by Bill Bentley

When it is necessary to go for broke and make music which is meant to stand the test of time, it's often necessary to take off for new vistas. Creating a sound that rings true, one that is somewhere outside the norm of what is called rock & roll today, is not an easy task. So much of modern society is nailed down to deliver what is expected, that it can make originality become a burdensome pursuit. Still, there are those who have no choice except to head outside the lines. That has been Neil Young and Crazy Horse's 50 year odyssey. It is not one that Young and band members Ralph Molina, Billy Talbot and Nils Lofgren take lightly. Crazy Horse is a band that lives in their own world. They can't be called up on a whim or even expected to deliver perfection every time they perform. That would be instant death to who the band are. Instead, they are a quartet who live to make music which cannot be predicted. Sometimes they soar and sometimes the notes go sour. That is the beauty of what Crazy Horse has always been. They are driven by the fire of the unknown, and all who sail with them expect surprises, whether they are crashes or higher consciousness. 

In 2019 it was once again time to gather the band of brothers together. Remember: a band is sacred ground. The true ones were born in a sea of agile agitation and inspired consciousness. It is a sonic alchemy which cannot be called up on demand. It must come to life because it is necessary, like breathing itself, to continue a calling. To record their new album, Crazy Horse went to Colorado. It was time to find a new place to call home and let the spirits run free. It was also time to film all that happened once Young, Molina, Talbot and Lofgren began to play.

Neil Young is a born filmmaker. The same sounds he hears in his head he sees with his eyes. He wants to share each with those who want to join his journey. It has always been that way for the Canadian-born artist. In a way, his is one undivided vision that opens a door to new feelings and shared emotions. To try to separate them would be folly. There is no reason to. Experience cannot be chopped into small packages and given out like wrapped candies. Living can be messy business, but to embrace it in its totality is the true gift of life. When Young decided to film the entire album-making process during the sessions for the album titled COLORADO, from top to bottom and back again, he knew he was opening himself to some stark revelations and uncharted territory. Looking at the man's long career, if there is one overriding arc it is an ability to make artistic honesty the goal. It is a pursuit that never stops, nor even comes close to ending. It is a calling.

Once the recording of songs like "Olden Days," "Help Me Lose My Mind," "Rainbow of Colors" and others came to life, it was instantaneously obvious that Neil Young and Crazy Horse had entered a new zone. They were among the majestic mountains of Colorado that were covered with snow. It was like an idyllic setting to play music, inside a studio that felt like a hundred-year home to the spirits of sound. And then things got really interesting, because seeking to capture the near-uncaptureable can create emotional chaos and continued chasing of the sound. And that is exactly what is captured in all its human glory on MOUNTAINTOP SESSIONS. This is real life being lived out right in front of C.K. Vollick's cameras. Recording is never a perfect process. Human foibles quickly come to life, right next to long passages of passionate expression. To miss one would be to negate the other, so the cameras never stopped rolling. The highs and lows of four men making music started turning into an unforgettable journey through time, marked by different songs being born as the music never stopped.

And as usual, Neil Young needed to obscure linear reality with near-mystical live performances from recent concerts. Woven into all the studio footage is a second-tier trip on what happens to music when it is taken to the stage and shared with an audience. It's like a 360-degree exposure to what Young's music really is: a life force that sustains not only him but also his audience. It is a glimpse inside the tent where creation actually occurs, and then goes to the next step where the music lives in the hearts and heads of those who hear it and see it. At its essence, MOUNTAINTOP SESSIONS' goal is to show who Neil Young and his music really is, at its inception and taken to the next stage to its reception. He has always had a private pact with those who live inside his songs: there can be no filter between him and them. Both are in for a penny and in for a pound, destined to become one when the music is playing. In this movie, the truth is told as the musician of our time takes a climb to the mountaintop. Again.