Review of the Neil Young CD Hawks and Doves

The exceptionally talented Rock artist Neil Young has released him CD entitled Hawks and Doves. I am very confident and happy to announce that I believe Neil Young fans, and Rock fans alike will be pleased with this one. With the release of Hawks and Doves Neil Young's artistic excellence is on full display as Young has once again delivered a brilliant collection of tracks that could very well be him best work to date.

Neil Young has been a super star in the Rock genre for quite some time now and Hawks and Doves is an excellent illustration as to why.

Rock music fans will recognize some of the well known contributors on the project including Ben Keith and Tim Drummond plus a few other notables as well.

Listen to this CD and I believe you'll find there's not much to dis-like about it. The songs are inspired, the production is simply outstanding, and Neil Young is clearly in top form. So much so that if you're even mildly into Rock music you'll enjoy this CD.

While the entire CD is outstanding some of my favorites are track 2 - The Old Homestead, track 8 - Comin' Apart At Every Nail, and track 9 - Hawks & Doves

My Bonus Pick, and the one that got Sore [...as in "Stuck On REpeat"] is track 1 - Little Wing. Good stuff!

Hawks and Doves Release Notes:

Neil Young originally released Hawks and Doves on August 19, 2003 on the Reprise label.

CD Track List Follows:

1. Little Wing 2. The Old Homestead 3. Lost In Space 4. Captain Kennedy 5. Stayin' Power 6. Coastline 7. Union Man 8. Comin' Apart At Every Nail 9. Hawks & Doves

Personnel: Neil Young (vocals, guitar, harmonica, piano); Ben Keith (steel guitar, dobro, background vocals); Rufus Thibodeaux (fiddle); Dennis Belfield, Tim Drummond (bass); Levon Helm, Greg Thomas (drums); Hillary O'Brien (background vocals). Producers: Neil Young, David Briggs, Tim Mulligan. Recorded at The Village Recorder, Los Angeles, Broken Arrow Studio, Redwood City, Indigo Ranch, Malibu, and Gold Star Studio, Hollywood, California; Quadrafonic Sound Studio, Nashville, Tennessee; Triad Recording Studio, Ft, Lauderdale, Florida.

Blogs

Internet Marketing 101 - Marketing Strategy From a Young Web Guru

Do you own a website? Are you about to step into the world of Internet marketing? It's so simple to monetize your website, if you have the right help, that is. Do you know what are the ways to attract massive number of visitors to your website? What are the important steps to building a successful website that brings in streams of cash month after month?

In this book, author Neil Mirchandani discusses all of these topics and more in Internet Marketing 101:Strategies From a Young Web Marketing Guru, the guide to strategically developing and marketing a website. Mirchandani walks through nine essential marketing techniques, personally used by him. In the book he teaches you to:

1) Build a successful e business website.

2) Optimize your website to receive tons of visitors from the search engines.

3) Monetize your website with the latest strategies: Adwords, Pay Per Click Marketing, Email Advertising, Affiliate Marketing, etc.

Positive:

The things I like about this book is that all the strategies is spelled out in an easy to understand manner and in simple to understand language. It also discusses ways to avoid the common errors and pitfalls that many web marketers make (This is invaluable!). It can serve as a great basic textbook if you're looking for ways to monetize your website because it covers a broad range of subjects.
Neil approaches the subject of Internet marketing from an economist point of view, as he comes from a background of business, which is also invaluable.

Negative:

The strategies presented in this book is said to be suitable for both small business owner ready to take their business online, or those about to start an exclusive Internet company. However, there are many ways to make money on the Internet without you having a website, which is not covered in the book. Also, the book is not available in e book format. This is only my personal preference as I feel it is so much more convenient to buy an e book on the Internet (instant download) instead of a physical book. Also, it would really test the Internet marketer whether he does walk the talk by selling his book successfully online. He is branding himself as an Internet marketing expert, right?

Verdict:

It would be a great guide if you already have a business or a website to market. Some of the strategies presented in the book only require minor tweaks on your website and you'll be seeing improvements immediately. I definitely recommend it, as I've mentioned, for those with existing business or website.

