Neil Young: Heart of Gold (2006)

In 2005, lauded musician Neil Young was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm. After getting this news, he wrote and recorded Prairie Wind- an album of ten sweet and folksy, but rough-hewn country rock songs that are both reflective on the past, but also look into the future. Shortly before he went in for surgery to correct the brain aneurysm, Young and his band, along with special guest Emmylou Harris, played a pair of concerts at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee- the original home of the Grand Ole Opery. The concerts featured the Praire Wind album in its entirety, along with an encore set of older songs that had been previously recorded in Nashville. Filmmaker Jonathan Demme was there to document this event on camera, and this film, is the resulting compilation of the major highlights. It's very folksy, reflective, and full of sentimentality. Only one song features an electric guitar, but there's still a great deal of heart, soul, and hope to be found here. Peppered with some of Neil's dry humor and a few interviews at the beginning, this is an elegantly simple concert film that is quite enjoyable and really comforting. The great thing about Neil is that he's always been great at performing both folksy acoustic music and raw electric jams with great skill. All of what's featured here is the former, but, even though I tend to prefer his more 'grungy' electric stuff, sometimes nothing beats the lighter stuff. All of the musicians are at the top of their game, the Prairie Wind album is pretty decent, and the songs for the 'classics' set are well chosen, and have a few of my favorites like "Heart of Gold", "Harvest Moon", and "The Needle and the Damage Done", so that makes me happy. If you're a fan, you definitely dig it. If you're not a die hard, you might find it to be decent, and if you're a newcomer, this might not be the best place to start, but it probably couldn't hurt, either.

Well shot and interesting, but the featured album (Prairie Wind) is kind of "same old Neil," and though listenable, the lyrics are kind of schlocky. As far as concert films go, though, this is something worth seeing - the Ryman auditorium is such an amazing venue.