new Neil Young retrospective-Archives Vol. 1

[jazzkrow]

Anybody heard/purchased the new Neil Young retrospective-Archives , Vol. 1

It covers only the beginning of his career from (I think) 1966 to 1972. There will be several more volumes.

The Blu-Ray version (10 discs!) has lots of extras-unreleased tracks, video, book, poster, etc.

Only problem is that it's $239 on Amazon-maybe more elsewhere-OUCH

At $100-125 might be worth considering but in this economy, wonder how many they will sell.

It is issued on Reprise.

Opinions?

Edited June 24, 2009 by jazzkrow

[J.A.W.]

Sorry-trying to delete the other two postings-somehow it go issued 3X.

Moderator button seems to not be there.

How else to delete 2 of the 3 postings?

Just use the "report" buttons of the other two and ask the moderators to delete them.

Edited June 24, 2009 by J.A.W.

[GregK]

I'm not willing to drop that much cash on something with such a minimal amount of unreleased music. The video portion does not interest me at all (I've watched my other music DVDs maybe once, some not all the way through even once). Maybe if the next volume has more unreleased music I'd go for it.

[Quincy]

I had been looking forward to his Archive project since back in the vinyl days. However I'm not all that interested in the early part of his career, or at least at this price (I already own some Squires songs, and also own 2 of the live discs in this set.) I love his hi-res DVD audio releases so if I were to buy I'd go the blu-ray route, but there's too much other music I'm interested in to bite right now. They do sell these ala carte though at high per disc price. Most of the video I'm content enough to see the once youtube. Granted it's been a long time, but from what I remember I would want to be paid to have to sit through Journey Through The Past again. I can go outside and within a block find some rambling hippie who sounds as annoying as David Crosby, so I sure as hell don't have to buy that.

Like Greg there's a chance I'll go for part 2 (jokes aside as it'll be released in 2030) as I love that era. It will depend on how much unreleased stuff there is and the quality of that as well. I love Neil, but he writes a fair amount of dreck.

The Hoffman Forum has a few threads on it, though a great deal is devoted towards complaints about the format (blu-ray unproven, some want vinyl) and the price. You can search by thread title. I believe the most recent thread (part 2 perhaps) has some actual information about the set after it had been released. One weird thing I've heard is that the book smells funny.

Oh, here's a youtube video of someone unpacking the blu-ray set.

[Cliff Englewood]

I probably would have been more interested in this when I first heard about it, what 10, 15 years ago. I've read a few reviews and they were very much pro but looking at the track listing I don't know. If you're a major Neil fan you'll get this but if you're a major Neil fan you'll probably have or at least heard most of it anyway. I'll pass.

[A Lark Ascending]

Too much already issued stuff to be of interest to me.

I'd sooner they released 'Time Fades Away'. Being Neil, I imagine it will be included in the next box but with two tracks missing, one in an alternate take and one remixed to sound different.

Edited June 25, 2009 by Bev Stapleton

[RDK]

I was very much interested in this, but the audio-video format sucks and most of the albums are complete except for 1 or 2 tracks. Though DVDs are okay for home, I want CDs for the car/office, there's too much repetition of what's already been released, and too many "hidden" tracks that one must search for in the video portion. Just because we can do something with the technology doesn't mean we should.

[jazzbo]

Okay, I bought the Blu-Ray. I love the sonic possibilities of Blu-Ray and this set does NOT disappoint. I'm taking my time with it and have gone thoroughly through the first two disc several times.

The sound is amazing, better than cd or dvd. The way it is set up is entertaining: each disc has as a main menu a file cabinet drawer. There are hanging folders to choose from that have folders within them. Select a hanging folder and then you can open up other folders for the music, for photos, for lyrics, for memorabilia, for press clippings, for videos. There's quite a bit here, not hidden. This is the period that most interests me. Depending on the year range of the next one if it ever comes out I'd be interested in about half of that and after that my interest in Neil sharply wanes. . . . I pretty much fall off after On the Beach and though I do like quite a bit of the later stuff I don't have to have in depth pieces of the puzzle.

