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Neil Young

Neil Young

Photo: Pegi Young

206 articles

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Neil Young: Still a Young Man's Game

Interview by David Sinclair, The Times, 23 May 2003

HE CALLED one of his albums Rust Never Sleeps. But does Neil Young ever sleep? In the 12 months since he last played in Britain, ...

Audio interviews

Neil Young (1985)

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages audio, August 1985

Over the course of almost two hours, Neil talks about world politics, the state of America today, his philosophical outlook, his current country-music tour and his love of that music; and about the transition from 'Heart of Gold' to Tonight's the Night, drugs and David Crosby, meeting Charles Manson... and the event that became Farm Aid.

File format: mp3; file size: 101.2mb, interview length: 1h 45' 24" sound quality: ***

CSNY's Stephen Stills and Neil Young (1999)

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages audio, 18 October 1999

Together again to promote the new CSNY album Looking Forward, Messrs. Stills and Young enthuse about making the record, putting a band together to tour, the state of Crosby, and their relationship then and now. They also look back at their time together in Buffalo Springfield, spinning yarns and tall tales.

File format: mp3; file size: 37.9mb, interview length: 39' 29" sound quality: ****

Neil Young (2005)

Interview by Bud Scoppa, Rock's Backpages audio, 21 August 2005

Mr. Young on his latest album Prairie Wind; his aneurysm and surgery; the great Spooner Oldham; his Archives project; the Heart of Gold movie.

File format: mp3; file size: 46.6mb, interview length: 50' 55" sound quality: ****

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Neil Young Charts His Own Course

Interview by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 28 October 1968

"MAYBE SOME group will come along and be big, you know, but who cares," Neil Young says in his slow country way. "It's just happened ...

Neil Young: On His Own In His Own Special Way

Interview by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 28 February 1969

NEIL YOUNG is into doing things his own way. ...

Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Troubadour, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 13 March 1969

Neil Young Featured in Show at Troubadour ...

Neil Young's Crazy Horse In Club Bow

Live Review by Stephen M H Braitman, Van Nuys Valley News, 14 March 1969

THE TROUBADOUR in Hollywood just may acquire the reputation as the showcase for new groups emanating from the ashes of the now defunct Buffalo Springfield. ...

Albums from the MC5, Neil Young, Flying Burrito Brothers et al

Review by John Mendelssohn, UCLA Daily Bruin, 7 May 1969

"I guess you could say our thing is a condemnation of everything that is false and deceitful in our society." — John Sinclair, of the ...

Neil Young with Crazy Horse: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (Warner Bros.-Seven Arts)

Review by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 6 June 1969

NEIL YOUNG has allowed his full creative ability loose and hasn't ignored any type of music he's acquainted with in putting this album together. ...

Neil Young: What It's Worth

Essay by Greil Marcus, Good Times, August 1969

NEIL YOUNG used to be number one or number two man with the Buffalo Springfield, depending on your taste; after the group broke up for ...

Neil Young with Crazy Horse: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (Reprise)

Review by Mark Williams, International Times, 15 August 1969

THE AFFECTION one feels for Neil Young is already immense because of his contribution to Buffalo Springfield, and the many beautiful things he wrote and ...

Neil Young: After The Gold Rush

Review by Mark Williams, Oz, 1970

To start with Nell Young ain't tryin' anything flashy – he does what he knows and he does it with the perfection of a trained ...

Stills and Young

Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 10 January 1970

"DON'T BUILD me up into a pop star. I'm no different from you or anybody else. It's just that, because I'm a musician, I can ...

Neil Young, Steve Miller, Miles Davis: Fillmore East, New York NY

Live Review by Ian Dove, Billboard, 21 March 1970

THE INTEREST in Miles Davis' East Village debut lay in the fact that for the past year he has supposedly been moving towards contemporary rock ...

Neil Young: Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica CA

Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 2 April 1970

Neil Young Appears Singly ...

Neil Young: Songs of Innocence, Songs of Restraint

Profile and Interview by Robert Greenfield, Fusion, 17 April 1970

NEIL YOUNG HAS A voice like a sunrise, fresh with promise, wise with years and practice, something you turn to for light encouragement and warmth. ...

Neil Young: Contra Costa Junior College, San Francisco

Live Review by John Morthland, Rolling Stone, 30 April 1970

EVERYTHING about Neil Young’s approach to music has become so highly personalized that when he performs, he seems at first to be oblivious of his ...

Neil Young: His Solo Odyssey

Profile by Jacoba Atlas, Circus, June 1970

"MAYBE SOME group will come along and be big, you know, but who cares. It's just happened so many times now," said Neil Young in ...

Neil Young: After the Gold Rush (Reprise 6383)

Review by Vernon Gibbs, Columbia Daily Spectator, 6 November 1970

Neil Young's Best Album ...

Neil Young, John Hammond Jr.: Berkeley Community Theatre, Berkeley CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 1 February 1971

Neil Young Great As A Solo ...

Neil Young: Neil Gave Everything — And They Asked For More

Live Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 6 March 1971

Neil Young: Royal Festival Hall, London ...

Joni and the Laurel Canyon Mob

Comment by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 18 September 1971

SO YOU wanna be a rock and roll star, right? Well, our advice is to head out Laurel Canyon way. Take a tip from one ...

Neil Young: Harvest

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, Melody Maker, 29 January 1972

Harvest is surely come: Geoffrey Cannon previews NEIL YOUNG's new album Harvest, released next month ...

Neil Young: Harvest

Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 30 March 1972

At the end of this, five'll getcha ten, most of you are going to be exclaiming lividly, "O what vile geeks are rock critics! How ...

