Neil also describes the days when the band hauled their equipment around in an old hearse. "It was made for us," he says, "it had rollers in the back, so you could roll the amps in and out." In another rarely seen clip from Neil's experimental film Human Highway, he jams with Devo on an early version of what eventually became the song "My My, Hey Hey (Into The Black)."
The film also serves as a career examination of Neil Young, through both his commercial peaks (Harvest, Rust Never Sleeps) and more experimental lows (Trans, Everybody"s Rocking). What emerges from this is a portrait of an artist who simply refuses to compromise his artistic muse, even when it means damaging personal relationships or confounding both his record company and his fans.
"I only care about the music," Neil Young explains at one point. "It's sad, because sometimes people get damaged by it."
Neil Young - Don't Be Denied is about as personal and eye-opening a look into the career of this legendary artist as any I've ever seen. Produced for PBS American Masters series by THIRTEEN and WNET.org and directed by Ben Whalley, it premieres on PBS stations on June 10. Check local listings.
Article comments
1 - tink
I was looking forward to this before reading your review and had already set it up on the DVR. Now, I'm drooling for it to record.
Interesting to me that you make mention of the hearse from Neil's early days. I was reading something just a day or so ago about it as well. Seems the vehicle made it down to California when Neil made his trip. According to what I'd read, Steven Stills recognized it while driving down the Sunset Strip one day and turned around to catch up with him. Word has that incident being instrumental in Neil joining Buffalo Springfield.
Thanks for the thumbs up on just how cool this program is!
2 - Bliffle
PBS has many very good live programs of popular and rock music. It seems to have become a speciality of PBS. Usually the sound and video are vastly superior to what you would hear and see on the commercial channels.
Around here we call him "Mister Young", in respect of his very generous contributions of valuable lands to the Open Space District.
3 - rainbow
according to the program guide, this special was scheduled to air on Wednesday evening June 10. But it was not on. The PBS web page that night said it was CANCELLED, not postponed, CANCELLED. Anyone from the California Bay Area able to see the show that night? any idea what happened?