Demo of North Country Archives Disc #8

An absolutely amazing demo of The North Country (Disc #8) from Neil Young Archives Vol. 1 on NYA.

Really gives you a feel for what the Blu-Ray experience is all about - except for audio fidelity, video playback, navigation, BD features, etc. But still totally cool. Even includes the three unreleased Harvest outtakes!

Thanks hendrixnaz on rust!

From a comment posted by Mick on the contents of North Country Archives Disc #8:

1. Heart Of Gold Neil Young – previously unreleased live version
2. The Needle And The Damage Done Neil Young – from the album Harvest
3. Bad Fog Of Loneliness Neil Young with The Stray Gators – previously unreleased version
4. Old Man Neil Young with The Stray Gators – from the album Harvest
5. Heart Of Gold Neil Young with The Stray Gators – from the album Harvest
6. Dance Dance Dance Neil Young – previously unreleased version
7. A Man Needs A Maid Neil Young with the London Symphony Orchestra – previously unreleased mix
8. Harvest Neil Young with The Stray Gators – from the album Harvest
9. Journey Through The Past Neil Young with The Stray Gators – previously unreleased version
10. Are You Ready For The Country? Neil Young with The Stray Gators – from the album Harvest
11. Alabama Neil Young with The Stray Gators – from the album Harvest
12. Words (Between The Lines Of Age) Neil Young with The Stray Gators – from the original soundtrack album Journey Through The Past
13. Soldier Neil Young – previously unreleased mix
14. War Song Neil Young & Graham Nash with The Stray Gators – from the 45 RPM single (mono)

Thanks Mick!

From The Observer by Barney Hoskyns:

"I don't know that I have much to hide," Neil Young notes in a 1971 home movie included on Archives Vol. 1. "Other than being a rich hippie ... " Young certainly doesn't hide much in this giant monument to himself, the first of several pyramids this rock pharaoh is assembling to enshrine his legacy.

Many diehard fans had begun to wonder if the Archives would ever be a reality, so long have they been promised and postponed. Now the first instalment is here, is disappointment inevitable? Actually, no. This exhaustive project is the most impressive retro-fest of recordings, photographs, video footage and digitized memorabilia ever assembled. Diehard Neil Nuts could lose several weeks of their lives in the multi layered, omninavigational experience it offers. (This is true of both the 10-disc DVD and Blu-Ray versions: investing in the eight-CD set is, frankly, pointless.)

Neither Dylan, nor the Beatles nor the Stones, would have devoted the thousands of man-hours to ensuring their immortality that Neil (with the aid of in-house curators ) has done here. So why is he, in the hackneyed L'Oreal phrase, worth it? For the simple reason that his talent evolved into something so different from – and so superior to – the soulbearing orthodoxies of his peers. To be sure, 1970s Neil was a canyon navel-gazer. But he was also a poet of otherworldly feeling: 20% left-brain calculation, 80% right-brain instinct and raging imagination.

And here's some background on Neil Young's Topanga years on LA Weekly.

More on that elusively beautiful girl we call The Neil Young Archives: A Roundup.

(ps - And if anything here inspires you, click that little Amazon boxset link on the right. You'll be helping to support Thrasher's Wheat Thanks!)

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