Neil Young News: Archives Commentary Open Thread

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Saturday, June 13, 2009

Archives Commentary Open Thread

UPDATE: July 27, 2009: The Thrasher's Wheat review of The Neil Young Archives Vol 1 (1963-1972).

Post your Neil Young Archives thoughts,opinions and comments on experiencing NYA Vol #1. Stuff like hidden tracks, easter eggs, discoveries. (But try not to be a spoiler and more of a teaser, if you can, for those who have not received yet.)

Please do not post here ordering, shipping & handling, damaged goods, MP3 download issues, technical Blu-Ray, CD & DVD playback, setup, optimization, etc. Please post those in these threads:
- Archives Technical Questions Open Thread
- Archives Ordering Questions Open Thread

Please follow each thread's topic guidance to keep this resource useful.

Got a question? Drop a comment below. No registration required.

Also, see The Neil Young Archives for FAQ's and tutorials. Another source of good answers to questions is good old fashioned search. There is a search box on right about midway down. If you include "Archives Guy" (with qoute marks) and your question, it might just come up.

And -- as always -- see Everything You've Ever Wanted To Know About The Neil Young Archives But Were Afraid To Ask.

If you like what we're doing here, please consider using Amazon links on right. Thanks! You'll be helping to support Thrasher's Wheat and keep the servers cool now that hell has frozen over.)

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162 Comments:

At 6/13/2009 02:12:00 PM, Zak Claxton said...: Okay, here's a personal observation: my absolute favorite previously unreleased track is "Everybody's Alone". That is SO funky and great, in a way that only the Neil/Danny combination can be. I'm actually shocked in some ways that this song didn't make it onto After the Gold Rush. The song's great groove hearkens back to Neil's short stint at Motown, with an almost R&B feel. I love it!!!

And the entire Archives, by the way, are great. Thanks so much to all involved in this monumental undertaking.
At 6/13/2009 04:41:00 PM, Anonymous said...: I never thought too much of Dance Dance Dance until I heard the Crazy Horse version...amazing. And then the version with Nash... amazing again.

That's one of my favourites so far.
Syscrusher
At 6/13/2009 05:50:00 PM, Shakey_Arrow said...: My fav unreleased tracks from each disc.

Disc 1: Early Years - Either "Hello Lonely Woman" or "Ballad of Peggy Grover"

Disc 2: Early Years(2) - "Slowly Burning." "Sell out" also rocks.

Disc 3: Top. 1 - "I've Been Waiting for you (Unreleased mix)"

Disc 4: Top. 2 - "Everybody's Alone"

Disc 6: Top. 3 - "Wonderin'"

Disc 8: N. Country - "Heart of Gold (Live)"

Thanks to all who worked on this. Can't wait for Vol. 2.
At 6/13/2009 06:24:00 PM, rallen111 said...: Hello Thrasher and AG-
I am rallen111 from Iowa. Just wanted to thank you for
your dedication to Neil and the archives. Wanted you to know that I am 60 years old, and have followed Neil since Buffalo Springfield. I have seen the advent of 33 1/3s replacing 78s. I collected 45s and played guitar in several 60s garage bands, all the while following Neil's progress. I've collected cassettes and reel to reels of Neil's recordings, and have seen the rise of cds and dvds. I have pre-ordered the archives on dvd, as I have decided to stop chasing the technology of recorded music. I have a beautiful 32" Sony Wega tv and a Sony Dream System home theater system. I am content to wait for my archive dvds on Tuesday in full knowledge that I will thoroughly enjoy my archives experience. I have been very amused at the fretting and worry of the techies and their BD concerns. Hope it's all worth it for you all. This old hippie will sit back, enjoy a beverage or two and bliss out with Neil. Thanks again Thasher and AG for a most entertaining week. Long live Neil! rallen111
At 6/13/2009 07:48:00 PM, Anonymous said...: With AG gone.......whadda we do now? lol
Hoping my BD comes Monday!!

LIVE RUST
At 6/14/2009 09:51:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Greetings

Thanks Thrasher for providing the NYA1 forum I've enjoyed over the past few weeks. Because of the knowledged gained here, I did decide to take the plunge into Blu-Ray (and now I gotta find a Blu-Ray player . . . y'know the rest).

Long story short, I was part of a small record label in the mid-late 70's - enough to really know how much effort went into NYA1 production and I am wicked impressed. It's a tad package-y but it's really great packaging anyway.

So I've got them (direct pre-order with 7"-cool!). A pal lemme "play" with the preview disc at his house . . . I hope these BD discs are ok, but no scratches or smudges, a tad tight in the box. It'll be a while before the new BluRay player is here, but I'm so looking forward to the journey . . .

Archive Cat - thanks for all your time - really enjoyed your viewpoint, whomever y'all are - I grasp the authenthicity - if I may, por favor - in Archive Set # 2 - as an old sound man, I'd love to "see" more notes about the playing, recording, mixing, etc. -- surely there's room -- track logs, mics and 'micing' and stuff -

especially the playing - since (finally) seeing Neil play live twice the last couple years, I'm really intrigued by Neil's mastery of all the sound and all the fury.

I don't really want to see anything proprietory but I'd love to see more of, and about the Big Red Stompbox for example.

Shoutouts and Standing Ovations all around. Thanks to the entire staff, the press I've read with some of y'all has been great.

Of course, please allow me to say to Mr. Young - thanks for sharing your vision and your music. Good stuff, eh? Well done.

singed,
old sound man
At 6/14/2009 12:27:00 PM, Doonerak said...: one thing that we all must get prepared to pay for are the shakey platform blu ray versions of the original albums. this is probably where we will get all of the remainder of the the things, video clips, etc we didnt get on the archives. just put them in your stash box when they arrive. this will complete the archives.

neils always said a complete re-release of his albums, chronologically, would accompany the archived box....lrr
At 6/14/2009 01:19:00 PM, BecauseSoundMatters said...: OFF TOPIC:

... but interesting Ben Keith interview with CultTV in Amsterdam.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I633kE9OXU

bsm
At 6/14/2009 01:45:00 PM, Carson said...: RE: Blu-Ray Album Remasters --

Has there been any confirmation from the NYA camp about these releases? Several merchants have CDs slated for release, but there is no mention of Blu-Ray. On that note, I'm sure the Archives team hates to hear this, but I wonder if the Blu-Ray remasters would come with a download to get those final missing remastered song on our iPods. Compared to all my other MP3s, this Archive MP3 sound quality has been heaven. Obviously it's nothing like the sound on the actual Blu-Ray, but it is a great way to take these great songs on the go.
At 6/14/2009 02:43:00 PM, Doonerak said...: OK. There are MANY requests for details on hidden track and easter eggs. Some folks like to play and discover and others have no patience for that. There is no good **spoiler** resource for the Archives. So I've started to fill that gap. This is NOT a cool website. I am not a web guy. I can barely type.

http://home.roadrunner.com/~thrasherpass/NYArchives/menu.htm

This is just a start, but it contains a "Timeline of the Archives" and a disk-by-disk detailed description of the Archives. So Far, I have only gotten through the first two disks....but this will be populated over the next several weeks....

I'm hoping that this humble page will expand people's appreciation for the the contents on this collection. And it's rather obscure location on the web will hopefully not spoil for things for those who want to relish the discovery on their own.

LRR
At 6/14/2009 04:11:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Doonerak, thanks for working on this.. I enjoy the layout and look forward to it growing, evolving, and being updated as BD live comes into play more...

Jammincrowe
At 6/14/2009 04:31:00 PM, Kim said...: To ”Doonerak”,

Thank you so much for your new web-site.

I really appreciate that you have taken the time to help others with The Archives. I guess I’m not the only one who will benefit from your work here.

Great idea – great job – and very helpful. Thank you.

Kim
At 6/14/2009 08:41:00 PM, Alan55 said...: Doonerack thank you very much for the site.Although I won't use it initially it will make sure that I don't miss any of the goodies.Also while thanking people on the site I would particularly like to thank Karen who I'm sure gave Archives Guy the idea for "the little lump of coal" inside the box and nearly deserves a credit in the book with Volume 2.
At 6/15/2009 06:55:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Hey everyone, I've posted on here occasionally, and I've decided it was time again after playing around with the archives for over a week. I haven't posted about the archives yet, so this might get long.

I waited a few days to buy it, unaware of the shortage. I'm only 20, and I began to have second thoughts about putting that much money down when I don't have any fancy audio setup, just TV speakers. I was going to go blu-ray or nothing though, because I'll eventually have a nice setup in a few years, and I don't want to buy it twice. Luckily, when I got to Best Buy they still had 2 Blu-Ray versions on the shelf, so I grabbed on and took it home.

Having listened to itunes mp3s and cds for most of my life (with the exception of some of my dad's vinyls), I can't believe the sound difference from my low quality MP3s.

The new songs, the song wraps, the video footage, the interviews, the different mixes, they're all so incredible, and something all Neil fans will hopefully appreciate.

I love a lot of Neil's early stuff, and while 'I Wonder' might not have the complexity of stuff like Ambulance Blues or Thrasher, it's becoming one of my favorite songs, probably because it's just so easy to relate to. I'm very surprised at how good his early songs were. I didn't know anything about I'll Love You Forever, I Can't Cry, Hello Lonely Woman, Casting Me Away from You, or the early versions of Clancy and Sugar Mountain. Those have become some of my favorites on the entire Archives.

Out of the videos, I love the whole Massey Hall (only had the CD), A Man Needs a Maid, the Barn Sessions/interview, Mr Soul, and of course. JttP.

I guess I'll finish by posting my favorites from each Disc:

0 I Wonder, Casting Me Away, Clancy
1 Sell Out
2 EKtiN (1st), (New version) Birds
3 1956 Bubblegum, Whiskey Boot Hill
4 Everybody's Alone, It Might Have Been
5 Cowgirl in the Sand
6 Wonderin
7 Man Need a Maid/Heart of Gold, Cowgirl
8 Words, War Song

~ Steel Madsen
At 6/15/2009 04:44:00 PM, Chris said...: I wonder why they listed the Riverboat track as "1956 Bubblegum Disaster" when it's clearly 2 separate "songs"? Unless he did them together each night as a joke? If you look at the tape boxes you'll see

- 1956
- Bubblegum Disaster

and another says "1956 - Bubblegum".

Not a huge deal, obviously, just seems odd (again, unless he always did them as a double-shot of hilarity).
At 6/15/2009 11:38:00 PM, D.I. Kertis said...: Collecting my thoughts, thus far, about the Archives is a surprisingly challenging task, made all the more daunting by the need to organize them in some fashion before I can present them here. The first thing that comes to mind is the seemingly endless delays of NYA1's s release that we as fans all faced, especially in the six months prior to the release. I have particularly vivid memories of the February release date that fell through. This was a notable source of disappointment for me because my birthday is in late February right around the day the the box set was to be released, presenting a convenient excuse for the monetary splash.

