Neil Young Archives

The first volume, The Archives Vol. 1 1963–1972, was released on June 2, 2009. Covering Young's early years with The Squires and Buffalo Springfield, it also includes cuts, demos, outtakes and alternate versions of songs from his albums Neil Young, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, After the Gold Rush, and Harvest, as well as tracks he recorded with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young during this time. Also included in the set are several live discs, as well as (on the Blu-Ray/DVD versions) a copy of the long out-of-print film Journey Through the Past, directed by Young in the early 1970s.

Volume I was released as a set of 10 Blu-ray discs in order to present high resolution audio as well as accompanying visual documentation.[4] It is also available as a 10 disc DVD set and an 8 disc CD set. On January 31, 2010, the box set won the Grammy Award for Best Art Direction on a Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package, and was shared by Neil Young along with his art directors Gary Burden and Jenice Heo.

Similar in scope to the first box set, Neil Young Archives Volume II: 1972–1976 was officially released as a deluxe box set and for streaming on the Neil Young Archives site on November 20, 2020. Covering Young's work with The Stray Gators, Santa Monica Flyers, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Crazy Horse, and The Stills-Young Band during this period, Vol. II includes album cuts, demos, outtakes and alternate versions of songs from his albums Time Fades Away, Tonight’s the Night, On the Beach, Zuma, and Long May You Run, as well as the unreleased (until 2020) album Homegrown in its entirety and tracks from CSNY's multiple sessions for their aborted Human Highway album. Also as with Volume I, included in the set are several live discs, including the unreleased live album Odeon Budokan. Volume II was released as a set of 10 CDs (with a deluxe edition containing a hardbound book), and did not have accompanying Blu-ray or DVD editions as Vol. I did due to, as Young has exclaimed, “economic reasons.”

Young's manager Elliot Roberts originally said in 2009 that Volume II would span the period of 1972 through 1982,[5] and would be released "two or three years" after Volume I.[5] In October 2009, Young told Guitar World that a disc called Time Fades Away II would be included in the second volume, noting: "It's interesting because [Time Fades Away II] has a different drummer than what was on that album. Kenny Buttrey was in there for the first half, and Johnny Barbata came in for the second. It's a completely different thing, with completely different songs"[6] (Time Fades Away II would eventually evolve into the Performance Series release Tuscaloosa). Young had also said that "four unreleased albums from this period are being rebuilt ... Chrome Dreams, Homegrown and Oceanside-Countryside are the three unreleased studio albums. Also from this period is the unreleased Odeon Budokan live recording produced by David Briggs and Tim Mulligan".[7]

In May 2014, Young stated that Volume II would be finished by the summer, and that the remaining volumes would be issued relatively quickly following the second.[8] In July 2016, Rolling Stone and the Thrasher's Wheat website reported that Young intended to focus on completing Archives Volume II after his tour with Promise of the Real concluded that October. Although a physical release was still planned, it would also involve a "high-resolution website" and would also include unreleased works entitled Dume and Hitchhiker (Hitchhiker was later released as a standalone album on September 8, 2017, with Dume later confirmed to be a disc on Volume II). In August 2018, in response to an enquiring fan in the ‘Letters to the Editor’ section of the NYA Times-Contrarian area of his website, Neil had the following to say: "May 2019 the NYA V2 CDs and a separate book by Toshi Onuki will be available. Blu Ray is no longer viable for economic reasons. NYA can give you what the blu ray had though, including Hi Res audio. Thanks NY."[9]

In September 2018, March and April 2019, in response to other fans enquiring on its release in the ‘Letters to the Editor’ section of the NYA, Neil Young stated: "We are currently reviewing all of the unreleased albums from the Volume II period, which is the seventies. ‘Songs for Judy’ was one of those. ‘Oceanside Countryside’ is another. We are reviewing the others." ; "NYA vol 2 late this year/before Christmas. Odeon Budokon is on volume 2 as an album." ; "Volume two has so much content that we have made it into two sets. The first is about ten discs and will include ‘Odeon Budokan’. The set covers about 4 or 5 years of intense recording and creativity."[10]

