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Shakey - Neil Young Biography. Neil Young News. Read excerpts of "Shakey" Biography. The "authorized" biography's publication resulted in a lawsuit filed by none other than Neil himself. The lengthy publication delay and the surrounding controversy are just another chapter in the unpredictability of Neil. In an article on SlateMarc Weingarten writes on the "Shakey" lawsuit: "Shakey is a curious hybrid: part hagiography, part laundry list of perfidy. As the book makes abundantly clear, Young has always been at war with his own impulses. He's a ferociously ambitious artist who lives capriciously. He started out as a frail, polio-stricken fan of Little Richard and the Shadows' Hank Marvin living in a rural Canadian outpost where American records were hard to come by. His father was a popular journalist, his mother a tough- love matriarch. They divorced, and Young drifted into bands, but with his own interests at heart: He insisted that his first professional band, the Squires, rename itself 'Neil Young and the Squires' when they started gigging. I didn't want some watered-down flowery version of who I am - that's nothing but a self-serving piece of shit. Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography rather than let anything happen officially, I should have just let people do whatever they wanted to do. That was a mistake, but I'll live with it. I Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography it coming out because I wanted it delayed until after my daughter turned 18, and I managed to delay it for a couple of years, so I did OK. Only a real Rustie will feel the emotional peaks of the book: reaching for the Kleenex when original Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten loses to the big H, laughing at the intricacies of David Geffen's Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography declaring Neil wasn't making 'Neil Young music,' humming along as McDonough describes the recording of obscurities like 'Ambulance Blues. Graham Nash comes off the best of the trio, but still a bit of a poncy hack. David Crosby goes from being Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography self- proclaimed 'King of the Hippies' and wearing a cape around L. Stephen Stills snorts away his talent with an Antarctic amount of coke, to the point of dressing like a soldier and reminiscing about false Vietnam memories. Sadly, the book's narrative cuts out inleaving unanswered why Neil recently chose to rejoin this traveling fat farm for an aggravating duo of tours and a worthless new album. One of the things Young aced in Dylan's class -- I'd bump him up to an A- by the way -- is how to harvest an air of mystery. But sometimes he can appear less integrated and more genuinely divided against himself than people think. The utopian-anarchic ''schizophrenia'' Young's word of his music reveals both a Spontaneous Neil and a Control-Freak Neil, each real and each peering over the other's shoulder, each trying to correct the other's misjudgments, each averting the other from perceived disaster. There is no better example of this than the recent misadventures of Young's authorized biographer. After signing a contract with both Young and Random House, Jimmy McDonough, a journalist, spent eight years writing, researching and interviewing more than people, all with Young's cooperation. But when McDonough delivered Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography manuscript at the end ofYoung Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography -- according to the publisher -- sabotaged'' the book by withholding his approval of it, and Random House dropped the biography. From Flak Magazine review by Bob Cook : "In the strong first part of the book, writing about Young from his birth in until the time he released his harrowing Tonight's The Night inMcDonough gets as close as anybody can to deconstructing a man and a musician that even his closest compadres haven't been able to figure out. But in covering the years afterMcDonough and his experiences with Young come to the fore. That flaw is what turns "Shakey" from a possibly definitive music biography, like Peter Guralnick's two-volume Elvis Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography, into merely a decent read. McDonough spent a decade writing his semi-authorized tome, the first three years just trying to get Young to talk. Even then it was like meeting Brando's Kurtz in a cave at the end of Apocalypse Now. McDonough, 42, has taken the trip upriver for every journalist who ever had a notion to interview Neil, and after reading the exhaustive results, I can only say better him than me. All you have to do is listen to the music, and feel. Who else communicates what it's like to be lonely, or to suffer a broken heart, as powerfully as Neil Young in one of his sad songs? Who else can make electric guitar sound so raw, so brutal, so ruthless? When we listen to Young's music we hear his vulnerability. We hear a man who is fragile and sensitive. We also hear a man who admits that he's blown it, again and again. Who Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography would record Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography song called 'Fuckin' Up'? Young's music is about more than that, of course. Over