Two weeks ago, I rented a DVD of Neil Young’s Greendale. I found it on the new releases shelf at Blockbuster. It is one of the best movies I have seen in ages. It breaks genres. It is something completely new. It is more than a music video and something less than a feature film. All the dialogue is from his album of the same name. The movie can be better described as the visual accompaniment to the music.

To truly understand the movie, one has to listen to the music. The album has been described as a musical novel. In other words, it is something more than that endangered species, the concept album. Like a novel, all the main characters are introduced early in the album and their story unfolds as the album progresses. Most of the story occurs as a result of the action of Cousin Jed early in the album. The album is really about how his one act affects the rest of his family, including Grandpa, Uncle Earl and his cousin, Sun Green.

The story resonates with me strongly because of a number of factors, including the fact that it is set in a small town, has a strong environmental message, and focuses on Alaska quite a bit. I can see a lot of Sitka in it. Like my uncle once told me, "Everyone has to find his own Sitka". It seems Neil Young has found his. Greendale is in northern California and reflects a kind of aging hippie population and their progeny. It is similar to the works of Thomas Pynchon (Vineland or Gravity’s Rainbow) or the movie River’s Edge, though much less dark in the end. The low point in "Grandpa's Interview" is followed up with the upbeat "Sun Green" and ends on the high note "Be the Rain".

The music is vintage Neil Young and is his best work in ages, possibly of his career. In interviews, he is obviously proud of the album and thinks it might be the best work he has done. He is backed up by Crazy Horse, the band that has played with him since "Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere" in 1969. Billy Talbot’s bass is strong and heavy throughout the album. In many cases, the music reflects their early work, except there are fewer random jams. The music is tight and focused on the story. Most of the album is plain, unadorned rock & roll, but a few songs have a decidedly swing flair to them. "Be the Rain" evokes his earlier work in "Rockin' in the Free World".

Today, I bought the album and found that there was a bonus DVD on it with an entire live acoustic concert filmed at Vicar St. in Dublin, Ireland. This is a real treat for Neil Young fans. If you are interested in learning the songs, the cameras focus frequently on his guitar playing. The music played acoustically creates a far different emotional environment for the story. It is more personal, as if the story comes out of Neil Young’s own personal experiences. The most introspective is the song "Bandit". It is a song of someone taking stock of his life and his art. It is the kind of thing that only an artist of Neil Young’s caliber could pull off.

Admittedly, some of the songs, such as "Sun Green" or "Be the Rain", do not lend themselves to acoustic instrumentation, but many do. For the song "Bringin’ Down Dinner", he puts down the guitars and moves to an old pump organ (it appears to be the same as he used for his MTV Unplugged sessions.) This song is quite moving in this version.

I highly recommend this album for anyone who has lived for any time in a small town, who considers him or herself an environmentalist, or for any and all fans of Neil Young. Buy the CD, watch the DVD, read the story in the liner notes or online. If you can’t buy the CD, listen to the entire thing on Neil Young’s Website. You can find a lot of other things on the website, including lyrics and the narrative he gives between the songs in the acoustic concert at Vicar St. Pub.