The Religion of Rust: Part Two

The first two boxed sets of the Neil Young Archives side-by-side.  12 years apart but worth the wait.

Note: See Part One of this series (?) from 2009

 

Meanwhile, a dozen years later...

I received Volume Two of The Neil Young Archives (NYA) earlier this month and have spent a considerable amount of time these past few weeks listening and exploring the 250-page book and various fold-out charts that come with the nicely packaged 10-CD deluxe boxed set.  

Let's start by getting a bit of frustration out of the way and a revelation about what Volume Two is not.  Last year I was following my news feed on Neil, which indicated the the second volume was finally, finally, finally coming out.  Then, abruptly, I read that the boxed set sold out in 24-hours before I was even aware that it was available.  The reason for this is that, unlike back in 2009 when Volume One was available on amazon and other retailers, Volume Two was initially being sold only by Neil directly off of the NYA website, which is something I was not checking in with regularly.  

I was pissed off.  Volume Two was a limited-edition deluxe boxed-set fixed at only 3,000 copies.  Each copy came with 10 CDs, a nice leather-bound book, various charts, and each was signed by Neil personally.  Crap!  I waited 12 years to miss this thing in the span of a little over 24 hours???  WTF?  The internet roared at Neil.  There were a lot of fans like myself who could not believe what had happened.

Maybe Neil planned this all along, maybe he didn't, but, in any event, Neil announced a couple of days later that another edition would be available in about four months.  It would not be the limited edition.  Neil stated that it would be “something different” and that I could sign up to be notified of when it was available.  I did so immediately and, after a few more weeks, I got the notice.

Thankfully, the deluxe edition I finally received is packaged in a rectangular box in the creative style of Volume One, which is kind of a big deal for collectors.  You want each volume to at least seem like they go together.  The big difference between the two is that the accompanying book is not leather-bound and there's no signature.  I can live with all that.  (Amazon later made the boxed set available but it is already sold out as of this post.)

The biggest difference between Volume One and Two is that the former provided a complete multi-media experience on Blu-ray discs, which offered superior audio.  The new volume contains high-res remastered CD's with no multi-media capability at all.  Why?  Neil says that it was “for cost reasons.”  But, I've never known something like that to stop Neil.  My guess is that the real reason is because NYA has changed in the last 12 years.  

First of all, the Archives did not exist as an online multi-media website back in 2009.  When Neil offered the website a couple of years ago (for free during the first six months after launch) it basically did everything that the Blu-ray discs did on Volume One.  There was no longer a need to replicate that capability.  A one-year subscription comes with Volume Two, so you can explore to your heart's content all of Neil's vast collection of music, videos, outtakes, alternate mixes, unreleased songs, photos, lyrics hand-written on napkins or whatever, and other memorabilia online on your PC or via an app.

Technically, this is a better deal than what you got in the original archive release because the website includes everything throughout the span Neil Young's career.  You basically already have the complete archives (updated as new stuff is added) with your subscription.  So, you can get the Volume One experience for Neil's entire career online right now.  That's actually a better value but it does result in the audio format inconsistency between the first two box-set volumes.

OK.  Enough of the frustrating stuff.  What you do get in Volume Two, in addition of a year's access to NYA online, is a fantastic exploration of one of the most prolific periods of Neil's career dating from late 1972 into early 1976.  This covers his infamous “ditch trilogy” period and his immediate “recovery.”

A lot of his best music was released during this time and Volume Two gives you much of this, remastered in higher quality, plus all sorts of other songs that were recorded along with these albums as well as three live performances that capture Neil's in-concert experience with various backing bands: the Stray Gators, the Santa Monica Flyers and Crazy Horse.  Several tracks also feature new music Neil recorded for an abortive album with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (CSNY) and the short-lived Stills-Young Band.  All-in-all, there is plenty for Rusties like me and Jennifer to enjoy.

