Search - Neil Young :: Neil Young Archives, Vol. 1: 1963-1972

Where's the value?

Mark A. Cartier | Portland, Or. USA | 06/03/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"As a huge Neil Young fan I find the CD versions of the archives to be lacking for the following reasons:



1) I already own Massey Hall and the Fillmore (and I had both anyway from earlier tape trading). So this reduces the value for that reason - from eight CDs to six.

2) For a much ballyhooed collection, one talked about and written about for the past twenty years, where's the meat? The CDs are short in many cases, not even full. Some under 50 minutes.

3) An observation that very few "novices" spend $99 on a package for an artist they do not know.

4) Much here is already commercially available.

5) The booklet/documentation is lacking for a purchase cost such as this.

6) With that said - the remastered sound is wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.

7) There are some nuggets here - but they are fewer and farther between then I expected.



So, if you can drop $100 bucks at the drop of a hat and love Neil - a good buy. If you already own Massey and Fillmore - read the contents. If you are strapped for cash, or already own a lot of Neil - you might seriously consider what the value is you expect to receive. If your expectation was more than a beef'ed up "Decade", or CSNY boxed set - you might temper those expectations. Again - I need to emphasize the sound is great!"

ARCHIVES VOL. 1--IF YOU DON'T OWN MUCH N.Y. MUSIC

Stuart Jefferson | San Diego,Ca | 06/02/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a review of the cd,music only,release. And by novice,I mean those listeners who have heard OF Neil Young more than actually heard his music. If you like BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD,CSN&Y,or some of Young's other recordings,but don't own a lot of them-this would be a good purchase,especially considering the prices of the other formats,even if they do have more music/extras.



Eight discs 79,68,56,45,43,47,67,57 minutes each approximately. The sound is uniformly fine,with the earliest tracks a bit muffled and flat,but still okay. All the time,effort and expense Young put into this mammoth release is evident throughout. The discs are packaged in individual fold-out sleeves,complete with different graphics for each holder. The booklet lists the tracks and the personnel who played on them. Nothing else in the way of notes or information on the tracks. This lack of information sets the tone for this release.



The box itself,which folds out in the middle to expose the cd holders, holds all eight discs,the booklet and a fold-out archive poster,which lists the tracks and the year they were recorded-which is nothing all that great or important. I had the feeling that this poster is an attempt to give listeners "something" for their money in the way of an "extra". The graphics on the outer box are reproductions of articles about Young and his music.

Finally it's here,and it's loaded with great (but not with a lot of new) music,especially the unreleased tracks,that will have new and old Neil Young fans ecstatic,and will be an eye-opener for someone unfamiliar with Young's music. Long time listeners should look at the track listing to see just how many of these tracks they already own-it's your choice if you want music you already own,just to get the unreleased music. One nice thing to consider is that a lot of Young's best music is contained in one neat package. The star rating is for the overall quality of the music-not because there is a great deal of new music here,which is to bad,for Young may have missed a good chance to release some rare tracks-several discs are not even an hour in length. There is certainly enough unreleased material that would have fit into his idea of an archive. This seems to have the feel of a rip-off as far as long time listeners are concerned.



From Young's surf-band (the SQUIRES) and "folkie" beginnings in 1963,to his time in BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD,to CROSBY,STILLS,NASH and YOUNG,and,finally,to his individualistic solo/group albums with CRAZY HORSE and the STRAY GATORS,his two more well known later groups through 1972,it's all here,as far as it goes,and then some. The dozens (over 40) of unreleased tracks are well worthwhile. A combination of familiar tracks or albums (two discs are the already released "Crazy Horse at the Fillmore 1970"and "Massey Hall 1971") alongside unreleased songs,versions,mixes,or rare tracks gives this collection a real depth,and gives a keen insight into Young's music. Actually,this isn't a collection,as such,more of a partial autobiography of Neil Young,through his music. With that in mind,the long time Young fan will notice that many of the tracks are indeed familiar. One gem in this package is the "Live at the Riverboat (Toronto 1969)" set,which is a great acoustic live concert with good sound.



Forgetting for a moment the quantity of music-the quality of the music should make virtually anyone new to this music a rabid follower of Young's music,if they're not already. It would have been nice to have much more unreleased music,but this is an archive,not a collection of unreleased tracks,which the long time Young listener would probably prefer.



This archive,in the end,proves one thing. Whatever reason(s) and whatever direction he chooses to go,Young has found it essential to make music for many years,and listeners have a lot of good music to listen to. New listeners will be glad that Young has finally released this remarkable cache of music for them to not only listen to,but to marvel at it's scope and depth,keeping in mind the already released material they may own. Someone new to Neil Young will be able to hear what all the excitement is about by listening to any of these discs. For those new to Young's music this set is worth delaying purchase of other music,or not having that one thing you treat yourself to,in order to purchase this monumental set,assuming you don't already own a lot of this. It's that good. For those who are already familiar with a lot of this music,there's still good unreleased music here,but maybe not what most were hoping for. Listeners,no doubt,understand Young's desire to have an aural (and visual) record (no pun intended) of his vast repertoire of music at this stage of his life. At the same time what listeners really want is to hear more unreleased music-unfortunately this isn't it. Maybe Young will release some more unreleased tracks/albums in the future. We'll just have to wait and see."

I'm Wonderin

M. Kusch | Wisconsin | 06/02/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Like many Neil Young fans I've been waiting for this for a long time. Well, I'm a little disapointed. First the good news. The HDCD sound is a great improvement over the albums from Warner/Reprise. It's probably worth $70 just for the improved sound quality. The bad news is I, like most fans, already own most of this material. There isn't much new here. Neil even inexplicably contained "Live at Massey Hall" and "Live at the Fillmore East" which I assume most fans like me already have. So now your talking 6 discs, not 8. One disc pretty much has all of "After the Goldrush" on it. There are some great songs I hadn't heard before, most notably "Everybody's Alone". It's not that the music isn't stellar it's just that there's not much new here. The liner notes aren't very informative either. It would be nice to have some more information on the tracks. Overall if you're a fan I'd still recommend buying this for the improved sound quality alone, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a little disapointed."