The Neil Young Archives - Part One

THE NEIL YOUNG ARCHIVES BOX SETS – PART ONE

By Raymond Benson

As a longtime fan of Neil Young, easily one of my favorite musical artists, I was overjoyed when his Archives project was set in motion, promising to release to the public gems from the vault—unreleased recordings and live material—that would document Neil’s life and career.

Neil has painstakingly documented that career since the beginning. He must have somehow knew he would be a major artist, so he kept everything. His career has also been such that his official album releases did not necessarily reflect a chronological progression. For example, his album recorded with the “Santa Monica Flyers” (as he dubbed them), Tonight’s the Night, was recorded in May of 1973, but it was held back and not released until two years later. Many of his studio albums were recorded piecemeal, sometimes using tracks recorded years earlier curated with a handful of newer tracks. American Stars ‘n’ Bars (1977) is a good example of this. Side One of that album consists of material recorded in 1977, but Side Two consists of earlier tracks recorded as far back as 1974.

The Archives project was going to be a very strict chronological journey through Neil’s years, and he teased us about it first in 1993 with the compilation album Lucky Thirteen. There were hints and clues that the Archives were coming, but then it turned out Neil decided to release his unreleased material in spurts along with the promised box sets. The first true Archives release came in 2006 with a live album recorded with Crazy Horse entitled Live at the Fillmore East 1970. This was followed in 2007 with a solo acoustic recording, Live at Massey Hall 1971. The first box set, Archives Volume I, was finally released in 2009. We would have to wait until 2020 to get Volume II, and then four more years to get Volume III (2024). There are still at least one, maybe two, volumes left to go. And in-between the releases of the box sets have been many standalone releases, some included in the box sets, but most of them not. These standalones also include what Neil calls “Special Releases” of albums that were recorded but never released, such as Hitchhiker (recorded 1976, not released until 2017).

Today I will concentrate on Neil Young Archives Volume I, which covers the decade 1963-1972.

First, I’d like to make it clear that the Archives are amazing presentations. The sound quality of all the tracks have been remastered and engineered such that they are the best sounding audiophile-pleasing renditions of familiar and unfamiliar versions of Neil’s music.

The frustrating thing about the Archives boxes, though, and this is true especially of Volume I and Volume II, is that Neil decided to include in the boxes disks that had already been standalone Archives disks. The thing is, his hardcore fans (like me) were going to buy the standalone releases as well as the box sets, so that meant we ended up with duplicate disks in some cases.

Another annoyance is that there is often too much “previously released” material from his studio albums over the years on the box sets. This is especially true of Volume I. Neil may have taken some fans’ criticisms to heart, for in Volume III, there are no duplicate Archives releases and very little previously released tracks from studio albums of that period.

That said, the Archives boxes are still a fan’s delight.

Volume I was released as a CD-only box, a CD and DVD box, and a CD and Blu-ray box. At the time, the cost of the Blu-ray box was quite prohibitive and limited, and today it sells for hundreds of dollars on the second hand market. While I would have wanted to view all the wonderful videos and films included in the Blu-ray box, I went with the CD-only box in all three cases of the Archives volumes. I’ll leave it to someone else to discuss the videos.

Disk 1: Early Years (1963-1968). Covering Neil’s beginnings from 1963 to 1968, both in Canada and Southern California, I find this disk truly fascinating. The first thing we hear are both sides of Neil’s first single record, recorded in 1963 with the band he began in high school, The Squires. “Aurora” and “The Sultan” are terrific surf-guitar instrumental pieces showcasing Neil’s burgeoning skills on the instrument. Other studio recordings by The Squires follow, but these were unreleased at the time. One of these is “I Wonder,” recorded in 1964, but is an early version of a song Neil later revamped and re-recorded with Crazy Horse as “Don’t Cry No Tears” from the 1975 Zuma album! In 1965, Neil teamed up with friend Comrie Smith and recorded some duos—all unreleased but featured here. Next up are a series of demos Neil recorded in late 1965 for Elektra as an audition. These have appeared on bootlegs in the past, but here they sound great. Just Neil and solo guitar, demoing such classics as “Sugar Mountain,” “Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing,” and several tunes we never knew. Finally, the disk closes with some of Neil’s work with Buffalo Springfield, recorded 1966-1968. Some of these tracks are direct from the three official studio albums by the Springfield, some from the archival Buffalo Springfield Box (2001), and a couple of unreleased tracks.

