Backbeat Books

Ticked off because you were going to buy your favorite Rustie a copy of Neil Young’s memoir Waging Heavy Peace for Christmas and you just found out they already nabbed a copy (having pre-ordered it a year or so ago)? Fret not – a solution is at hand. Seattle-based music journalist Glen Boyd wasn’t lying when he subtitled his new Neil Young FAQ book “Everything Left To Know About The Iconic And Mercurial Rocker” – unless it’s happened since FAQ went to press, it must be in here … I kid you not.

Pick a subject: highly-detailed chapters on specific albums and periods in Young’s career; “Five Great Neil Young Concerts From Seattle, Washington”; the labor of love that birthed Archives: Volume I ; “Five Essential Neil Young Bootlegs”; departed bandmates and friends; “How The Punks Met The Godfather Of Grunge”; the childhood years; “A Brief History Of Neil Young’s Unreleased Recordings” … you name it. It’s here.

What is most noteworthy about Neil Young FAQ isn’t the sheer volume of information contained in its pages, however – it’s the book’s readability. Treat it as you’d like: a pick-it-up-and-set-it-down bathroom book; a go-to reference as the subjects arise; or, as a cover-to-cover read. Boyd has accomplished quite a task in doling out a blend of well-researched information and personal observations in a manner that allows the reader to go as deep as they choose to and still be rewarded.

The sealer on the deal for me as to whether or not I wanted to give Neil Young FAQ a look-over was learning that the foreward was written by Thrasher, the editor/publisher of the premier all-things-Neil newsblog Thrasher’s Wheat. If Thrasher put his name to this, you know it has to be good. (What? You don’t know about Thrasher’s Wheat – and you’re reading about this book? Then click here, my friend )

Neil Young FAQ didn’t land with the hoopla of Waging Heavy Peace this year, but it is absolutely required reading on the subject of ol’ Neil for everyone from the casual fan to the fanatic.