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Sure Enough, They’ll Be Selling Stuff

The Resurrection of the Archives

The massive Archives Volume 1 1963–1972 collection is, to any serious fan, the motherlode and the holy grail of all Neil Young recordings, all wrapped up into one enormously exhaustive—some would also say exhausting—package.

Even the most devoted fan could spend days, weeks, or even months getting through all of it, and the chances are they’d still miss something. There is just too much great stuff here to take in, and therein lies the beauty of it. Getting lost in the work of an iconic artist of Young’s stature has never been so much fun, or yielded anywhere near this level of musical and historical pleasures.

The Archives was first conceived sometime during the eighties as a follow-up to Decade, the three-record anthology set released way back when vinyl was still the musical format of choice in 1977. Decade was considered at the time to be among the most in-depth retrospectives ever compiled by a rock-’n’-roll artist, and was often compared to the reverential treatment given the anthologies of jazz musicians on labels like Blue Note and Prestige.

Prior to the modern-day advent of CD boxed sets, and long before the current practice of remastering and repackaging thirty-year-old catalog “classics” by dressing them up as deluxe anniversary editions with “bonus tracks” (often originally rejected by the artist as not being worthy of release), Decade was considered so influential it was said to have prompted Bob Dylan to release his own lofty Biograph boxed set.

Little did anyone realize what was still coming a few decades down the pike.

Decade II

At one point during the decades-long process since its original conception, Young’s Archives actually had the working title of Decade II.

But even at that early stage, his concept for the collection was so enormous in scope that some might say it could only have been the product of a massively inflated and quite possibly delusional ego. At the time, what Neil Young had in mind was a series of maybe three boxed sets containing four or five discs each. Then, as now, the idea was for each of the planned volumes to cover a specific phase of his career. Since, when it comes to that career, Young has long been known as something of a pack rat who meticulously documents everything—including those numerous unreleased recordings and lost albums known by fans to exist—there was no doubt the archival resources were there.

Promo photo by Steve Babineau for the Neil Young Archives Performance Series disc Dreamin’ Man Live ’92, which features live versions of the songs from Harvest Moon.

Courtesy of Robert Rodriguez

Still, the plan was so audacious that some didn’t take it seriously at first. As the years rolled on without the arrival of even the first of these planned volumes, many of those close to Young (who should have known better) figured he would never complete the never-ending project anyway. As recently as 2003, no less than Frank “Poncho” Sampedro told one interviewer that he thought Young might be tiring of the project. This skepticism also led some fans to release their own bootleg versions, including the surprisingly quite good, humorously titled boxed set volume Archives Be Damned.

By the time Archives Volume 1 1963–1972 finally arrived in 2008, however, no one doubted Young’s devotion to the decades-in-the-making project any longer. Not only was the collection more enormous than anyone could have imagined, it also turned out there had been a method to the madness of the Archives all along.

I’ve Been Waiting for You

The final arrival of the Archives first began in 2006 as a trickle that would soon enough grow into a flood. The first hint that the dam was about to burst came with Live at the Fillmore East 1970, a rare, long-sought-after Neil Young and Crazy Horse concert from the Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere period.

One sheet for Neil Young’s Journey Through the Past film. Long out of print, the movie was finally made available as part of the DVD version of the massive Archives Volume 1 1963–1972 boxed set.

Courtesy of Noah Fleisher/Heritage Auctions

Reprise Records 2004 single release of “Sugar Mountain” from the Archive Performance Series album Live at Canterbury House.

Courtesy of Tom Therme collection

Released as the first installment in what soon became known as the “Performance Series” (or “NYAPS” for short), this amazing concert features the classic Crazy Horse lineup with original guitarist Danny Whitten doing barn-burning versions of “Down by the River” and “Cowgirl in the Sand.” Both of these rival the studio recordings found on Nowhere itself. This is also the concert where the version of Whitten’s “Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown” heard on Tonight’s the Night originally comes from.

Other entries in the Archives Performance Series soon followed, indicating that a ramp-up to the long-awaited main event was now well under way.

Next up in 2007 was Live at Massey Hall 1971, a legendary acoustic performance featuring then still-in-development versions of the songs that eventually surfaced on Harvest, including a medley that melds “Heart of Gold” and “A Man Needs a Maid” into a suite. This is the same concert that producer David Briggs was said to have preferred over the studio recordings that were eventually released instead as the Harvest album.

Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury Hall 1968, released in 2008, features a very nervous Neil Young in what nonetheless turned out to be another standout acoustic performance. Despite a pre-show case of stage fright—the promoters reportedly had to coax him into going on—the concert is another stunner, featuring a number of Buffalo Springfield classics, including rare acoustic versions of “Broken Arrow” and “Expecting to Fly.”

Although the next volume of Archives is probably still a few years away, yet another entry in the Performance Series that has come since the 2008 release of Volume 1 1964–1972 indicates that we may not have to wait long. Dreamin’ Man Live ’92, released in 2009, is yet another great acoustic show featuring stripped-down versions of the pastoral songs from 1992’s Harvest Moon.

Down to the Wire

The years of waiting came to an end once and for all in 2008. Even so, nobody could have been prepared for the sheer enormity of Archives Volume 1.

Simultaneously released in CD, DVD, and Blu-ray formats, the volume of material found on the Archives is nothing short of staggering. In addition to the more than 120 songs—roughly half of them being unreleased or alternate takes—featured on the ten-disc set (eight for the CD version), there is a 236-page book.

There is also a multitude of extras, including hidden easter eggs on the DVD and Blu-ray versions, and everything from press clippings, rare photos, and even the complete (and long out of print) Journey Through the Past film.

But the real treat comes for those fans with Blu-ray players. As it turns out, the long road to the Archives release had everything to do with waiting for technology to catch up with the concepts swirling about in Neil Young’s brain all along. On the Blu-ray version, fans can experience the songs while scrolling through menus featuring biographical information and other assorted goodies like the original lyric sheets and more.

As for the actual music, it is everything fans could have hoped for and more.

On Archives Volume 1 1963–1972, you get previously unheard gems like the original recordings from Young’s first band the Squires. The BD-live technology on the Blu-ray set also allows for the Archives to be a continuously evolving project, made possible by providing ongoing free downloads of newly unearthed material as it is discovered.

So the story of the Archives becomes one that is never-ending. This is apparently exactly how Young first envisioned the project way back in the eighties.

Here We Are in the Years

Perhaps even more alluring to those fans who waited patiently for that first installment of the Archives is what Young reportedly has planned for future volumes of the series.

Among the things that have been reported on his own website and in subsequent interviews, Young has teased out such mythically unreleased albums as Homegrown, Chrome Dreams, Toast, and Oceanside/Countryside. Yet another new entry in the Performance Series, comprised of live recordings made with the International Harvesters during the country-flavored Old Ways period was released in June 2011, as an album titled A Treasure.

Original art for “Swinging” Neil Young and the Squires single “Mustang” b/w “Aurora.” Both songs can be found on Archives Volume 1.

Courtesy of Tom Therme collection

Even more exciting are hints of a possible Time Fades Away II (Young remains noncommittal about rereleasing the original album, the legendarily ragged live 1973 recording long coveted as a collector’s item by fans).

In an interview with writer Richard Bienstock, Young spoke of the “sequel” by saying “I switched drummers halfway through the tour, Kenny Buttrey was in there for the first half, and Johnny Barbata came in for the second. It’s a completely different thing, with completely different songs.”

There are at least three more future volumes of Archives planned. We can’t wait.