There are over 130 songs on the 10 discs.  Each disc is presented as if it were its own album, with cover art and track listings.  The first disc is entitled Everybody's Alone which, like so many of Neil's albums and concerts, starts with a few acoustical songs and then finishes with the rocking stuff.  In this case the acoustic tracks were all recorded solo in November 1972 and the electric set came from February-March 1973 live with the Stray Gators.  

“Letter from 'Nam” is a great first track selection.  According to the archives this is “a previously unreleased song,” which means Neil did not record this song at any other time, it is the only version that exists (except for bootlegs maybe).  The song is about a Vietnam War vet writing a letter and thinking of how far away “home” feels.  “It's such a long walk home” is a repeated line in the chorus.  

It is a beautiful tune that has a history.  15 years later, Neil would rewrite the lyrics out of the context of Vietnam. The result would be “Long Walk Home” that appeared on Life.  I actually prefer the version presented on Volume Two.  It is far more emotional.  Too bad Neil could not find a place for it way back then.  But it is an immediate “oh, wow” for Volume Two.

It also let's you know how much of Neil's music stretches and bends through time.  When performing live in 1973, he was planning to release his Tonight's the Night album.  But, as so often happens with Neil, he changed his mind.  It came out in 1975 after a couple of years of performing the material live.  Instead, he hurriedly cobbled together a bunch of material performed in the first half of that same live tour and put it out on 1973's Time Fades Away.

That turned out to be Neil's least favorite album.  It was the last album from this period that he made available in digital format.  Back in the 1990's, it was actually a “thing” for Rusties to petition Neil to re-issue it on something other than the original vinyl.  But that did not happen.  In fact, there is only one song off that album throughout Volume Two, whereas On the Beach, Tonight's the Night, and Zuma garner 7, 9, and 8 songs respectively.  Neil detested Time Fades Away.  For me, it offers the best version of that title song, better than either of the two previously unreleased versions presented in Volume Two.

A great surprise for me is an electric version of “The Last Trip to Tulsa” which was originally an acoustic tune on Neil's debut solo album in 1968.  The Stray Gators hammer through the song like a rambling wreck, magnificently half-cocked.  Just an outstanding sound but apparently not one Neil wanted to pursue.  At the end, the band abruptly stops playing the song, without really attempting to finish it after a nice piano and electric guitar jibe.  The crowd sort of half applauds.  So raw and rough.  A really nice moment that didn't ever quite get to the finish line.   

Another song of interest on Everybody's Alone is the final track, “Human Highway.”  Again, here is a Neil song that will come out in a different version on an album he will release five years later.  But, in 1973 it was supposed to be the title track for a new album from CSNY that was theoretically supposed to come out in 1974.  This version of “Human Highway” is not as good as the one Neil does with Nicolette Larson several years in the future but is a nice surprise to hear the unique harmonies of CSNY give it a try.

The second disc, Tuscaloosa, is a 1973 concert that captures the sheer joy audiences had for “Heart of Gold” when it was such a huge hit on the Top 40 music charts (Neil's only #1 recording).  It also offers early renderings of material for Tonight's the Night and Time Fades Away in addition to a hefty dose of 1972's Harvest.  There is a fine performance of “Here We Are In The Years” from Neil's 1968 solo album as if to say goodbye to his earlier self from Volume One.  To be honest, I'm not that impressed with the performances disc.

Disc three, Tonight's the Night, chiefly has remastered material from the album, which sounds marvelous; that is, like the spiritual drunken jam that it was.  There are a couple of previously unreleased tunes, the best is “Raised on Robbery,” a surprisingly vigorous rocker featuring Joni Mitchell on lead vocals and Neil on lead guitar.  This is really an awesome song never before available to the public, another gem that makes NYA worth the wait and the frustration.  Stuff like this is as close as I get to feeling like a child in a candy store anymore.

Another live set is the next offering, this time from the Roxy in Miami Beach in September 1973.  This differs from the Tuscaloosa disc in that there is no acoustic set and most of the songs are from the unreleased Tonight's the Night album.  The overall performance is better too.  “The Losing End” from 1969 is another track featuring a previously unheard version of a song.   

