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NEIL YOUNG Debuts New 'Musical Novel' GREENDALE

By Robert E. Martin

Neil Young

Neil Young has staked the unorthodox high moral ground of Rock 'n
Roll for nearly four decades now, and at the age of 58 he shows no signs of
weakening in terms of artistic vision.

Proof attesting to how gutsy an artist he is was witnessed during the
latest outing at DTE Music Theatre on June 22nd  with perennial back-up
band Crazy Horse.

Young refrained from performing any of the 'hits' audiences have grown to
know & love, opting instead to focus upon his latest vision - previewing
his new 'musical novel', Greendale, which arrives in stores in both CD and
DVD versions in Mid-August, in it's entirety.

Based upon a fictional town inhabited by the Green family, the set opened
with Neil and the band framed by large stage props of the Green family
ranch, smoke billowing from the chimney, and a paper boy tossing copies of
the Greendale Press out to audience members in the first few rows.

As it progressed, a troupe of over 20 actors representing each 'character'
would lip-sync lyrics as the band performed the 12-song cycle, Neil firmly
grounded center stage while wearing a 'Greendale High' T-shirt.

The 100-minute production was elaborate and as good as anything you'll see
on Broadway, yet rarely did the activity of the actors or stage props get
in the way of the lyrical poignancy & musical power of his new material.

Before considering Greendale, it is important to turn to the body of
material that represents Young's long & illustrious career. Probing
everything from introspective ballads to guitar feedback and anthems,
Young's music has always shared the common denominator of respect for the
voice of individual trials & tribulations, fueled by outrage, anger,
cynicism and resignation to the corrupt political winds that have shaped
our times.

And the brilliance of Greendale is that it ties all of these themes &
elements into a tight yet sprawling package of circumstance.
As for the basic 'story', we have Grandpa and his son Earl, a Vietnam Vet
who creates psychedelic paintings without selling one in 35 years. We also
have cousin Jed, who's a drug runner, and manages to shoot a cop named
Carmichael.

During a lengthy guitar-fueled song about this incident, a large
ClearChannel billboard was dropped with the words 'Support Our War'
displayed. During this song we learn that the cop was also not what he
seemed, and we hear about this from fellow cops, neighbors, and widows,
while Young sings:

" A silk scarf and a napkin
Hidden in a drawer
Two hundred bucks in an envelope
Labeled 'Lenore'."

Other characters that surface include daughter Sun Green, who ends up
fighting the global environmental wars in Alaska for the 'final frontier',
and of course, The Devil, who lives in the Greendale County jail and at one
point dances around the band in his hot red sportcoat.

But thematically, the power is derived from the deconstruction of what is
happening in this bucolic town of Greendale at this juncture at the dawn of
the 21st Century.

When the media starts to descend upon the Green family, Grandpa tries to
fend them off and ends up having a heart attack, which of course is
broadcast on live TV, while Neil sings:

"They laid his head on a newspaper
with a picture of Carmichael
on the front page
Grandpa died a hero.
Trying to stop the media.
Fighting for the freedom of silence.

Trying to be anonymous."

Obviously, Young's intention with his latest opus is to use the Greens of
Greendale as a narrative device to sound off on bigger topics of the day
that touch each of us - from an oppressive corporate media to an earth
being ravaged & plundered, to the hypocrisy of passing judgement while
possessing sin of your own.

And like a true believer, Young does still cling on to hope in the form of
homespun hippie wisdom: "A little love and affection in everything you
do will make the world a better place with or without you."

By the final song 'chapter, Be The Rain, the entire ensemble of actors &
dancers filled the stage to join the band, dancing in wild abandon like
some scene out of Hair while large video screens displayed images of earth
diggers in Alaska Neil singing, Save Alaska! Let the caribou stay. Don't
care what the governments say, They're all bought and paid for anyway!"

Finally, when all was said & done, Neil returned for a 3-song encore of
classic anthems Out of the Blue (Into the Black), Like a Hurricane, and
Rockin' in the Free World, lengthy and soaring versions that left the
audience that came to see 'the hits' in the first place satisfied and
placated.

Opening act Lucinda Williams had no props or dancers - simply poignant and
moving songs that ranged from Gram Parsons-flavored country-rock to
Stones-indebted raunch 'n roll.

And she was funny. At one point early in her set she said, 'Glad you could
all make it out to the club.' Then looking around the expanse of Pine
Knob/DTE, she said, "Hell, this isn't a club-what is it? I guess it's a
shed-just a big ole' shed.'

Leave it to Neil Young to preview an entire album that nobody's even heard
yet. Few artists would risk it; fewer yet could get away with it.
The fact that Neil did makes this the best concert I've seen all year.

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