Neil's Garage

I'm sure there are many better, more informed, blogs about Neil Young's Living With War. I'm making this entry because it's the least I can do - add one more voice of support.

As far as web sites go, Neil's Garage is set up very well. The album starts as soon as you enter the site and continues through the songs in order. The New York Times reported that "Mr. Young wants the album heard as a whole." That way, the listener has to progress through the complete work as Neil Young presents it. I must say that hearing the album as a whole builds an emotional connection to the work, with sadness being the predominant feeling, rather than anger.

The one drawback to finding the music through Neil's Garage is that if you click one of the other links, you lose the continuity of the album, and have to start at the beginning. So bring up two versions of the site if you want to read the lyrics as you listen.

The Living With War blog has other links, and lots of comments, especially to the April 28, 2007, entry. Clearly, there is a problem with that blog's dating system or maybe it's intentional, since the misdating keeps the 'Listen to the Album' entry at the top of the blog.

[January 17, 2007 - Deleted part of post leading to a dead URL. The album didn't start playing as soon as I went to Neil's Garage, but I found it (or parts of it,or videos of some of the songs) after clicking around a bit. As usual the NYT article is available only if you've done the free registration process.]