This is David Geffen, by Gentlemen's Agreement Manager to the Superstars

Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 22 July 1972

Will CSN&Y ever re-unite and find true happiness? ...

Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt: Winterland, Sand Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 22 March 1973

Neil Young: A Reminder of Mellower Days ...

Neil Young: Unsettling Looseness

Live Review by David Rensin, Music World, June 1973

WRITING ANYTHING about Neil Young is always a labor of love, but the tendency to be both overly critical and sympathetic concerning his artistic fluctuation ...

Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Graham Nash, Cheech & Chong: the Roxy, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 29 September 1973

Neil joins Roxy music! ...

Neil Young: Time Fades Away (Warner-Reprise)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 October 1973

NEIL YOUNG didn't really have too much to say after the days with the Buffalo Springfield. ...

Neil Young: The Naked Cowboy Fresh Out Of Beans

Essay by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 3 November 1973

EXPERIMENTS IN college dormitories with electrodes, erectoids and heat-meters show that the most consequential moment of a stripper's act is just prior to the panties ...

Nils Lofgren: Crazy Horse, Neil Young, Grin All That Mob

Interview by Chris Briggs, ZigZag, December 1973

1973 HAS BEEN the year that saw legendary heroes hit the floor. Bryan Ferry lampooned Bob Dylan in a sordid attempt to establish his own ...

Neil Young: Time Fades Away

Review by Bud Scoppa, Rolling Stone, 3 January 1974

THIS ALBUM may do for Neil Young's declining image what Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid did for Dylan's. But like Dylan's much-maligned movie soundtrack ...

The Eagles, Neil Young: Luesta College, San Luis Obispo CA

Live Review by David Rensin, Rolling Stone, 23 May 1974

Punch Card Pop ...

Neil Young: On The Beach

Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 17 August 1974

RIGHT NOW NEIL YOUNG is in kind of an invidious position. On The Beach is his equivalent of Lennon's Plastic Ono Band album in terms ...

The Neil Young Story Part One: Expecting To Fly

Retrospective by Andy Childs, ZigZag, December 1974

WITHOUT ANY doubt, one of the musical highlights of this year was the memorable concert held at Wembley Stadium a few months back. A day ...

The Neil Young Story Part 2: The Lights Turned On And The Curtain Drawn

Retrospective by Andy Childs, ZigZag, March 1975

LAST TIME we traced the stormy, erratic career of the fabulous Buffalo Springfield – up until the time Neil Young left them to be replaced ...

Neil Young: Tonight's The Night

Review by Bud Scoppa, Phonograph Record, June 1975

...At the canyon bottom, four cruisers were spinning blue light; there was an ambulance and four civilian cars, all balanced on the sloping shoulder of ...

Tonight's the Night: Play It Loud and Stay in the Other Room!

Interview by Bud Scoppa, New Musical Express, 28 June 1975

NEIL YOUNG isn't out to win any popularity contest. Just as he reached the top of the heap three years ago with the huge-selling Harvest, ...

Neil Young: Tonight's The Night

Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, July 1975

AS I HOPE I've made clear in previous articles, Neil Young ranks in my estimation as THE singer/songwriter...I play his records extensively and regularly for ...

Neil Young: Tonight's The Night

Review by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 28 August 1975

"I'm sorry. You don't know these people. This means nothing to you." — Neil Young, in the liner notes ...

Neil Young: Tonight's the Night (Reprise)

Review by Wayne Robins, Creem, September 1975

IF YOU THOUGHT Berlin was depressing, wait till you hear Tonight's the Night. Even the label is black. It is an album of resolute drugginess ...

Neil Young: Tonight's The Night (Reprise MS 2221); Kevin Coyne: Matching Head & Feet (Virgin VR 13-117)

Review by Bruce Malamut, Crawdaddy!, October 1975

Young and Coyne En Route to Martyrdom ...

Neil Young: The Unwilling Superstar

Interview by Bud Scoppa, Creem, November 1975

NEIL YOUNG ISN'T out to win any popularity contests. Just as he reached the top of the heap three years ago with the huge-selling Harvest, ...

Neil Young Paints It Black: Zuma

Review by Paul Nelson, The Village Voice, 24 November 1975

NOTE: ON APRIL 14, 1983, Elliot Roberts, Neil Young's manager, wrote a letter to Paul: "This is to advise you that we will co-operate with ...

Neil Young: Zuma (Warner Bros.)

Review by Chris Briggs, Street Life, 29 November 1975

THE FIRST real Crazy Horse album since Everybody Knows catches Young on his left foot backing off broken romance. ...

Neil Young: Zuma (Warner Brothers)*****

Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 29 November 1975

YOUNG'S NEWLY gained independence, following his split with his old lady, actress Carrie Snodgrass, seems to have had quite a positive effect on his work. ...

Neil Young: Zuma

Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, December 1975

Now I remember why I used to rave about Neil Young... ...

Neil Young: Sooner or Later it All Gets Real...

Essay by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 December 1975

The greening of the lean American: NICK KENT attempts a critical reappraisal of the work of NEIL YOUNG ...

Neil Young and Crazy Horse: Zuma

Review by Bud Scoppa, Rolling Stone, 15 January 1976

"It's another rock & roll album. A lot of instrumental things... it's about the Incas and the Aztecs. It takes on another personality. It's like ...

Neil Young: Young And In Love

Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 3 April 1976

Neil Young: Hammersmith Odeon, London ...

Stephen Stills & Neil Young: Nassau Coliseum, New York NY

Live Review by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 26 August 1976

Flaws and Applause — Young's Hot, Stills's Not ...