In March 2020, Young confirmed Volume II for release on July 24 of that year.[11] After numerous delays related to the Coronavirus pandemic, it is now scheduled to be released on November 20, according to the Archives website. A track listing posted to the Archives site on September 20 confirmed Volume II’s contents,[12] and the first single, “Come Along and Say You Will,” was posted to the site as the Song of the Day on October 14. The set then went up for pre-order on the 16th as an exclusive release to his online store, with only 3,000 copies being initially made available worldwide.[13] After selling out the following day, Neil and Warner Records announced a second run of the deluxe edition, as well as and a general retail version, several weeks later, both of which are scheduled to hit the market on March 5th, 2021. This was followed by the release of a second single, "Homefires", on October 21, and a third, an alternate version of "Powderfinger", on November 3.[14]

Little information about Volume III of the Archives has been announced, though Young stated in a message on the NYA site on November 25th, 2020 that it is tentatively scheduled for release in 2022. The website for Young's Living with War album contains several live recordings of songs from Life, which the page cites as being "From The Neil Young Archives, Volume 3".[15] However, with Volume II now only spanning up until 1976, it's highly unlikely that Volume III will go as far back as that album.

Volume IV will likely feature tracks from the 1990s.

Elliot Roberts and Neil Young have said that the Archives project will extend into a fifth volume, which should include songs from 2009's Fork in the Road and the unreleased Toast album, which was recorded with Crazy Horse in 2000.[2][5][16]

Sugar Mountain - Live at Canterbury House 1968 is labeled Volume 00 in the Performance Series, but was the third in the series to be released. It features recordings from Young's solo acoustic performances at Canterbury House on 9–10 November 1968. The album was released on December 2, 2008.

Volume 1 is entitled Live at the Riverboat 1969 and is taken from a series of shows at the Riverboat Coffeehouse in Toronto in February 1969, recorded by Brian Ahern. The CD was released as part of the Archives Vol. I: 1963-1972 box set in June 2009. Chrome Dreams II from certain retailers also included a bonus CD with a preview track from the Riverboat. Different outlets had different CDs, each with a different preview track.[17]

Live at the Fillmore East, released in November 2006, features a March 1970 concert with Crazy Horse. The album was released on CD, LP and DVD with high definition 24/96 sound accompanied by still images from the concert. This album was also included as part of the Archives Vol. I: 1963-1972 box set.

Live at the Cellar Door was recorded in Washington D.C. during six-show between November 30 and December 2, 1970. This was released on December 10, 2013.

A solo acoustic performance from January 1971, Live at Massey Hall 1971, saw release in March 2007. The album was released on LP, CD and DVD Video with the DVD version including high definition sound accompanied by 8mm film footage, which sourced from the Stratford, CT concert three days later (January 22, 1971). This album was also included as part of the Archives Vol. I: 1963-1972 box set.

Young Shakespeare is currently scheduled to be released in 2021. It is an all-acoustic solo show and recorded at Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford, CT, USA on January 22, 1971, just three days after the Massey Hall show. After talks of it possibly being paired with the 50th Anniversary Edition of After the Gold Rush, it will officially be available as a stand-alone release along with a companion concert film, of which had previously been used for Massey Hall’s accompanying DVD release.

Tuscaloosa is a live album featuring recordings from the concert at Tuscaloosa, Alabama on the 1973 tour with The Stray Gators, during which Time Fades Away was recorded.[18] The album was released on June 7, 2019. Young has since stated on his Archives website that Tuscaloosa is "as close as Time Fades Away II that we'll get." This album was also included as part of the Archives Vol. II: 1972-1976 box set.

