Everybody knows Young is leading to somewhere...
I just saw Neil Young's concert movie Heart of Gold (2005) shot in Nashville by respected director Jonathan Demme (Stop Making Sense, Silence of the Lambs). The concert was in support of his Prairie Wind CD (2005), a sort of end to a trilogy of country influenced folk albums (Harvest and Harvest Moon were the other two). Not surprisingly, the concert pulled most of its set from those three albums and Young gathered a band of musicians that could play in this style.
The movie, shot in Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, is in the format of a standard concert film but has one major exception. This is the first concert film I've seen where the audience isn't shown at all. They're heard as they clap or holler for their favorite tunes, but other than that they have no presence. Instead, the camera focuses on the performers onstage.
This shift in focus isolates the performance by adding intimacy to the film. The band interplay is captured beautifully and everyone is featured in warm lighting. It also helps to have a committed band, no studio hacks working solely for a paycheck here. Young has the most expressive background singers ever with an emotional Diana DeWitt and his wife Pegi Young. Country star Emmylou Harris contributes background and harmony vocals as well and shares a strong musical bond with Young. However, I can't say she is expressive because she has developed a way of singing where only her jaw moves while the rest of her face is still.
The band dresses in their Grand Ole Opry best with long dresses, denim and collared shirts. The backgrounds also hark back to old style staging with the words "Prarie Wind" written in rope on a desert backdrop. The exaggerated Old Tyme feel reminded me of the costumes and staging used in the film A Mighty Wind (2003). If the music wasn't so good, it would be easy to ridicule this movie.
But the music is good, really good. Mostly pulling from Prairie Wind, the show reveals some layers to the CD I didn't catch at first. Apparently, the CD and movie occurred shortly after Young had a brain aneurysm that required surgery. As a result, these documents are as Pegi Young puts it, "His life flashing before his eyes." The numerous childhood references in the song had added weight in that context.
The band delivers a great performance of these songs, whether they were reminiscences ("He Was The King" and the title cut), ruminating on the present ("The Painter", "Fell Off The Face Of The Earth") or looking with a mix of hope and cynicism at the future ("When God Made Me"). Classic hits like "Heart of Gold" and "Old Man" take on added meaning with the subtext of mortality added on.
The film serves as an excellent companion to the CD, expanding on Young's vision of self examination with warm memories and apprehension for the future of both himself and Western culture. Heart of Gold does what few concert films do, which is investigate the songs subject matter over the hype of the concert event (most concert film feature moving lights, explosions and a frenzied crowd). Heart of Gold shows a man approaching his golden years by taking stock of himself before charting a new course.
In this light Young's following album highlights his renewed sense of purpose, Living with War (2006) where Young goes back to his lefty roots with a full on protest album. The man who once said "It's better to burn out than fade away" (I bet you thought Def Leppard made that line up) refuses to do neither. Young is determined to keep on Rockin in the Free World!
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