Nonetheless, I was effectively appeased by the release of Fork in the Road in April, which was followed shortly by the news of a new date for Archives: June 2nd, 2009. The anticipation then became comparable to awaiting the release of a summer blockbuster one is particularly looking forward. I spent much of the spring monitoring online criticism of Fork in the Road. I think this was one of several byproducts created by the delay of the first Archives volume: many in the fan community understandably embittered about the repeated postponements of this greatly anticipated and such feelings often spilled over into the reception of interim material. (This is not intended to stir up a hornet's nest, nor to say that FITR is a great album-- it isn't, although I will always maintain that it was *good*, with some outstanding songs.)
The months, weeks, and days leading up to June 2nd were tense and often heated times for Neil's fans. Up to the last minute--even when my Amazon order was placed on either May 30th or 31st--I was unsure as to whether the first Archives volume would actually be released, as I'm sure were many other Neil fans. How could one not be after all the previous delays, even if there images and track lists available?
Another tension-heightening factor was the emergence of the DVD/blu-ray format for the NYA. This startled me quite a bit when I first heard of it: what would be on the DVDs and blu-rays in the way of visuals? The option was not entirely a surprise, however, given Neil's experimentation with DVD as a vehicle for superior audio dating back to about Greendale if memory serves. These releases had regularly been a source of debate amongst fans, not least of all due to the nature of the accompanying visuals: stills, the tape machine playing, the slideshows for Chrome Dreams II, etc. My understanding of those releases is that the DVDs were obviously designed with paramount audio quality in mind and the format selected was basically a method of making the DVD-Audio listening experience available with a guarantee that it would be compatible to all players, at least within the encoded "region." I think he may also possibly have been testing the waters for the use of a similar format for the Archives releases. At any rate, I went with DVD, for reasons I think clarified in previous posts on here (I have fervent hopes for my home's upgrade to blu-ray by the time Vol. 2 comes around.) I have had my set since the 5th and I still find myself stumbling across new things to enjoy every once in a while. I am indeed glad that I chose DVD, as it includes a large amount of material I would have missed with the CD edition: the full 236 page book, which can be as entertaining as the Archives discs themselves; substantial amounts of video, including Journey Through the Past; hidden tracks; and the various unannounced extra bits 'n' bobs found in the wonderful virtual "files." and delightful timeline feature. And that's not even mentioning the wholly superior sound. This really is a unique and far-more-than-satisfying experience. Someone had some good ideas and it shows.
At 6/15/2009 11:39:00 PM, D.I. Kertis said...: Among the highlights to date:
. The entirety of Disc 0, 1963-65, especially the instrumentals, which show a whole different side to Neil (including the letters he mailed himself of his early compositions!) and the early versions of Sugar Mountain and Clancy, particularly the latter, as fine a take as any, perhaps better. (I don't care very much for the Springfield version; Furray shouldn't ever have sung that song.)

. Down, Down, Down; Slowly Burning (greatest Springfield outtake ever?), Sell Out, alternate Mr. Soul and the pristine-sounding Springfield recordings. I've longed to hear Broken Arrow that way for sometime. I also enjoyed the montage from the last Springfield show--one of those bonuses that really adds to the set's worth--and the various audio clips of Neil talking about the springfield, and especially the video in which Charles Green and Brian Stone are interviewed and the band shown at work in the studio.
- All the rare audio clips in general
-All the footage of Neil, Joel Bernstein, etc., putting the archives together.
-Down by the River on Music Scene
-DVD-quality Filmore East
-The stills, documents, memorabilia and such in the song files. There are some really great original drafts in there.
-The record sleeve for Stampede-- proving it did exist.
- The book, which provided not only more great photos and memorabilia, but a chart and very detailed information on each track in the Archives
-Alternate mixes of I've been Waiting for You and What did you do to my Life?
-Alternate Birds (2x)
- Alternate Everybody Knows this is nowhere.
- the Timeline in general
-Everybody's Alone
-Everything on the Massey Hall DVD
-The rare tracks from Riverboat
-Country Girl (really interesting track that gets forgotten a lot and sounds great here)
-Remastered Expecting to Fly (forgot to mention above-- really brings out the best of Jack Nitzche)
- Versions of Dance Dance Dance, the long Words (better than the original and in such great quality), a wholly superior restoration of Soldier
- finally getting to see Journey Through the Past, which is weird but entertaining
-All the video on North Country
-Superb remasters of the Harvest material
-Neil and Steve Stills play an interesting version of Soul Man

These are only some of the many treasures to be found on NYA1. I may well write again at some other time.
At 6/16/2009 09:50:00 AM, Anonymous said...: "Neil and Steve Stills play an interesting version of Soul Man"

Soul Man ?????
At 6/16/2009 11:02:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Anyone receive any new posts since June 3 on BD Live on the Archives?
At 6/16/2009 01:33:00 PM, Anonymous said...: "Neil and Steve Stills play an interesting version of Soul Man"

D.I. meant.... MR. SOUL

dig.
At 6/16/2009 02:39:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Just been reading about the disappointment of the non-broadcast of Neil's set at the Isle Of Wight festival...how about making it available as a BDLive download?!?

The archives should not only be of the past, but of the present and future as well! ;-)
At 6/16/2009 04:08:00 PM, dr dip said...: I was "surfing the sidebar" the other Day and discovered the "archives box" and the fact that you could play early snippetes of the songs contained there in. just a question Chronologically speaking, for those that have the "Archives" in all its glory....Was Down Down Down written or sang before or after Broken Arrow?

Is it similar to what Neil did with "love is a rose" and "Dance Dance Dance"

Thrash, please let me get an answer before you delete me!
At 6/16/2009 05:13:00 PM, Dave said...: "Down, Down, Down" predates "Broken Arrow." There's a clip where NY explains that he got stuck after writing the verses for BA and so stole the chorus melody and part of the lyrics from DDD to finish the song.

Of course, DDD later became incorporated into "Country Girl." One of the more amusing hidden video clips on the Archives has NY explaining to Joel Bernstein that he gave the three sections of CG their own separate titles (as seen on the Deja Vu cover) in order to try to collect royalties for three compositions instead of one. (Apparently it didn't work.)
At 6/16/2009 06:33:00 PM, dr dip said...: thanks Dave!
Innaresting!
At 6/16/2009 08:40:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Hi all,

Just unwrapped and plugged in the first DVD - Early Years and WOW! what a nice hour or so, listening to the tracks, checking out photos, press articles etc.

This box set is amazing, done right and with every click of the button something new and interesting!

Over the next few weeks I know I will thoroughly enjoy meandering through these DVD's.

Thanks Neil and the archives team!

I had the extreme pleasure of meeting Neil this past April and I can tell you the sincerity and energy he exudes is why this archive series is like no other!

He gives a shit!

DC
At 6/17/2009 11:38:00 AM, Daniel said...: I am just listening to Disc 2 Topanga 1.
I barely can hear Neil´s voice on The Last Trip To Tulsa"!

Is there something wrong with my Blu-ray disc or with my ears...?
At 6/17/2009 02:13:00 PM, Anonymous said...: "Howdy folks,

Just wanted to say I'm TRULY IMPRESSED with Archives vol.1.I got the Blu-ray ed.THANK YOU!THANK YOU!THANK YOU once again Neil and team.The Neil Young Crazy Horse "country album" IS HERE!!If you listen to it song by song it's in there.It was neat to find out about the Broken Arrow,Down By The River,Country Girl trilogy.Hints:On Topanga 1 go to more and click down to lightswitch.On Topanga 2 go to more and left click from timeline to Bigsby tailpiece on Old Black.My top 5 fav songs so far are: 1)Birds w/Crazy Horse
2)Dance Dance Dance w/Crazy Horse
3)Flying On The Ground (at The Riverboat
4)Oh lonesome Me (unreleased mix)
5)I've Loved Her So Long (live w/G Nash)
Once again WOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

The Mugwump"

so mugwump or somebody could you please tell me where the Crazy Horse Country album is? like what tracks? what do you mean listen to it song by song?do the booklets mention this or is it only the blu-ray menus or something? could you post the tracklist for it someone please????????????
At 6/17/2009 05:22:00 PM, Jake said...: Glorious Noise helps you cherry-pick what you actually need: 21 Essential Songs from Neil Young's Archives Vol. 1
At 6/18/2009 12:12:00 AM, D.I. Kertis said...: Re: Soul Man

Like someone said, I meant to type Mr. Soul. I'm not sure what I was thinking at the time, but seeing just now that I made that mistake was the best laugh of my day.
At 6/18/2009 08:02:00 AM, Anonymous said...: There is no complete unreleased crazy horse slbum. He's just talking about a few unreleased recordings that would have made up about half of a possible ablume.
'Lonsome Me', 'Birds', 'Everybody's Alone', 'Dance Dance Dance', 'I Believe In You'

Throw in crazy horse verions of 'Wonderin' 'Winterlong' and 'Helpless' and you may have something. But those wern't recorded/included.

Syscrusher
At 6/18/2009 08:34:00 AM, William Miller said...: hey all, I put down a few thoughts on the Archives package, rather than the music, over on my blog - http://greatleapfwd.wordpress.com. Question - so why was songs like Out On the Weekend and Losing End left off the box? Did we ever get an answer for that?
At 6/18/2009 10:07:00 AM, Anonymous said...: No. No explanation william.

Maybe Thrash can help us out.
We really need to get Joel Bernstein on here for a little Q & A. So many questions about content and no answers.
Archives Guy? Bring Joel around next time you drop in.
Syscrusher
At 6/18/2009 05:13:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Out on the Weekend is my biggest surprise regarding NYA1. It's just not quite complete a re-examination of the Harvest collection without it.

old sound man
At 6/18/2009 07:59:00 PM, Babbo said...: Remember, Neil is going to be selling remastered versions of the first four albums as well, so it's not smart business for him to give us all of them in "Archives."
At 6/19/2009 03:14:00 PM, Anonymous said...: I'd say to all the hand wringing about when the next downloads will come....be patient. If this is like other online downloads from artists it will come once a month. So let's look on July 1st.

Bob
At 6/19/2009 03:30:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Finally got mine!! Came in Wednesday but wasn't home so off to the Post Office Thursday...now been lost in The Archives since.
Love it! Packaging was perfect, no issues what so ever.
Going to continue today to dig into and simply Dig it! You diggy?

LIVE RUST
At 6/19/2009 03:56:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Right on LIVE RUST.
Glad you finally got it.
Syscrusher
At 6/20/2009 07:01:00 PM, Anonymous said...: I need help with!

I just got my blu-ray NYA vol. 1 this week (i preordered it from the WB website) but im saddened to see that while SOME Of my discs work, and work great, some of them DO NOT WORK! for example, when i put in the Topanga 3 blu ray disc, the dvd's background loads but NO menus appear on screen! it doesnt say "play all, select songs, more, setup" it just has a screen with the title of the disc. HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO NAVIGATE THROUGH THIS IF I CANT SEE WHAT IM SELECTING?!

this isnt on all the dvds, only on 4 of them... but still, i'll have to send it back. Is it my BD player? (it is an older one...) or is it the BD's?

thanks alot!

