Neil Young - Archives Vol 1 (1963-1972)
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/ma ... ives-vol-1
Neil Young - Archives Vol 1 (1963-1972)
It's not without its pitfalls, but Neil Young's painstakingly assembled retrospective is an awe-inspiring labour of love, says Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis - The Guardian, Friday 29 May 2009
'Archives arrives - a staggering 23 years after Neil Young first started talking about it - heralded as "the most ambitious artist collection ever produced". Indeed, so ambitious is it that Young has written an open letter to his fans: reasonable as ever, he suggests they all immediately buy Blu-ray players, the better to enjoy its 10 discs of music, film footage, interview clips and reproduced memorabilia. "It is not going away," he warns. "It is worth it to get into Blu-ray now. Don't say I didn't tell you."
He sounds confident, but then, this is a man who once confidently asserted that the music of A Flock of Seagulls was the future. And even on DVD - you can also get a CD edition - Archives can be hard work. This critic is prepared to believe that the fact he found the menus slightly counterintuitive points to deficiencies on his own part, but suffice to say that at least one Neil Young fan - temporarily unable to navigate away from one of the on-stage "raps" provided as "audio bonuses" and gripped by the fear that he was going to spend the rest of his life listening to Neil Young saying "ummm ... ahhhhhh ... wrote this sahwng ... ummmm ... my house" - found himself howling for the luddite comforts of a CD box set with a nicely illustrated booklet.
But it's hard to argue with the music. Even the first disc of juvenilia is fascinating. His songwriting ability is in place surprisingly early: a 1963 demo called I Wonder ended up as Don't Cry No Tears on 1975's Zuma and he has returned to 1965's Sugar Mountain throughout his career. But what's most striking is the sound of Neil Young literally trying to find his voice as he is buffeted along by the gusting pop culture of the 60s. He tries everything, including singing in a weird, clipped accent around the time of the British Invasion, manfully attempting to bulk-up the fragility that would become his trademark, even essaying the didactic coffee-house bellow so expertly mocked in A Mighty Wind: it was awfully blustery up on Sugar Mountain in 1965, with the wistfulness of the song's lament for adolescent innocence trampled by the earnest desire to be taken very seriously indeed.
You could argue that 60s pop culture buffeted him along for much of the next three discs, which cover his time in the Buffalo Springfield and his debut solo album. Although the songs get increasingly impressive, there's still a sense of a man trying on passing styles to see if they fit: Stones-like raunch on Mr Soul, Sgt Pepper psych-pop on Expecting to Fly and Broken Arrow, Desolation Row Dylanisms on The Last Trip to Tulsa. His meeting with Crazy Horse seems to have changed everything. David Crosby famously complained that they could barely play, but it is as if their willful lack of finesse gave Young the confidence to finally be himself, whether he was playing with them or not. The difference between the versions of Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere that bookend the second disc is staggering. The first sounds prim and straitened and features a flute solo, the second features Crazy Horse and is unequivocally fantastic.
It was the beginning of one of rock's greatest purple patches - 10 years during which Young's music was seldom less than stunning. And from that point on, Archives is, in the parlance of the day, a total gas. The best of Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, After the Goldrush and Harvest, the peerless Helpless and Country Girl rescued from Crosby, Stills Nash and Young's otherwise leaden Déjà Vu, a stunning 1970 Crazy Horse live set and a handful of outtakes including the fantastic Everybody's Alone and a limpid See the Sky About to Rain.
That is, at least, until you hit the final disc, containing Journey Through the Past - Young's infamous debut as a film director, and a gas only in the sense that a chronic attack of flatulence is a gas. It's both pretentious and deadly dull, although in fairness, it's not without its fleeting pleasures, among them footage of David Crosby pompously waxing at length about how the forces of the establishment are ranged against the early 70s west-coast rock aristocracy when, in truth, the most immediate danger the early 70s west-coast rock aristocracy appeared to face was being bored to death by David Crosby pompously waxing at length.
You watch it wondering how mischievous Young's intent was. He certainly sounds a little waspish when bantering with his bandmates on Archive's live CSNY cuts, but their vocals on Tell Me Why and Only Love Can Break Your Heart suggest four men in perfect harmony. Then again, trying to fathom out the reason Young does anything is a thankless task, as Archives - a project no reasonable man would ever have undertaken - proves.
Neil Young - Archives Vol 1 (1963-1972)
It's not without its pitfalls, but Neil Young's painstakingly assembled retrospective is an awe-inspiring labour of love, says Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis - The Guardian, Friday 29 May 2009
'Archives arrives - a staggering 23 years after Neil Young first started talking about it - heralded as "the most ambitious artist collection ever produced". Indeed, so ambitious is it that Young has written an open letter to his fans: reasonable as ever, he suggests they all immediately buy Blu-ray players, the better to enjoy its 10 discs of music, film footage, interview clips and reproduced memorabilia. "It is not going away," he warns. "It is worth it to get into Blu-ray now. Don't say I didn't tell you."
He sounds confident, but then, this is a man who once confidently asserted that the music of A Flock of Seagulls was the future. And even on DVD - you can also get a CD edition - Archives can be hard work. This critic is prepared to believe that the fact he found the menus slightly counterintuitive points to deficiencies on his own part, but suffice to say that at least one Neil Young fan - temporarily unable to navigate away from one of the on-stage "raps" provided as "audio bonuses" and gripped by the fear that he was going to spend the rest of his life listening to Neil Young saying "ummm ... ahhhhhh ... wrote this sahwng ... ummmm ... my house" - found himself howling for the luddite comforts of a CD box set with a nicely illustrated booklet.
