THE NEIL YOUNG ARCHIVES BOX SETS – PART THREE
By Raymond Benson
Continuing from Part Two, we now take a look at Neil Young Archives Volume III: 1976-1987, which was released in the fall of 2024. This is a humongous set with 17 CDs (plus a liner notes booklet and archives poster) covering the period beginning in the spring of 1976 through the summer of 1987. Eleven years. A deluxe edition added 5 Blu-ray disks with movies and videos made during the period plus a 160-page book. This review covers only the CD edition. The outer box (pictured) is the same long-box format Volume I came in, as opposed to Volume II’s cube-shaped box. Why there is inconsistency in the package designs aside from the similar newspaper-style artwork is unknown. Also in contrast to the previous Archives volumes, Neil has included sporadic “Raps” on several of the disks in which he briefly tells us where and when tracks were recorded and with who. Not sure these spoken liner notes are necessary as they tend to interrupt the flow of the music except in cases where the Rap is at the very beginning of the CD.
The latter half of the 1970s brought forth some of Neil’s greatest material with albums like Comes a Time and Rust Never Sleeps. But the 1980s are generally considered to be a rough decade for Neil Young. Not only was he going through some personal family stresses, but his musical output is not among his most memorable, at least as considered by the general public. They sold poorly. Die-hard fans like myself, though, stuck with Neil through that time and mostly have no problems with the experimentation and exploration of new directions and ideas that Neil embarked upon, especially on his five releases on Geffen Records. And that, in itself, was a major source of negativity for Neil.
After the lukewarm reception and promotion from his longtime label, Reprise, over his albums Hawks and Doves (1980) and Re-ac-tor (1981, with Crazy Horse), Neil accepted a lucrative offer from Geffen Records and changed labels. He had known David Geffen since the 1960s and thought it might be a good thing. Neil went about doing what he does—creating the music that his current mood and muse supports—and that happened to be very different kinds of sounds from what Geffen was expecting. While Neil and most of his fans considered the five records he made at Geffen to be “Neil Young Music,” Geffen sued him for delivering product that “didn’t sound like Neil Young.” Neil countersued, and it was a big ugly mess. The thing is, Neil simply decided to try some fresh approaches in the 80s. New technology was driving artists. Electronics. Synthesizers. Vocoders. Neil wanted to play with those things, do something different, broaden his horizons. Why not? So he made an electronic album (Trans, 1982) and got complaints from Geffen that they wanted a rock ‘n’ roll album. So he gave them a 1950s-style rockabilly album a la Elvis Presley (Everybody’s Rockin’, 1983). Then he gave them a country album (Old Ways, 1985) and a further electronic-based rock album (Landing on Water, 1986) and finally a rather tepid Crazy Horse record (Life, 1987). After that, Geffen released Neil from his contract and the artist happily went back to Reprise.
Volume III covers the latter 1970s stuff, the early 80s material, and the Geffen years. While one might think this would not be a very good Archives box set… it’s terrific. Neil must have heard the criticisms of Volumes I and II for containing too many previously released tracks from albums fans already possessed plus previously released disks of Archival titles that many fans already owned. The bulk of Volume III is stuff we’ve never heard!
Disks 1a and 1b: Across the Water I, Across the
Water II (1976). Two disks packaged in the same sleeve with one cover art. Archives
Volume III begins where Volume II left off—on tour with Crazy Horse
in England and Japan. You may recall that the final disk in Volume II was
Odeon/Budokan, containing performances by Neil and the Horse in those
countries. The first two disks of Volume III oddly continues with more live
material from that same tour. Not only that, one song, “Cowgirl in the Sand,”
from Volume II’s disk is repeated on Volume III in a different
mix and length. Like Odeon/Budokan before them, each Across
the Water disk begins with a few acoustic numbers featuring Neil alone, and then
Crazy Horse joins him for electric stuff. It’s all very good, and one can see
why this tour was considered one of the best in the Horse mythology. Most of
the material highlights the recently released Zuma album plus earlier
favorites.
Disk 2: Hitchhikin’ Judy (1976). This disk culls
tracks from the Archival releases Hitchhiker (recorded 1976, released
2017), Songs for Judy (live recording 1976, released 2018), a couple of
tracks of Neil with The Band at their “Last Waltz” concert (also with Joni
Mitchell), and a couple of studio recordings that would show up on later
albums. Certainly a great disk if you don’t already own Hitchhiker and Songs
for Judy! The first comprised of “sketches” in a studio setting of new
songs that would eventually appear, re-recorded, on albums Neil would release
between 1977-1980. The second consists of live performances by Neil solo—and
these are some of his unheard (at the time) tunes that would appear later.
Disk 3a: Snapshot in Time (1977), Windward Passage (1977). Disks 3a and 3b are
packaged in the same sleeve with different cover art on the front and back. Now
it gets interesting. Neil apparently used recording equipment at Linda
Ronstadt’s house in the Malibu area in California, and he “demo’d” new songs
for Linda and Nicolette Larson for their possible involvement as backup singers
on his upcoming recordings (that would appear on side one of American Stars
‘n’ Bars). As Neil plays his guitar and sings, the women attempt to harmonize
on the fly. While the mix isn’t great (Linda and Nicolette sound a bit far
away), and the whole thing has a bootleg quality to it, this is wonderful
stuff. Indeed a “snapshot in time.”
