD to any one who loves music

A keeper!
To think I was about to get up and turn the channel just before this concert began to air on HBO in September 1983. I would have miss out on the wonderful kaleidoscope of great tunes Neil Young pounded out that night. Only being used to acoustical versions of his songs on the radio, I watched as Young started strumming out the all too familiar 'Cinnamon Girl' (the best version of this song I've heard) and then moving on to 'Computer Age', the hard hitting 'Sample And Hold' and an enchanting but rock out version of 'Hurricane'. 'Hey Hey My My' and 'Berlin' was the icing on the cake and rounded out a great concert. Needless to say I bought the DVD as soon as it was available. The picture quality for the year this was shot (1982) could have been better, but the sound is great although the 5.1 for this release is a bit overrated.
All in all having this concert on DVD is like having magic in a bottle. To this day I'm not that much of a Neil Young fan but this concert has made me appreciate his talents as a music artist and showman more than ever. This DVD rocks!