the years, hundreds of thousands of words have been written about him and his songs. But for me, Young's music is mostly about that ache, that pain you feel when love is gone, when you're Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography alone, when you're down and it all seems quite hopeless. We learn that McDonough, in an Indianapolis head shop, stared 'forever' at the cover of Young's album Zuma on the day of its release in We learn that after seeing Young perform 'Like a Hurricane' on a TV special in — 'I'll tell ya, it looked real' — McDonough and a girl 'I was obsessed with' were inspired to hop in a Grand Prix and '[blast] down the highway, headed for a cheap motel. It might as well be me. From Human Highway. Review - Shakey: Neil Young's Biography" by Jimmy McDonough - The story of the "Godfather of Grunge" is a tale of sickness, health, overweening ego, spectacular talent and reckless abandon. Excerpt from book with interview with Elliot RobertsNeil Young's manager. This is where Jimmy and Neil first meet up. Neil Young Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography Reviews. - Shakey Neil Young's Biography by James McDonough

Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — Shakey by Jimmy McDonough. He has never granted a writer access to his inner life — until now. Jimmy McDonough follows Young from his childhood in Canada to his Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography of Buffalo Springfield to the huge success of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young to his comeback in the nineties. Filled with never-before-published words directly from the artist himself, Shakey is Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography essential addition to the top shelf of rock biographies. Get A Copy. Paperbackpages. Published May 13th by Anchor first published May 1st More Details Original Title. Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography Editions Friend Reviews. To see what Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Shakeyplease sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography details. More filters. Sort order. Start your review of Shakey: Neil Young's Biography. Pretty inneresting stuff y'know - heh heh heh Perhaps in an ironic way, the book itself is a literary epitome and reflection of Young's music: it's way too long, has its own ups and downs, mostly repetitive and raises questions Pretty inneresting stuff y'know - heh heh heh Perhaps in an ironic way, the book itself is a literary epitome and reflection of Young's music: it's way too long, has its own ups and downs, mostly repetitive and raises questions more than it answers. Reading this book fifteen years after its publishing, with the hindsight about everything that has changed in Young's life including his recent separation with Pegi, the love of his life during the writing of the book and knowing that he has recorded fifteen more albums since then almost equal to the studio catalog discussed in this book only adds up to the impenetrable, mysterious character of Young - whom I finally had the chance of seeing live onwith his band of misfits Crazy Horse. Up until that time Neil Young was my musical hero, and I guess he still is even though some of the things about him that were unbeknownst to me like his support for Reagan or his comments on gay community during his full "redneck" period frustrated and disappointed me to a great extent. But overall impression of the book, and the message that it conveys providing it has one Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography, is Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography anger and resentment towards Neil would be redundant as you will never know which Neil Young is the real one as he is capable of changing constantly and shifting from one character to another to the detriment of people who are close to him. So, even though this might be the only book that will ever come close to revealing the true nature of Young - since nobody will ever show the patience author Jimmy McDonough has displayed with Young's twist and turns - it still falls short in terms of "peeling the onion" of Neil Young. Fully aware of his Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography and shortcomings, even McDonough finds it reasonable to plea Bob Dylan, who is as enigmatic and tough as Neil Young, to solve the mystery. Not that Neil Young consciously tries to make it harder. You can see during the transcript of his interviews that he really tries hard to Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography his soul and that it takes its toll on him. It must be difficult for him that his line "it's better to burn out than to fade away", featured in his mega-hit "My My, Hey Hey" and, ironically, in Kurt Cobain's suicide note, still taunts him today - giving that he remains the only survivor in a cut-throat business who claimed lives much younger than his. InYoung still goes on strong, releasing new stuff almost at the pace of Buckethead. And I am glad that he is because I know I will be heartbroken like never before when he is gone. I could have gone forever on Neil Young and his music but at this point I would like to share some notes on the book itself for future readers. Roland Barthes once said "If one looks at the normal practice of