Customer Reviews

Neil Young Heart of Gold

5 star:		(164)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In the summer of '05, Neil Young, having just survived a close call with a brain aneurysm, performed two concerts at Nashville's famed Ryman Auditorium. Documented here, the concerts premiered Young's most recent, and critically acclaimed release, Prairie Wind, followed by many classics from the gentler compartment of his massive, magnificent catalog. From the opening interview snippets to the final scene of Neil Young alone on stage, Jonathan Demme, as one would expect, has created a masterpiece, a film suitable to its subject. No two-second ADD camera work here, this wonderful film was shot with the same grace, intelligence and intimacy as the music Young and his friends--including Emmylou Harris!--perform. I saw this film four times while it was in town, and now I can't wait for the DVD release. Don't miss this (literally) glowing tribute to one of rock/blues/folk/country's genuine icons.

When I heard this was being done with Jonathon Demme, I knew it was going to be outstanding. Neil surrounds himself with Pegi, Spooner, Ben, Emmylou, and other old friends. He plays Hank Sr's guitar, which hasn't graced the stage of the Ryman since 1951. They run through most of the songs on Prairie Wind, and Neil gives very personal reasons for writing some of them...I'm not going to spoil that for anyone reading here. After that, they do some older material: I am a Child, Harvest Moon, Old Man, Needle & the Damage Done, Old King, 4 Strong Winds, and an incredible One of These Days. I probably missed a song or 2, and then...the lights go down, and it's just Neil on the stage, no crowd, no bandmates, playing The Old Laughing Lady thru the credits. Was the whole show just a dream of Neil's? Thank you Mr. Demme.

NEIL YOUNG--HEART OF GOLD THE MOVIE:
THIS RELEASE IS ONE OF HIS BEST.
Neil Young has always been a conumdrum; part genius, part guitar hack, part poet, part flack. He has played many roles;a Canadian-born singer songwriter, child of the late fifties, darling of the sixties and spokesman for the seventies. Then later, Reagan supporter in the eighties and grandfather to American grundge in the nineties. Now in the twilight of his career, Neil Young remains one of a handful of voices that can generate industry-wide attention just by releasing a new cd or heading out on tour. He has produced some of the most memorable and occassionally the most forgettable music in popular culture. So while it's no surprise that diehard fans continue to line up whenever the venerable rocker releases new material, many others check in sporadically to see what the old man is up to.
Well,diehards and estranged fans alike should be ecstatic. And they should check out Young and a cast of nearly forty as Jonathan Demme's Heart of Gold captures the singer-songwriter in at one of the most pleasing sonic moments of his four decade career.

This is Young at his best, backed by a host of top level players including Ben Keith, Tim Drummond, and Spooner Oldham, among others. These are all veteran musicians that Young has collaborated with several times over the years, most notably during his Harvest session and during his occasional reprises to that genre which produced Harvest Moon, Silver and Gold, and the recent Prarie Wind. Here under the watchful but never intrusive eye of award winning filmmaking Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lamb, Philadelphia, Stop Makin Sense)Young plays the part of a gracious host, welcoming his compadres and his audience alike to bask in the glow of nearly thirty songs from his prodigious catalog. The setting is appropriate-- Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, once the heart of country music and still one of its most nutritious arteries. As celestial light shines through the stained-glass windows of the sacred hall, Young and his castmates glide through almost the entirety of his recent release Prairie Wind, along with acoustic gems such as Old Man, I Am A Child, Harvest Moon, Four Strong Winds, Comes A Time, and of course the title track Heart of Gold.

Young has never sounded so good or so relaxed. He should be so satisfied.

With the recording of this series of concerts coming so soon after his subject had recovered from surgery to repair an aneurysm,Jonathan Demme has captured the artist at his most reflective. Youngs songs stand as testimonials to his family, his friends, and perhaps even his fans, many of whom have entered into middle age along with the singer. The sound is incredible --largely acoustic and there is so much of it. The voices soar toward to the heavens but thank God Demme was able to capture the waves before they sailed out into the Nashville night and onto the prairies.
Young has never cottoned to categories or to cliches. His reunions with country music have always been his most commercially successful, which for Young often meant they were shortlived, the better to move away from quickly lest he be bored or repeat himself.
Still, Heart of Gold records for all history or at least for anyone that calls themself a Neil Young fan that sometime during the last half of the twentieth century and early into the next one, there was a singer-songwriter who loved Hank Williams, loved his family, and loved to play sweet,haunting, celebrations and salutations of life and love. His name was Neil Young and he did it right.

because that is what this is - some top notch musicians who have played together for years - practising their craft. The old timers just stand and play, no histrionics, not leaping around the stage - they just play - and they play WELL. Everyone looks so relaxed that at times it appears they are almost not doing anything - but the sound is superb and the band so tight it sounds like this came out the studio.