Stills Young: Long May You Run

Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, November 1976

IF THE music on this album had in any way matched up to the exceptionally heavy vibes surrounding its making then we would surely have ...

Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Palladium Theatre, NYC

Live Review by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 27 November 1976

NEW YORK Only an artist with the charisma and talent of Nell Young could perform with a lacklustre band such as the current Crazy Horse ...

The Band's "Last Waltz": Winterland, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Stephen M H Braitman, Phonograph Record, December 1976

WHEN THE announcement came, 5,000 tickets at $25 each were sold out almost immediately. This was the final show, "The Last Waltz." The Band — ...

Stills-Young Band: Long May You Run

Review by John Morthland, Creem, February 1977

WHAT A CURIOUS "COLLABORATION" this turns out to be. Neil Young, whose career is at a new critical peak and isn't hurting commercially either, lends ...

Neil Young: American Stars ’n Bars (Reprise)

Review by Bud Scoppa, Phonograph Record, June 1977

Superstar-turned-cult-attraction Young has thrown a change of pace by serving up a tasty platter of palatable musical morsels. Long considered the godfather of agony rock ...

Neil Young: American Stars'n'Bars (Reprise)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 June 1977

Neil: bad judgment...or just a bad liver? ...

Neil Young: Decade

Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 19 November 1977

I WAS listening seriously to music before Neil Young, but I can't remember what it was. ...

Neil Young: Decade

Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, December 1977

ONE OF the most immediately likeable things about this album besides the very impressive packaging, is that it doesn't purport to be a Best Of ...

Neil Young: Decade (Reprise)

Review by Mitchell Cohen, Creem, March 1978

First off, I'm only Canadian on my mother's side. ...

Neil Young: Comes A Time

Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 14 October 1978

NELLIE YOUNG COMES A CROPPER ...

Neil Young & Crazy Horse: The Forum, Los Angeles

Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 11 November 1978

COMES A time when even Neil Young has to do something different with his live shows than the acoustic set followed by hard-rock-with-band bit. ...

Neil Young And Crazy Horse: Clarkston, Michigan

Live Review by Susan Whitall, Creem, December 1978

CLARKSTON, MI (Outside Detroit, MI): The sign outside the open air theatre said "RUST NEVER SLEEPS... AN EVENING WITH NEIL YOUNG AND CRAZY HORSE". ...

Neil Young: Live Rust (Reprise)

Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 1979

THE WORD is, of course, survivor. Just Neil left on the Reprise label and Neil being the only remnant of the sixties still hanging in ...

Crazy Horse: In Full Gallop

Profile and Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, 19 January 1979

SAN FRANCISCO – During the past several years Billy Talbot, Ralph Molina, and Frank Sampedro played before standing room only crowds in some of the ...

Neil Young: Rust Never Sleeps (Reprise)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 30 June 1979

GOD KNOWS, you're at liberty to draw your own conclusions as to why Rust Never Sleeps is the masterpiece it so obviously is, but the ...

Neil Young: Live Rust (Reprise)

Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 24 November 1979

"My, my, hey hey, rock and roll is here to stay/Hey hey, my my, rock and roll can never die." ...

Neil Young: Hawks & Doves

Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 15 November 1980

SOME TIME ago. Neil Young produced American Stars And Bars – originally intended as a concept album which would offer one set of songs about ...

Neil Young: Hawks & Doves (Reprise HS2297)

Review by Jon Young, Trouser Press, February 1981

NEIL YOUNG stands alone in his ability to startle an audience with the most familiar techniques. As a master of everything from quiet folk to ...

Neil Young: Hawks and Doves (Warner Bros.)

Review by John Swenson, Creem, February 1981

I DON'T KNOW what Neil Young had in mind when he made this record, but its timing is so weirdly appropriate it's spooky. ...

Neil Young: Too Young To Rust Too Old To Die

Essay by Robot A. Hull, Creem, February 1981

In Oklahoma,Bonnie and Josie,Dressed in calico,Danced around a stump.They cried,"Ohoyaho,Ohoo"...the marriageCelebratingOf flesh and air. – Wallace Stevens, ‘Life Is Motion’He came dancing across the water ...

Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Re-Ac-Tor (Reprise HS 2304)

Review by Steven X Rea, High Fidelity, January 1982

THERE ARE two Neil Youngs: the wacked out rocker with the reckless, turbulent guitar that cuts to the bone with the steely force of a ...

Neil Young/Crazy Horse: Re•ac•tor (Reprise)

Review by Fred Schruers, Musician, February 1982

WE'RE TALKING dirty guitars in excelsis here; under the headphones, this record sounds like an automatic weapons fire-fight in a sawmill — or better yet, ...

Neil Young: Re•ac•tor (Reprise HS2304)

Review by Jon Young, Trouser Press, February 1982

NEIL YOUNG'S sustained vitality is a truly amazing phenomenon. Where most superstars burn out, he's so dependable you tend to take his consistency for granted. ...

Neil Young: A Bad Case Of The Shakes…

Live Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 2 October 1982

Neil Young: Birmingham NEC ...

Neil Young: When Does a Dinosaur Cut Off Its Tail?

Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 9 October 1982

"I don't know if I can be classed as a contemporary songwriter. I'm like a dinosaur with a large tail – I'm so big I ...

Neil Young: Trans

Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 5 January 1983

HOW TO follow The Birthday Party's The Bad Seed with Neil Young's Trans? How to link the electronic transmigration of Neil Young with the last ...

