It’s been a long time since Neil Young released his last Archives box set. In the intervening 11 years since Neil released Archives, Volume 1: 1963-1972, fans have endlessly speculated what might be on Volume 2 – or if it might happen at all.
Well, it’s happening. The 10-CD Neil Young Archives, Volume 2: 1972-1976 box set will be released on November 20th.The links to pre-order are live for the limited, deluxe edition set of 3,000 units which is available exclusively through Neil Young’s Greedy Hand Online Store. A digital edition will also be available on Neil Young Archives and all major digital services.
On October 23rd, following the quick sell-out of the box set, Neil announced on NYA’s Times Contrarian that slimmer editions will follow in the year to come. This will be welcome news to those who may have missed out on the high-demand box set. His full statement is as follows:
Reprise Records, my record company for about 50 years, underestimated the demand for Archives VOLUME II. We were all surprised. It is a beautiful package that I am proud to have made for you. I do feel badly that we did not deliver it to many who were waiting so long for it. We don’t feel that offering more of a product sold as a limited edition is a good thing to do. Thank you to all who purchased this set.
In 2021 we will be offering more Archives VOLUME II products as Reprise had originally planned, available in all outlets. These, while not the boxed set, will offer all of the of the music and discs with a smaller book. The original large book will be available for separate sale. Thanks! NYA
In its limited edition box set format, Archives, Volume 2is sequenced chronologically to spotlight the astonishingly prolific period lovingly referred to as the Ditch Years. The box contains a staggering 131 tracks from Neil’s personal archive. Of those, 12 songs have never been released by Neil in any form before, a further 49 songs are presented in previously unheard versions. And though recent releases Homegrown, Tuscaloosa, and Roxy: Tonight’s The Night Live are all repeated here, there’s plenty of completely unheard material to satisfy any fan of this era.
The discs are packaged in a deluxe box similar in size to the Archives Vol. 1 Blu-ray box set (though do note there will only be CDs in this volume!). The discs are housed in individual card sleeves and are presented alongside a 252-page book full of rare photos, memorabilia, and archival material. You’ll also get a timeline and tape database reference and a Neil Young Archives “file cabinet poster.” This deluxe box set will be limited to only 3,000 copies. worldwide. That’s right, Neil has launched new web stores for Canada and the UK. This should help alleviate those long shipping times, fees, and other grievances that come with ordering abroad, plus each webstore will have its own dedicated customer service team.
If that weren’t enough, you’ll also get access to high-resolution 24-bit/192kHz digital files of all 131 tracks, and a free one-year membership to Neil Young Archives.Let’s take a look at what’s inside!
The box begins with Everybody’s Alone, a disc of tracks recorded in the wake of Harvest and into 1973. A sort of alternate version of Time Fades Away, the disc includes unreleased versions of that song, “L.A.,” “The Loner,” “Monday Morning” (otherwise known as “Last Dance”), “The Bridge,” and “Human Highway.” The long-awaited unreleased tracks “Letter From ‘Nam,” “Come and Say You Will,” “Goodbye Christmas on the Shore,” and “Sweet Joni” round out the disc.
CD 2 contains Tuscaloosa, the 2019 release that features 11 songs from Neil Young and The Stray Gators’ set at the University of Alabama in February 1973. It’s followed by an expanded Tonight’s The Night featuring an unheard jam on “Speaking Out,” an alternate version of “Everybody’s Alone,” and – very surprising given her stance on outtakes – the long-rumored jam between Neil Young and Joni Mitchell on “Raised On Robbery.” The song from her Court and Spark album is said to be treated completely differently here. “It kicks ass…” Neil says in his book, Waging Heavy Peace. “It was funkier than anything she has ever cut. A total gem!” Next up, CD 4 includes an expanded Roxy: Tonight’s The Night Live. Originally released in 2018, these raw live versions are supplemented with a live cut of “The Losing End.”
An alternate On The Beach follows on the fifth CD, called Walk On. In addition to the studio cuts that we’ve known for decades, it includes the unreleased song “Greensleeves,” an alternate version of “Traces,” and a Beach-era outtake of what must be Neil’s favorite, “Bad Fog of Loneliness.”
CD 6 is called This Old Homestead and seems to mirror Young’s vision for what he called Homefires. A companion to the recently released Homegrown (which itself appears as CD 7), Homestead features tracks that were prepared for that album alongside songs intended for CSNY’s brief and tumultuous reunion. It’s a disc that’s full of sought-after material, including “L.A. Boys and Ocean Girls” (which became part of Zuma‘s “Danger Bird”), an unreleased version of “Pushed It Over the End,” “Changing Highways.” The clutch of Homegrown outtakes includes unheard versions of “Love/Art Blues,” “Give Me Strength,” “Bad News Comes to Town,” plus the never-before-heard songs “Homefires,” “Frozen Man,” and “Daughters.” The unreleased music continues on CD 8, Dume, which collects classics from Zuma and eight session outtakes, including the unreleased “Born To Run” (an original song, not the Bruce Springsteen classic). CD 9, Look Out For My Love, brings together songs from the aborted CSNY album that became The Stills-Young Band’s Long May You Run, plus tracks that were eventually released on American Stars ‘n’ Bars and Comes A Time.
The set closes out with a collection that Neil has been teasing for years, Odeon Budokan. The 10-track disc presumably mirrors an original track listing for a proposed live album featuring a resurrected Crazy Horse. It features a blend of acoustic and electric material, recent songs and fan favourites from across his career. Among them are “After The Gold Rush,” “Cowgirl in the Sand,” “Old Man” as well as “Lotta Love,” “Stringman,” “Too Far Gone,” and more.
You can make your purchase of Neil Young Archives, Volume 2: 1972-1976 at the Greedy Hand Online Store at Neil Young Archives – and get a taste of what you’ll get with these unboxing videos and trailers.
The Fat Angel Sings 