The truth is, there are tons of other ways to make money on the Internet, even if you do not own a website or do not want to be involved with the process of building a complicated website and maintaining it. One such book is Holly Mann's Honest Riches ebook. Holly is a young (24 years old) Internet marketer who is now making $10,000 - $20,000/month from various means of Internet marketing. In her book, she teaches you step by step exactly what she did when she started. To me, it's the best guide for someone who has no idea where and how to start internet marketing.

To read more about the book Internet Marketing 101 (including author's bio and testimonials from buyers of the book)....Continue

For more reviews of Internet marketing ebooks (including Honest Riches Review)- ONLINE GURU

Neil Young - Reactor - Rock Music CD Review

Reactor is the latest Rock CD put out by the highly talented Neil Young who once again has delivered a brilliant collection of tracks. I'm confident Neil Young fans, and Rock fans alike will be pleased with this one.

Unfortunately, it's not everyday that I get a CD from an artist that I can just pop in and comfortably listen to from beginning to end. There is usually a song or two that I just can't force myself to get through. Not at all the case with Reactor. Every track is enjoyable and was pretty easy for me to listen to from start to finish.

These days it's a very rare CD on which every single song is good or better than the one before it. This CD is certainly one of those rare CDs.

Overall Reactor is an outstanding release. What I call must have music. I give it two thumbs up and is most definitely a worthy addition to any Rock collection. Truly an outstanding Rock CD. One of those that is completely void of any wasted time, as each track is simply superb.

While this entire album is really very good some of my favorites are track 2 - Surfer Joe And Moe The Sleaze, track 4 - Get Back On It, and track 8 - Shots

My Bonus Pick, and the one that got Sore [...as in "Stuck On REpeat"] is track 1 - Opera Star. It's a great track!

Reactor Release Notes:

Neil Young originally released Reactor on August 19, 2003 on the Reprise label.

CD Track List Follows:

1. Opera Star

2. Surfer Joe And Moe The Sleaze

3. T-Bone

4. Get Back On It

5. Southern Pacific

6. Motor City

7. Rapid Transit

8. Shots

Personnel: Neil Young (vocals, guitar). Crazy Horse: Frank Sampedro, Billy Talbot, Ralph Molina. Producers: Neil Young, David Briggs, Tim Mulligan, Jerry Napier. Recorded at Modern Recorders, Redwood City, California.

Buy text Links

Revolution No 9 by Neil McMahon

"Revolution No. 9" by Neil McMahon is the fourth in a series about San Francisco emergency room physician and amateur sleuth, Carroll Monks. Once again his life is in danger when he becomes involved in a series of high profile murders in this riveting thriller.

Dr. Carroll Monks, divorced ER physician, is alienated from his twenty-two year old son, Glenn, who he hasn't seen for years. One evening a young woman knocks at his door. She tells him she has a flat tire and he reluctantly goes outside to help her. Before he can get over the shock of seeing Glenn inside the car, he's abducted and taken to a remote compound where a group of counterculture terrorists are planning a revolution. The leader is a drug addicted psychopath called Freeboot. He and his group are determined to change society and liberate the downtrodden. They have already killed some wealthy citizens, stole their possessions and hid them in homeless camps. The plan is to set the rich against the poor.

Monks was kidnapped, at Glenn's suggestion, to treat Freeboot's three year old son, Mandrake, who is sick. Although the boy is diabetic and extremely ill Freeboot will not allow him to go to a hospital. He's willing to sacrifice his son for his cause. Monks may not be able to save his own son, but he's determined to keep Mandrake alive at all costs. This is a solid well written plot. The cult's motives are real, making this book all the more convincing. It's a chilling read, Freeboot and his lieutenant, Taxman, are believable villains who kill without remorse for their cause. They've taken the Beatles song as their anthem, hence the title of the book. There's plenty of medical detail along with the action and suspense. Fans of the series won't be disappointed.