Neil Young: Trans (Geffen GHS2018)

Review by Jon Young, Trouser Press, April 1983

NEIL YOUNG must struggle to find something new for each album. When you've made as many records as he has, and covered as much stylistic ...

Neil Young: Everybody's Rockin (Geffen)

Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 20 August 1983

AT LEAST Neil Young has yet resisted rejoining Crosby, Stills and Nash, although this foray into rockabilly pastiche is hardly much less regressive than that. ...

Neil Young

Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 6 September 1984

IN 1970, Neil Young went to Nashville during a break in his solo tour and recorded the song 'Are You Ready For The Country?'. He ...

Neil Young: Old Ways

Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 31 August 1985

ARE YOU ready for the country yet? If bands like the Long Ryders and Jason And The Scorchers (both of whom owe an enormous musical ...

Neil Young: Old Ways Diehard

Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, September 1985

The old Crosby, Stills and Nash hippie has taken on a new redneck colouration with firm roots in country music. Adam Sweeting looks back from ...

Neil Young: Legend Of A Loner (part 1)

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, 7 September 1985

NEIL YOUNG is one of rock's most enduring heroes. From Buffalo Springfield to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young to his own brilliant, if erratic, solo ...

Neil Young: Legend Of A Loner (part 2)

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, 14 September 1985

He's back! In part two of Adam Sweeting's definitive epic, NEIL YOUNG explains the gentle art of growing old gracefully. ...

Neil Young And Crazy Horse: Life (Geffen)

Review by Jane Solanas, New Musical Express, 4 July 1987

YOU WON'T SEE Neil Young on the cover of your modern NME, but this album is worth a whole lot more than Suzanne Vega's entire ...

Crazy Horse: Who Is Neil Young's Band, Anyway?

Interview by Dave DiMartino, Musician, November 1987

DOES CRAZY Horse have day jobs or something? These guys have played on the Neil Young records most people swear by. From 1969's Everybody Knows ...

Neil Young: Blue Notes for a Restless Loner

Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, 22 April 1988

THE ROBERT De Niro of rock 'n' roll, Neil Young has continually transformed himself throughout his career and inhabited musical characters in much the same ...

Cruise Control: Neil Young's Lonesome Drive

Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, June 1988

  EVEN IN Los Angeles, where cool cars are as common as Taco Bells, you can't help but ogle the elegant black and chrome Caddy limo ...

Neil Young: You Sort It Out!

Report and Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, November 1989

The drugged and the destitute, the needy and the greedy, unrest between East and West...Don't ask Neil Young where it's all leading. "I'm just a ...

Neil Young: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 16 December 1989

OUTSIDE IT'S thronged, tickets £60 a throw, there's a buzz in the air you seldom find at gigs these days. Inside there's two Crazy Horse ...

Rock Of Middle Ages

Comment by Tim Riley, The Boston Phoenix, 9 February 1990

The new traditionalism looks for its roots. ...

Nelson Mandela Tribute Concert, Wembley Stadium, London

Live Review by Robert Sandall, Rolling Stone, 31 May 1990

WHILE THE black south African leader Nelson Mandela was still in jail, his seventieth birthday, in June 1988, inspired the starriest gathering of rockers since ...

Neil Young: Rockin' in the Neil world

Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 9 September 1990

"HOW MANY guitar solos can you play? I've had it!" declared Neil Young. ...

Neil Young: Ragged Glory (Reprise); The Kinsey Report: Powerhouse (pointblank)

Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 13 September 1990

Aged Young still wild at heart ...

Bob Dylan: Under The Red Sky (CBS 647188); Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Ragged Glory (Reprise WX 734)

Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 14 September 1990

Neil's your brother, Bob's your uncle ...

Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Ragged Glory (Reprise)*****

Review by Robin Gibson, Sounds, 15 September 1990

Young, gifted and back ...

Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Ragged Glory

Review by Edwin Pouncey, Vox, October 1990

LIKE BOB DYLAN (his closest creative counterpart) Neil Young likes to keep his audience on its toes. For every critically acclaimed 'classic' that is punched ...

Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Ragged Glory (Reprise)

Review by Dave DiMartino, Musician, October 1990

The Force of the Horse: Neil Young & Crazy Horse Triumphant ...

Neil Young: This Young Will Run and Run

Interview by Nick Kent, Vox, November 1990

NEIL YOUNG'S manager Elliot Roberts told me: "He's doing interviews now because he's got things he wants to say. There's a lot of things going ...

Neil Young: Ragged But Right

Interview by Fred Schruers, Musician, February 1991

RIGHT THIS minute out here on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, the future of gutbucket rock stands in some question. ...

Still riding on Crazy Horse

Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 2 February 1991

NO MATTER what his touring format — with high-tech synthesizers and video screens; in a down-home, fiddle-based country band; as part of a horn-led R ...

Neil Young & Crazy Horse/Sonic Youth: Madison Square Garden, New York NY

Live Review by Simon Reynolds, Melody Maker, 16 February 1991

THE WILD FRONTIER ...

Nils Lofgren: Nils' Desperados

Interview by Max Bell, Vox, June 1991

A lovely guy, Nils Lofgren. Ask Bruce, Neil, Bob, Lou or Keef. Rock's shortest top sidekick tells Max Bell about life with the E Street ...

Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Weld/Arc-Weld (Reprise/All formats)

Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 19 October 1991

SOLDER OF FORTUNE ...

Frontman: Neil Young

Interview by Tony Scherman, Musician, December 1991

WHAT'S THE best way for you to write? I pick up things from people on the streets, in airports, at parties. The night before last ...