SP
At 6/20/2009 08:53:00 PM, Anonymous said...: SP,

My guess is it's your machine. Check to see if you have latest firmware, but even that might not do it. Even some of the latest machines have difficulty with the Archives discs. The problems you describe seem only to happen to older players. My newer player takes forever to load some of the discs, especially when selecting songs from the file cabinet. I await a firmware update I hope will solve the problem. Your issue might require a new player.

Art - Plymouth, MN
At 6/21/2009 07:44:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Does anyone know if any footage of Crazy Horse exists during the Archives vol. 1 period?
At 6/22/2009 08:52:00 PM, Charrison said...: I need some advice here:
How to "uncompress" the Zip download into Mp3...I have Windows XP. Thanks!
At 6/23/2009 09:12:00 AM, Kimball said...: Charrison: using windows explorer, find the zip file that you downloaded. right click on it and choose expand. then it will ask you some simple questions.

this is the basic zip/unzip utility that is built into windows.
At 6/24/2009 03:55:00 AM, andrea1bianco said...: Thank Neil for The Archives. I adore expecially the early things with The Squires or Comrie Smith.
A little disappointed for the omitted songs:
1)I Ain't got The Blues, from The Elektra studios.
2) High School Graduation.Gold Star Hollywood.
3) Crazy Horse recordings. Wonderin', Sunset Sound. Winterlong, Larrabee, Hollywood. I hope, in the future, in a separate release, in alternative to the Topanga sessions.
4) C.S.N.Y.outtakes. Sea of madness. Everybody's Alone. Wally Heider studios.Maybe in a next CSNY box set?
5) Harvest outtakes. Dance Dance Dance; See The Sky with the Stray Gators, Nashville.
6) The Bridge. Island, London.
7) A Complete Comrie Smith tape with the other unreleased songs (Betty Ann...)
With these things, The Archives should have been the masterpiece of Neil Young.
At 6/24/2009 06:48:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Back on June 13, I bought the Early Years cd and Riverboat cd off Neils website. I got an email saying the payment is confirmed, but going on two weeks now and it still hasn't been shipped yet. The street date is June 30. What does this mean and does it take this long and why?
At 6/26/2009 08:01:00 AM, pieceofcrap said...: After just three days of mining the Archives, I have got to say: it's almost like living with the man through the times. What a great experience.. (even on my humble dvd player). Takes you right back to when you were listening to these songs for the first time... One big difference, though: it feels like you're hearing them right for the first time! What a sound.
And this is no child's play. This great auditive (and visual) experience creates a strange new relationship to Neil's work & life AND to your own. Makes you see things and experiences in a new way. That may sound weird, but I can't help it. This is what music is supposed to do.
Note to Zak: I agree, "Everybody's Alone" is great, this song never fails to lift you up (despite its message!). There's another version with CSN out on on youtube which is also a great listen...

Notice to zak:
At 6/26/2009 12:17:00 PM, Anonymous said...: I can't find this anywhere, but is Neil o.k. with downloading live/unreleased stuff? I bought the cd version of the archives, but I would like to supplement it with stuff left off, like the 1971 BBC show, the missing Cinnamon Girl from Live At Fillmore, and the 2/5/70 show. Am I gonna get sued if I download it? What about stuff the unreleased Chrome Dreams L.P.? Thanks for any answer!
At 6/26/2009 11:22:00 PM, ShittyHorse said...: Archives Vol2 due out 2010 according to Rollingstone!!!
At 6/27/2009 11:38:00 AM, Archives Guy said...: Sh#*tty Horse-

Volume 2 will not come out in 2010, nor is it due then.
This speculation can end right here.

-Archives Guy
At 6/27/2009 11:43:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Archive Guy, can you answer my question right above sh*&^y guys please? Thank you!
P.S. Hearing the 1969 Crazy Horse songs in the archive was worth the wait!
At 6/27/2009 01:25:00 PM, pieceofcrap said...: Pheww, thanks, Archives Guy, no Archives 2 in 2010.. I was getting stressed out already... I mean, I'm still in the middle of disc 0... another box coming out next year would wreck my day job and home.... I'll be ok watching my toe nails grow waiting for it...
Which of course means: this is a great project, keep it coming in due time.
Bottom Line: "This fellow didn't give me a bad deal!"
At 6/27/2009 07:10:00 PM, Craig said...: For the life of me I cannot find the clip where Neil talks about mailing himself lead sheets in order to copyright the songs. Can someone help me out? I looked on the website that someone posted above, but I don't see it listed on there either. Thanks!
At 6/27/2009 10:46:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Well........

all i can say is i'm massively
disappointed. I plopped down $323 bucks for the Archives, another $433 for a PlayStation3, and $15 for an HDMI cable....

and.....

....and......

.......and......

i wish i could return everything and get my money back. To shell out nearly 800 bucks for something i'm not satisfied with gives me cramps.

there is so much material in the archives, it's a multimedia extravaganza....but maybe i'm old school, all i really care for is the music. Unreleased tracks and such.

For me, it's a pain to endlessly search around for nuggets on the BluRay discs. Searching for the hidden stuff is, well, stupid. It would be nice if you could play everything in a loop, and have slide shows pop up showing the photos.

I just dont have the energy or desire to navigate from one photo to the next, or searching for easter eggs etc.

I give Neil an awful lot of credit to pull this massive set together, it is impressive. Lots of blood, sweat and tears went into this, and he deserves props.

but for me - well, it's just not worth it.

i guarantee one thing - once the newness wears off, only a small percentage will consistently plop the BluRays in and search around day after day. Frankly, it gets boring.

In the end, the MP3's (or CDs) will get played.

after all, it's about the music.
At 6/28/2009 05:12:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Anonymous post directly above this post..

first, let me say your post is well thought out, I'm not trying to trash here.. you expressed your opinion rationally...

I only offer that you give it a bit of time.. I've been listening since the day I got it (preorder)... you are right.. it IS about the music.. and the music is blowing me away.. I just finished listening to Country Girl.. WOW.. a few weeks ago it was Broken Arrow... the music is very very rich and deep...

Hope it comes around for you

Jammincrowe
At 6/29/2009 05:11:00 AM, UKStevo1971 said...: Hey guys - Ive now finished the set and I have to say I have mixed feelings. I LOVED every minute of the blu-ray experience but I'm a little disappointed at the number of real audio and notably rare video content!

For years I've had rock n' roll cowboy and a number of other rare Neil boots and know what is available - also things like seeing CSNY playing down by the river on tv - where are all these nuggets? Neil promised us everything he could find - well if I found these years ago and you can access a lot of these on YouTube quickly how come Neil hasnt dicovered them yet?

Also excuse the cynicism - when the BD reissues come out later of harvest etc.. and there are rare bonus tracks on those - does that mean that 'now' Neil has 'discovered' them for those releases they will go as BD live updates on the timeline - I think not! In terms of the BD live updates - a cool feature I agree but I wonder is the only release where is the next one or the csny 'on the way home' which has been rumoured.

A half decent package which lots of us invested serious bucks in - but now we need some payback - or there may be less demand for volume 2 - come on archives team - prove to us this set was worth it in the BD format!

I've coughed up the bucks.. but I ain't gonna 'eat it' (like Neil said some fans would have to in one of the rare video interviews) - comes a time.

UKStevo1971
At 6/29/2009 11:32:00 AM, Anonymous said...: brionsMy honest thoughts.
I don't have a Blu Ray player, so I bought the cd version. I don't listen to music while staring at my TV or computer.
I know Neil didn't want to release a cd version, but it should be done with care. I am sure the 20 year buildup caused expectations to be too high, but even so, it is a disappointment.
First the positives:
The unreleased/rare stuff is great.
Having rare tracks only released on 7" vinyl is great, (The Squires, Crazy Horse Birds, War Song). The sound is amazing, and the pictures on the cd covers are great. The Riverboat show is a gem. So far, it's amazing.

But.......

There is so much missing here it makes one ponder who this box set is aimed at, the casual Neil fan who wants a one shot purchase or the neil collector interested in rarities. It fails on both counts.

Why include most of the first four albums but not all of them? By my count the tally is:
1. Neil Young (Debut) 5/10 songs (plus two remixes)
Missing The Emperor Of Wyoming, String Quartet From Whiskey Boot Hill, If I Could Have Her Tonight,
plus the original l.p. versions of the two remixed songs.

2. Everybody Know This Is Nowhere 6/7. Missing The Losing End. WHY?

3. After the Goldrush 8/10 (with one remix). Missing Birds and the original mix of Oh Lonesome Me.

4. Harvest 6/10 (plus one remix)
Missing Out On The Weekend, Theres A World, Words, and the original mix of A Man Needs A Maid.

It's not for lack of space, I timed the 8 cd's.
1= 79:35
2= 68:19
3= 56:52
4= 45:30
5= 43:19
6= 47:52
7= 67:37
8= 57:04

Only disc 1 is full.
Could it be that it is so we will buy the new remastered versions, hmmm? Methinks so.....
Also missing are the versions of "Are You Ready For The Country" and "Alabama" found on the out of print "Journey Thru The Past" soundtrack, and the 7" single version of "Cinnamon Girl" with Neil and Danny switching vocal parts.

Continued on next post.
At 6/29/2009 11:32:00 AM, Anonymous said...: O.K., so what about the collector who buys this for the new stuff?
Like I said, a lot of great stuff, but still missing a lot.

The Cinnamon Girl from the 3/6/70 show that was missing from the "Live At Fillmore East" disc.
It sounds fine, it should be here. Ditto for the 2/5/70 Cincinatti Crazy Horse show. "Might As Well" is here, why not put highlights from more of this show as filler on the "Fillmore" disc? That way people who are complaining about buying it again will get something new and exclusive to the box set?

What about the short but excellent 2/23/71 BBC show? It would fit.

Or the 1969 Crazy Horse studio versions of Wonderin and Winterlong.

Or "I Got The Blues" from the Elektra tape? The shorting amp didn't stop "Clancy" from being included.

Or the Harvest outtake of "See The Sky About To Rain"?

or the Springfield song "High School Graduation"?

or CSNY 1969 studio versions of Everybody's Alone & Sea Of Madness?

Or how about the so-called "hidden" tracks THAT EVERYBODY ELSE GOT!

The cd cases are junk, they scratch the disc every time you take them out, jewel cases are the way to go, or at least the cardboard with plastic inner tray inserts. Also there was glue all over my discs from these stupid sleeves that took forever to remove (though thankfully I got it off, and the discs play).
The "book" is a joke and the poster (are you really charging $10 for this thing seperately?) is worthless.

I will say that I didn't get ripped of, I got 39 new/rare songs (which fit on 2 discs), plus the riverboat show in a nice box for $70.

But I FEEL ripped off because of what it could have been if you cared for your fans 1/10th as much as we care about your music.

