Customer Reviews

Shakey: Neil Young's Biography

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Who would have thought it, Neil Young an adult child of an alcoholic. Neil Young, who moved so often his roots were above the ground. Neil Young, the epeleptic with seizures who didn't know it. Neil Young, the lost soul looking for his mother in his relationships. Neil the loner, Neil the loadie. Neil, the father and husband of the decade, privately, heroically and futily being there for his kids. Moving on before someone passes him over, fatalistically alienating others without knowing it, yet giving back in so many ways. Living his life thru his songs, singing his life thru his music. Driven, ambitious and perfectionistic. So open and sharing in his music.

A dark and compelling story. Difficult to take in, yet hard to let go. Hard to believe it's Neil's. Can't put it down because it is Neil. A control freak out of control.

The book makes one appreciate his musical honesty and introspection even more as we learn of his troubled solitary torment.

As a diehard Neil Young fan, I was surprised by just how little I actually knew about what made the guy tick and where that all fit into his music. Young is, after all, one of the most experimental rock artists ever- with each album, you never know what you're going to get, be it acoustic folk, electric grunge, country, or, god help us, synth pop. Yet he's done it all and has no apologies about it. Neil Young drips integrity, as Jimmy McDonough obviously found out the hard way while doing his research and interviews. He portrays Young as human...rarely is the book done in a "Neil Young is god" style. McDonough criticizes, praises, and, most of all, doesn't pull any punches. Of course, the best parts of the book come from Neil Young himself, as his own interjections and interview excerpts pop up all over the place, almost to the point where you could call "Shakey" an autobiography. I found the book funny because it seems like everybody Young associates with is a complete lunatic: musicians, managers, producers, roadies...except for Young himself. He comes across as being the calm in the eye of the storm, whether the storm is working with Crosby, Stills and Nash or taking Crazy Horse on the road. Yet he's had his own ups and downs, from spastic children to the deaths of some of his musical cohorts. Yet Young comes across as both humble and unrepentant: "I've left a big wake of destruction behind me," he freely admits. "Shakey" is not only a salute to Neil Young's music and general artistry, but to his survival. When reading it, you know you're reading about the life of a real human being with absolutely no superstar persona. Funny, introspective and cantakerous all at the same time, or, as Graham Nash puts it when talking about the "Better to burn out than fade away" philosophy, "You get the idea Neil is really pissed that he's survived."

For Neil Young fans only. Read with patience.

McDonough deserves credit for researching Neil Young's life, particularly his early days. His early days in Canada are particularly revealing, showing how Neil's hard-driven personality propelled into great success.

McDonough also deserves credit for getting the always obscure Neil to be about as open as he gets. The interviews are at their best when Neil is describing events in the past. Neil is at times very candid about his failings in his personal life (two divorces) and in his professional life (over-producing "Mr. Soul").

Unfortunately, the book suffers on a few fronts.

First of all, it is poorly edited. The length of the book could have easily been cut 200 pages without much loss. Several times the book will describe events, then have length quotes from Neil exactly describing the same event.

Second, McDonough's status as a hard-core Neil Young fan makes some of his prose rather silly. His exhaltations of "Tonight's the Night" just seem silly. For Pete's sake, Jimmy, it's just Rock and Roll, not the second coming of Jesus.

Finally, the last 100 pages or so are really regrettable. McDonough inserts himself into the biography. Suddenly, it's Jimmy teaching Neil about Nirvana, Jimmy trying to save Neil from the evils of being a Lionel Trains Tycoon. Most annoying is McDonough's whining about Neil giving lots of interviews. Oh, boo hoo, Jimmy's interviews with Niel aren't that exclusive.

But, for a Neil Young fan, this book is indispensible. After reading this book, I have a better understanding of the folks in Neil's sometime backup band, "Crazy Horse". I understand more what is involved with producing an album, and what impact producer David Briggs had on Neil's work. I now know that Neil's unique sound is the result of an ancient guitar dubbed "Ol' Black".

I now have an idea of who Carrie Snodgrass is, although, to be honest, I think McDonough is very unfair with her, along with Neil's first wife. Neil himself seems to be more even-handed with his ex-wives. McDonough seems to hold any woman in who didn't put up with Neil's shenanigans in contempt.

Meredith Hunter, call home! Someone needs to tell him he wasn't killed by the Angels at Altamont afterall. Turns out it was James Meredith. At least, that's what the author of "Shakey" would have us believe.

He's also occasionally unsure of his dates,particularly in the area of album releases, saying it could be one year, or possibly another, depending on who you talk to. Checking with the record company or simply looking on the back of CD re-releases might have helped clear up any ambiguities.

Finally, the book is stocked with an uncomfortable amount of "I's", particularly in the final chapters. Mr. McDonough's accounts of challenging his subject ("getting in his face" in common parlance) for failing to meet the author's expectations and criteria for maintaining artistic credibility are tiresome, to say the least. Did Mr.McDonough do a bit of double-dipping and serve as his own editor? One can't help but wonder.