Bill Graham: Tribute Concert, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

Live Review by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 12 December 1991

ON SUNDAY, November 3rd, more than 300,000 people showed up at the Polo Field in Golden Gate Park for the biggest rock concert ever held ...

Neil Young: Rustic Never Sleeps

Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 7 November 1992

"GEE, IT'S LIKE being in a waiting room, the doctor will see you now." Neil Young has just taken a three-minute break between the arrival ...

Neil Young: Harvest Moon

Review by Mark Cooper, Q, December 1992

TRUST THAT CONTRARY old buzzard Neil Young to come up with something as cunning and contrary as this "sequel" to 1972's Harvest, his biggest-selling record ...

Neil Young: Got A Problem Pal?

Interview by David Sinclair, Q, January 1993

Neil Young is back with a new LP and an all-consuming grievance. Lately, something has been getting the old goat's goat like nothing before. That ...

Neil Young: Young's Winter Warmer

Interview by Max Bell, Vox, January 1993

Twenty years after Harvest, Neil Young has released Harvest Moon. But don't look for parallels — there aren't any, he says. ...

The Men on the Harvest Moon: Young-Buck!

Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, April 1993

OUTSIDE THE sky was dark and the rain was falling hard. But the pre-concert scene congealing toward the rear of Universal Studios stage 12 was ...

Elliot Roberts (1993) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages transcripts, June 1993

This is a transcript of Barney's interview with Neil Young's manager Roberts, conducted in Santa Monica in 1993 as part of the interviewer's research for ...

Neil Young: Sleeps With Angels

Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 13 August 1994

PETE TOWNSHEND got it right when he said, "Neil Young? Neil's the leader – the rest of us just follow him." Young may have started ...

Neil Young: A Conversation with Elliot Roberts

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, September 1994

FEW OTHER artist/manager relationships have endured as long as the one between Neil Young and Elliot Roberts. It is nearly 30 years since the lanky, ...

Neil Young: A Heretic Writes

Comment by Dave Marsh, MOJO, September 1994

"Coming to the conclusion that he was a second-rank artist scared the hell out of even a veteran heretic like myself." Neil Young unpraised by ...

Neil Young: A Rougher Ride

Essay by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, September 1994

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS after it was recorded at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, 'Cinnamon Girl' sounds like it was cut the day before yesterday on a ...

Neil Young: Out Of The Black

Essay by Ben Thompson, MOJO, September 1994

"Last night I dreamt I kissed Neil Young / If I was a boy I guess it would be fun." Sonic Youth, Creme Brulee, 1992. ...

Neil Young: Sleeps With Angels

Review by Bill Holdship, Musician, October 1994

IT'S A LITTLE LIKE San Francisco weather: If you don't care for Neil Young's musical style at any given moment, wait a while and it'll ...

Neil Young: Mirror Ball

Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, August 1995

It revolves slowly and with a dignified air of formality, and when light shines on it you get a strange dappled effect. That effect, for ...

Neil Young: Mirror Ball (Reprise 9362 45934-2/4/1)

Review by Max Bell, Vox, August 1995

FIRST THINGS first. It's age before beauty. Young before youth. Finally, the worst kept secret in rock — that Neil Young was recording an album ...

Neil Young: Journey Through The Past

Retrospective by Marc Weingarten, Guitar World, September 1995

Neil Young is the ageless chameleon of rock. In this history of his long and distinguished career, Guitar World traces his evolution from hippie icon ...

Neil Young: Oh But I Was So Much Older Then...

Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, September 1995

...he's younger than that now. Neil Young's new album, Mirror Ball, is a scintillating trans-guitar-generational collaboration with hip young gunslingers Pearl Jam, and has given ...

Neil Young: The Reading Festival

Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, October 1995

IT'S THE END OF SUMMER, and the temperature is plummeting. A vicious wind whips up the dustbowl that the Reading Festival site has become over ...

I Build Something Up, I Tear It Right Down: Neil Young at 50

Interview by Nick Kent, MOJO, December 1995

"IN THE FIELD OF opportunity/it's ploughing time again" crooned Neil Young back in the late 70s. Yet at no time have those eager sentiments seemed ...

Contract Breakers

Essay by Mark Sinker, The Wire, June 1996

2005 note: Savage Pencil did a nice illustration for this: John and Yoko hilariously naked, among other excellent things. It also elicited an angry postcard ...

Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Broken Arrow

Review by Andy Gill, MOJO, July 1996

WELL, AT LEAST IT'S NOT THE THREATENED LIVE souvenir of Neil's time with Pearl Jam, which comes out later this year; and mercy of mercies, ...

Neil Young with Crazy Horse: Broken Arrow

Review by Barney Hoskyns, Request, August 1996

NINE MONTHS AGO, I stood in a field in England watching Neil Young close the Reading Festival and realized the following: If you can play ...

Neil Young and Crazy Horse: Phoenix Festival, Long Marston, Stratford-upon-Avon

Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, September 1996

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER field. Phoenix smells of tent-rubber and scorching skin, the crowd red and sweating like vacuum-packed beetroot. They’ve survived the eight-hour, 12-mail tailbacks. ...

Still Crazy Horse After All These Years

Report by Jeff Apter, nyrock.com, 1997

THE GODFATHER OF GRUNGE, Neil Young, shows no intention of slowing down. Busier than a politician on the election trail, he divided his '97 year ...

Fred Goodman: The Mansion on the Hill (Times Books)

Book Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, April 1997

Deny it all we might, the truth is that music is a business. And its richest players have made billions without ever striking a single ...

Crazy Horse: Ralph, Billy, Poncho... and Neil

Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, July 1997

THERE'S A SCENE in Year Of The Horse, looks like one of those scenic theme park rides, where Neil Young and crewperson are sitting talking ...

