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Muddy Track

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Muddy Track
Directed byBernard Shakey
Produced byL.A. Johnson
StarringNeil Young and Crazy Horse
CinematographyNeil Young
David Briggs
Niko Bolas
Brian Bell
Billy Talbot
Harlan Goodman
Contant Meyer
Edited byGlen Scantlebury[1]
Music byNeil Young and Crazy Horse
Running time
72 minutes
LanguageEnglish

Muddy Track is a documentary film by Neil Young (under the alias Bernard Shakey), made during his 1986/7 European tour with Crazy Horse. In 2015 Muddy Track was premiered in cinemas as a part of "Shakey Films Retrospective".[2] Since 2018 it has also been sporadically available for streaming for paid subscribers on Young's Archives website. It was given an official DVD release in 2021, and in 2024 as a Blu-ray in the Neil Young Archives Volume III: 1976–1987 box set.[3][4]

Background

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Neil Young made his directorial debut with the 1973 film Journey Through the Past and later directed the 1982 comedy film Human Highway.[5]

Production

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Muddy Track was created during Neil Young's 1986/7 European tour with Crazy Horse. Large portions of the film were shot by Young himself.[6]

Release

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In April 2015, the film was screened alongside Human Highway at the IFC Center for a retrospective on Young's directorial work.[6]

Sections of the film were featured in the 1997 Jim Jarmusch documentary Year of the Horse,[6] which followed Young's 1996 tour with Crazy Horse.[7]

Information

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Shot largely with a handheld camera (dubbed 'Otto' by Young), Muddy Track documents a difficult tour of Europe, plagued by poor weather, dwindling ticket sales, backstage arguments and audience riots. In an interview with MOJO in 1995 Young claimed that Muddy Track was among the favourite of all his films: "It’s dark as hell. God, it’s a heavy one! [...] But it’s funky".[8]

References

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  1. ^ "Muddy Track". Neil Young Archives. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
  2. ^ "The Bernard Shakey Film Retrospective: Neil Young on Screen". IFC Center. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
  3. ^ "Neil Young – Muddy Track". Discogs. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
  4. ^ "Neil Young Archives Vol. III (1976-1987)(17 CD & 5 Blu-ray) [Deluxe Edition]". The Greedy Hand. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
  5. ^ Petridis, Alexis (May 19, 2003). "Neil Young". The Guardian. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  6. ^ a b c Kenigsberg, Ben (April 16, 2015). "Review: 'Human Highway' and 'Muddy Track,' Whimsical '80s Artifacts From Neil Young". The New York Times. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  7. ^ Sullivan, Jim (October 24, 1997). "Jarmusch's 'Year of the Horse' rocks". The Boston Globe. C8. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  8. ^ "Neil Young once picked his best live film: "It's dark as hell"". Far Out. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
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