It is a meausure of how well everyone plays together that Emmylou Harris - no mean performer herself - can be seen watching Neil's chords like a hawk while she duo's (extremely successfully) on her guitar alongside. The rest of the guys - they don't need to look - they just play. Watch for the pan down a line of 6 guitars in a row as all the fingers move together through the chord sequences and the occassional gently angled shot to give a laid back, guitar to the fore look.

Think of this concert as a sort of "MTV Unplugged" (but plugged in) piece in terms of people sitting down and just playing together. Only WAY better.

Sharp hats Neil.....

It's on my wishlist for release day.

If you like Neil Young, I think you'll love this film. Neil's getting older, but he hasn't lost a thing. If anything he's better then ever.

I'm over 55 now and my wife and I have listened to Neil's words and music for over 30 years now. My wife Pat and I got interested in Neil's stuff in '71 before we got married. I brought "After The Gold Rush" when it came out in vinyl. I actually got hooked on Neil when he came out with "Everybody Know This Is Nowhere" which came out a few years earlier.

The movie was rated by the "Baltimore Sun" with an A+. The reviewer talked about the technical details of the film. I don't know nothing about that. I just thoroughly enjoyed the movie and recommend it to any Neil Young fan.

Be careful. The movie might break you heart!

There is a lot to recommend this film - Young's best music in a very long time, the twin passionate motivators of his father's passing from dementia and his own brush with an aneurism, the brilliant musicianship of all the support players, and perhaps most importantly, Emmylou Harris. (hopefully there will be some additional material on the dvd)I can't think of any better pairing in music than these two, and it has always been that way. More so than with CSN, CH, whatever garbanzo group he cobblers together, the moment he and Harris collaborate, whatever the song, it takes on a majesty that is unsurpassed in my ears. In all honesty, in this film, Harris is riveting. It is as much her film, in a supporting role, as it is Young's, and that is without attempting to grandstand. It is the pairing that does it.
The first half of the film is devoted to PRAIRIE WIND, its recording and presentation on stage. Demme delivers as impressive a tableaux for Neil as he did for Talking Heads. You'd forget altogether the coked stumble bum of THE LAST WALTZ, or even the crazed Dylan uber-fan from the Zimmerman tribute. Demme gets up close with Neil and lets his sardonnic humour shine through. To Young's credit, he knows the camera is there and slyly mocks it, and the whole genre of concert footage. At the opening he explains he never asks for any particular musicians and just goes with the flow of who is assembled. Then all of the supporting players tell how he has explicitly asked for them. It is just a perfect example of an extraordinarily dry wit who, as he explains in the background of the story about Louis Avila, "I'm just lucky, I guess."
The second half of the film reminds you just how powerful his country-folk-rock material is, be it the incredible take on "Four Strong Winds" (any Canadian kid worth his salt knows this better than O Canada), the aforementioned "Old Man," the acknowledgement to Nicollete Larsen with "Lotta Love," or the show stopping tour de force song to his dog with Emmylou matching him rif for rif and harmonizing like her life depended on it. The instensity of these two locked in on this song especially, but in nearly every song she's featured in, takes this concert to a place almost no other Neil Young concert I have ever seen reaches. There is a point in STOP MAKING SENSE where you wonder can the band can be any more incendiary than it is. You'll hit that same point with Young's canine ode. In fairness, everyone in the band is on fire by that point, it's just that Harris and Young take this terrific tune to the temple of the gods and offer it up to Music itself. The audience in the movie theatre stood and applauded.
The film ends with a solo, empty theatre version of "The Old Laughing Lady." And that profoundly reminds you why Young put both this concert and this record together. This early metaphor of death haunts the screen as Young packs up and walks off the stage, his boots knocking on the Nashville floor, his face clearly brooding, tryin to remember what Daddy said...