Neil Young: The Year Of The Horse

Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, July 1997

2-CD, 13-track live document of last year's Broken Arrow tour, recorded mainly in America but featuring tracks from Berlin, Toronto…and downtown Saskatchewan. ...

Neil Young: Instant Feedback

Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, July 1997

Neil Young plus electricity plus us, the ticket-holders. It's been a volatile but vital combination for over three decades. On the eve of the great ...

Neil Young at Heart

Essay by Mick Gold, unpublished, 1998

IT MUST HAVE been 1969 or 1970. There was a rave review of Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere in Rolling Stone and I bought it ...

Neil Young: "You're All Just Pissing In the Wind"

Essay by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, September 1998

RIGHT NOW, Neil Young is in kind of an invidious position. On The Beach is his equivalent of Lennon's Plastic Ono Band album in terms ...

Neil Young: At the Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles

Live Review by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, May 1999

A MAN less heard unadorned than in context – be it with Crazy Horse, Pearl Jam, The Bluenotes, the Stray Gators, the Shocking Pinks, ...

CSNY: Love The Ones You're With

Profile by Barney Hoskyns, GQ, April 2000

Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young - the ultimate rock supergroup - have been through the wars since first teaming up in 1969. Now the Woodstock ...

Neil Young: Silver & Gold (Reprise)

Review by RJ Smith, Spin, June 2000

"I DON'T KNOW what I'm doing/My software's not compatible with you," Neil Young moans on 'Without Rings', the last song on his 36th (!) record. ...

The Old Man and the MP3

Interview by Alan Light, Spin, June 2000

FIFTY-FOUR AND ORNERY AS EVER, NEIL YOUNG DISCUSSES HIS NEW ACOUSTIC ALBUM. THE BACKSTREET BACKLASH, NAPSTER, AND WHY CDs STILL SUCK. ...

Neil Young: Sheffield Arena

Live Review by Gavin Martin, Uncut, August 2001

THE LIGHTS go down, and they amble onstage, gradually gathering together in a scrum, or pow wow. ...

Various Artists: America: A Tribute To Heroes

Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, March 2002

Star-Spangled Bummer:  Record of benefit concert/telethon for victims of September 11 ...

Neil Young: Are You Passionate? (Reprise)

Review by Bud Scoppa, Rock's Backpages, April 2002

NEIL YOUNG'S new studio opus opens with a quintessentially sultry Stax/Volt groove, courtesy of the Booker T. & the MGs rhythm section, over which Young’s ...

Neil Young: Are You Passionate? (WEA) **

Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, May 2002

YOUNG GOES Stax, trips over shoe-laces. ...

Bio Warfare: Why did Neil Young try to squelch Shakey?

Comment by Marc Weingarten, salon.com, 24 May 2002

SHAKEY, A 786-PAGE biography of Neil Young that's just been published, almost wasn't. For that reason, it serves as an apt metaphor for the way ...

Neil Young: Bio Warfare

Report by Marc Weingarten, Slate, 24 May 2002

Why did Neil Young try to squelch Shakey? ...

Neil Young: Brixton Academy, London, 21st May

Live Review by Tim Clifford, Rock's Backpages, June 2002

NEIL YOUNG'S in a pretty unassailable position these days: revered by everyone from fresh-faced teens to grizzled pensioners of the Woodstock generation, and free to ...

Neil Young: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, July 2002

DANGEROUS PLACE, Brixton. Neil Young figured he should alert the 4,300 fans who packed out his first night at the Academy that if he played ...

Shakey: Neil Young's biography by Jimmy McDonough

Book Review by Adam Sweeting, Uncut, September 2002

MOST ROCK stars realise they need to plug the new album and stir up column inches when concert tickets go on sale, but eventually it ...

Neil Young: "Will I be deported?"

Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 22 May 2003

IT IS DIFFICULT to find supportive things to say about George Bush unless your construction company is rebuilding Iraq, but it would be a droll ...

A Family Album: Neil Young's Risky New Project Traces A Fictional Clan's Story In Song

Report by Phil Sutcliffe, Los Angeles Times, July 2003

LONDON -- Sitting on a stool amid a half-circle of racked guitars, two pianos and a pipe organ, lit by candles and an overhead spotlight ...

Neil Young: The Town Crier

Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, July 2003

Composing concept albums, directing movies, baiting republicans, Neil Young in 2003 remains as complex and slippery as ever. "Shakey's been very busy lately," he tells ...

Neil Young: On The Beach

Essay by Charles Shaar Murray, The Independent, 12 July 2003

IT USED to be said of performers like country legend Jimmie Rodgers and Delta bluesman Skip James that they had "that high lonesome sound". No ...

Neil Young: On The Beach/American Stars 'N Bars/Hawks & Doves/Re•ac•tor

Review by David Hepworth, The Word, August 2003

I SPOKE TO Neil Young in 1992, when one of his riffs was the shortcomings of digital sound. "You ever sit down with a CD ...

Neil Young: On The Beach

Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, August 2003

At last, the Holy Grail to Neil Young collectors — the last part of the Doom Trilogy makes it on to CD. ...

Neil Young: Greendale

Review by Gavin Martin, Daily Mirror, 15 August 2003

THE RELEASE OF his 1975 classic album On The Beach – out for the first time on CD last month – underlined Young's key place ...

Neil Young: Greendale

Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 15 August 2003

NEIL YOUNG is probably the most overindulged talent in rock: overindulged by his record company, who let him put out whatever old rubbish he has ...

