Neil Young: The Rolling Stones File

Interviews, articles, reviews, and trivia chronicle rock icon Neil Young's career--from his start with Buffalo Springfield through his years of fame with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, to his mainstream reemergence. Personal trials such as his sons' cerebral palsy are powerfully portrayed, and his continuing influence on other performers is examined.

The strident, often weepy voice complementing Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Young was also a progenitor of grunge. Said to be "so anachronistic that in the 1990s he's cutting edge," Young has reinvented his musical persona every few years, so this entry in Rolling Stone's rock retrospective series is more revealing than similar treatment of a more predictable rocker would be. Just a few entries after the above characterization, Young's Unplugged album is described as the "sonic equivalent of souvenir T-shirts: perfectly comfortable, destined to fade," which indicates the secret of his longevity--his capability for seeming comfortable and familiar even as he radically changes his musical style. In any case, this book traces the ups and downs of Young's career. Some of what's said is bound to interest nearly any pop music fan. The book's publication coincides with release of a boxed-set CD collection of Young's music; accordingly, the big highlights here are the discography and the selective videography. Mike Tribby