Record Store Day's Neil Young Vinyl Releases: Official Release Series Discs 5-8

Neil Young Vinyl Shopping - April 16, 2011
Plan9 Music, Richmond, Virginia
Photo by Emaleigh Franzak
Good news for all those folks who have been waiting for the re-release of Neil Young's Time Fades Away! Looks like that Release "Time Fades Away" Petition we started back in 2005 finally worked -- sort of.

Time Fades Away -- currently only available on used vinyl -- will be re-released -- again on vinyl and will continue to remain only available on vinyl. No digital release for TFA still. No CD, MP3 or PONO formats are expected anytime soon.

Record Store Day, on Saturday, April 19th, will celebrate with over 1,000 independently owned record stores in the U.S. and hundreds of similar stores internationally.

Planned releases include:
Neil Young: Official Release Series Discs 5-8 Vinyl Box Set; 4-LP, 180-gram black vinyl in reproduction jackets housed in telescoping box. Limited to 3,500 units.

This limited edition box set includes the classic albums: Time Fades Away, On The Beach, Tonight's The Night and Zuma, each remastered from the original analog studio recordings at Bernie Grundman Mastering. The artwork is a historically accurate reproduction by Young's long-time art director, Gary Burden. These classics are being reissued on 180-gram audiophile vinyl for the first time and pressed at the world's premiere pressing plant, Pallas MFG Germany.

Neil Young: Four Different Classic Album Cover T-shirts

Official On The Beach T-Shirt

To coincide with this highly anticipated set of vinyl reissues, a special run of T-shirts designs featuring the cover art from Time Fades Away, On The Beach,Tonight's The Night, and Zuma is being printed.


"It's like stashing Mona Lisa in the basement."
Petition Signature Signer #6628 by Gareth D.

Hard to believe, but it's been 5 years since we launched the Release "Time Fades Away" Petition campaign.

Since February 2005, over 144,000 visits have been logged to the TFA page and the petition has gathered over 16,000 verified signatures. (The actual count is closer to 20,000 but the petition site has had several backup failures where thousands of signatures were lost.) Over 16,000 votes have been cast for favorite song on album.



Here's the vote breakdown:

Don't Be Denied - 25.9%
Last Dance - 22.8%
Journey Through the Past - 11.5%

So why does any of this really matter?

Well, for one thing, recent news indicates that there is a possibility that the original TFA may NEVER be re-released at all. From an interview in Guitar World, Young discusses The Archives Vol.#2 which will include Time Fades Away II. TFA#2 is an alternate version from the tour's second half.

"YOUNG: One thing I'll tell you about the next volume of Archives is that Time Fades Away II is in there. And it's interesting because the whole thing has a different drummer than what was on that album. I switched drummers halfway through the tour- Kenny Buttrey was in there for the first half, and Johnny Barbata came in for the second. It's a completely different thing, with completely different songs. So that's interesting. There's lots of stuff like that that I'm working on right now for the second volume."

Again, why does this matter?

It's been called the "missing link" of the "Ditch Trilogy".

Neil Young's 1973 Time Fades Away is one of the most remarkable live albums ever recorded. Certainly at the time of release, it was almost unprecedented for an artist to release a live concert recording of previously unreleased material. Long out of print on vinyl, still unavailable on CD in the early 21st century and widely bootlegged, the album is considered to be the "Holy Grail" of all Neil Young albums.

In an effort to gain wider distribution of this essential Neil Young recording, fans have started a petition requesting that the album be officially released. Those interested in obtaining a legal copy of Time Fades Away are urged to sign the petition today.

In 2003, it seemed that an official release was near when four of the "Missing 6" Neil Young albums surfaced. (On The Beach, one of the four albums released after a long hiatus, was also the subject of a fan's petition drive which would eventually gather over 5,000 signatures from the Neil Young Internet fan community Rust and Human Highway.)