Greendale's Grandpa: Neil Young

Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, September 2003

A WHITE PICKET FENCE, a neat clapboard house, smoke drifting from the chimney. Grandpa Green's rocking on the front porch, reading the paper. He says, ...

Neil Young: Greendale

Review by Adam Sweeting, Uncut, September 2003

Narrative 10-song cycle about a fictional clan is Young's best work in a while. ...

Neil Young: Hammersmith Apollo, London

Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, September 2003

SO HE hasn't made a truly compelling record since 1994's Sleeps With Angels. So he's been treading water with sleepy albums like Silver and Gold ...

Farm Aid: Germain Amphitheater, Columbus, Ohio

Report by Kandia Crazy Horse, PopMatters, 23 September 2003

I WAS EATING Neil Young when the highest points of my sojourn to this year's Farm Aid benefit concert occurred: veteran Crazy Horse bassist Billy ...

The Uncut Questionnaire: Neil Young

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Uncut, October 2003

UNCUT: When you played the songs from your new Greendale album in Europe, did you experience any anti-US hostility? ...

No More Heroes

Comment by Nick Kent, The Guardian, 19 December 2003

THE BEST THING you can say about 2003 is that it's almost over. ...

Ostin-powered: The Mogul of Burbank

Book Excerpt by Barney Hoskyns, 'Hotel California' (4th Estate), 2005

Five adapted excerpts from Barney Hoskyns' 2005 book Hotel California that chart the rise of Warner-Reprise Records during the reign of its revered chief Mo ...

Neil Young's Last Harvest

Interview by Edward Helmore, The Independent, 22 September 2005

"WELCOME TO Fortress Blair," says Neil Young, offering his hand. ...

Neil Young: Rebel without a pause

Profile and Interview by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 30 October 2005

Neil Young famously wrote that it was "better to burn out than to fade away". Now, approaching his 60th birthday and confronted by his own ...

Neil Young: Ryman Auditorium, Nashville

Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 2005

From rock opera to Grand Ole Opry. Neil Young and a cast of dozens play Nashville. ...

Neil Young: Prairie Wind (Reprise) ***

Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, November 2005

FACT SHEET• Back to Nashville and without Crazy Horse.• Recorded either side of his recent health scare. • First album of a long-term contract renewal ...

Neil Young In Nashville

Interview by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times Magazine, 6 November 2005

HIS COMPLEXION is perhaps a little ruddier than we're used to but otherwise Neil Young is looking pretty good for a man who turns 60 ...

Neil Young: Prairie Wind

Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, December 2005

THE MOST POIGNANT moment on a masterly record full of insight and articulacy comes in the chorus of its opening song, 'The Painter'. It's just ...

Neil Young: Dark Side of the Moon

Report and Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, Harp, December 2005

NEIL YOUNG has long-plotted his life around the phases of the moon. Ancient and antediluvian, prehistoric and prescentient but strangely effective, Young uses the moon ...

Canyon of the Mind: Tall Tales of Topanga Rock

Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, Calabasas, Summer 2005

REMOVE THE WORD "Canyon" from the glossary of Southern California rock and you're left with a gaping hole. Canyons have been inseparable from LA's music ...

Jimmy McDonough: Shakey - Neil Young's Biography

Book Review by Craig W. Thomas, Rock's Backpages, Fall 2005

INTO MY HOLIDAY knapsack this year I tucked a biography of Lowell George that a friend had lent me, and I picked it up on ...

Brush With Death Leaves Troubadour Grateful: Heart of Gold

Report and Interview by Steven R Rosen, Denver Post, 14 February 2006

JONATHAN DEMME orders orange juice for himself, Neil Young and a reporter at downtown's Zoom Restaurant in Park City, Utah - a refreshing way to ...

Jim Jarmusch: "Tom Waits said he would glue my head to the wall"

Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 9 June 2006

WHEN JIM JARMUSCH speaks, it is like a man emptying out his pockets. "Wild Zero. Guitar Wolf. Where they're killing zombies. Rude Boy. The Clash. ...

Neil Young: Living With War

Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, July 2006

A "metal folk protest album", says Neil. Made in 10 days, and remarkably good too. ...

Neil Young: Live at the Fillmore East

Review by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, January 2007

IN THE CONTINUING absence of his Archives we clutch at any morsels dispensed from Neil Young's table. Long a live bootleg classic - as well ...

Neil Young: Live at Massey Hall

Review by Gavin Martin, Uncut, April 2007

From Archives: A Spellbinding 1971 Solo Homecoming Show ...

Neil Young: "I've learned a lot about the trail I've left and the debris behind me…"

Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, Uncut, December 2007

As he puts the finishing touches to his momentous Archives retrospective, Neil Young escorts us on an unusually revealing journey through his past. From car ...

Neil Young: 'The Time When Music Could Change The World Has Passed'

Interview by Stephen Dalton, Scotland on Sunday, 24 February 2008

As Neil Young prepares to open his UK tour with a rare gig in Scotland, he tells Stephen Dalton why this time war, hatred and ...

Deja Viewed: Neil Young on CSNY and Living with War

Interview by Stephen Dalton, unpublished, June 2008

NEIL YOUNG IS in mischievous mood this morning. Sinking into his plush hotel armchair, the veteran Canadian rocker keeps his distance behind mirror shades and ...

Neil Young's anti-war documentary

Report and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Sunday Times, 29 June 2008

The singer has fire in his belly — with a film about his antiwar tour — but his passion is a hybrid car he thinks ...

Farm Aid

Review by Alan Light, MSN.com, September 2008

"THIS IS OUR twenty-third Farm Aid," said John Mellencamp, "and when we started this thing, we were naïve enough that we thought we'd have this ...