The original On the Beach cover from 1974 (left) with the Walk On cover from NYA Vol. 2.  Funny.

Walk On is the fifth disc, which features music from Neil's vastly underrated 1974 album On the Beach.  That album is augmented by a few songs from a Crazy Horse recording session at the end of 1973.  There's nothing too remarkable here other than the excellent material from the album.  The disc ends with a previously unreleased solo version of the traditional song “Greensleeves” which Neil used to cover a lot. I have several bootlegs of him performing it.  The most noteworthy thing is the CD cover artwork is an alternate photo from Neil's famous album cover.  That was cool to see after having the original image burned into my mind all these years.
 

The Old Homestead features a lot of Neil solo at his ranch in 1974.  There are three different versions of the unreleased song “Love/Art Blues” none of which are as good as the version on the CSNY 1974 recording.  There are a couple of live takes from the CSNY 1974 tour, “Pushed It Over the End,” and “On the Beach.”  “Deep Forbidden Lake” is a lovely recording that would make its way onto an album in 1976.  This disc is followed up by Homegrown which I reviewed when it was finally released 25 years later last year.  Short version:  “White Line” is awesome (recorded with Robbie Robertson) and the rest of it is just sort of OK to mediocre.
 

Duma is an obvious humorous play on the word Zuma, Neil's great album with Crazy Horse from 1975.  Half of the disc is Zuma remastered.  This includes the classic “Cortez the Killer” which is one of the songs that got me hooked on Neil originally in my college days.  “Pardon My Heart” features a softer supporting Crazy Horse.  It is a song I had actually forgotten about until hearing it on Volume Two.  A great tune and able musicianship.  

What is not on here is the CSNY version of “Through My Sails” which Neil put as the last track on Zuma.  An interesting and probably humorous omission.  This is another track potentially recorded for the would-be CSNY album.  Instead, Neil offers a solo version of the song on The Old Homestead.  The other half of disc eight is unreleased material. There is a slower version of “Powderfinger” which he would rerecorded (faster) for Rust Never Sleeps in 1979.  What's better is a performance of “Hawaii” which is more debris from the CSNY 1974 tour, only this version is with Crazy Horse and is another previously unheard gem.
 

Lookout For My Love is the title for disc nine.  It starts off with another brilliant Neil rocking classic, “Like a Hurricane.”  This song marks the birth of a slight change in the way Neil was specifically playing his “Old Black” guitar.  It delivers its first “crackling, crunchy” sound that would later explode into Live Rust and the "grungy Neil" period with Crazy Horse.  “Like a Hurricane” is an amazing piece of rock music, made all the more amazing by the fact that it was recorded in November 1975, two years before the recording would be released on American Stars and Bars.  

Likewise, “Lotta Love” and “Look Out For My Love” were recorded in January 1976 but these exact studio recordings would be released on Neil's classic Comes A Time in 1978.  “Look Out For My Love” is probably my favorite Neil Young song, so it is cool that he chose that name for one of his archives discs.  This version with Crazy Horse is outstanding, as is another he would perform in 1993 live for MTV.  

After that we get one of the true highlights of Volume Two for me, five consecutive songs by the Stills-Young Band.  Neil Young and Stephen Stills go together with guitars or guitar/piano the way David Crosby and Graham Nash are perfect together vocally.  An electrified version of “Separate Ways” from Homegrown is a highlight.  The easy rocking vibe with great solo parts for both Stills and Young and a wonderful organ solo is better than the original.  Two tracks from the Stills-Young Band album, “Fontainebleau” and the title track “Long May You Run,” are among my favorite Neil songs.  The first features more of Neil's early “crackling, crunchy” guitar.  The second is a great acoustic number that I played over and over in college.

