Arthur Lizie is a professor of communication and media studies at Bridgewater State University. His most recent book is Prince FAQ: Everything You Wanted To Know About the Purple Reign. He lives in Massachusetts.
Arthur Lizie has X-rayed Neil Young's legend, using the artist's own words, chasing a raw and private talent engaged in a kind of perpetual escape act. This is the poet in flight, moving fast, struggling with relationships, quitting bands at their peak to chase new sounds, writing constantly and everywhere. The curation of these interviews finds him always at the next turn: the revolution is 'inevitable,' he says, and then the revolution is 'not with us anymore' a year or so later. He side-slips politics and artistic movements, even as he writes songs we claim as anthems. The sounds, he says over and over, are not statements but feelings. This book's great gift is to remind us that those feelings are yours and mine, and that's why these songs continue to matter. Dean Kuipers, author of Burning Rainbow Farm Rust never sleeps, and Neil Young rarely seems to, eitherhe never stands still for very long, which is one of the many reasons his sprawling discography continues to resonate and fascinate. Drawing from over fifty years of interviews, Neil Young on Neil Young captures the unvarnished and untamed thoughts of Neil the soulful singer-songwriter, Neil the grizzled guitar shaman, and at least a dozen artistic incarnations in between. If you dig Neil, you'll definitely dig this book. Dan Epstein, author of Big Hair and Plastic Grass