So I think it's a miracle it's been released since there is so little support from fans, but it's a nice project and delivery. Ridiculously expensive for Blu-Ray, I agree, but I have the money and wanted to see what it would sound and look like, and I'm especially pleased with the sound. My Blu-Ray player has very good sound playback, and the audio on this archive really delivers fidelity wise. And when you're listening you can watch a 45 spin on an old changer or the tape spin on an old tape deck. . . it's pretty interesting and in my opinion well-presented.

Edited June 25, 2009 by jazzbo

[trane123]

Bought the CD version ($69 the week of release). Pretty disappointed in it. It includes 2 live CDs that have already been released over the last couple of years (Crazy Horse at the Filmore and a live at Massey Hall solo). If I hadn't already bought those, I guess I would have liked the set more.

Also, there's virtually no booklet info (just who played on what, and when). I've heard Neil didn't even want to put out a CD version -- and this certainly looks like a record company required after thought.

P.S. I've had to scrape glue off the surface of about half of the CDs. Looks like the CDs were put into the cardboard cases before the glue was dry. Pretty lame.

Edited June 25, 2009 by trane123

[jazzbo]

Yeah, I would be disappointed with just the cd version too. Actually, there were three previously released discs in the set.

[Cliff Englewood]

Too much already issued stuff to be of interest to me.

I'd sooner they released 'Time Fades Away'. Being Neil, I imagine it will be included in the next box but with two tracks missing, one in an alternate take and one remixed to sound different.

I have 'Time Fades Away' on that old black plastic stuff, what do you call it??????? Anyway it's good, but not really deserving of it's reputation as a lost masterpiece, but it goes very well with "On The Beach" and "Tonight's The Night", the later is still my favorite Neil.

[GregK]

Yeah, I would be disappointed with just the cd version too. Actually, there were three previously released discs in the set.

Nope, only two. You're thinking Canterbury? That was only in the DVD and Blu-Ray set.

[jazzbo]

Oh, I didn't know that.

Okay, less disapointing then!

I actually like Time Fades Away quite a bit, but it's possibly because I saw him on that tour and was excited to have the lp come out and listened to it a lot at the time. He was really "on" when I saw him.

[A Lark Ascending]

Too much already issued stuff to be of interest to me.

I'd sooner they released 'Time Fades Away'. Being Neil, I imagine it will be included in the next box but with two tracks missing, one in an alternate take and one remixed to sound different.

I have 'Time Fades Away' on that old black plastic stuff, what do you call it??????? Anyway it's good, but not really deserving of it's reputation as a lost masterpiece, but it goes very well with "On The Beach" and "Tonight's The Night", the later is still my favorite Neil.

Oh, I've no great expectations. But I like OTB +TTN and would like the chance to hear TFA. I'd pay a fiver for it off an iTunes download.

Edited June 26, 2009 by Bev Stapleton

[jazzbo]

Slightly gushing review that spells out what's inside the Blu-Ray and gives a sense of the depth and scope (and killer sound).

http://www.tonepublications.com/spotlight/...ol-i-1963-1972/

[Guest Bixieland]

I'm not all that interested in Neil Young...but I've admired his releases with concern towards fidelity. I'm glad to see an artist do this stuff and the Blu-Ray format needs pioneers like this to get it started.

Thanks for the thoughts Jazzbo. Like you, I'm really more interested to get/see/hear what Blu-ray can do. Glad to hear it sounds awesome!

[jazzbo]

Well, you're slightly misrepresenting me. I'm quite interested in the musical material of this archive volume. I'm less interested probably in the contents of future volumes as though I listen to Neil through the decades, I'm most passionate about his material up to the middle of the 'seventies or so.

If this were a Thin Lizzy archive on Blu-Ray, or an ABBA archive on Blu-Ray, despite my interest in the technology anc curiosity of its implementation in this sort of project, I'd . . . pass. Resoundedly.

It's interesting that the Blu-Ray version is apparently "sold out" from the distributor (still available for sale from vendors, but all units have apparently shipped to vendors). I think they underestimated the demand for Blu-Ray in this market slice.

[sidewinder]

Anyone here in the UK see his performance last night at Glastonbury on BBC4? Pretty impressive - although I'm no great fan.