Few of us have the bucks to spend $300 on the Blu-Ray version + another $300 for a player in this economy. Despite Neil's convictions, Blu-Ray more than likely will not be the format to replace DVD. This set may well be setting on a shelf next to someones "Weld" laserdisc in a few years.

Sorry, but this could have been so much better, and really been something to behold.
I'm just being honest.

-Brian Clem
At 6/29/2009 07:12:00 PM, Dave said...: I don't know. There's the point of view that wants the maximum quantity of material released regardless of how good it is, and there's the point of view that wants some quality control exercised. I think "Out on the Weekend" and "The Losing End" should have been released because they are both good songs. But if there are five or nine or 23 alternate takes, mixes, live versions, etc. of a song, I want NY and his buddies to wade through them all and pick the best one or two. If there are unreleased songs that aren't hidden gems but instead are horrible embarrassments, maybe they should stay unreleased. I've heard the CSNY version of "Everybody's Alone," and I think the one with Crazy Horse is better. Presumably the ATGR take on "Wonderin'" cuts the CH version, which is why it's included. NY is on record preferring the album version of "Cinnamon Girl" to the single version. And to complain about the omission about such things as the mono mix of "Oh, Lonesome Me" is to espouse a standard of completeness that would, I'm afraid, be difficult to satisfy.
At 6/30/2009 11:40:00 AM, andrea1bianco said...: This comment has been removed by the author.
At 6/30/2009 11:27:00 PM, Dave said...: If you believe that NY doesn't respect you as a fan unless he sells you a bunch of subpar songs, that's certainly your right...but I can't relate, personally.
At 7/01/2009 03:29:00 AM, Anonymous said...: It seems to me a lot of people are jumping the gun when we don't know what the BD Live updates hold for us with Blu-Ray. Things called Missing may very well be part of these things. That is part of the draw of Blu-Ray isn't it? Yes indeed it is.
Between AG coming on here and listening to the "Fans" a great deal changed as to what would be available. MP3's anyone?
I for one am still enjoying this wonderful trip I am taking with Neil. And hey Archives Guy...if you're still Poppin' in, thanks to you the crew and "The Man" for making it possible to take "The Riverboat" along in my Car.

LIVE RUST
"Back in Canada"
At 7/01/2009 11:51:00 AM, andrea1bianco said...: Dave, everyone is entitled to his opinion. Ok, it'a a well organized and crafted work full of information, photographs, memorabilia. I really appreciate the effort. It's also a good selection of songs. Many fans think also that from the archival point of view there's not enough unreleased or alternate material. Too much released stuff. So it's too detailed for the larger audience and not enough for many hard core fans.
Just my humble opinion.
At 7/01/2009 01:36:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Face it folks, Archives Volume 1 is just a glorified greatest hits collection with a few unreleased nuggets thrown in, the same that Decade was.

How many of you first day Blu-Ray and DVD purchasers are still looking with wonder and your mouthing hanging open at pictures of postcards that Neil sent to his family and other such worthless junk? I'll bet that thrill has worn off for you by now.
At 7/01/2009 08:01:00 PM, Doonerak said...: Yes, Anon. The thrill has worn off. Obviously. So what's your da%n point?
At 7/01/2009 09:55:00 PM, Charles Surrat said...: I love the blatant venomous jealousy of those who can't afford the Blu-Ray. Did anybody seriously think they would listen to ANY version of the Archives every day? I love Neil, and I love the music on this set, but there's so much other music out there...

I had the choice to take my time with each disc and really let each one be a week/month-long experience, but I was greedy and eager and went thru the entire Blu-Ray set in a couple of days. Do I regret it? Of course not! And at least twice a week since I've thrown at least one or two discs in. Sometimes I navigate thru the folders, mostly I just let the (incredible) sound play. Anybody who can hear the Blu-Ray sound has the best version of the Archives, regardless of the whole folder navigation feature, etc.. the Archives are about the music and while I love having the option to explore each song's history, I also love hearing everything in the best audio imaginable.

Calling it a greatest hits with some unreleased tracks is beyond stupid. I didn't realize EVERY TRACK ON HIS FIRST FOUR ALBUMS was a greatest hit. Oh sorry, I guess 'The Losing End' wasn't, that's why they left it off.

And I'm not choked about buying the LP tracks again, because THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THEY'VE EVER SOUNDED THIS GOOD. I didn't buy the 'Greatest Hits' release in any shape or form because I knew what it was and just didn't care. This is something entirely different.
At 7/02/2009 05:55:00 AM, Anonymous said...: The Archives are an AMAZING piece of work - all the details that went into this are amazing. The early Springfield photos are a treasure trove.

But all i truly care about is the music, so, in that respect, the archives are a disappointment. Sure, via BluRay, the sound is better....but i would compromise sound for a better compilation of RARE material.

Navigating the Archives has already become a bore and i've only had them for one week. There is way too much navigating to listen to the hidden stuff. Sorry Neil, this is not a video game, the excitement doesnt build, in fact, it wears at you.

You could have resolved this by providing a single disc that included all the hidden stuff - then click, PLAY ALL.

But, instead we got yet another copy of Canterbury House thrown in the box. I bought that in 2008, what would you like me to do with the extra copy?

Overall, I am glad i have the Archives, i'm a diehard fan....but i have many people who have asked me if it's worth it.

After explaining the many caveats, i typically say, unless you're a complete diehard, don't go for the BluRay version. You will likely be disappointed after spending so much cash!

Cough up the Bucks!

Johnny Rocket!!
At 7/02/2009 09:50:00 AM, Anonymous said...: I can't believe there are so many bitter people out there.
At 7/02/2009 10:30:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Would you prefer we all become Neil suckups and zombies?

Are we not allowed to have an opinion of Pros and Cons of the Archives?

I paid over $330 bucks for the Archives.....and i'm damn well gonna speak my mind on what i think about it.

If you don't like it, too bad, son.
At 7/02/2009 11:41:00 AM, andrea1bianco said...: I think that it's really a good work, you know, but I have the right to criticize the faults. I've waited for 20 years, I've paid a lot of money, I follow Neil in Europe in many concerts, so I'm really a die hard fan. I've enjoyed the Archive experience, but I can say that the Blu Ray has a lot of storage and really there is not a lot of audio here.
I recall these Neil words: "I don't mind the suggestions about what are the good songs... but the pieces of shit should there, too...That's what a fuckin' archive is about, not Neil Young in all wonderfulness...I want people to know...the real picture...not a product and I think that's what the die hard fans want-the whole f.thing...They're not gonna get part of it.Everything:the good, the bad, the ugly."
Actually it didn't happen.
Pardon the long post.
At 7/02/2009 11:46:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Attention to any Neil Young fans out there who have yet to purchase the Blu-Ray edition of Archives AND who can find a Borders store that has it in stock. FRIDAY, JULY 3rd ONLY Borders is offering a 50% OFF sale on all Blu-Ray titles!! Imagine NYA for only $175.00!! Maybe this price will be more within some fans' budget. Hell, it's 75 bucks less than I paid, and I thought I got a great deal! You have to be a Borders Rewards member to get the coupon, so sign up online to get your coupon e-mailed to you, TODAY!

Enjoy,

Mike
At 7/03/2009 10:17:00 PM, Rasputin1981 said...: So in the name of wishful thinking... how about some new BD-Live downloads? As a proud Blu Ray Archives owner, I've been a huge touter of the whole "just wait till we get the BD Live Downloads" rallying cry. Wouldn't it be sad if all we ever get is that one "I Wonder"? Then the 4%ers will really go to town.

Don't want to sound like too impatient though, because the archives as is are just stunning. Just take a listen to the insane violin tones on Requiem for the Rockets for proof that the Blu ray "released" tracks may as well be completely unreleased recordings. Honestly, if your attitude is just that the Blu Ray is merely "good and all," you either don't have halfway decent speakers or are fortunate enough to own 100% pristine vinyl copies of everything.
At 7/04/2009 02:22:00 AM, Anonymous said...: There was one update today...same blue push pin but added info. check it out!

LIVE RUST
At 7/04/2009 02:31:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Give us a break Charlie Boy. All these years of teasing us with promises of how great the Archives were going to be and how many unreleased songs, videos etc etc were going to be included, and the best defence you 96%ers have is that the sound quality is so good (on previously released songs might I add!) and you can navigate through 'timelines' to look at some press clippings etc!! And most of you had to fork out extra bucks on blue-ray players as well!

Neil fans have every right to voice a negative opinion on this, whether you lot like it or not.

Thank goodness there are people like Johnny Rocket and Andrea here to balance out the hyperbole.
At 7/04/2009 02:37:00 AM, Anonymous said...: There was one update today...same blue push pin but added info. check it out!

Woohoo!! Extra info!! Who needs rare audio and video content when 'extra info' can be downloaded! You DVD & CD set owners are suckers! We blue-rayers might have had to fork out big bucks - but we get 'extra info'! LMAO at y'all!
:-)
At 7/04/2009 10:44:00 AM, Thrasher said...: Yes, it's really great that we have the angry 4% Club folks like Johnny Rocket and Andrea here to help us out.

Throw your hatred down.

peace.
At 7/04/2009 11:43:00 AM, andrea1bianco said...: Angry or hatred don't belong to my world, expecially concerning my passions. Maybe it is yours, trasher.
I have just a different, more critic point of view, nothing else. I adore Neil and his music and sometimes I don't agree with all his choices, but I'm always loyal and I prove it concretly.
I think that The Archives Vol.1 is really a great piece of work and I love it. I show just some faults after 20 years of waiting, no more, no less.
At 7/04/2009 02:58:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Well said Andrea, well said.

Thrasher would hope we'd all be Zombies, and complete Suckups when it comes to all-things Neil. So when you point a critical eye towards Neil's work, Thrasher becomes defensive.

Sorry Thrash, you are right, I am wrong. Is that what makes you happy? If so, i'll say it every post.

Cheers, mate.