Roxy: Tonight's the Night Live was released on April 24, 2018 with a Record Store Day vinyl release on April 21. The album is culled from a set of shows played during the opening of the Roxy Theatre from September 20–22, 1973. The shows featured Young backed by the Santa Monica Flyers and songs from the recently recorded Tonight's the Night. This album was also included as part of the Archives Vol. II: 1972-1976 box set with an additional performance of "The Losing End" not present on the original release.

An unreleased live album featuring recordings from the 1976 shows at Budokan Hall, Tokyo and Hammersmith Odeon, London with Crazy Horse, Odeon Budokan was released as part of the Neil Young Archives Vol. II: 1972-1976 box set on November 20, 2020. It had been temporarily scheduled for a stand-alone release in 2019, but was delayed in favor of Tuscaloosa.[18]

Songs for Judy was released digitally and on CD on November 30, 2018, and as a double LP on December 14, 2018. Compiled by Joel Bernstein and Cameron Crowe from solo acoustic performances on the 1976 North American tour, it previously circulated among fans as a bootleg titled The Bernstein Tapes.

Catalogue number possibly reserved for Boarding House, an album compiled from the recordings made during Young's 5-day residency at The Boarding House, San Francisco in May 1978; some of these recordings appeared on side A of Rust Never Sleeps. The album is listed on the timeline on the Archives website, although its status is currently unknown.

A Treasure documents the International Harvesters tours of 1984–1985. It was first released May 24, 2011 as an LP, with Blu-ray (and accompanying film) and CD following June 14.[19]

Catalogue possibly reserved for "Crazy Horse Garage" – a series of live in concert by Neil Young & Crazy Horse during their US concert tours October – November 1986.

Bluenote Café, released November 13, 2015, documents the 1987/88 tour with the Bluenotes behind the 1988 album This Note's for You.

Way Down in the Rust Bucket will be the first release from his Archives' Performance Series of the year 2021, as the release date is currently scheduled to be released on February 26. A live show that was recorded on November 13, 1990 at the Catalyst, Santa Cruz, CA with his backing band, Crazy Horse, Young has previously shown all the concert video footage as part of the Movietone section of his Archives website.

Dreamin' Man Live '92 was released on December 8, 2009 and features all ten songs from the album Harvest Moon (but in different order, locations & dates) performed live in 1992.

Return to Greendale was officially released on November 6, 2020. Young has previously shown all the concert video footage as part of the Movietone section of his Archives website. The concert was held in Toronto, ON, Canada in 2003 as the supporting tour for his album, Greendale.

• Neil Young

• Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

• After the Gold Rush

• Harvest

• Time Fades Away

• On the Beach

• Tonight's the Night

• Zuma

• Long May You Run

• American Stars 'n Bars

• Comes a Time

• Rust Never Sleeps

• Live Rust

• Hawks & Doves

• Re·ac·tor

• This Note's For You[22]

• Dead Man (soundtrack)[23]

Compact disc versions of the first four above albums were released on 14 July 2009. In addition, the albums were reissued as limited edition box sets on 24 November 2009, in both 180-gram vinyl and 24k gold CD versions. 140-gram vinyl editions of the individual albums were also issued on that date.[24] On the 28th of November 2014, the series no. 05-08 were also reissued as limited edition vinyl box sets. When the PonoMusic Store went live in the end of 2014, another six albums were reissued as digital downloads, making a total of 14 albums available in 24 Bit & 192 kHz (including the 1973 album Time Fades Away, which hadn't been officially re-released before then).

Homegrown, a long lost unreleased 1975 album, was finally announced for a release in early 2020. Originally scheduled for release on April 17 as part of that year's Record Store Day, it was delayed until June 19 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[27]

Hitchhiker features an entirely solo 1976 session at Indigo Ranch Recording Studio in Malibu, California, possibly intended for release in the late 1970s but rejected by Reprise at the time. It was released on September 8, 2017, becoming the first officially released SRS volume.

Paradox was released on March 23, 2018.