I've never been a big Neil Young fan and I went to this movie with an expectation that it would be OK but nothing special. I was pleasantly surprised. The songs are touching and tuneful, Young himself is pleasant and amusing, and the back-up players have a time-worn character -- as does Young -- which appeal to my aging self. I loved the fact that the players all had instuments that seemed as old and beat up as they are.

Young takes the stage at the Rhyman theater, the old home of the Grand Ol' Opry in Nashville. He displays the proper amount of reverence for the place and plays a guitar once owned by Hank Williams. He's got a whole crowd assisting including a Black church choir, three horn players, and half a dozen backup singers, including Emmylou Harris whose crystaline soprano could make a wildcat wailing on the back fence sound better. On some of the songs it's just him and his guitar.

The emphasis is on country, reflective songs played on traditional acoustic instuments. There's little dialogue except for an brief introduction in which other players talk about Young. So, it's all music, filmed and recorded artfully as a visual record of an important composer/singer.

Smallchief

I am an old time Neil Young fan, and own all his LPs, CDs and DVDs. I pre-ordered Heart of Gold from Amazon and received it on Monday (one day before the official release date). I listened to it as soon as I got home from work and listened to again late that night. It is the best Neil Young DVD yet and maybe the best performance by him I have ever heard. Maybe we are both getting old, but I was really touched by the way he and his longtime friends just came out and played and sang like they were really enjoying themselves. No arrogant, loud mouth rockstars here. The music was softer, smoother and more touching than any of his previous work. I had assumed that this would be a DVD version of his recent Prarie Wind CD, but it wasn't. A lot of the songs were the same, but he also played a lot of old stuff that I love, like "Heart of Gold" and "Old Man". The most beautiful piece on the DVD is the old folk song "Four Strong Winds" with all the guest musicians on stage harmonizing and at least a dozen acoustic guitars all playing together. The cinematography was excellent and you could tell this was being directed by a pro, Johnathn Demme. If you are a Neil Young fan, you must have this and will love it. If you are not a Neil Young fan, watch this and you will be.

PS: The DTS soundtrack is incredible and if do not have a DTS surround sound system, get one. It would be worth it just for this one DVD.

The movie is still doing a limited cinema season in Australia and is not listed for release here on DVD until mid August...have been twice to the cinema, once with a very good friend, and a couple of weeks later with my wife.

There is no doubt to me that this movie is (at least) 5 stars......I felt more emotion from this movie than most.

A young lady on a local Movie Show was disappointed that the movie did not reveal more on Neil Young's life......comment was the movie was only of a concert and comparison was made to Martin Scorsese's film on Bob Dylan.....

I think Heart of Gold revealed much about Neil Young's life... life, death, family, friends, childhood, illness etc...... it's a shame that the young lady missed all that.

The movie is so lovingly filmed and Neil Young is in the best of form, and looked great after an obviously trying year... the supporting cast was also outstanding....

The Painter, No Wonder, Falling from the Face of the Earth, Only a Dream, He for You, This Old Guitar......man, what great emotional songs......tears in my eyes at times...so much genuine love and passion....and the two songs less enjoyable for me on the album, Far from Home and the title track were seen from a new perspective and very enjoyable....

From Prairie Wind to some of the better known acoustic songs, Old Man, Comes a Time etc.....hey, what can you say......and the closing song....not a noise in the cinema......everyone was absolutely spellbound...

This is a rare movie worth watching many times...the movie does express the richness of life....

I think that Neil Young is one of the finest artists that I know. I grew up really liking his music and following his every move. He has tremendous amount of push. He has been sick and came up with this beautiful Heart of Gold film. I saw the movie and I cried when I found out it had moved on. I ordered the dvd which is to be released next month. He is the same Neil Young that I saw when he played and sang in The Last Waltz with The Band. (I have that concert too) I watch it at least once a week to get my spirits uplifted. That was a great concert too. I love to hear his beautiful, meaningful, music. Every song has a story. This has been such an inspiration to me that I cannot explain, only it was wonderful and the music is to pure that I cry during each session.

I hope I can find his schedule and more than likely, I will go. Thank you and God Bless the Young Family and Friends and Team.

Joann Dietenbeck
Los Alamitos, California