Johnny Rocket!
At 7/05/2009 06:51:00 AM, pieceofcrap said...: Amazing to see how the Archives are being used by some of you guys to blow up this supposedly big 4%-96% thing even more! Makes me feel like I'm smack in the middle of sixteenth century Europe, watching calvinists, catholics and (oh yeah)ultra-calvinists tear each other apart over the Body of Christ. Verry Innaressing, as Neil would say...
Where's the real beef? Sure, Archives Vol I doesn't contain whole truckloads of rarities that forty years of bootlegging haven't already turned up. But what did you expect? Neil playing bongo with Jimi Hendrix? A hidden Topanga-album that magically slept in the vaults for 35 years before being magically kissed awake by Joel Bernstein? I mean, get real. Leaving out The Losing End is a pity, but it's not a crime against Art.
Let's not forget this is Volume ONE, which covers a period in Neil Young's solo-career when practically everything the man put out in the studio was, well, put out. It's only after 1972, when he had come into commerical superstardom, that Neil was able to put out or shelve whole albums of material on his own, while his record company grudgingly looked on, hoping he wouldn't blow it (Tonight's the Night, Homegrown, Chrome Dreams). So we can look forward, I expect, to more outtakes and rarities on Volume Two. To quote hard rock-critic Donald Rumsfeld on this one: there should be more "unknown unknowns" once we get past 1973.
The time frame also explains the lack of never-before-seen video. I mean, apparently not one show of Young and Crazy Horse from the late sixties or early seventies was filmed. That's not a corporate rip off on the part of Neil Young, it's just a sobering biographical fact. Which also should change once we get past 1973.
So cheer up, folks, to whichever fundamentalist, revisionist of liberal part of the percentage clubs you belong!
Also, Thrasher, thanks for keeping the muse alive.
At 7/05/2009 10:40:00 AM, Anonymous said...: There is plenty of unique, rare material on Vol 1. My problem is that it's difficult to get to. The hidden easter eggs, the constant navigating, isn't conducive to a seamless listener experience.

It's too counter-productive, and detracts from the experience. Providing a single disc, with all the easter eggs, hidden tracks etc, would be a benefit to the consumer. Simply click "Play All" and away we go.

My guess is Neil will fine-tune this in future versions.

Hey Thrash - how do you like dem apples?
At 7/05/2009 10:50:00 AM, Thrasher said...: Thanks PoC.

Regarding the 4%/96% business, I do find it amusing how both Johnny Rocket & Andrea manage to show up within a few hours to take exception with a comment reply that points a critical eye towards Johnny & Andrea's comments, they become defensive. The irony is rich.

You see, the real issue has never been with the 4% Club's opinion. We've been enormously accomodating of the 4% Club's opinions. No the problem has been that the 4% Club's opinions are vastly overweighted in proportion to the 96%'rs. In other words, the 4%'s will take up 20, 30, 40% of comments volume with their relentless, boring pile ons. Yawn.

It's called proportionality. The 4% Club is entitled to 4% of the comment volume. Period. End of story. Try me.
At 7/05/2009 11:10:00 AM, Anonymous said...: thrash, you da man!
At 7/05/2009 06:24:00 PM, andrea1bianco said...: I agree with Poc. The period 1968-1972 shows the greatest Neil Young, every song is great or perfect. In my opinion it's hard to find a bad song, maybe just There's a World. So Neil really didn't need to write other songs. It's like The Beatles records, we didn't find other masterpieces from their vaults. Every good song was released before.
I love in the same way also Neil "in the ditch", he tried more, was more controversial and obscure and so we'll have great surprises in the vol.2.
Neil should belong to the 4% club, if this category means something out of trasher world.
At 7/06/2009 04:45:00 PM, andrea1bianco said...: As a completist,I'm amazed from the great quality of the unreleased or alternate material. Neil can also be proud of his early work with the Squires: the songs are fresh and varied and he was only 19! I spent 3 weeks to listen and I never didn't get bored.
Sell out is a stand out song: it could be into any BS record. It's a pity that we waited so long.
Everybody Knows and Birds, maybe less good than the definitive versions, didn't deserve the status of outtakes and have the same level of the songs then released on the first album.
1956 bubblegum disaster is clearly a little joke, mixing two pieces of songs, but the first one shows an interesting melody. I must listen to the rest yet.
Thanks Neil.
At 7/08/2009 11:14:00 AM, Anonymous said...: i've immersed myself in the Archives, loving it.
At 7/08/2009 09:29:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Archives are good, not great
expected more.

pray for BluRay Live downloads!
At 7/10/2009 01:47:00 AM, D.I. Kertis said...: I just wanted to say a thing or two about some of what I've been reading on here, and hopefully I don't ignite another battle between the 4%-ers and 96%-ers, because I'd really hate for things to get seriously off-topic.

Firstly, I think NYA1 is a wonderful piece of work. I've had next-to-know issues with it (especially, thankfully, none of the glue fiasco others have complained of.) It's completely unique and, while I won't pop in a disc every day, nor probably spend as much time, on average, with it as with a regular Neil Young album, it definitely has its place: if you're in the mood not only for music but to tour a virtual NY museum, this is your ticket. I know I'll use it many more times. So admittedly, it's the sort of thing you have to be in the mood (and have the time) to sit down and really enjoy if you want to gain the full experience, but I love it nonetheless, and I just want to be able to enjoy it when I please. I also like talking about it on here. But--and maybe I'm just overly sensitive--I find it difficult to effectively derive this pleasure in the face of constant, unrelenting complete negativity from select certain sectors of the Thrasher's Wheat community. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, but the tone and attitude of some--namely aggressive, belittling, condescending, overly pessimistic, non-constructive, and generally sour--totally "harshes my mellow", for lack of a better expression.

Granted, I've only been on here since April '09, but there are regular post I've yet to read substantially positive from, even in attitude if not feelings. Is it too much to ask that we all conduct ourselves in a clam, rational, reasonable, civil manner? And when we do criticize, that we do constructively and not destructively? And that those of us who are unhappy please don't take it upon themselves to try and make others feel the same way? Not everything Neil has done is perfect. I freely admit this. I have engaged in criticism of his work in the past and have nothing against the well-reasoned, thought-out, intelligently argued, and articulate criticism of it. But again, there is a difference between criticism and negativity: the former can be constructive, but the latter cannot.

What I find most unbecoming are personal attacks on posters by other posters. . I am particularly appalled by the attacks on Thrasher. He operates this site and you wouldn't be here doing this without him. You've got a lot of gall to go being nasty to him. If you don't like him and/or his views and the purpose of TW, don't come here. Thrasher isn't your personal punching so please give it a rest.

And all this talk about zombies is ridiculous. I am capable of admitting Neil has made mistakes:
--I've never liked the backing vocals on the studio recording of I've Loved Her So Long"
-- More often than not, I only listen to the first half of Hawks and Doves.
-- I really like a lot of the songs on Are You Passionate? But I'm sure about the sequence.
-- Silver and Gold was overproduced in areas.

Are you getting the idea? I can criticize Neil (although I honestly haven't found that much to criticize, especially in the recent years.) What I' m NOT is negative. Criticism can be CONSTRUCTIVE.
The other thing that's a wee bit silly is that some of you think Thrasher somehow wants to suppress your minority views. Just the fact that your comments continue to be published prove that this is not the case. Duh.

Sorry to rant a bit but I wanted to get that off of my chest. After all, it's like Neil says-- "Never be denied." D.I.
At 7/10/2009 08:45:00 AM, Thrasher said...: D.I.,

Thanks for that comment. It sums up things probably much more nicely than I could ever.

I'm with you on the negativity. It really is beyond the pale.

I guess some folks can never be happy and always have the last word on negativity.

Too bad for them.

peace & love,
t
At 7/10/2009 10:14:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Great post D.I. I do not regret the bucks I shelved out for Archives on Blu-ray. I've been listening to Neil Young for 41 years and have been there to hear his good and bad. It's been a great trip and I'm not ready to pull off the road yet. Check out the new Son Volt when you take a break from exploring Archives.
At 7/10/2009 12:00:00 PM, Anonymous said...: I don't regret the money i've spent on the Archives, but i do regret spending $450 on a PlayStation 3.

that's a lot of coin.

is the sound better? uh, yea, but i have mediocre ears so the precise differences in sound is wasted on me.
At 7/10/2009 12:50:00 PM, D.I. Kertis said...: You're welcome, Thrasher. I try not to get up on my soapbox too often but sometimes you just have to say something.

I, too, am sincerely sorry that there are those who have not been pleased, thus far, with Neil's recent output. It must hurt a bit after 20 years of waiting. Personally, I think that massive 20 year build-up, which was filled with hype and all sorts of wild speculation, has paved the way for some people to disappointed. And that's fine. As usual, everyone's entitled to his or her opinion and I'm all for free speech. That said, I find some of the complaints I've read a bit baffling:

"face it, this is just a glorified greatest hits collection."

Yes, well, erm, I've heard of plenty of greatest hits collections that have almost EVERY track from ALL the albums it covers, not to mention the Squires disc and three discs of live material. Granted, Massey Hall and Filmore East had been released before, but they were still never chart-topping hits. I'd describe this as more of an anthology, incorporating both released and previously unavailable material, which is what the track lists I read PRIOR TO PURCHASING gave me the impression it would be.

Archive= a collection of historical documents or records. And that, this certainly is, whether or not some of it has been previously released.

Others feel that the improvement in sound quality of previously available tracks is a weak excuse for they're being worth the money and time. I've only got the DVDs--not the blu-rays--but believe me, even in this format, the improvement is worth something after the years with those early '90s CD releases, which, to be brutally honest, occasionally gave me the impression that I was listening to a band playing in the basement from the second floor of my house. The Harvest tracks in particular were in want of improvement. I can finally listen to A Man Needs a Maid in quality that really does justice to Jack Nietzche's arrangement. And I can listen to Soldier with actual clarity. What a breath of fresh air that was the first time I played it!

On the subject of formats, each has its pros and cons. I am a bit amused by an earlier comment which suggest all non-BD owners are consumed by a blatant vehement jealousy. I can only speak for myself, but the DVD experience has been too wonderful for me to be jealous of anything. I'd have enjoyed the BD live feature, and being able to cruise around the files while the music is playing, and indeed I hope to upgrade to the BD format by the time of Volume 2, but for the time being I feel satisfied. It is interesting to note, however, that the BD users here on TW seem to me more plagued by technical difficulties than the others. Which makes sense: you're dealing with a cutting-edge format and special programming, not to mention the complications of BD Live. I sincerely wish all the best to those of you dealing with these issues, as I feel I have gotten all the best out of my NYA1 set. It would be great if everyone could have the NYA experience I've had--no technical or other problems and hours of sheer audio and video entertainment. I have to confess I was bit nervous after reading numerous reports of defective sets, but I was quite pleased to find that my set came with all the correct discs, as well as everything else that was to be included, with no damage to any of it, including the packaging, and only the tiniest spot of easily-removed glue on one of the discs (play remains unaffected by this.) I'm not sure if the problems aren't really as widespread as I've been led to believe or I was just very fortunate. Either way, I have little complaint with NYA1 and look forward eagerly to the future volumes, whenever they may be released. I also look forward to more new music from Shakey in the coming years.

D.I.
At 7/10/2009 12:54:00 PM, D.I. Kertis said...: Anon. 10: 14 am,

You're certainly welcome. As I believe I've mentioned several times, I've got the DVD, not the blu-ray, but the experience has been just as great and I certainly don't regret it.
At 7/10/2009 01:50:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Coupla questions about JTTP the movie.Who was the "I think he gave me a bad deal" kid (little person?)?Also did Neil have anymore dealings with "The Bootleg Store" people?I still say Neil shoulda pulled the Peter Grant and used some muscle and just taken back what was rightfully his to begin with.He also shoulda taken the Bob D boot as well.Ha Ha!I love that footage.I also love when Neil says "Fuck the audience!" on the Joel B interview.Right on Neil!!Well if anybody has info on my questions I'd appreciate it.Later.