Time Fades Away was recorded directly from the soundboard to 16-track using the Quad-8 CompuMix, the unreliable first digital mixing soundboard—against the wishes of producer David Briggs, who referred to it as the "Compufuck" but was forced to yield to the desires of Young. This resulted in a murky-sounding release. Because no two-track stereo master tape was ever made as would commonly be done, the album cannot be remastered in a traditional manner. If any new release was to be attempted, a new mix would need to be made from the original multitrack tapes.

(Thanks Peter!)

A comment by Greg M (A Friend Of Yours):

I agree with all the reasons stated for releasing and revering the album, but my guess is that there must be something personal beyond what has ever been revealed about that tour and album that causes Neil to short shrift it. Must be something big given it's the only album left unrepresented on Decade- The Bridge at the very least was worthy of being included.

I always thought it was just too painful because of Danny Whitten's 11th hour death preceding the tour. There is also the money disputes that went on, but I think we're grasping at straws, Neil has his reasons is all. The Detroit leg of the tour was the first concert I ever went to, and it was a great experience, especially the first half acoustic set. When the whole band appeared for the electric second half there was a discernible disconnect between band members, no interaction, very removed. It probably didn't help that they partook during intermission- I'm assuming.

The only song that stands out in my mind is Don't Be Denied, and a very lethargic Alabama with Neil playing the Wing guitar. I also think that it is totally in the spirit of Archives to get an alternative version. In the meantime, we can only speculate so much. Hopefully if we ever see TFA II, Neil will fill us in a little more on the details, but only if it's not excruciatingly personal.

Greg M (A Friend Of Yours)

A comment by andrea1bianco:

I've read in some publications that several songs were recorded at the A & M studios by Henry Lewis and during the TFA rehearsals at The Broken Arrow Ranch. Look Out Joe, later released on TTN, comes from these sessions. Some songs, unreleased yet, could have been recorded. I mean Goodbye Christians On The Shore, Come Along And Say You Will, Letter from 'Nam. Nothing officially confirmed, but speculations of some studio recordings during the TFA timeframe exist.

A Rust comment by Jules:

From Decade liner notes:
"Time Fades Away. No songs from this album are included here. It was recorded on my biggest tour ever, 65 shows in 90 days.

Money hassles among everyone concerned ruined this tour and record for me but I released it anyway so you folks could see what could happen if you lose it for a while.

I was becoming more interested in an audio verite approach than satisfying the public demands for a repetition of Harvest.

The biography Shakey by Jimmy McDonough quotes a 1987 interview:

My least favorite record is Time Fades Away. I think it's the worst record I ever made—but as a documentary of what was happening to me, it was a great record. I was onstage and I was playing all these songs that nobody had heard before, recording them, and I didn't have the right band. It was just an uncomfortable tour. It was supposed to be this big deal—I just had Harvest out, and they booked me into ninety cities. I felt like a product, and I had this band of all-star musicians that couldn't even look at each other. It was a total joke.

So if you haven't done so already, go and sign the petition!

And if you have signed, then please re-tweet, share, forward, etc.

More on the history and background of Release "Time Fades Away" Petition.

Labels: time fades away

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Another Book by Neil Young Coming: Cars, The Environment, & Music Stories

Neil Young
56th GRAMMY Awards P&E Wing Event, The Village Recording Studios
Jan. 21, 2014, Los Angeles, CA
Michael Kovac, WireImage
(Click photo to enlarge)
That Neil. Such a slacker.

Neil Young has announced plans for a second book, following the release of his memoir Waging Heavy Peace in 2012.

Subjects include cars, energy and the environmental, and music stories. At one point, the books working title was "Cars & Dogs I've Known".

Blue Rider Press said in a statement:

"Young returns with more unforgettable stories about his six decades in the music business as told through the prism of one of his life’s passions: cars. An avid car enthusiast, Young will showcase the cars he’s owned throughout his life and the stories associated with them. He will also discuss his dedication to clean energy and his recent awareness of the environmental impact the emissions of his past cars had on the environment.