Disk 2: Topanga 1 (1968-1969). Neil was living in Topanga Canyon during the Buffalo Springfield period. In ’68 as the Springfield was disintegrating, he began working on his first solo album, Neil Young. Here we get several tracks directly from that album, some outtakes (different versions), and a couple of unreleased early versions of songs that would appear later. There is also early work with Crazy Horse that would appear on Everybody Knows This is Nowhere (1969). This disk suffers from too much material we already owned.

Disk 3: Live at the Riverboat 1969. A wonderful solo live acoustic set recorded in Toronto in early 1969 to promote the release of Neil Young, which first appeared in late 1968 and then re-released with a different pressing and cover in January 1969. An earlier standalone Archives release, Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968 (released 2008), had a similar set, but Riverboat sounds more confident. Good stuff.

Disk 4: Topanga 2 (1969-1970). The year 1969 was a big one for Neil. His work with Crazy Horse came into fruition and it was also when he joined Crosby, Stills and Nash to form CSNY. This disk contains more from Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, beginning recordings from Neil’s 1970 studio album After the Gold Rush, and live and studio work with CSNY, including an unreleased mix of “Helpless.” Again, a lot we already own, but a bit more variety.

Disk 5: Live at the Fillmore East 1970. This disk with Crazy Horse had already been released as a standalone in 2006, as mentioned above. Why was it included in the box when most of us already owned it? Who knows. That said, this is a GREAT live recording of the early Crazy Horse when Danny Whitten was second-guitar and vocalist. It rocks the house with material from Everybody Knows This is Nowhere and more. If you didn’t already own the standalone release, then this is a very welcome disk to have.

Disk 6: Topanga 3 (1970). This contains more direct tracks, different versions, and outtakes from After the Gold Rush, some unreleased live material with CSNY (“Only Love Can Break Your Heart” is absolutely wonderful), and other miscellaneous tracks recorded during the year. Still heavy on stuff we already owned, but enough variety to be an enjoyable listen.

Disk 7: Live at Massey Hall 1971. This solo acoustic live performance is one of Neil’s best. As mentioned above, it had already been released as a standalone disk in 2007, so its inclusion here is superfluous. Nevertheless, it can be counted as a live performance for the ages, recorded in early 1971 during a massive tour. He does Buffalo Springfield stuff, material from his three albums, and a couple of CSNY tracks. Truly remarkable.

Disk 8: North Country (1971-1972). In 1971, Neil purchased the Broken Arrow Ranch in northern California, so he moved there to live for many years. The home also contained a recording studio, so much of his next album, Harvest (1972), was recorded there. Some tracks were also recorded in Nashville. This disk covers this period with too many previously released tracks and a few outtakes/different versions. The rare “War Song” single Neil did with Graham Nash closes out the disk, and we’re left in the middle of 1972. Volume II would pick up the second half of that year.

The box comes with a poster-size “archives” chronology and a small booklet of liner notes. The DVD and Blu-ray editions also contained the soundtrack album Journey Through the Past (1972), which up to that point had never been released on CD. It’s a shame that was not included in the CD-box. A missed opportunity and unfair to purchasers of the CD-box! Live videos and the complete experimental film of Journey Through the Past could also be seen. The Blu-ray edition also contained many “hidden tracks” of unreleased material. The Blu-ray and DVD editions of the set are now out of print and hard to find, but as I understand it, much of the Blu-ray material is available (for a subscription) at Neil’s online “Neil Young Archives” website at www.neilyoungarchives.com.   

To Be Continued with Volume II…!