With so many marginal artists having box sets released, I'm still waiting for Neil Young. He has over 35 years of material and not one career-spanning collection. Every holiday season I wait for a release date and it never comes. Is there some legal problem that's holding this thing up, or is Neil just opposed to the idea?

Neil is a perfectionist and also does what pleases him at any given moment.

When he feels like doing it and that it is the way that he wants it...that's when we'll get it.

Also it is my understanding that he isn't thinking it'll be just one box set. The first one will only include very early material.

Funny, I am listening to After the Gold Rush and I saw this thread. One of my favorite artists but I have every single album so the only thing I would like to see is maybe unreleased stuff.

Neil's been working on this on & off for years. He keeps changing his mind on how big it should be, when it will come out, what's on it...

For now, there is Decade. Originally a 3 record set, it's mostly a best of, but does have some good stuff that isn't available anywhere else.

Yeah,

"The Archive Set" or something similar is what he titled it, and it was supposed to capture 20-25 years worth of recordings (that shows how long he's been working on it.) He keeps playing with it since he is an uber-perfectionist. I'm guessing we will probably never see it come out, or if we do, it will be after he passes on.

Here's a bump as the only thread I found on this is in HD talk and don't really consider it just an HD release -- sounds like FINALLY this has an offcial release date! June 2! Who's getting it? The price tag is putting me off a bit but $99 for the CD version isn't bad - don't have a BluRay yet or plan to get one soon (I know) so that's what I would go for.

p>Photo: Michael Ochs Archive/Getty

Neil Young’s long-in-the-works and much-anticipated Archives Vol. 1 1963-1972 finally has a release date: June 2nd. The pre-order page for the incredible box set is up on the Neil Young Website now. The set features 128 tracks, 43 unreleased recordings, three live concerts, a 236-page full-color hardcover book and Young’s debut feature film Journey Through The Past, which is being released for the first time since its 1973 theatrical run. The set charts Young’s career from the Squires to Buffalo Springfield to his early solo works and finally his 1972 album Harvest.

Archives Vol. 1 was originally scheduled for Summer 2007, then pushed to February 2008, then autumn of last year, January 2009 and now finally June 2nd. The 10-disc box set will be available in both DVD and Blu-Ray, as well as an eight-disc CD package that won’t include Journey Through the Past or the hardcover book. Visit the Neil Young site to get a gander at the massive track list on this behemoth box set.

Thankfully, the price of the set has been drastically reduced as well: Amazon.com had the Blu-Ray box set selling at $431, but the Young site is offering the package for a pre-order price of $299.99, with standard DVD costing $199.99 and the CD set $99. For those who can’t afford the full set or already own the previously released Live At Massey Hall 1971 and Crazy Horse at the Fillmore 1970, each disc will also be sold individually in all formats. In addition, by ordering now, you’ll also receive a 7′’ vinyl featuring two songs by Young’s early band the Squires, “Mustang” and “Aurora.” A preview of the set’s “Disc 0 – Early Years 1963-1965″ will also ship pre-June 2nd for those who pre-order


http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdail...ease-june-2nd/

track list here:
http://www.yourwaytomusic.com/neil-y...r-june-really/

Glad to finally see this is getting released, and that the discs are available for purchase individually. Personally, it is the phase after Harvest that I'm most interested in - hopefully we will get the original version of Tonight's the Night, a Santa Monica Flyers show, and other stuff from that era.

I just noticed that it says you can get discs individually. For the price conscious among us that is a VERY nice option, good to see it!

I might pick up the individual discs that cover the Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere/After The Gold Rush period.

I'm excited that this is finally coming out and I'm looking to pick up the Blu-Ray. Neil is really pioneering the use of Blu-Ray technology for this type of release. Owners of the Blu-Ray version will be able to download through BD-Live any additional content (music, photos, videos, etc.) that he makes available in the future, and it will integrate into the Archives timeline. There's a wealth of information about this on the Thrasher's Wheat blog, and Neil included a note about the advantages of the Blu-Ray version on his website. Another plus will be that Blu-Ray and DVD owners will receive a code to MP3 downloads of the music so that you could have copies for listening in the car, on an iPod, etc. And as mentioned, copies of the individual discs (as well as the book and poster) are available for purchase so consumers can buy what they want. As I understand though, the individual discs will only be sold on his website. All other retailers will only have the complete boxsets for sale.

Here's Neil's letter on the Blu-Ray release:

http://neilyoungarchives.warnerrepri...l1/letter.html

Wow, what a blast from the past-- my old thread. It took five years for the box set to finally come out. I already have the Massey Hall and the Filmore discs, so I'll probably pick & choose from the rest. Too bad the BR collection is so expensive, because I'd consider that if it were less.

are the other box sets coming out in a timely pace or will it be another fifteen years before we get a 1973-1981 set?