music criticism or, which is often the same thing, of conversations 'on' music it can readily be seen that a work or its performance is only ever Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography into the poorest of linguistic categories: the adjective", Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography I tend to agree. It was personally annoying whenever I saw the author strived to characterise an inconsequential Neil Young performance and inserted his subjective opinions on Neil Young's work. I mean, how can one really downplay the music on Harvest. I understand that after listening to all these bootlegs from long-forgotten shows at somewhere in Midwest in sometime, makes one feel compelled to comment on them but you have to distinguish between being a rock critic and writing on Spin magazine and writing and interpreting an actual, objective autobiographical data. I don't care how the author and other rock critic cronies like Richard Meltzer feel about the state of rock in late-nineties and how they feel Neil Young tanked this album or how they put down Pearl Jam - and, frankly, it comes across little pretentious and arrogant, like Pearl Jam is phony but they are the real deal. I would much rather read ten chapters like the one on Young's model-train hobby than reading Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography word about how Young's performance on one song was terrible because the former actually pertains to the actual life of Young and not about a live song he didn't even released. Having said that a segway a-la-Jerry Seinfeldauthor McDonough's research on Young's life is impeccable. He had talked with every person that had been close to Young at some time or another and he discussed every theme imaginable to bring both the best and worst of Neil Young. And it was quite nice that this project went hand-in-hand with Joel Bernstein's Archives effort because both projects celebrate the good times and bad Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography of Young's life without leaving anything out in two different mediums. Yet, whether you listen to him on tape or read on a book, Neil Young continues to remain as a mystery. A mystery that is better left unraveled as Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography is the driving force and modus operandi of Young's art. View 1 comment. Jul 16, Bill rated it really liked it. I'd started out with this in a state of exhilaration, and found myself carrying it in airports, reading it in cabs and generally just gripped by Young's story, but it began to fade for me, just like Young's music can. There was a stretch in his career when I found that every side he laid down was essential stuff, then, like Dylan, he went through a prolonged drought, then he bounced back, and was essential again. Some time ago six years ago, thereabouts I cracked that if we were going to have I'd started out with this in a state of exhilaration, and found myself carrying it in airports, reading it in cabs and generally just gripped by Young's story, but it began to fade for me, just like Young's music can. Some time ago six years ago, thereabouts I cracked that if we were going to have a Bush in the White House we could take consolation in the fact that at least we'd get some decent music out of Neil Young-- unfortunately it hasn't happened Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography. I was surprised at how much I knew about Young, and how much I'd known but forgotten. Part of the initial rush of the book came from seeing this enigmatic figure come into focus-- and part of the letdown came from the fact that once he is in focus, it is clear that he is really kind of a jerk. In fairness to Young, McDonough's portrait injects a great deal of McDonough into the process, and McDonough seems pretty burnt out about Neil Young by the time Young is into his fourth or Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography renaissance. At first McDonough's strategy of injecting himself into the narrative seems brilliant. He often starts chapters about a portion of Young's life off by describing his contemporary impression of some person who was important to Young at some time in the past. He then weaves that individual's recollection into a narrative that also includes excerpts from his interviews with Young conducted over the course of the project, other third party accounts, and omniscient narrative drawn from other sources. This works well for a while, but gradually McDonough becomes a more and more important character, and we find that we are reading more about McDonough's impressions of a particular gig or recording than we are about anyone else. Since these impressions are frequently negative, Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography appeal of reading them pales pretty quickly. Another problem is Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography quite a few people who you'd think would be important to talk to declined to be interviewed. Bob Dylan might or might not have something interesting to say. Stephen Stills would certainly. Robbie Robertson. John Lyndon. Young's wife Pegi is virtually absent-- McDonough cites her desire for privacy, Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography moves on, and we are left with a void. David Geffen