Rancho Relaxo
At 7/10/2009 05:35:00 PM, pieceofcrap said...: I have to share this: at a party with friends tonight we watched the video of Young behind the barn in 1971, listening to a play back of Words, while the crew hangs out in the sound truck. Everybody's jaw just dropped, people fell over laughing. it's amazing to have this kind of footage available, it's hilarious (the hippie talk) and moving (to be there while it happened) at the same time.
Much the same goes for the clip op Young 'stealing' his own bootleg, and of course for the video of Alabama and Are You Ready for the Country. Gives you a new take on listening to these songs, and also an intimate view of Young at work on a legendary album.
So no more complaints about the lack of rarities on Volume 1!
At 7/10/2009 05:38:00 PM, pieceofcrap said...: PS: Rancho, I think the little kid with the funny voice must be David Crosby, without moustache..
At 7/10/2009 07:48:00 PM, Carson I. said...: I may be alone on this issue, but for the album re-releases coming out soon, I would happily plunk down $30 per album on Blu-Ray --- if it came with a CD as well.

I would love to buy the CD so I can listen to the great sound quality in my car, but the Archives has made me crave more of the Shakey Platform in Blu-Ray. What does everyone think the chances are of a Blu-Ray/CD combo, like the CD/DVD combos of Neil's last few albums? I'm going to say chances are pretty close to zero, but a man can hope.
At 7/10/2009 08:43:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Here's my MAJOR complaint about the Archives - What happened to the much publicized BluRay Live downloads?

The Archives have been out for 6 weeks, and so far we've only had two downloads. However, one of them (I Wonder) was completely wiped away when the Archives Post Informer was sent our way. Saaaaay What?

I know, i know....there is still plenty of time (ie Eternity) for Neil to regal us with BluRay Live, but i expected a bit more, especially after Archives Guy regularly came on here trumpeting that feature.

About a month ago he even teased us about the "next" great one....well, we got it - the Archives Post Informer. Doh!!!

Geee, thanks!

Archives guy, can you provide an update? Has a technical glitch caused the delay here?

thanks!
At 7/11/2009 04:46:00 AM, andrea1bianco said...: Thanks Kertis for your deep comment! It's widespread, expecially on the Amazon reviews, that the sets are often defective. It's not true. I've found little defects and I've removed them easily. These nasty comments really damage Neil.
I thank Trasher for this wonderful site: it helped me much with his precious information for enjoying the Archives experience. I've bought the right equipment and I've learnt easily to navigate through the BD discs.Thanks.
But i'm not a hyopcrite. I'm really embittered from some personal attacks. Sometimes my posts are good, sometimes are terrible, naturally. Generally they're well received in other Neil forums and I've not ever received personal attacks in many years. So I put my name, you know. I've also a good reputation through the Italian fans for my moderation and committment. For me it's a hard work expressing my views with a different language. For the more critical approach, it depends maybe from my personal education and from the italian attitude, sometimes too much appassionate.
Thanks for the attention.Peace.
At 7/11/2009 10:59:00 AM, Thrasher said...: Andrea,
Thanks for the comment.

Hopefully, I didn't mean to direct any disrespect for your opinion.

Obviously, some folks come here with some sort of ax to grind. And this really isn't the place for it.

Honest, objective, heart felt criticism is welcome. Anonymous snarky trolls are deleted.

peace & love,
t
At 7/12/2009 10:42:00 AM, Anonymous said...: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/m/article.php?id=33365
At 7/12/2009 09:51:00 PM, D.I. Kertis said...: Thank you, Andrea. Nice to know the problems aren't that widespread. Then again, I probably should have figured it out: there are relatively few amazon reviews for the Archives, especially if you discount the ones that people wrote for no rational reason before the thing even came out, and thus say nothing of the product itself. That's always been the problem with measuring popular opinion or gathering any kind of statistics from the internet: you only get the input of the limited number of people who are regular users. Internet access costs money and lots of people, even in the US, let alone many other countries with far fewer resources, don't have at all. Many more don't regularly create a public voice for themselves when they use it.

Personally, there was one tiny spot of glue on one of my discs, which was easily removed and didn't effect play of the disc. It would have been more surprising if I hadn't read about other people's similar problems, but at the same time, my set was otherwise in great condition and I was relieved that it certainly wasn't nearly as bad as I though it might be and had been led to believe was common with these sets (damage-wise, I mean-- I never doubted the content would be enjoyable.)

I'll also thank Thrasher once again for taking the time to create and maintain this site. I'm sure it's taken great amounts of hands-on work. Kudos to him on that. It's a really a terrible shame for the site to be defamed by personal attacks on posters and relentless destructive negativity (who ever heard of "constructive negativity"?) from certain corners.

Thanks again to Thrasher, Andrea, and everyone else who contributes articulate, intelligent, constructive posts to this forum.
At 7/14/2009 04:47:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Can I just say that I've really enjoyed navigating the blu-ray release of Archives Vol 1. The sound quality is immeasurably superior to DVD, CD or paltry MP3.

My only beef is that the Canterbury House album was thrown in as the CD/DVD release. Why not bluray?

Yes some unreleased tracks are not included (Winterlong/Wonderin' with Crazy Horse for example) have not been included here but those versions may be included with the actually released versions in later sets. Also, NY isn't going to include every song from each album if he plans to release the full albums on bluray as well. That would be commercial suicide...

Additionally, with things like the BBC In Concert programme, that is copyrighted to the BBC, so premission would need to be sought from them to release it.

One final point, the set has been released a month - if the BD Live downloads had been full of extra material already, could you imagine the complaints as to why that material hadn't been included in the original set?

Chill...
At 7/14/2009 10:50:00 AM, Mike in Jimmytown said...: Ok...I give up. Just got NYA for my birthday last week (what a good wife I have). I have the DVD version. So far, I-m still navigating disc 0. Music is all pretty awesome. But, as a 57-year old non-technical person can somebody please, PLEASE, tell me how to find those 2 hidden tracks. I-ve got a lot of patience but I guess I don't deal w/ this kind of thing enough that it's intuitive for me. I-ve spent almost 2 hours trying to figure it out. HELP! BTW -- what's an "Easter Egg"
At 7/14/2009 11:49:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Message to Joel Bernstein -

In the next iteration of the Archives, please include a disc with all the hidden tracks, easter eggs etc.

Please allow us to simply click "PLAY ALL" so we have instant access to this material.

This material gets short-changed, as its too difficult to consistently navigate to.
At 7/14/2009 03:20:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Archives Guy.If you're still out there.?Are Neil's 1st 4 albums going to be released on July 14th?And if so will they not only be available on cd but Blu-ray as well?Also.Will FITR ever be available on Blu-ray?Last but not least.Will future releases from Neil be available on Blu-ray?As you can tell I LOVE the Blu-ray.Thanks for your time.

Rancho Relaxo
At 7/14/2009 06:02:00 PM, It's... said...: To Mike in Jimmytown.
An easter egg is a hidden extra. E.g. if you go to the documents of "Aurora", you can see a play button in between the pictures; select it and hit "play" to see a short movie.

On other discs you may find easter eggs by selecting an item on a picture with menu options.

The hidden tracks on disc0 can be found by selecting the 'white feather' next to the map of songs 5 & 11.
At 7/14/2009 06:21:00 PM, D.I. Kertis said...: Mike in Jimmytown,

Most of the hidden tracks across all of the discs are found my highlighting roach clips attached to the file folders for individual songs--go into the filing cabinet (song selection on the main menu) and click on a song, and if you find a roach clip attached to the left or right side of the portfolio, you've found a hidden track. Manipulate the arrow buttons on your remote to highlight the roach clip and click enter.

In the case of those on disc O, "I Wonder" is accessed via a roach clip attached to the file for I'll Love you Forever", and the Buffalo Springfield Nowadays Clancy Can't Even sing is accessed via a roach clip found in the file for the solo acoustic version of Clancy.

You'll also find some hidden tracks on the other discs on the timeline. There will be little thumbtacks-- highlight them and hit enter. That's where you'll find a lot of the hidden tracks on the second disc (just a heads up.)

D. I.
At 7/15/2009 04:49:00 AM, Anonymous said...: So, I see they've removed the Archives Post Informer area from the official NYA site and with it the reference to further downloads 'within a month'... Anyone else starting to think we might have been sold a dummy with BD Live?!
At 7/15/2009 09:29:00 AM, gobacktogo said...: Yeah I was just going to say that the NYA Post Informer has been removed from the website.

This could either mean that they're editing a new version for #2 and 'new BD Live content' or that they've changed their minds and are scrapping the Informer format altogether.

Either way, I feel that we'll see an update soon enough.

Have some faith guys, it's been 1 month!

-Dan
At 7/15/2009 03:30:00 PM, andrea1bianco said...: We're trying to have a little more faith and patience. Maybe the new NYA informer is gonna better. Free was maybe a dream. Who can buy a BD edition, can also a new download.
At 7/16/2009 07:54:00 AM, UKStevo1971 said...: WTF!! Blu-ray live and The Informer is going? This is the ONLY reason I bought the blu ray format and player - the promise of unrleased goodies the DVD owners wouldnt get - please can someone confirm what is happening here - thanks?

Something's happening here.....
At 7/17/2009 10:00:00 AM, Anonymous said...: My guess is Neil will keep a lot of the truly rare nuggets in the vault, and someday release them in a super-secret version of the Archives.

Release date - July 2097

BTW, i'm somewhat underwhelmed by the Archives at this point. I'm praying for BluRay Live to make me happy!
At 7/17/2009 06:57:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Am I missing something here... Why, if the original albums are also going to be released in re-mastered form (thankfully so, as besides the four released more recently, the C D's don't sound very good) are most, but not all, of the album tracks also part of the Archives release? I'd always thought the Archives boxes would be confined to unreleased, and/or rare, material.
At 7/18/2009 07:32:00 PM, Anonymous said...: For the love of God - save for the Springfield and CSNY footage - Journey Through The Past just might be the most god-awful movie ever made!

I love it!
At 7/18/2009 09:55:00 PM, Anonymous said...: On the Archives, there's a outtake of a Canterbury House rap, regarding Dance, Dance, Dance. Neil says he's recorded it, and the version includes Doug Kershaw on violin.

Has anyone heard this version?

I guess we can wait for the NEXT release of the Archives. Lord knows BluRay Live has been one big DUD (thus far).
At 7/19/2009 11:06:00 AM, mike k said...: i bought the dvd vertion of the arrcives box set. it came with the timeline poster. when i was looking at the neils website before i bought it. it showed another poster. it did not come with my boxset. i ended up buying it on ebay. the ebayer said it was given out with the boxset. its machine folded just like the one that came with my boxset. and fit in quiet well in the slot with the other poster. you can still see it on neils website . if you page through the stuff you get with the boxset. its titled "harvest oil and found objects on canvas" copyright 2007. i bought from a charity on ebay.just want to find out more about it. and i am wondering why it didn't come with my boxset.
regards mike k
At 7/19/2009 11:09:00 AM, Thrasher said...: Mike K:

See this post on artist Jenice Heo.

