I have been a fan of Neil Young since 1973 over 40 years and, during that time, have read books, reviews, articles and you build up what you think is quite a bit of knowledge about the subject.
However, this book covers the years that not many know about — and indeed have read about — from Neil's childhood, right through his upbringing and education in Canada, his development as a budding musician and his migration to the USA in his early twenties .
To say it is thorough in both it's research, and it's painting of his rise from an embryonic barroom player, would do the book no justice at all. It logs every significant event in the first 20 years of the subject's life and it, is so well-written that it does not read like a normal biography, more like an appraisal — and a well-loved one at that .
To all fans of Neil Young I would say this book is iindispensable; you will find facts that will give you a much greater sense of the man who we all know is about as private an individual as there is in the music business. It's a treat, so go ahead and enjoy "Young Neil: The Sugar Mountain Years."
