NEIL YOUNG contains multitudes. In a career spanning six decades, many different Neils have emerged – Neil the loner, Neil the activist, Neil the superstar, Neil the country singer, Neil the bandleader and Neil the rebel among them. Ahead of Young’s 80th birthday this month, STEPHEN STILLS , GRAHAM NASH , EMMYLOU HARRIS , NILS LOFGREN , PATTERSON HOOD , THURSTON MOORE , MICAH NELSON , RANDY BACHMAN and MARGO PRICE offer their highlights of a fearless, single-minded artist, one driven to spontaneous creation and rapid emotional responses. “He radically changes his mind and his direction, to the shock of everyone,” says one of his oldest compadres. “But then, he’s done this all his life.”

An array of contemporary artists delve into our cover star’s incredible back catalogue for this unique collection

John & Yoko/ Plastic Ono Band Power ...

The punk rock landmark that keeps on giving celebrates half a century with an expanded anniversary edition produced by bassist Tony Shanahan.

Fifty years on, PATTI SMITH ’ s visionary debut Horses has lost none of its defiance and power. Here, Smith’s long-serving lieutenant LENNY KAYE recalls her emergence as the noble warrior poet of rock’n’roll, and the making of this incantatory album – tracing its creative arc from St Mark’s Church to a rehearsal room in Times Square, the stage at CBGB and, finally, the hallowed confines of Electric Lady Studio A. “We kept pushing it further out there,” he tells Nick Hasted

No one notices Bruce Springsteen. He makes no effort to hide—black T-shirt, blue jeans, Wayfarer sunglasses, honky-tonk cowboy boots—but for a few minutes, the most famous son of the Jersey Shore achi