Dez Reviews the Book 'Waging Heavy Peace' by Neil Young, 2012

You'd think as big of a Neil Young fan as I am that I would have picked up his first "autobiography" when it came out, but I just got around to reading it. I guess I figured that I knew everything already, having read other books on the man. Perhaps I was afraid he would be like Springsteen, a great artist, but a huge bore in interviews. Man was I wrong. This book is fascinating and I have a deeper respect for Neil after reading it. It is unlike any book I've ever read, in that it is almost completely stream of consciousness and conversational. That sounds like a cliche, I know, but this book really is like that. You feel like you are hanging out with your very obsessive, renaissance-man, crazy Uncle Neil for an evening over drinks (or stronger substances) and he just talks about whatever comes to mind. Ostensibly he is telling us about his life and times, but there is no chronology. And that is its utter charm. He will be telling you about recording Harvest, then jump to a trip to the grocery store he made last week, and then go off about a drive through the California desert in 1977 in one of his vintage cars.

Here's an example. Neil's talking about spending time in Hawaii and seeing "vog," which he claims is natural pollution from volcanic activity. Then he says "The vog reminds me of the stupid laws against burning wood in fireplaces in the city because it causes air pollution. Sh*t! That is ridiculous! These beautiful fireplaces were built in the homes and apartments of New York and San Francisco...for a reason." Then later on the page (after going off on a tangent about electric cars), "I was just kidding about that law. There really is no law. I might have just made that up, because part of this book is from my memory and I have a big imagination." Later, on the same page: "News bulletin: In truth, there really is a law like that. I just learned about it."

If you want a true chronological biography, check out Jimmy McDonough's excellent 'Shakey: Neil Young's Biography.'

And the balance of space given to different subjects is totally random, too. He might spend a page discussing the recording of After the Goldrush, but then spend five pages discussing a new model train that he built. Sample:

"Almost all technology can be found to have some roots in the science of railroading and real railroad operations. During development of what is now Lionel's [Neil is part owner of the Lionel Model Train Company and helps design many of their most complex models] system for control of action and sound on a model railroad, I became obsessed...the complexity involved is like a drug. For instance, every action has a sound and every sound has variables. Every sound variable needs an algorithm based on an action, and every action needs a variable control mechanism and a sensor to monitor its position or at least predict its position, possibly based on the positions of other related moving parts of the machine's systems. To me, this is stimulant. I am fascinated by it, by all of the possibilities. Every sound needs to be recorded in such a way that it is variable by an algorithm based on the mechanical action or by the controller...The end result is music."

What? This is a rock star?

Oh, he is also designing state of the art electric cars and testing them cross country (one of the more poignant passages is near the end of the book as he describes driving one of his electric cars alone on a backroad in Florida and he feels the presence of some of his close musical cohorts who have passed on, like David Briggs and Danny Whitten). He is also co-founder of a company that is designing high-definition digital sound (PONO). Don't get him started on what he thinks of iTunes and mp3's. Pages and pages on the science of sound and how nobody can really listen to music anymore because of mp3s and vinyl is the sound of the gods but we should be able to have that digitally. And he is installing his high def digital systems in the electric cars that he is designing...the guy is incredible. Oh yeah, and then there is the music stuff. He will be introspective and nakedly honest for a few paragraphs, and then tell some long humorous tale from the road. There are passages of beautiful, lyrical writing, and then what reads like a transcript of a late night drunken rant about vinyl vs. iTunes or greedy managers or whatever. All on the same page!

One thing that gets me is that he writes so beautifully about his wife Pegi, whom he was married to for decades. I mean, tearjerking passages about their love, and what they have been through, and how she is his foundation. This last year he and Pegi divorced. After reading this book, I would have bet everything on them staying together until the end. I do wonder what the hell happened between 2012 and 2014.

It is a wonderful read, even if you are not a huge fan. But if you are a Neil Young fan, this is gold. He comes across as a whimsical, mad scientist, incredibly intelligent, renaissance man full of energy. The best thing to do is to give you some more samples.