Definitely check out video and her website.

It tells the story of her poster, and her art for NYA.

Cool stuff.

Thrasher
At 7/19/2009 01:04:00 PM, Anonymous said...: I may be well behind the times with this but I just got the post Informer as a new BD live update added to the" I wonder" button on the time line ... way cool now having all the info with the song ..
I thought it was going to be a new song when it said new material but it's just updated the I wonder file .... great stuff all the same ..
At 7/22/2009 07:39:00 AM, UKStevo1971 said...: Thrasher -

Firstly thanks for running a great and informative site - it must be hard work - but I think I speak for everyone by saying the value it brings - particularly with the Archives Guy feature.

Secondly can you confirm anything with regards the future of the BD live facility - I amongst many others spent several hundred bucks on the set and equipment the BD live downloads being the main draw - it would be great if we can hear what is the deal with all this given the Post Informer being withdrawn - thanks again!
At 7/22/2009 09:14:00 AM, Thrasher said...: Thanks UKStevo1971.

On BD Live, the only thing I know is that another download will be forthcoming soon and that the feature will continue.

Stay tuned.
At 7/22/2009 10:04:00 AM, Anonymous said...: hopefully Shakey Neil has snookered all of us again.

I have faith in BD Live!
At 7/22/2009 10:06:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Thrash -

what is your opinion of the Archives thus far?

Be honest....i'd be curious to hear your viewpoint.

thanks!
At 7/22/2009 04:24:00 PM, Thrasher said...: Anon @ 7/22/2009 10:06:00 AM

Working on a review.

Be honest....i'd be curious to hear your viewpoint too.

Why don't you submit thoughts here with some sort of ID so I'll be able to distinguish you from the other anon commenters.
At 7/22/2009 07:51:00 PM, Archives Guy said...: Hi gang,

Been busy hammering away on Volume 2 and our other projects.

BD-Live is alive and well. Everything planned is still ful steam ahead.
In the coming days there will be a new download for ya. Not today....in the coming days.

Good times are comin', but they sure comin' slow.

-Archives Guy
At 7/22/2009 09:03:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Thrash -

i look forward to your objective appraisal of the Archives.

Should be interesting reading.
At 7/22/2009 09:06:00 PM, Anonymous said...: i enjoy the Arhives (bluRay), not quite as much as i had hoped, but there is a treasure trove of material here.

you can tell a lot of blood, sweat and tears went into this. The sound is outstanding, too.

However, as much as i like them, unless Vol 2 offers much more unreleased material, i will likely wait til they hit Discount Row.

It's the music...that matters!
At 7/22/2009 11:29:00 PM, Anonymous said...: (Hey. D. I. Kertis here-- for some reason my account isn't working, and I've lost my patience with trying to figure out why.)

I’d like to throw a couple more thoughts about the Archives out there:

One thing not a lot of people have mentioned is the poster, which is quite remarkable in and of itself. It's basically a picture of the Archives filing cabinet for the 1963-72 time period covered by NYA1. It's big--not wide, but long--and one of the most unique posters I've ever come across. I'm not quite sure what do with it, though. At the moment it's still in its slot in the box. I'd like to display it somewhere, but I certainly don't have a frame of the proper dimensions and having one made would be far too expensive, especially seeing as I've recently spent $200 plus s&h on a ten DVD box set! One idea I've gotten is to laminate it and hang it on a wall somewhere, but I haven't acted on this as yet.

Secondly, I was playing Disc O the other day and, due to all the images shown of tapes spinning, I actually began to feel like I was sitting and playing the original reel-to-reel tapes of Neil's early recordings after a while. I guess the intent of showing the records and tapes playing was to conjure up that feeling, almost as though Neil's given us the tapes, but he hasn’t really given them to us. And it's a neat feeling, though I wouldn't expect anyone but a hardcore Neil Young fan to appreciate it.

Everything about the package seems designed to give the illusion of going through a real file of Neil's music. After all, the spinning record or tape is what you'd see if you were to play the actual recordings themselves.

Disc 0 is one of my favorite things about the Archives: most of it is previously unreleased and not only is it obviously of a vhistoric nature, but a lot of it is very good. I especially like the version of Clancy, The Ballad of Peggy Grover and The Rent is Always Due. Is it just me or are they lyrics of those two just as strong as most of Neil's bona-fide classics from the '70s? I especially like 'Rent': Your silver child, suspended in space, crying out to you.."--classic Neil. I love the outlandish imagery all over this song. Looking at they lyrics of 'Peggy Grover', there were several verses not sung on this. I wonder if they hadn't been written at that point, though it seemed like there were some problems with the tape recorder at the point so maybe he stopped short. Either way, it's a good recording and tells an interesting story. 'Hello Lonely Woman' is another highlight: pure blues with great lyrics ('like heaven on a clear, clear night') and a scorching harmonica solo.

'I Wonder' and 'I'm a man' are examples of the fine dynamic of the Squires, as well as darned good rock 'n' roll. 'Mustang' is my favorite of three instrumentals: it's a really nice tune with lots of energy. The instrumentals give a view of another side to Neil rarely seen in later years. 'I'll Love you Forever' is remarkable purely for its really advanced atmospheric production. It's also a sweet little love song, though I'm not sure exactly who it's about (presumably a girlfriend at the time, whoever she might have been.)

One last interesting thing about the early '60s recordings: Neil sings almost all of the time at a lower register than usual; not the high tenor we've all grown accustomed to. Perhaps this was intentional. I know a lot of people, including himself, thought his voice was 'weird' at the time, so maybe he was trying to suppress its most unique aspects. He certainly doesn't seem to sing with the same emotion found in his later recordings.

-- Just some thoughts.

D.I.
At 7/23/2009 12:17:00 AM, gobacktogo said...: Thanks for responding AG!

We appreciate the work you do, and it's great to hear Volume 2 is well in the works!

I'll look forward to the BD-Live update soon!

Cheers,
-Dan
At 7/23/2009 09:32:00 AM, Thrasher said...: D.I.,
Thanks for the comment.

I agree about the spinning tapes and the feel they conjure up. sadly, I think a lot of folks in the hyper age days are unable to slow down enough to appreciate the experience it creates. It's rather hypnotic I must say.
t
ps - let me know if you're still having login issues here.
At 7/23/2009 09:51:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Thrash

I'd be happy to post an opinion piece on the Archives, but my guess is you wouldn't print it.

I think the Archives is an amazing piece of creative work, there is obviously nothing quite like it. That said, there are plenty of negatives as well.

My guess is if i included the negatives in the review, it would get censored.

that's a shame.
At 7/23/2009 10:16:00 AM, Pinto (or Flounder) said...: Archives Guy - good news. Thanks.

Writing about the Archives is really difficult, because the scope is so large and leads to so many trains of thought. But a few off the cuff observations after a month of Neil-immersion, from the Archives back to the bootlegs and some of the albums I spent less time with, and a re-reading of Shakey and Love to Burn:

-When the archives songs were recorded, Neil Young was not NEIL YOUNG. He was a very young man who, in a short period of time, had connected, in his Canadian years, with a group as diverse as John Kay (and the pre-Steppenwolf Sparrow),Joni Mitchell, Randy Bachman, and Rick James (which still kills me.) He was a folk-singer, an electric guitarist, and, with Rick James, a Motown artist - all before he hit the States.
Hooking up with Stills and Furay, he went through the insanity of Buffalo Springfield, epilepsy, beating by cops, all while working illegally in a "foreign" country, etc.
The point being that, regardless of his ego or his belief in himself, he had no idea that he was going to end up being NEIL YOUNG. Nor did we as we encountered his early recordings.

-we, most of us, did not encounter Neil in the neatly organized chronology of the Archives. I first heard him on "Buffalo Springfield" which I bought because of "For What it's Worth" without any knowledge of Neil Young and was surprised to find that he wrote better songs than Stills.
My next encounter was, in my senior year of high school, with "Everybody Knows.." which was, and is, one of the most unusual albums ever recorded, in the sense that there was no precedent for a "folk singer" to also be a highly original electric guitarist. You couldn't, and can't, talk about Neil Young in the same context as his contemporary singer/songwriters. Sure Dylan can play guitar, as could Paul Simon, but neither of them ever recorded a song with a 10 minute guitar solo, much less one that they played. (And I am firmly in the camp that believes that Neil is a spectacularly talented guitarist.) Stills and John Fogerty come to mind as well, but Stills never wrote melodies or lyrics that stand with Neil's best and he drugged himself out pretty quickly. (Nor was he a particularly original guitarist, technical prowess aside.) Fogerty deserves to be in the discussion, but his body of work does not compare with Neil's after 40 years. As writers/singers/instrumentalists Neil's only analog is maybe Prince (which leads back to ironic thoughts about Neil's association with Rick James.)
-as Neil followed "Everybody Knows.." with "Goldrush", CSNY, and "Harvest" he was reinventing himself every six months, yet, as the Archives Volume One ends, no one could possibly have predicted what was to follow. I vividly remember rushing to the store to buy "Time Fades Away" and bringing it to a college party without having listened to it first. I would give a lot to be able to recapture the looks on people's faces as it blasted out of the stereo.

-listening to the early songs, reading Shakey, for better or worse, there is no evidence that Neil has ever read a book. As he says in Shakey, talking about why he quit singing "Tell Me Why" (because he realized that the chorus makes no sense) he says "I never edit myself."
Good (and sometimes bad) for him. Unfiltered through literary pretensions we end up with stunning images, remarkable poetry, and, once in awhile, some truly horrible lines. (But to his everlasting credit, Neil is completely aware of this, and doesn't give a shit. He describes Last Trip to Tulsa as a comedy song. I had a bootleg, many years ago, where he stops in the middle of Sugar Mountain and talks about how he wrote something like 139 verses and "This is the worst one" and then sings the "I was underneath the stairs.." verse.)

-I am so grateful for the Archives and the opportunity to go back to the beginning and watch and hear him create the greatest body of work of my lifetime. Revisiting the bootlegs, I have no doubt that the next volumes will be even better.
At 7/23/2009 10:41:00 AM, Thrasher said...: Anon @ 7/23/2009 09:51:00 AM

Why do you think it would be censored?

Go ahead. Give it a try.

And how will I know it's you?

peace.
At 7/23/2009 10:53:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Good to see ya AG.In your opinion.Could Archives vol.2 be out sometime in 2011?WHEN AND IS FITR Blu-ray COMING OUT???!!And can you tell us what the "other" projects you guys are working on are?Just a hint perhaps?Thanks dude!

