Journey Through The Past: The Neil Young Archives Thread

[Ojai Sam]

No doubt about it, folks. Neil Young is the pacesetter for monetizing his archives. From a massive interactive website to a flood of releases in a byzantine plethora of series, Neil has found a way to present his massive stockpile of unreleased recordings in a highly attractive way to the public.

The crown jewels of this project are his archives boxes. Starting with his first recordings with The Squires in 1963, so far Shakey has produced two boxes, each of which includes 10 discs with picture sleeves, a big full color book, and a poster. The ones I purchased are shown above. One could deduce from the lettering that he plans two more boxes to cover the balance of his career.

This thread will showcase all of Neil’s archival releases, in an attempt to steer you to the most important ones. But I have to admit, thanks to his never ending quest for a new musical identity, the stylistic variety and high quality of these releases can’t be touched by any other artist.

 

[Ojai Sam]

The "Performance Series" emerged prior to the Archives boxes, starting in 2006. So far, Neil has either released or promised the following albums, with several tantalizing gaps in the numbering sequence:

Volume 00: Sugar Mountain – Live at Canterbury House 1968
Volume 01: Live at the Riverboat 1969
Volume 02: Live at the Fillmore East 1970
Volume 02.5: Live at the Cellar Door
Volume 03: Live at Massey Hall 1971
Volume 03.5: Young Shakespeare
Volume 04: Tuscaloosa
Volume 05: Roxy: Tonight's the Night Live 1973
Volume 06: Odeon Budokan
Volume 07: Songs for Judy
Volume 08 ???
Volume 09: A Treasure
Volume 10 ???
Volume 11: Bluenote Café
Volume 11.5: Way Down in the Rust Bucket
Volume 12: Dreamin' Man Live '92
Volume 13 ???
Volume 14 ???
Volume 15 ???
Volume 16: Return to Greendale

Sugar Mountain: Live At Canterbury House (2008)


This album was released as part of Archives Vol. I box set. It presents songs and talk from two of the three nights on which Neil did solo gigs at Canterbury House, an Ann Arbor folk club, in early November 1968. To give an idea of his target audience, other artists appearing there around this time included Joni Mitchell, Tim Buckley, Dave Van Ronk, Odetta, Doc Watson, David Ackles, Len Chandler, Spider John Koerner, The New Lost City Ramblers and Jim Kweskin.

Early in his career, Neil performed a mix of songs that would appear on his own eponymous first album (released less than a week later) as well as some favorites from the Buffalo Springfield days. Several spoken introductions are included, revealing the 22 year old's ability to establish an easy rapport with his audience, thanks to his self-deprecating, even goofy manner.

on the Sam-O-Meter. You'll never hear a better example of Neil's acoustic sound as he stood on the brink of stardom.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Neil Young News: Neil Young's "The focus, a gift": Reflecting on Reflections

neilyoungnews.thrasherswheat.org

 

[Ojai Sam]

Geez, I forgot all about this thread. I've already plowed through the first box and will soon start the second. If I keep my wits about me, I'll share it here.

Meanwhile, in another corner of the Neil Young Archives, we find the "Official Release Series". Neil is nothing if not meticulous when it comes to organizing his recorded output. Here's the tally so far:

Official Release Series 01: Neil Young

Official Release Series 02: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

Official Release Series 03: After the Gold Rush

Official Release Series 04: Harvest

Official Release Series 05: Time Fades Away

Official Release Series 06: On the Beach

Official Release Series 07: Tonight's the Night

Official Release Series 08: Zuma

Official Release Series 08.5: Long May You Run

Official Release Series 09: American Stars 'n Bars

Official Release Series 10: Comes a Time

Official Release Series 11: Rust Never Sleeps

Official Release Series 12: Live Rust

Official Release Series 13: Hawks & Doves

Official Release Series 14: Re·ac·tor

Official Release Series 20: This Note's For You

Official Release Series 21: Eldorado (EP)

Official Release Series 22: Freedom

Official Release Series 23: Ragged Glory - Smell the Horse

Official Release Series 24: WELD

Official Release Series 25: ARC

Official Release Series 30: Dead Man (soundtrack)

Volumes 15 through 19 and 26 through 29 remain unreleased to date, presumably save room for future expansion. Yep, meticulous about covers it.


Vol. 30 - Dead Man (soundtrack 1995, NYA release 2019)

This soundtrack to a fantasy Western flew right over my head in 1996 when it came out on record. It amounts to spacy instrumentals ala the Arc album "enhanced" by Johnny Depp reading faux Native American stream of consciousness poetry. Sound great to you? Me neither. Another hour I won't get back.

on the Sam-O-Meter.

 

[axolotl]

Forgive me for my importunity, but wasn't Harvest Moon an official release? Does it fall within any of the release series mentioned above?

 

[Ojai Sam]

Forgive me for my importunity, but wasn't Harvest Moon an official release? Does it fall within any of the release series mentioned above?

It’s probably one of the missing numbers. Don’t ask me why it’s not included.