Windward Passage: During the summer of 1977, Neil, on a whim, joined forces
with Moby Grape’s Bob Mosley and singer-songwriters Jeff Blackburn and Johnny
Craviotto to form a live band called The Ducks. They performed only in clubs in
and around Santa Cruz, California for seven weeks and then disbanded. Although
they made no studio recordings, some of the shows were put on tape. An earlier Archival
release, High Flyin’, was released in 2023. This disk culls tracks from
that release plus others from these shows. The Ducks were a democratic
group—each member contributed songs to the set lists, so it wasn’t just a “Neil
Young Show.” This is good ol’ rock ‘n’ roll in the style of, say, the Eagles.
The tunes by the other three members aren’t bad at all, but Neil’s numbers
truly shine, some of which went on to be recorded for his later albums.
Disk 4: Oceanside Countryside (1977). Tracks recorded
in Ft. Lauderdale (“oceanside”) and Nashville (“countryside”), solo or with a
band, of tunes that would eventually appear on Comes a Time, Rust
Never Sleeps, and Hawks and Doves, but these are all previously
unreleased versions. (Note: Neil is putting out this title as a stand-alone
archival release in February 2025). Slightly different in tone and feel from
the Comes a Time versions, this is good stuff. Are they better than that
classic studio album? Hard to say. This collection was originally intended to
be the album of 1978, but Neil scrapped it and re-recorded most
everything with a bigger band to make Comes a Time. Fans have long known
of this “lost” album’s existence, and now here it is.
Disk 5: Union Hall (1977). This features some studio
recordings but is mostly dominated by live performances with Nicolette Larson
and the Comes a Time band at the Musicians Union Hall in Nashville.
There are some unheard songs here, as well as old favorites plus Comes a
Time material. One of the better disks in the box set. Nicolette and Neil
made a good team there for a while.
Disk 6a and 6b: Boarding House I, Devo/Boarding
House II (1978). Both disks housed in one sleeve with the covers on front
and back. In the spring of 1978, Neil had a few days’ solo residency at the
Boarding House in San Francisco, and most of the performances were recorded. The
first disk is all Neil, all acoustic, with material from his whole career along
with current, newer stuff. The second disk begins with one track (“Hey Hey, My
My (Into the Black)” performed with Devo. It’s a lot of fun, with Devo handling
the vocals and instrumentation, Neil on lead guitar, and the tempo outrageously
fast. The rest of the disk is Neil solo again. All of this is previously
unreleased and terrific.
Disk 7a and 7b: Sedan Delivery (1978), Coastline
(1980-1981). Both disks housed in one sleeve with the covers on front and back.
Sedan Delivery documents the big Crazy Horse tour that also produced the
albums Rust Never Sleeps and Live Rust. There are previously
released tracks from those titles here, plus some alternate live versions from
the tour. This famous era had to be documented on the Archives, but much
of it is superfluous if you have both of those albums.
Coastline: Neil took a break in 1979 to
concentrate on the issues surrounding his son, Ben, who was born with severe
cerebral palsy. It wasn’t until summer of 1980 that he got back into the studio
with a group of musicians (including Levon Helm) to record what became side two
of Hawks and Doves (1980). That same year and in 1981, he recorded again
with Crazy Horse the tracks that would become Re-ac-tor (1981). Much of
this disk is all previously released material but with a handful of unreleased
songs and alternate takes.
Disk 8: Trans/Johnny’s Garden (1981-1982). This is a
single disk but with two artwork covers, front and back. Neil began
experimenting with electronics and the vocoder in late 1981, recording much of
what would become Trans, but he set it aside for the time being. Then,
in the spring of 1982, he recorded in Hawaii a very commercial CSNY-style album
originally called Johnny’s Garden, then changed the title to Island
in the Sun. He submitted it to his new label, Geffen, and they rejected it.
So he gave them Trans. Johnny’s Garden remained one of the “lost”
albums until now. And it’s actually quite good, a sparkling piece of work in which the vocal harmonies really could have been a CSNY album. Two numbers from the sessions did wind up
on Trans (the two non-electronic tracks). Some songs are here we’ve
never heard, and others were re-worked and appeared on later albums, even as
far ahead as Silver and Gold (2000)!
Touch the Night is a rather bootleg-quality live recording of Neil with Crazy Horse in Santa Cruz, in spring of 1984. Here, they perform mostly songs that would eventually appear on Landing on Water, re-recorded. A great set, but a better recording quality would have been welcome.
Disk 11: Summer Songs (1987). These wonderful solo
“sketches” of new songs would eventually be re-recorded and appear later
on the CSNY album American Dream (1988), Neil’s Freedom (1989),
and other works in the future. One of the best disks in the Archives box.
Neil at his stripped-down, acoustic best.
All in all, Archives Volume III is a comprehensive
overview of Neil’s excellent late 70s work and his “problematic” 1980s
material. For Neil fans, you can’t go wrong. Compared to the previous box sets,
this one’s on the right track with balancing previously released music with
unheard music. The “Raps” were a bit jarring, but not a deal breaker.
How long will it be for Archives Volume IV to come out? A few years, probably, but Neil’s not getting any younger. Will it cover the rest of his career in one go, which would be a lot (likely more disks than Volume III) or will he break it up and do a Volume V, too? We shall see. One thing consistent with Neil Young is his unpredictability. Rock on.
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