Neil Young Is a Crazy Whore (or Paul McCartney Sucks): Greendale Review by Clive H. Yentikoff, Jr. aka Joe Hasan       Usually, when I am told that a legendary classic rocker is about to unleash a concept album/movie/tour upon the world, I cringe and let out a frustrated scream of "DAMN YOU, PAUL MCCARTNEY, WHY WON'T YOU STOP?!’" Honestly, who else would have the nerve to do something so pretentious? Neil Young. (Sigh of relief), that was a close one. You see, regardless of how overbloated a multimedia blitzkrieg may sound, one can rest assured that Young is conducting one in order to convey something that is worth hearing, seeing and attending (evidence- the last 38 years, and if that's too broad, 1979's Rust Never Sleeps. Rather than to show the world, "Look at how creative I can be, here's a scene where Ringo and Linda's boat is sunk by a raging waterfall within the bigger storyline of a search for my missing master tapes! Am I a Knight yet???'" (have you SEEN Give My Regards To Broad Street?!).

       Such is the case with Greendale, an album/film/concert that Young began to unleash upon the public last year. It's a ten-song tale of a small town where skeletons are dragged out of the closet and wounds are opened when double-tragedy happens upon the Green family, only to be healed when redemption is found in the energy of the family's 18 year-old activist daughter. Throughout all three components of Greendale runs a thread of distrust of those that run things in society . . . yes, I know that it is not the most cliche-free or original plot that has come along to date. But, Greendale succeeds in two areas (at least)- the medium through which it is told (damn good music) and the straight-laced earnestness of the way in which it's told.

      Both were on display during Young's stint at Radio City Music Hall last March (the March 18th & 20th shows are referred to in this review). Young and his legendary backing band of five decades and counting, Crazy Horse, were able to add new emotional dimensions to an already emotional batch of songs (a fete that is more impressive considering that the group has had to stick to the same ten songs in the same sequence, for the first and bulkiest portion of all shows on this tour). Whether it was through the ”Ave Maria”-like reading of “Grandpa's Interview” or the bitter venom injected into the voice of the Widow Carmichael in “Carmichael,” Young's performance was good enough to make his outstanding album sound quite dull.

      Meanwhile, Crazy Horse displayed how essential it was to this project- as the majority of Greendale’s track list is made up of three-chord compositions whose depth go far beyond “Louie Louie,” who would be better to perform it than a group that has made its name on being able to make a repetition of notes and “boom-boom-snares” sound soulful and interesting for thirty-five years? Young and the Horse sounded so good on the material, that one can only wonder why the full band line-up was not employed on the record (Frank 'Poncho' Sampedro played keyboards for the live set, but was excluded from the studio tracks)

      The songs were enhanced by Young's extensive between-song banter, consisting largely of plot clarification and reflections on his characters. Young's discourses were great for a couple of reasons; A) they offered more insight into the man's work than he usually allows- a major step for the guy who has let people bumble over the meanings of some of his most famous songs for years- and B) they provided a window for morons to heckle away, prompting Young's legendary acid-tongue to give them a lashing and show that it has not lost its edge with old age (example- the poor fool that did not see the word "Greendale" plastered all over the advertisements for the show and called out for “Southern Man” during an explanation of the Green family tree).

      The only thing that could have derailed the concert was its musical theater element- conducted behind, on the sides of and sometimes in front of the musicians by a troupe made up of Young's friends, family, a trusty guitar technician and extras. 'Could have' are the words to keep in mind, as for the most part, theatrics did little to take away from Young and the Horse's craft. Considering that the actors' only dialogue was 'spoken' when they mouthed along with Young's lyrics, his words and message were underlined rather than overcome by Broadway. And the really good high school drama program/really shitty college drama program scenery blended in seamlessly with the sounds (remember, "boom-boom-snare!'). The only times that the dramatic arts hindered Greendale were during the last two numbers, “Sun Green” and “Be The Rain.” Now, I understand that these songs are supposed to be about how the optimism and determination of youth can make the world a better place to live in, but if a change can only be brought about by a large number of Guarini-lookalikes, dancing TRL-style to Neil Young and Crazy Horse, we are all fucked.

      Maybe Young would have been better off by replacing the kids from Fame with more clips of his movie. Unless, the lack of movie clips was a way to get more people into the cineplex that weekend. In actuality, Young probably couldn't show much of it, as the stage show and film featured different actors for some characters. Still, it's not too much of a conspiracy theory- after all, the Radio City concerts and Greendale's one-week NYC run at the Landmark Sunshine Theatre coincided too well for it not to be a marketing scheme (We meet again, Sir Paul). It obviously worked like a charm on some of the audience- me, for one. I did not mind watching a music video set to a great album, though. I say music video rather than movie, not to de derisive of Young's visuals, but because it was closer to the former format- a bunch of footage (in this case, shot on Super-8) with the album playing over it. It just happened to be shown on a screen bigger than that of a television (the fact that MTV considers the 'Music' in its name best represented by a show that tells us what it is like to live in a sorority probably played a role in deciding where the visual Greendale would be seen).

      Like the stage show, the actors' dialogue was conveyed by Young's voice, their emotions expressed through gestures and the sound of a great rock and roll band. So, would it be wiser to just sit at home and listen to the record for the umpteenth time on headphones? Was it worth my ten dollars to see grainy figures miming out ten songs?

      Well, yes. For one, the medium of film allowed Young the freedom to let his story unravel more completely- the actors were not constricted by a lack of scenery this time around, but rather allowed to interact with real settings and locations. Seeing how quaint Young's “quaint little town” actually is lends more believability to Greendale. And although Young did a fine job of playing storyteller in his lyrics and stage-banter, there is only a certain amount you can do before the audience riots (some of those songs and most of the discussions were loooooong). The film allowed him to fit more details and plot twists within the text, closing up some holes that were left in the plot (for example, it is through the film that we find out why Earth Brown up-and-leaves Sun Green on their way to save Alaska and the rest of the environment- because the Devil walks into a bar and spikes his drink with something that makes him hallucinate, don't I feel dumb now for not getting something that, uh, obvious).

But above all, Greendale is worth seeing because . . . where else will you get to see Neil Young make a cameo as Wayne Newton, complete with bad hair piece, limousine and a dollar-sign gold chain around his neck? To be more accurate, the film is worth seeing and the project is worth experiencing in all of its forms, because it is, in Young's own words, 'an honest tale' told through simple and pure art. Young was not trying to saturate the market, in the hopes that he could add another few acres to the Broken Arrow ranch- if that were true, I would be reviewing the sequel to Rust Never Sleeps.

Click Here for the Trailer

     Young was not trying to saturate the market, in the hopes that he could add another few acres to the Broken Arrow ranch- if that were true, I would be reviewing the sequel to Rust Never Sleeps. He is just a guy who gets an idea and runs with it a bit further than some others would. For him to commit as much energy and time as he did for Greendale, you would think he would have to believe in what he was doing. As a result of that, his work comes off very well and without pretension.

The guy who created Magical Mystery Tour should take notice.