Detailing a trip to a used music/bookstore in Hawaii and coming across his own work for sale:

"Marc was way down one aisle along the wall looking in a box on the floor marked with a big letter Y. There was my life's work, all my CDs thrown in a box on the floor. 'Here you are!' said Marc. As he sifted through the CDs, I saw the titles flying by and had flashes of memory of each one. There were about thirty or forty different albums in the box. I felt suddenly very sad. All of these people had given up their CDs! The original vinyl versions sounded much better than the CDs, but they were still important to me. I had spent so long making each one, pouring myself into it, making it sound great. Now they were all in this little box, shadows of their former selves. If someone wanted to hear one of my old records, it was either on CD or online. This store was closing in on me. I found an old Clive Cussler book I must have missed back in the day, bought it for $2.50, and headed for the door. That place had become very depressing. I was overwhelmed with the reality of what had become of my life's work. Stopping at the checkout, I inquired, "Do you carry vinyl?" "Oh no, there's no demand for that," said the young lady at the cash register."

On touring and performing nowadays:

"There are a lot of things that can go wrong on the road. If you get sick, you still play, but people think you are losing your edge. If you have half a house, people don't feel they are part of something. If you don't have a great crew, your sh*t doesn't sound right. If you don't have the best equipment, your show may not sound as great as the last one or the next one. If you have a reputation, it is on the line. If you forget what you are doing, it shows up on YouTube. If you remember what you are doing, it shows up on YouTube. If you do something new that isn't ready, or something old that you screw up, it is on YouTube. If snot comes out of your nose while you are playing the harmonica and slithers down the harmonica rack onto your t-shirt, it is on YouTube. If you say something stupid...It is a lonely job out there performing. I have to do it because I always have. I probably always will. I love the music part. I like it when the sound is right and the audience is into it and the music is relevant. If one of those elements is missing, you are screwed. You are killing yourself slowly. You need all three elements. At this age, I think relevancy is the big challenge."

You know, that is the key that sets Neil apart from almost everyone else his age still out there performing. He has remained relevant, always. It might not have always worked, but it was always new and relevant. To this day, if you go to his show, he will primarily play his new material. He won't give you a greatest hits show. He just won't. In fact, he will often tire of the current record he is touring for and start playing tunes that will appear on the next record. That happened to me at my first Neil show in 1989. He was touring for the mediocre This Note's For You, but came out and did not play a single song from the record. Instead he came out and played almost the entirety of what would become Freedom, released later that year. Lucky for me, Freedom is one of the Neil's greatest records. I still vividly remember that show. And I have the permanent hearing loss to prove it. (He also played such rarities as "For the Turnstiles" from freakin' On the Beach. Awesome.) If I remember right, in the McDonough book referenced above, there is a paragraph about that incendiary '89 show in Houston that I saw. It was special.

I like Neil's assessment of his own work: "I have written a lot of songs. Some of them suck. Some of them are brilliant, and some are just okay...they are born and raised and sent out into the world to fend for themselves." On "Alabama," to which the band Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote "Sweet Home Alabama" in response ("I heard Mr. Young sing about her / I heard old Neil put her down / well I hope Neil Young will remember that a Southern Man don't need him around, anyhow"), Neil says: "I did 'Sweet Home Alabama' at that show and the folks loved it. My own song 'Alabama' richly deserved the shot Lynyrd Skynyrd gave me with their great record. I don't like my words when I listen to it today. They are acusatory and condescending, not fully thought out, and too easy to misconstrue." I think I've only heard John Lennon give such brutally honest assessments of his own work (the Playboy interviews).

As you might expect, being as fascinated by technology as he is, he loves to talk guitars, amps and equipment. Funny: "I took [the pickup] to a guitar shop down on Western Avenue in LA and dropped off the pickup to get it wound again; there was a procedure that supposedly fixed the problem. I'm glad I only gave them the pickup, because when I returned later to retrieve it, the store was gone. Not a trace. They left with my pickup! Sh*t! That sucked. What a bunch of a**holes!"

There is so much in this book. So much in this rich life of Neil Young's that is gripping, warm, harrowing, intense and beautiful. So much that he admits he couldn't fit it all in his almost 500 page book. In 2014, Neil published his second book, entitled 'Special Deluxe: a Memoir of Life & Cars.' I haven't read it yet. The reviews have been excellent, most saying it is superior to his first book. He uses his favorite cars that he has owned and built over the years as a jumping off point, with each car representing a period in his life and he tells stories from there. Sounds cool, I will read it soon and once again sit down with crazy Uncle Neil and listen to his strange, wonderful, nonlinear tales.

**** out of *****

BELOW: Neil's second book...