Though the book is not without its moments, Young and his fans deserve better.

This book is a fantastic insight into an enigmatic man. Neil Young provides quite a lot of replies to his own story through extensive interviews conducted by the author. This alone makes the book necessary for anyone "innarested" with Neil Young.
However, my beef is the author injecting his definitions of what is rock'n'roll. Far as I can tell Mr. Young is a multi-faceted musician first and a rock'n'roller second, much to the apparent distaste of McDonough as evidence by his awe of Young's backing band Crazy Horse and long time producer David Briggs.
Both Crazy Horse and Briggs live(d) on the edge of death through massive drug binging and the author's tone seems to be that perhaps Neil Young should have joined them instead of making the many varied songs that comprise a long lived career.
Hey Jimmy, I saw Neil on Leno a few weeks back..too bad for you, great for me!

To say that I enjoyed this "biography"of Neil Young would be sadly untruthful. While it held my interest, in a morbid way, I have come away from the subject matter wishing I had remained happily ignorant of. This is not a happy person we're dealing with. From self-doubt,to self-torture, a complete disregard for practically anyone that happens to cross his path,one can better understand Stephen Stills comment to his no-show at the RRHOF, "Neil did it to us--again."

Knowing Neil Young was loathe to have his story told, this is a book I never thought I would see. I was not able to put it down until I completed reading it. As a biographer myself, I know what McDonough went through to unearth the facts, interview people who would rather he hadn't, and most of all, get the cooperation of Neil himself. This has to be the first biography I have read where I thought to myself there was more information than I wanted. McDonough has written the most fascinating biography I have ever read. Yes, I could have done without some of the author's assessments, but hey - he earned the right. This book is so good and Neil Young's story so compelling, it's scary.

I've only read 2 books in my life, that I was completely unable to put down. Shakey and Helter Skelter. Though the 2 books are completely different, they were both totally fascinating. Ironically, Neil Young comes in contact with Charles Manson in his life time and the impact of Neil's visit with Manson is also interesting. Anyway, not only does the book show what an incredibly talented individual that Neil is, it also explains the extreme hardships that Neil had to endure in his lifetime. From his bout with polio as a child, his continual stuggles with epilipsy (ironically this condition seemed to add to some on Neil's great lyical works), and his children's stuggles with celebral palsey. What a wonderful individual. Even though I own most of Neil Young's works, I had to go out and purchase every CD that I did not have once I finished reading this book. I sure hope that he comes out with the "Archives" very soon. It appears to me that he has a tremendous amount of unreleased works that NEED to be heard. Pick up this book. You will not be disappointed! It's phenominal!

Shakey is a great read for anyone who is a die-hard Neil fan like me. It takes you through the years starting with Neil's childhood, how he got involved in R&R, and every band and collaboration along the way. Great quotes from the man himself throughout. My only issue with it, as a die-hard, is that there wasn't much info that was unknown..but that would be true only if you're a real Neil fan. Some great stories and just a great look at the man, the myth, the legend. Long live the "Rusties".

John Ford is oft quoted as saying, "Print the legend, not the facts." His point was not justification of a lie or a twisting of reality. It was to make the point that within the media environment, success was often made more certain by appealing to the cultural self-image of the target population.

Success is, of course, being defined here as sale of the product. In Ford's case it was the motion picture AND its use to foster the clean cut American image of The Western Hero.

This Neil Young song title is used as the segue into my comments about 'Shakey', because Jimmy McDonough may just be guilty as done that with the cooperation of one of the more enigmatic legends in rock.

This large (some 600 pages) biography is a skillful combination of a massive give-and-take conversation with Neil, that is interspersed within the basic biographical text format. It is without a doubt one of the best structured books I have read in the recent past. It is also chock full of a richness in detail that makes this book so much more than any of the other 'search and destroy' bios on Young that have been published of late. I would think the the subject's cooperation permitted McDonough access to many, many of Young's family, friends, associates, and enemies.

But, why did Neil Young cooperate? McDonough lays no claim to a special relationship with the man. In fact, he seems himself to be a tad bemused by the whole situation. It gave me pause to wonder - cynical scorpio that I am (as is Mr. Young) - that Mr Bernard Shakey might have been having McDonough and the rest us on with some of his musings.

Or maybe, as I have also pondered since the issue of 'Sleeps with Angels', is Neil Young weary? Has he grown tired of being the cantankerous individual he is? It's a lot of work to be that strong-willed. To paraphrase Young, maybe he's decided to swerve out of the ditch and drive down the middle of the road again for a while.

And, as the story runs down sometime in 1998/1999, it may be the case that Young lost interest in the project. This trait does occur with the man's music, so why not with his bographer.

So, what do we have here? We have a story of a musician who has maintained his independence despite the financial and professional repercussions. The story fits what most Neil Young fans - fanantics, running-dogs, casual; what have you - want to believe about him. It is presented with a level of personal detail that we seek to know about our heroes and villians.

Who cares how much is true and how much is false?

Print the legend, not the facts.