is not heard from. McDonough provides a list of these and others, and probably anyone who is interested enough in the subject could supplement the list themselves. Where's Bill Graham, for example? Not too many people come off well. Nils Lofgren does, which makes the absence of his Spindizzy catalogue from print feel all the more painful. My copies reside in the Antipodes, except for Nils' final Grin album, "Gone Crazy", recorded at about the same time as "Tonight's the Night" and concerning more or less the same Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography. Stills comes off badly, hardly a surprise. David Crosby is not particularly vivid-- I get the sense that he was pretty strung out when most of this was written, but it is just as likely that he is a self-absorbed jerk. Graham Nash is a wimp-- but that is hardly stop the Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography stuff. Jack Nitzsche seems distant and dangerous, also hardly a surprise. Young's first wife, Carrie Snodgrass, who died last year Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography off as a sad case-- a bright, talented and attractive person who got sucked into the worst of the Sixties. Young divorced her because he felt she was unfaithful, she denies it, weakly, Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography Young's infidelities are glossed over- - hey, that's rock'n'roll, baby. Similarly, the incredible amount Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography drug use is just staggering. It is not glamorized, particularly, but it is plain that the drugs Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography their toll on everyone. Norman Mailer talks about how drugs affected his creative process in "Advertisements for Myself" in a knowing way, essentially concluding that drug use is borrowing from the future at a high rate of interest. It isn't hard to conclude that Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography same conclusion can be drawn with Young, but McDonough doesn't draw it-- or any other real conclusion, for that matter. Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography, how a book like this can exist without even a stab at a discography is a mystery. For that matter, very little effort is put into noting what the critical response to particular albums was, which would have been interesting. Jun Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography, Paul Lyons rated it it was amazing Shelves: favorites. Jimmy McDonough does an amazing job going through the ups and downs of a very complicated and unpredictable artist. A good book enthralls you with it's story, while a great book truly inspires you My understanding and appreciation of Young's music is now not only enhanced, but ingrained in my system. Shakey: Neil Young's Biography by Jimmy McDonough - PopMatters

October 21, Biblio is open and shipping orders. Read more here. Neil Young is one of rock and roll's most important and enigmatic figures, a legend from the sixties who is still hugely influential today. He has never granted a writer access to his inner life -- until now. Based on six years of interviews with more than three hundred of Young's associates, and on more than fifty hours of interviews with Young himself, Shakey is a fascinating, prodigious account of the singer's life and career. Jimmy Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography follows Young from his childhood in Canada to his cofounding of Buffalo Springfield to the huge success of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young to his comeback in the nineties. Filled with never-before-published words directly from the artist himself, Shakey is an essential addition to the top shelf of rock biographies. From the Trade Paperback edition. Try adding this search to your want list. Millions of books are added to our site everyday and when we find one that matches your search, we'll send you an e-mail. Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography of all, it's free. Did you know that sinceBiblio has used its profits to Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography 16 public libraries in rural villages of South America? More search options. Used acceptable hardcover. Seller rating : This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers. Show Details Description:. Add to cart Buy Now Item Price. Stock Photo. Used hardcover. Vinnie's Charitable Books. Seller rating : This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers. Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography World Books. Montclair Book Center. Used good hardcover. Seller rating : This seller has earned a 2 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers. Wonder Book. Seller rating : This seller has earned a 3 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers. Used Hardcover First. A Quiet Corner For Books. Used very good hardcover First. Twice Sold Tales. Used very good paperback. World of Books Ltd. Used hardcover First. Rare Book Cellar. Used good. Books Express. Didn't find what you're looking for? Add to want list. Are you a frequent reader or book collector? Learn More. Shakey: Neil Youngs Biography Responsibility Did you know that sinceBiblio has used its profits to build 16 public libraries in rural villages of South America?