Neil Young gives you the fish eye.
(2019) Music Documentary (Abramorama) Neil Young, Nils Lofgren, Ralph Molina, Billy Talbot, John Hanlon. Directed by Bernard Shaky
Neil Young has been a musician’s musician since he first came on the scene in Buffalo Springfield back in the Sixties. Throughout the following decades, the Canadian rocker was the conscience of a generation, creating songs like “Southern Man,” “The Needle and the Damage Done” and “Rocking in the Free World.” At an age when most men are chasing kids off their lawn and complaining about their prostate, he continues to rock – hard.
Earlier this year he took to the Studio in the Clouds in Telluride, Colorado to record his new album, titled Colorado which will be in stores on October 25. This documentary was recorded mainly on Go Pro cameras placed strategically around the studio, interspersed with time lapse photography of the gorgeous Rocky Mountain scenery outside.
We hear the songs take shape and to be honest, they are as good as anything Young has ever done. At 73 years old, you’d think he would be ready to hang up his Les Paul but he clearly still has a lot to say, such as on the single “Rainbow of Colors” in which he decries the Trumpian suspicion of immigrants both legal and otherwise.
There are also some instances where both Young and his producer/engineer John Hanlon rant about the monitors and the studio wiring – at one point Young threatened to pull the plug on the project. Still, the occasional tantrum aside, the bond between Young and his bandmates is almost terrifying in how on the same page they are. Even Lofgren, a relative newcomer to the band and the only member under 70 years old, harmonize beautifully and seem to understand instinctively what Young is trying to accomplish.
The film, directed by Young himself under a nom de cinema is unlikely to win new converts to his cause. Those that love the music of the master – who is no longer an aging hippie but an aged one – are going to eat this up like candy. Nor is Young planning on slowing down on the film projects; he reportedly has 15 of them lined up, including the editing of footage documenting the recording of the iconic 1971 album Harvest as well as concert films from throughout his career.
The movie is playing in theaters just today (October 22, 2019) in locations around the country – check your local listings for the one nearest y,ou. Here in Orlando, trek on down to the Enzian for a 9:30pm screening. If you’re a Neil Young fan, you won’t want to miss it on the big screen.
REASONS TO SEE: If you’re into Neil Young, you’ll be into this.
REASONS TO AVOID: If you’re not into Neil Young, you won’t be into this.
FAMILY VALUES: There is a fair amount of profanity.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: The film explores the recording of the first studio album in seven years by Neil Young and Crazy Horse.
CRITICAL MASS: As of 10/22/19: Rotten Tomatoes: No score yet: Metacritic: No score yet.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Western Stars
FINAL RATING: 6.5/10
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