Many bands still Young at heart

Maybe it's just natural to see things through the prism that you want to see. \nIf the only band one has ever heard is the Beatles, then a lot of what one listens to thereafter will sound inferior. If the only band one has ever heard is Limp Bizkit, then one probably will never want to listen to rock music again. \nImmersing myself deeply in the work of Neil Young recently, I've wondered if I don't compare everything I have reviewed in the last few months to Neil's work. After taking a step back, I've made an interesting discovery.\nNeil Young's influence rages on like the man himself.\nMy Neil binge began when I read "Shakey: Neil Young's Biography," the less-than-arm's-length story of Young by Jimmy McDonough. While a comprehensive biography of Young was long overdue, the 800-page length was daunting. After all, Howard Sounes' definitive Bob Dylan biography "Down the Highway" wasn't as long, and most people have a lot more questions about Dylan than Young.\nWhat makes the book recommendable, though, is McDonough's documentation of Young as the relentless artist. While it's easy to get an idea of Young as the sloppy old Godfather of Grunge, it was interesting to see Young as master of his domain.\nSeeing Young play Chicago in June was an experience that ran companion to the book. Playing selections from Greendale two months prior to its release and staying away from all non-Greendale material until the encore, this was again Young at his chancy best.\nThe last time, after all, Young had played such a preview tour was for Tonight's the Night nearly 30 years earlier. And who in their right mind would play songs from an unreleased album once in their career much less twice in a 30-year period and get people to pay attention both times?\nIt all made sense when the album came out in late August. Dripping with powerful sentiments and dropping guitarist Frank "Poncho" Sampedro from the Crazy Horse lineup -- Sampedro was back for the tour -- it's Young's best album in more than a decade.\nYoung is way too wealthy and done way too much cocaine over the years to offer much accurate social commentary. However, he delivers so much in the way of attitude, humor and good riffs that one doesn't mind.\nYoung also released for the first time on disc On the Beach, American Stars 'N Bars, Hawks and Doves and Re-ac-tor, four albums from his catalog that had missed the ears of those who had neither a vinyl player nor money to shell out for an import.\nOn the Beach was the shocker though. How could an album this good be kept out of print for so long? In a period of brooding (and perhaps especially heavy drug use), Young assembled a makeshift band to record an album of blood letting that is far too intimate and raw emotionally to be released on a major label today.\nAfter digging on Neil's vibe for a whole summer, it was time to re-examine some prominent musical progeny. Teenage Fanclub's anthology 4,766 Seconds: A Short Cut to Teenage Fanclub was a shocking pleasure. Hyped beyond belief in 1991 with their album Bandwagonesque, Teenage Fanclub might have been the most obscure band ever to appear on "Saturday Night Live." They flopped miserably as boys don't get pretty melodies, girls don't get loud guitars and nobody gets a U.K. band that tries to sound American. \nTheir follow-up, 1993's Thirteen, was so lousy -- they were so pretentious that their songs lacked focus -- I just forgot about them. Their continued existence mildly shocked me, but 4,766 Seconds justifies that this was quite a singles band.\nMastering Neil's shaggy vibe, they delivered one catchy melody after another and used high-end harmonies as noteworthy supplicants. They even called a song "Neil Jung."\nEleventh Dream Day is another story. If Teenage Fanclub's goal was to augment Neil Young-style melody and high tenor vocals, then EDD's was to peel more paint. The recent reissue of Prairie School Freakout (Thrill Jockey Records), their 1988 debut, shows a band as much ahead of the grunge movement as the more famous Pixies with guitarists Rick Rizzo and Baird Figi slashing each other at the wrists with sizzling feedback, the interplay similar to what Young has tried to achieve with his backing units.\nYoung, though, is preferable. He's the original article. But from the famous (Pearl Jam) to the less famous (Eleventh Dream Day), his acolytes have helped create a huge prism.