Whew! I've always felt the Emperor was a bit naked when it comes to Neil's electric playing. Boldly iconoclastic or plain lazy and scruffy for the sake of it? I've never liked the tone of smaller Fender amps getting railed, either.
I used to like Neil a lot more, then I read Waging Heavy Peace. What a tedious and self-absorbed book that was. Neil might have written tender songs that suggest he was keenly observational and empathic, but you sense none of that in the book. It's a parlour trick, from somebody who learned the process of writing touching songs, but coming from a mostly empty vessel. He talks about the birth of his first child and he tells you more about the car he drove to the hospital in than anything else. He comes across as slightly neurodivergent. All cars, model trains, self importance and self promotion while his bandmates overdose and die, and once again Neil is oblivious to the human element until the worst happens.