Publisher: HarperTorch (December 27, 2005)

ISBN: 978-0060529192

Pages: 352

Kindle Edition: $6.00

Gail writes romance, paranormal and otherwise as Gale Stanley.
CALL OF THE WILDS - Available now at Amazon & Bookstrand
SILENT KNIGHTS - coming October 2010 - Silver Publishing
MATING CALL - coming November 2010 - Siren-Bookstrand
POINT OF BEGINNING - coming January 2011 - Silver Publishing
http://galestanley.net/
http://galestanley.blogspot.com/

Neil Young's "Old Man" - The Meaning (and Musicians) Behind the Song

The song "Old Man" first appeared on Neil Young's 1972 Harvest album. With its thumping and raggedly-picked acoustic guitar, high-tenor lead vocals and over-all folk sound and feel "Old Man" has become one of Neil Young's most memorable tunes. What was the inspiration behind this song and what famous musicians lent their talents to create this musical masterpiece?

"Old Man", which reached no. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1972, opens with Young singing: "Old man look at my life, I'm a lot like you were." As listeners we immediately find ourselves wondering about the identity of the old man. Was it Young's father? Grandfather? Of course there is always the possibility the "old man" is a metaphor and there really is no old man per se. However we have now come to learn there was in fact a specific old man to whom Young was singing.

In 1970 Neil Young purchased the Broken Arrow Ranch in Redwood City, California. Apparently it is the caretaker of this ranch who is the subject of this song. In Young's recent concert movie Heart of Gold he introduces "Old Man" by saying: "About that time when I wrote Heart of Gold and I was touring, I had also -- just, you know, being a rich hippie for the first time -- I had purchased a ranch, and I still live there today. And there was a couple living on it that were the caretakers, an old gentleman named Louis Avila and his wife Clara. And there was this old blue Jeep there, and Louis took me for a ride in this blue Jeep. He gets me up there on the top side of the place, and there's this lake up there that fed all the pastures, and he says, "Well, tell me, how does a young man like yourself have enough money to buy a place like this?" And I said, "Well, just lucky, Louie, just real lucky." And he said, "Well, that's the darndest thing I ever heard." And I wrote this song for him."

Of course knowing what we now know makes it that much easier to understand the rest of the song's lyrics which include: "Old man look at my life, twenty four and there's so much more. Live alone in a paradise that makes me think of two. Love lost, such a cost, give me things that don't get lost. Like a coin that won't get tossed, rolling home to you."

Mystery solved. Which brings us to the question regarding the supporting artists on this classic song. The album's liner notes confirm Singer/Songwriter James Taylor played six string banjo (with guitar tunings) and sang backing vocals on the song. Singer Linda Ronstadt added her distinctive vocals as well. This combination of the day's mega-talents explains the unmistakable "sound" of the song. The mixture of Young's raw singing and guitar playing are perfectly counter-balanced by the sweet vocals and musical touches provided by Taylor and Ronstadt.

With a perfect blend of subject matter, strong (and haunting) melody, effective performance and guest appearances by singers James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt, "Old Man" remains one of Neil Young's finest songs.

Kenn Morr http://www.kennmorr.com is an internationally acclaimed Singer/Songwriter, Performer, Producer and Author with six albums to his credit. Originally from Long Island, NY Kenn lives in the foothills of New England's Berkshire Mountains with his wife and two young sons.

The 3 Best Neil Young Songs Ever

There's not much question that Neil Young is one of the best singer/songwriters to come out of Canada or any continent for that matter. His songs have done much to shape the culture in which we live, and he has touched the hearts and souls of many of us with his unique songs and expressions over the years. I absolutely include myself in his list of fans. He definitely changed my life with some of his songs, and when I was asked by one of my friends to come up with the 3 best Neil Young songs ever, I must say that it wasn't an easy task.

Still I tackled the task and here's what I came up with:

1. "After the Gold Rush" - this song, though obviously written in reference to visions seen while on a hallucinogenic drug, still is prophetic, as it hits the point in the bulls-eye about modern desecration of the ecological system on the planet ("Look at mother nature on the run in the 1970's"). The melody and piano work are purely haunting with the muted trumpet interlude taking us all on a dream trip. Neil truly was on the aesthetic wave band when he wrote and performed this one. There are more popular songs that he wrote, but few songs touch me spiritually as this one does.