The disc closes out with three more unreleased tracks from the aborted CSNY album. “Ocean Girl” is a fun, laid-back tune.  Nice but nothing special.  “Midnight on the Bay” is offered in a wonderful unreleased version that requires a bit of an explanation to fully appreciate.  This version features the full CSNY backup vocals, as was the original intent.  But, Crosby and Nash were contractually obligated to complete a separate album on their own.  When the duo abruptly left Neil and Stephen to finish that album (Wind on the Water), Human Highway completely fell apart and the Stills-Young Band became a reality.  

Young and Stills edited out the backing vocals of Crosby and Nash, presenting a slightly different version of this song on Long May You Run.  But here we get to listen to the full-on CSNY version that has never been previously available.  It's a real nostalgic treat, kind of tragic when you consider the world lost an entire CSNY record that was definitely being worked on.  The tune itself is fabulous in all its versions, a solid aspect of that “Heart of Gold” kind of Neil.

Then we get another unreleased acoustic version of “Human Highway” that is easy on the ears with Stills on bottleneck slide guitar.  It is clear that most of the new music CSNY had to work with in 1974-1975 was Neil's and that was another reason the album was never made.  Tensions arose between the foursome when Neil felt like he was carrying most of the load in terms of new material.  If he was going to do that he'd do it without them.  They were four flaming egos at this point in time, and still are today.  Overall, this disc is the best part of Volume Two.

Finally, disc ten offers the third live performance.  The first half of it is an acoustic set recorded in London on March 31, 1976.   Here we are treated to versions of “The Old Laughing Lady,” “After the Gold Rush,” and “Old Man” harking back to his earliest music.  The second half is electric with Crazy Horse in Tokyo on March 10-11, 1976.  It features the shortest version of “Cowgirl In The Sand” I've heard.  Still very well done.  There's a terrific electric version of “Lotta Love.”  “Drive Back” is another underrated song with a strong showing here, the best version of it I've ever heard, making this recording the highlight of the disc.  “Cortez the Killer” is a powerful finale; a mesmerizing performance with the crackling, crunchy Neil in full force.

Oddly enough, one of the best features of Volume Two is the fact that is the 250-page photo and memorabilia book does not come with a nice leather cover and backing.  I'm sure cost-wise and in terms of gestalt leather beats a hardbound book.  But this photo book comes with a wonderfully distressed old ledger appeal that I really like.  The foldout charts are both helpful and aesthetically intriguing.  The set comes with a code where you can download all the music in high-res FLAC files for more versatile listening.

The distressed old ledger styling of the 250-page book that comes with Vol 2 is a very cozy touch, even if I didn't get the leather-back edition.

A sample of how the book looks.  It is basically a scrapbook of photos and newspaper clippings and old record stuff given in chronological order for the period 1972-1976.  The photo in the upper right shows Neil enjoying a Michelob with some band mates.  Ben Keith is in the foreground wearing the beach cap.  Much of the music from this period features Keith's terrific and distinctive pedal steel guitar work.  He continued to be an important musician working with Neil into the 21st century.  Interestingly, notice that Neil is wearing field work boots, as if he were on his ranch.  This was common attire for him during this time.

Was it worth a 12 year wait?  Well, Neil's relationship with the internet has completely changed during that time.  So, I understand the delay.  Hell yes, there is enough great new music here to justify the wait and the price for any Rustie.  I don't expect the rest of the world to understand this nuanced obsession I have for a unique guitarist that sings out of tune a lot of the time.  I don't claim to understand it myself.  As Neil once put it, “It doesn't have to sound good, it has to feel good.” Yeah.  That's it.

A lot of this sounds great and feels better.  For Neil, it was all still so new at that time.  He was experimenting.  As it turned out he never stopped experimenting, but this is an early evolution of Neil before there was any such thing as a Rustie.  This is the music that turned me in to one.  There are tracks on here I've never heard before.  Suddenly, new really fine Neil is cascading all around my head.  And that does feel fantastic. 

The boxed set sticker.