Neil Young: Reflections in Broken Glass

by Sylvie Simmons

In 1966, Neil Young drove a battered funeral car two thousand miles from his native Toronto to Los Angeles to seek his fortune in the music business. Nearly forty years of continuous writing and performing later, he is firmly established as one of the most influential and idiosyncratic singer-songwriters of his generation. His restless and innovative spirit ensures that he is one of the few rock veterans as vital in his old age as he was in his youth. Simmons provides fresh insights into Young's life so far. She also uncovers new facts about his friendship with Charles Manson, and closely examines his schizophrenic eighties output and musical return to form as the "Godfather of Grunge" in the nineties.

Genres: Music, Biography

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[kieran]

For a fan on the young(er) side of his audience this unpicks, as Beck described Neil’s music: in a relatively “direct and unfiltered and simple way without being absolutely trite”(p202)
Contextualising (successfully) his steady influence from the 60s to the 2000s this book perhaps lacks the grit one could expect from a Neil Young biography.
No half stars on here? It can have the 4 for him being my guitar hero

[Sheffielder]

A very enjoyable biography, and very easy to read. A couple of the "facts" concerning peripheral figures are actually urban myths [for example, the suggestion that Mama Cass choked on a ham sandwich, when she actually suffered a heart attack:], but there's no reason to doubt the authenticity of the main biography, based as it is on extensive quotes and detailed interviews. Only 7500 copies of the book were ever printed, so grab a copy if you find one.

[Michael]

For Neil Young fans only. Very few quotes from Young, most of those are third party, unverifiable. But has plenty good information about the singer. Author's slant seems to be somewhat negative, however.

[Ted]

I expect there are hundreds of Neil Young biogs out there but I have nothing to compare it to and as a massive fan I'm enjoying it anyway.

[Lee Wallace]

I licked it.