This work is an eclectic amalgam of memories, artwork, and political pondering from one of the most genuine and enigmatic artists of our time."

The book will also contain Young's own sketches and tracings.

Also, see Heavy Review of "Waging Heavy Peace" Book by Neil Young.

Just a reminder, Uncut.co.uk's John Mulvey writes:

At 68, Young remains more restless, unpredictable and hyper-productive than any other artist of a comparable age and reputation.

Since 2000, The Rolling Stones have released one new album, while Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney have managed five each. Bruce Springsteen has produced six; Tom Waits, four; Leonard Cohen and David Bowie three apiece. In that time, Young has come up with an autobiography, seven personally-curated archive releases, five films, an environmentally-friendly car and a new audio format, plus the small matter of ten new albums.

It is an eccentric, if not always magnanimously received, body of work that tells the tale of an artist driven to spontaneous creation, whim, rough-hewn experiments and rapid emotional responses that pay little heed to the expectations of his paymasters and, sometimes, his fans.

So, we sometimes joke, "That Neil -- such a slacker." If only we could all be so slack. ;)



Thrasher's Wheat Radio
Tune in on WBKM.org, Saturdays @ 9P EST
Tonight, Saturday, at 9:00 PM EST, the Thrasher's Wheat Radio Hour from WBKM.org will be streaming.

Tonight's edition will feature the latest Neil Young music and news.

Tune in details and podcast info @ Thrashers Wheat Radio Hour.

Don't be denied!

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NEW DATE: Liverpool - Neil Young and Crazy Horse on July 13th

New Neil Young and Crazy Horse concert just announced for July 13th in Liverpool, England at the Echo Arena. (Thanks growl & Ian!)

Here's the Europe tour dates for Neil Young and Crazy Horse thus far:

2014-07-07, Laugardalshöllin, Reykjavík, Iceland
2014-07-10, Live At The Marquee, Cork, Ireland
2014-07-12, Hyde Park, London, England
2014-07-13, Echo Arena, Liverpool, England
2014-07-15, KüçükÇiftlik Park, Istanbul, Turkey
2014-07-17, Yarkon Park, Tel-Aviv, Israel
2014-07-20, Münsterplatz, Ulm, Germany
2014-07-21, Collisioni Festival, Barolo, Italy
2014-07-23, Wiener Stadthalle, Wien, Austria
2014-07-25, Warsteiner Hockeypark, Mönchengladbach, Germany
2014-07-26, Filmnächte am Elbufer, Dresden, Germany
2014-07-28, Zollhafen - Nordmole, Mainz, Germany
2014-07-30, København Forum, København, Denmark
2014-08-01, Bergenhus Festning - Koengen, Bergen, Norway
2014-08-05, Lokerse Feesten, Lokeren, Belgium
2014-08-08, Foire aux Vins de Colmar, Colmar, France

Thanks Tom on Sugar Mountain!

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Fourth and Final Neil Young Concert @ Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles, CA Added

A 4th and final Neil Young solo concert at the Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles, CA, US on Wednesday, April 2nd has been announced.

After selling out his March 29th, March 30th, and April 1st dates, the 4th and final concert most likely will also. We'll have to see whether other cities materialize, as well.

Tickets will go on sale this Friday, Feb. 28th at 10 a.m. There will be a Live Nation pre sale on Thursday, Feb. 27th. See comments below for the pre-sale password. For more info and to purchase tickets, go to: Master of The Tickets.

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Global Neil Young Professional Society LinkedIn Group

Interested in some professional Neil Young networking?

Well the Global Neil Young Professional Society LinkedIn Group is the place for you. This group consists of global business professionals who have an appreciation of the music,art, and life of Neil Young.

For details and registration, see Global Neil Young Professional Society LinkedIn Group.

Thanks Jeffry! It's all one network. ;)

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