MUSIC: NEIL YOUNG, GIFTED AND BACK

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Young's 1972 album, Harvest, was one of his biggest, earliest solo hits, featuring the No. 1 song Heart of Gold. In 1979, working with the band Crazy Horse, Young released Live Rust, a commanding concert album that's among the finest ever made. Since then he has drifted through many styles, from the cold, synthesizer-laden Trans (1982) through the bland blues-bar rock of This Note's for You (1988) to the sublime country pop of Harvest Moon (1992). His songs are at once rawly personal and poetically empathetic. He never follows trends, only his gut. "I just play what I feel like playing," he says, "and every once in a while I'll wake up and feel like playing something else."

Young revels in affable irascibility. He gives few interviews and says he won't talk to Rolling Stone anymore because of its perfumed ads: "I don't like the way the magazine smells." He makes no apologies for comments he made in the '80s expressing support for President Reagan's arms buildup: "I say what I believe in at the time. It may not be the same in four years." Now he's an advocate of Pearl Jam's effort to boycott Ticketmaster, the ticket-distribution service, in protest against its high prices. "Even if Pearl Jam fails, it doesn't matter," he says. "At least they've solidified their bond with the audience."

Young and his second wife Pegi live in soothing isolation on a ranch near San Francisco, a few miles from Silicon Valley. Their 16-year-old son Ben has cerebral palsy, and Young, who is fascinated by technology, has started a company that makes devices for the disabled, as well as high-tech toys. The firm is working on an improved wheelchair that Young helped design. Ben tests every device his dad's company makes. Says Young proudly: "He's a cool guy."

So the ride continues. Driving along the treacherous, twisting mountain roads, Young keeps talking and gesticulating. He scarcely pays attention to the road or the traffic. He never has.

--Reported by David S. Jackson/San Francisco