2. "Heart of Gold" - is a simple song about something that is near and dear to all of us. We've all looked for that person of genuine warmth, honesty, trustworthiness, love and faithfulness - many have never found it and like Neil Young are, as he expresses in the song, "a miner for a heart of gold, and I'm growing old." The guitar and harmonica in the song with the rhythm really set the tone and pace of the song. Truly a work of art. I can't say enough about the impact this song has had on me and it never grows old or dull.

3. "I Am a Child" - is a classic tribute to children and the gap of understanding that exists between us adults and them kids. The chord progression and melody are unique - no question about it - and the song has a way of lingering in your thoughts for a long time after listening to it. This line from the song still rings down the corridors of my mind, "I am a child. I last awhile. You can't conceive of the pleasure in my smile."

I have another couple of Neil's songs that could easily rate in the top three ("Love Is a Rose"; "Old Man"; "Everybody Knows This is Nowhere"- to name a few), but I had to draw the line somewhere, and you can see where I drew it.

Even if you don't agree with what I have chosen as the 3 best Neil Young songs ever, I don't think you can dispute that he is one of the best artists we've had around. If you like songs that hit you emotionally and even spiritually, then you might also check out Lawrence Lynn. His songs definitely hit me emotionally and spiritually, and I think you might like them. Click here to download 2 copies of his latest singles for free.

Neil Young - Prairie Wind Review

It is really hard to find a musician with such a large and admired discography as Neil Young. Since the late 60s, the Canadian has released more than 40 albums, many of them as memorable as the Harvest, the Rust never sleeps or the Freedom. But, at age 60, Young is still at his best, as he shows in his last album, Prairie wind.

After a series of doubtful albums that culminate in the criticised Are you passionate? (2002) many music critics and fans think that Neil Young was finally in his decadence. But then Young surprises the music world realising the epic Greendale (2003), musically interesting and conceptually admirable: emulating the best Steinbeck, Young invents an entire town in his loved California, and, focusing in the Green family, give free rein to values such as Freedom, Peace and Ecology that he has been defended since the late sixties. To complete this particular revived, in 2005 Young delighted his fans with the excellent Prairie wind, with no doubt his best work of the last 10 years.

With the release of the Prairie wind, Young return to his personal folk-rock style he showed in the early 70s, with two top-quality albums that catapulted him to the stardom: After the gold rush (1970) already fulfilled all the main elements that characterize the particular Young's Universe: complex, suggestive verses with smart deal of surrealism, a brilliant musical accompaniment, and the unmistakable Young's nasal voice over all them. Nevertheless, the success of this album can not be compared with the Harvest (1971), released the following year, and considered by many (not by me) as his masterwork. This album includes the wonderful single Heart of Gold -considered by many fans as Young's greatest song- which gave Young his first nº 1 in the USA. Prairie Wind is Young's most "essential" album since the release of the Harvest Moon in 1992.

The album opens with The painter, a nice, classic, melodic Young song about a female painter, and continues with No wonder, where Young's values that we commented are evident in lyrics as "Somewhere a senator sits in a leather chair / Behind a big wooden desk / The caribou we killed mean nothing to him / He took his money just like all the rest" The third song, Falling off the face of the Earth, continues this acoustic series.

In Far from home, Young's piano begin to shines, and it is more evident in It's a dream, arguably the album's most beautiful song. With its reflective lyrics and beautiful piano sound the song will make Young's fans to remember songs as Heart of gold or the more recent Western hero. This is the song that wou'll probably find yourself singing after the album ends... It's a dream, only a dream...

In the song entitled Prairie wind the piano disappear, and the acoustic guitar takes the main role. Here for you is a beautiful song that will make you remember From Hank to Hendrix, one of Young's most loved songs. The old guitar is one of the most personal songs in the entire album, with Young's nasal voice accompanied by a very listenable chorus.

In He was the King Young sings about the King, you know, Elvis Presley, as he did in one of hist most famous songs, Hey,hey; my, my (...the King is gone but is not forgotten...) although the style is very different, and the album closes with When God mades me, an intimal, reflective song about life, God, and Faith

The Art Wolf
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