But it's hard to argue with the music. Even the first disc of juvenilia is fascinating. His songwriting ability is in place surprisingly early: a 1963 demo called I Wonder ended up as Don't Cry No Tears on 1975's Zuma and he has returned to 1965's Sugar Mountain throughout his career. But what's most striking is the sound of Neil Young literally trying to find his voice as he is buffeted along by the gusting pop culture of the 60s. He tries everything, including singing in a weird, clipped accent around the time of the British Invasion, manfully attempting to bulk-up the fragility that would become his trademark, even essaying the didactic coffee-house bellow so expertly mocked in A Mighty Wind: it was awfully blustery up on Sugar Mountain in 1965, with the wistfulness of the song's lament for adolescent innocence trampled by the earnest desire to be taken very seriously indeed.
You could argue that 60s pop culture buffeted him along for much of the next three discs, which cover his time in the Buffalo Springfield and his debut solo album. Although the songs get increasingly impressive, there's still a sense of a man trying on passing styles to see if they fit: Stones-like raunch on Mr Soul, Sgt Pepper psych-pop on Expecting to Fly and Broken Arrow, Desolation Row Dylanisms on The Last Trip to Tulsa. His meeting with Crazy Horse seems to have changed everything. David Crosby famously complained that they could barely play, but it is as if their willful lack of finesse gave Young the confidence to finally be himself, whether he was playing with them or not. The difference between the versions of Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere that bookend the second disc is staggering. The first sounds prim and straitened and features a flute solo, the second features Crazy Horse and is unequivocally fantastic.
It was the beginning of one of rock's greatest purple patches - 10 years during which Young's music was seldom less than stunning. And from that point on, Archives is, in the parlance of the day, a total gas. The best of Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, After the Goldrush and Harvest, the peerless Helpless and Country Girl rescued from Crosby, Stills Nash and Young's otherwise leaden Déjà Vu, a stunning 1970 Crazy Horse live set and a handful of outtakes including the fantastic Everybody's Alone and a limpid See the Sky About to Rain.
That is, at least, until you hit the final disc, containing Journey Through the Past - Young's infamous debut as a film director, and a gas only in the sense that a chronic attack of flatulence is a gas. It's both pretentious and deadly dull, although in fairness, it's not without its fleeting pleasures, among them footage of David Crosby pompously waxing at length about how the forces of the establishment are ranged against the early 70s west-coast rock aristocracy when, in truth, the most immediate danger the early 70s west-coast rock aristocracy appeared to face was being bored to death by David Crosby pompously waxing at length.
You watch it wondering how mischievous Young's intent was. He certainly sounds a little waspish when bantering with his bandmates on Archive's live CSNY cuts, but their vocals on Tell Me Why and Only Love Can Break Your Heart suggest four men in perfect harmony. Then again, trying to fathom out the reason Young does anything is a thankless task, as Archives - a project no reasonable man would ever have undertaken - proves.
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Comments
From what I've heard, three archive sets are already in the works and it's speculated that there will be at least a fourth to round things up.
I'm broke like a joke and scared i'm losing my job so i dont' want to buy the dvds on my credit card.
I've waited 15 years i'll just have to wait a few more months to check this out.
Charlotte 03
Asheville 04
Atlanta 12
Greenville 16, Columbia 16
Seattle 18
Nashville 22
Ohana Festival 24 x2
Charlotte 03
Asheville 04
Atlanta 12
Greenville 16, Columbia 16
Seattle 18
Nashville 22
Ohana Festival 24 x2
Sorry if I fueled the fire...
Why the hell can't i download the mp3's yet? I want this shit on my ipod so bad. I looked Wed night and it said they would be availble Thursday. I looked Thursday and it said Friday.
I'm a little disapointed that on the DVD version you can' listen to the songs and look at the pictures at the same time. That was kind of the whole point of me getting it. I guess i did not read the reviews close enough. I can listen to the dvd, but that is kind of a pain.
some of the extras on the dvd are cool, but i wish there were more.
I do love the one where neil walks into the record store and finds a bootleg album of his and is like um I'm taking this because it is mine and just walks out with it
Charlotte 03
Asheville 04
Atlanta 12
Greenville 16, Columbia 16
Seattle 18
Nashville 22
Ohana Festival 24 x2
I think I've seen that Neil clip on the internet before. I haven't found which disc it is on yet.
All in all, I'm really enjoying it.
That really upsets me that i won't be able to get those songs... they should at least be availble for mp3 download for folks who purchased the dvd and cd versions :(
Charlotte 03
Asheville 04
Atlanta 12
Greenville 16, Columbia 16
Seattle 18
Nashville 22
Ohana Festival 24 x2
how much do you want to bet this was all neil's doing?
"Make em wait a week from the release date to get the mp3's so they have to listen to the dvd/blu ray version the first week so they will hear the difference"
Charlotte 03
Asheville 04
Atlanta 12
Greenville 16, Columbia 16
Seattle 18
Nashville 22
Ohana Festival 24 x2
Great info! Thanks for letting us know.
I love the version of ohio with CSNY live from boston. I am really like all the extra stuff on the dvd, but i still think the price should have been a little less.... oh well i'm very happy with it.
Charlotte 03
Asheville 04
Atlanta 12
Greenville 16, Columbia 16
Seattle 18
Nashville 22
Ohana Festival 24 x2