School of Rock Study Guide: Singer-Songwriters

Guide by Barney Hoskyns, iTunes, October 2008

"WHERE DO YOU have left to go but in?" It was a question posed by Joni Mitchell, the brilliant Canadian blonde who specialized in intensely ...

Neil Young: Against the Tide

Retrospective and Interview by Mark Cooper, Observer Music Monthly, 11 October 2008

Charles Manson, the Iraq war, a near fatal aneurysm: Neil Young has spent five decades fighting anything foolish enough to get in his way. On ...

Monumental: Neil Young's Archives, Vol. 1

Review by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, May 2009

NOTE: This is an extended version of a review written in a Belfast hotel room for the Observer Music Monthly. BH * ...

Out of the blue: Neil Young's archives

Essay by Kandia Crazy Horse, San Francisco Bay Guardian, 7 July 2009

THIS IS THE briar patch, the place from which all funky thangs flow. On the anniversary of the death of my Afro-Algonquin Southern (re)belle mother, ...

Forever Young: Rick Rosas

Interview by Greg Phillips, Guitar & Bass, September 2009

Few are those musicians who bend enough to keep pace with Neil Young’s ever-changing whims. Rick ‘The Bass Player’ Rosas has done just that for ...

Neil Young: Sugar Mountain - Live At Canterbury House

Review by Larry Jaffee, Audiophile Review, December 2009

NEIL YOUNG HAS BEEN such a music staple in our collective consciousness for so long that it’s nearly impossible to remember that he was once ...

Neil Young: Dreamin' Man Live '92

Review by Bud Scoppa, Uncut, January 2010

Those Archives throw up another wrenching, revealing solo exploration, says Bud Scoppa. ...

The Heart of Joel Bernstein

Report by Charles Bermant, Rock's Backpages, 12 February 2010

IN 1970, 16-year-old me was following Neil Young around; learning his songs, going to his concerts (two identical sets on one night!), and counting the ...

Neil Young: Le Noise

Review by Wyndham Wallace, bbc.co.uk, October 2010

NEIL YOUNG NOW belongs to that rare stratum of artists whose work is no longer judged purely on its merits but on the basis of ...

Buffalo Springfield together again on Bridge bill

Live Review by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 25 October 2010

FOR A GROUP from rock's Pleistocene era that managed only one real hit in the band's short life and haven't appeared together onstage in 43 ...

Neil Young and Daniel Lanois: It's A Big Explosion

Interview by Bud Scoppa, Uncut, November 2010

Join us by the fire at the Mountain House restaurant in California, where Neil Young is hanging out with his new collaborator, Daniel Lanois, and ...

Harvest Revisited

Retrospective and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, February 2011

A GOLDEN RICH GUITAR PHRASE pulses out warmth and beauty and Neil Young keens "I want to live/I want to give/I've been a miner for ...

Neil Young on Americana

Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, June 2012

"I JUST DIDN'T want any new songs," says Neil Young. "I was not anxious to go down that road – to have people analyzing them ...

Neil Young and Crazy Horse: Americana

Review by Holly Gleason, Paste, 6 June 2012

ONLY NEIL YOUNG could take the campfire chestnut 'Oh, Susannah' and turn it into something that demands The Frug. But Young opens Americana, his folk'n'protest ...

Neil Young's Visible Republic: Americana

Review by Wayne Robins, Rock's Backpages, 29 June 2012

THERE'S ALWAYS a method to Neil Young's madness, even on his most prosaic projects. Who would have thought that the eardrum-puncturing solo guitar project Le ...

Neil Young: Waging Heavy Peace/Journeys/Psychedelic Pill/live in Seattle

Review by Charles Bermant, Rock's Backpages, 12 November 2012

SIX YEARS AGO, Neil Young brought his CSN buddies through town imploring the country to impeach the president for lying. This week he began the ...

Neil Young

Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, December 2012

"THERE'S A day of reckoning coming," says Neil Young. "These superstorms and disasters — they're not a surprise, they were predicted, and they're only going ...

Henry Diltz: Caught in the Canyon

Retrospective and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 26 May 2013

He photographed the most enduring images of the '60s folk-rock stars who lived in L.A.'s Laurel Canyon. Now Henry Diltz stars in a documentary about ...

Neil Young's After The Gold Rush

Review by Juliette Jagger, Noisey, 10 October 2014

RELEASED IN THE fall of 1970, Neil Young's After The Gold Rush has over the course of the past 40 plus years become widely known ...

Neil Young's Human Highway

Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 20 March 2015

Neil Young discusses remastering his dystopian sci-fi flick at SXSW ...

Neil Young: Roxy – Tonight's the Night Live

Review by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 23 April 2018

The songwriter opened a legendary L.A. club in 1973 with an incredible performance that spotlighted his classic album. ...

After The Gold Rush: The Legacy of Elliot Roberts

Obituary by Bud Scoppa, Hits, 22 June 2019

THE DICTIONARY definition of the word manager should have Elliot Roberts' picture alongside it. Roberts, who died on Friday, June 21, at the age of ...

Elliot Mazer, 1941-2021

Interview by Harvey Kubernik, Rock's Backpages, February 2021

ELLIOT MAZER, the recording engineer and record producer who worked with Kenny Burrell, Chubby Checker, Maynard Ferguson, Richie Havens, Janis Joplin, Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt, ...

see also Buffalo Springfield

see also Crazy Horse

see also Crosby Stills Nash & Young

see also Pegi Young

see also Ducks, The

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