He makes quite a push in that letter. Blu Ray Never Sleeps, I guess.

My brother, my whole family really, are such huge fans that I may go for the bluray release.

Neil Young's Archives Box Finally Gets a Release Date



Now let's start bothering him about Volume Two!

For about a year now, we've been talking about the impending release of Archives, Neil Young's behemoth box set series. The first volume of Archives has seen its release date pushed back again and again, and it's been driving Young obsessives nuts. Well, now this thing finally has a release date, one firm enough that Warner Bros., Young's label, is taking pre-orders for it.

Neil Young Archives, Vol. 1: 1963-1972 will hit stores, finally, on June 2. It'll cover basically everything Young did from his time playing with the Canadian garage band the Squires to the release of his Harvest album. According to the original press release about the set, it'll include "music, movies, videos, personal archives, memorabilia, photographs, letters, handwritten manuscripts, and more." That's a lot of stuff! Also, all the music will have extra-crispy audio. It'll take your entire summer just to process this thing.

You can order the set in a $299.99 Blu-Ray edition or a $199.99 DVD edition. Or if you're a total cheapskate, you can drop a measly $99.99 on the eight-disc CD version. If you pre-order the set, you'll also get a preview DVD sent before the June 2 release date and a 7" single with the songs "Aurora" and "Mustang". You'll also be able to order the individual discs by themselves. The set's tracklist can be found on the pre-order page.

In other Young news, Warner Bros. will release Fork in the Road, his cantankerous and possibly insane concept album about electric cars, on April 7.

Posted by Tom Breihan on March 24, 2009 at 1:10 p.m.

From the reviews I read about the DVDs that came the the already released NYA sets, they sounded pretty lame - maybe the type of thing you would watch once.

The main point of the DVDs already released in his NYA PS series (Fillmore, Massey, and Canterbury) was the higher resolution audio. I believe Massey is the only one to have actual concert footage.

The DVD and Blu-Ray release of NYA Volume 1 is going to be a complete multimedia package, and of course with the Blu-Ray, there will be even higher audio and video quality and the BD-Live capabilities, so this will be a whole different animal than the CD/DVD PS releases. At least there are a variety of options available to suit different wants. A CD only package will be sold for those just wanting the audio tracks, and individual volumes will be sold through his website.

Based on the track listings, it seems that many of the discs in the box set will contain album tracks (i.e. identical versions, not alternate takes or mixes). That seems strange to me since the complete albums are not included in the box set. In that case, I would prefer for the box to contain only tracks, or versions of them, that are not available on existing NY albums...

I agree. He has released more than enough live albums, so I wouldn't be interested in those tracks either. He should have put the unreleased / alternate takes on individual cds.

So -- has anyone picked this up? I just can't afford it right now, and dont' have a Blu-Ray so am not going to bother until I do anyway to get the full experience, but am curious to hear what people think....

I picked up the 8 CD set at Best Buy for $69.99. I am in love with the set. I think it's absolutely beautiful. The tracks sound great and there are all sorts of little rare things and cool stuff like that to keep fans busy for a while. I think this might not be best for someone that's just a casual fan but for someone who consideres themselves more than a casual Neil Young fan it is absolutely essential.

The only issue I have is that there are several missing tracks. I think that the Massey and Fillmore shows should have been left off in favor of more remastered album tracks from Neil Young, Everybody Knows this is Nowhere (come on, it has 6 of the 7 tracks!), After the Gold Rush and Harvest. Having the first four albums remastered in their entirety wouldn't have been hard to do and could have easily made up the space that's taken for the two previously released live discs.

All in all I am very happy with the set and think it's worth it.

I haven't picked up the Blu Ray yet because I'm waiting to see if there is a "sale" on it this month. Even if there is I am not 100% sure I will get it right now anyway. Volume 2 is actually the time period I am most interested in. The reviews I have read on other forums are mostly raves for the blu-ray version.

I have the cd set also and am not very happy that they didn't fill these discs to capacity.

Blast from the past! I just stumbled across a Deep Discount pop-up ad and saw that Volume 2 finally comes out on Friday!
It's a 10-disc set



Amazon is selling it for
Deep Discount is selling it, like the name says, at a deep discount. $105.99. With the current 15% off HATTER coupon, it's $90 + tax. Thinking about getting that.

FYI : The Deluxe Edition is available in Neil's store for $249.98

I picked this up as well. Quite a few Neil releases in a short span. This is a good problem to have.

The big difference this time around is no Blu-ray edition. It's either CDs or high-rez downloads.