Rancho Relaxo
At 7/23/2009 01:11:00 PM, Archives Guy said...: Glad to hear that folks are appreciating the tapes spinning.
A bit of Archives trivia that I may not have shared before:

Each of these tape reels are the actual, original tape reels, not fakes used for video purposes.
John Nowland at Redwood Digital made exact copies of each original tape including splices, leaders etc so what you are watching looking just like the master and is spinning on the original reel.

You will also notice the meters moving on the tape decks. This is because we were really playing the tapes during the video shoot.

All of this adds up to a very real, perhaps emotional experience for the user.
I don't believe that one is going to get this level of detail and historical accuracy on any other box set project.
At 7/23/2009 01:14:00 PM, Archives Guy said...: Anon-
NYA Vol2 will be coming out when it is done.
We don't even know when that will be, so it would be unfair to create speculation.

FITR Blu-ray is currently on hold with no release date scheduled.

-Archives Guy
At 7/23/2009 01:45:00 PM, Thrasher said...: Thanks AG!

Good to see you.
At 7/23/2009 07:05:00 PM, D.I. Kertis said...: Thanks, Thrasher.
At 7/25/2009 08:01:00 AM, Anonymous said...: I agree with Archives Guy that the tape decks add something special. I think you did mention elsewhere AG that those are originals playing.

I got into open reel in the last couple of years - never had one back when they were current technology, though I always thought it would be the logical companion to a good turntable.

Maybe the Archives will encourage other people to look into open reel. Unfortunately, it's very close to being a dead medium, and not one that's likely to be revived, unlike vinyl. Many of the machines, though, are built like a brick shithouse, so a thirty year old deck can continue to give decades of service with a little maintenance and care (and some online help).
At 7/25/2009 08:24:00 AM, Anonymous said...: greetings:

i've loved the reels and old turntables since first seen on earlier dvd's of stuff -

an excellent use of the video space made available by using the superior audio capability of dvd formats (imho)

i loved the montages on CDII as well

where does Blu-Ray go next?
is there something "more" on the horizon?

archive guy - still hope there's a chance to get a look, please at some more of the tech stuff in coming volumes - that'd be as cool as the splices and vu meters

regarding attack posts - y'all still aren't as cranky as Red Sox Nation boards ;-}

thanks t as always,
peace&love

old soundman
At 7/25/2009 07:58:00 PM, Anonymous said...: hey thrash

would love to see your objective review of the Archives...

i'm serious.
At 7/27/2009 10:50:00 AM, Anonymous said...: My above post wasn't meant as a "attack", it's simply the truth. I can see leaving stuff off due to time constraints, but with each disc half full, there is no reason to excise those missing album tracks except to make more money by selling them seperately. Conversely, why not fill the empty space with more of the unreleased stuff that we know is out there?
Legitimate points if I do say so myself.........

P.S. With the numerous delays and 20 year wait for the Archives, why would anybody expect the Blu-Ray Live downloads to be available in any kind of timely manner? Come on people........

-Brian Clem
At 7/27/2009 10:52:00 AM, eric said...: Hello AG. Was wondering how I would set myself up to listen to the new remasters (HDCD). Would I need a disc player that has discreet analog outs to a receiver with the same ins? Thanks, Eric
At 7/27/2009 10:55:00 AM, Anonymous said...: AG or anyone who might know: What do I need to listen to the new remasters (HDCD)? Do I use a player with discreet analog outs to a compatible receiver? Thanks, Eric
At 7/27/2009 02:59:00 PM, Robert said...: Eric,

To listen fully to HDCD CD's you need a CD player that decodes HDCD encoded discs. The decoded audio will then be output via the analogue outs without requiring an external decoder. The sound can also be output via the digital out to a suitable amplifier which will carry out the necessary decoding.
I have a NAD 541i specifically for this. There are more expensive models offered.
The difference is noticeable on the Archives CD's, though the blu-ray's or DVDA's are better still.

Good luck.

Rob.
At 7/29/2009 02:42:00 AM, Rasputin1981 said...: Anyone notice the new BD download? Pretty damn nice if you ask me. Especially the harmonica in the end.
At 7/29/2009 10:07:00 AM, UKStevo1971 said...: What new BD download what disc do we need to get it?

Thanks

PS I know they are 'working' on the volume 2 box - can anyone give a sneeky likey eta - please by xmas 2010?
At 7/29/2009 05:32:00 PM, It's... said...: to UKStevo1971
It doesn't matter which, as long as it isn't a Performance Series or JTTP. After the download it's on the timeline of Disc 2 (Topanga 1).
At 7/31/2009 09:19:00 AM, Anonymous said...: The Chives sound awesome on BluRay!
unreal
At 8/03/2009 08:22:00 AM, UKStevo1971 said...: Thrasher - firstly congratulations on a well informed and objective review of Archives - I thoroughly enjoyed it - as for Anon, well his name says it all...a 'non' person! Ignore the little f*cker.

One thing I'd like to know is at the end of the timeline is a white feather I can't click on - is there a way around this or a teaser for volume 2....on which point can anyone with any insider knowledge give some likely dates or eta's for this?

Finally I am STILL loving the set - on my 3rd play throughout - yes the effect of the handwritten lyrics etc wears off but it's the music in sterling quality that counts.

My only disappointment to date has been the BD live downloads - another version of 2 songs already on the set - while that's nice Id prefer a juicy nugget of footage - say down by the river at big sure, neil on the BBC - both of which I have on bootleg quality only - or some rare left-off songs the Crazy Horse winterlong for example.

Also if there is good audio of Cellar Door and the UCLA concerts (harvest era) we have the raps but why not the tunes?? Also the video clips of CSNY at the Fillmore are great but there are more out there - and where are the 4 way street tracks?

Anybody?
At 8/07/2009 09:59:00 PM, Anonymous said...: hey kind people

does anyone have a help desk number for Warner Brs?

my bluRays dont always play.

plz help.
At 8/08/2009 09:50:00 AM, Thrasher said...: To 8/07/2009 09:59:00 PM:

This thread is for commentary.

See Ordering Questions.

peace & good luck.
At 8/27/2009 02:40:00 AM, Anonymous said...: @UKStevo1971:

UCLA and Cellar Door and BBC will probably come out in the Live Performance Series. Maybe not because of copyrights?
The raps will probably not be on the album.
Then you mention Big Sur and other CSN&Y. That might be another thing which doesn't fit on the Archives concept. And it's also live.

P. Dees
At 8/29/2009 02:29:00 AM, tamroi said...: Is Neil Young a member of Canada's SOCAN?
How about about Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen?
My guess is they are not.
SOCAN is a money collector which I think hurts Canada and music.
At 9/01/2009 04:26:00 PM, Jake said...: So have there still only been two BD Live songs released? Gotta say, I'm glad I didn't spring for the Bluray. Someday I still might...after I have a Bluray player, etc. For now, I think the CD version was a good deal although I wish it would've come with the book.
At 11/20/2009 06:38:00 PM, Anonymous said...: I have not heard this anywhere else. But it is fact, on my Blue Ray copy of the archives.

I was flipping thru the book the other day and a small 5-point weed leaf(marijuana that is) fell out of the book and onto my lap.

It's hard to believe that the leaf did not fall out earlier, but I definitely did not put it in there and then forget about it, despite having lots of weed close by.

Has anyone else seen this? Confirm? Archives Guy?
I have another sealed book, but not ready to open it yet.

Syscrusher

Now all I need is that virtual bong.
At 11/27/2009 06:42:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Well, i whinned about how long it took the archives to be shipped to Canada, so I will rave that it took one day for the vinyl box set to get here. And how sweet it is. Amazing sound.
syscrusher
At 1/29/2010 12:38:00 PM, Neiler said...: I was watching Letterman and caught the musical act The HotRats and the singer/guitarist looked a bit like Neil in his youth.

Anyone else think that when they saw the performance?

The episode with Kiefer in a dress.
At 2/17/2010 04:13:00 PM, SONY said...: A few archive thoughts:

The 'credit card' for the download that comes with the BD set was a great treat for me. I downloaded the whole thing to a hardrive and made CD copies out of 'em, copied the artwork from the BD sleeves and now have a traveling set. An extra bonus for me as I don't listen off the computer too much or an ipod. Next step is to make CD's of just the previouly unreleased stuff. I'm 'up' on that download.

Haven't got the "setup" setup for the internet BD update downloads yet. Have heard some bitchin' on that. When I get there I get there, no a big deal to me.

A review of the 'book with no name' shows a tremendous number of 'cuts' that are not included in the archives. Some have already been released on other issued LP's CD's etc. Some may not be listenable from the acetates, who knows. BUT, the possibility that they might be released via the BD downloads later gives me hope that the extra money spent will bring returns down the road.

Journey Through The Past took me by complete suprise for sure. The crazy cover with the hooded horsemen disguised the contents of the film, at least to me as I had never seen it. That is a treat in and of itself. The Fillmore show...the complete ticket, especially Cowgirl in the Sand - took me to a whole other planet. I had not heard that before as I didn't buy the CD when released.

And the other kicker..I haven't even watched/listened to the whole thing yet after 6 weeks in tow. I treat it as a vacation I'm on that I don't want to end, gonna get a few more days out of it before I fly back to reality.

I would think that as long as the additional volume sets keep coming, it can only get better as the technology has grown since the early days and probably Neil's dedication to the hitorical aspects of his career. Full concerts, road trips, interviews, anything like that is probably a gold mine in waiting up in the old barn.

........and away we go!.........
At 2/18/2010 09:01:00 AM, SONY said...: yeah, and one other observation

Neil Young......SELL OUT!
(Vol 1/Disc 1/Track 7)

The purest Neil artform yet, at least to me. That could be the Webster definition of Neil just in case somebody wanted to be exact!
At 2/19/2010 09:59:00 AM, swansong said...: I just received my replacement box for NYA from Warner Bros. and it came with a really cool Farm Aid poster. This poster was not part of my original box, so I was surprised to find it. Has anyone else out in Thrasher land got their replacement box yet?
At 2/24/2010 06:12:00 PM, Minne said...: I have sent a mail on januari 14th to wbr custserv. So far no box has arrived. No reaction on my e-mail either. Maybe because I'm not based in the US?
At 5/01/2010 07:56:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Am I the only person who wasn't able to download the latest update of Mustang? Instead it gave me the version of I Wonder in the basement again, without the Archives Post Update, which we got initially when the Archives first came out. If anyone knows how to fix this please let me know. I've tried deleting and re-downloading, to no avail.

Archives Guy please help!!
At 6/09/2010 02:56:00 PM, SONY said...: Looking through Decade the other night and in the liner notes for Southern Man Neil states it was probably written in the dressing room at the Filmore East, 1970.......alas, he didn't perform it there, but it shows up 10 days later on a tape he did with David Briggs, and I believe that's on the Topanga disc.
At 5/09/2013 08:21:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Hello,

I purchased the Blu-ray Archives, and have listened to the whole set, but am having trouble loading the timeline on disk 1. It loads fine on my son's PS3, but freezes when I try to load the timeline on my Blu-ray player.

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks