Okay, I confess. I’ve never had to review as massive a project as massive as Neil Young Archives, Volume 1. I was fortunate enough to get a Blu-ray set, which is all of 10 discs long. What I didn’t get was the fancy box and anything that might be in it, so I can’t speak about that stuff. What I did get was the ten discs in an ordinary folder, and a somewhat inaccurate document of the track list, especially as it pertains to the hidden tracks.

I will also say that unlike many other would-be reviewers, I listened to and watched every minute of every disc, both the main elements, and the bonus features. I searched every menu for Easter eggs, I clicked on every hidden track that I could find. I wasn’t satisfied until I was sure that I’d seen and heard everything on each disc. Talk about a journey through the past!

Just think, Archives only covers Young’s career up until 1972. There are more than 35 years worth of archives still to be released. (If the future sets take as long to reach the public as this one did, I probably won’t be around to review the next one.) A number of video clips throughout the set show Young reviewing his archives with photographer/archivist Joel Bernstein and art director Gary Burden. These clips are from February, 1997. So why is it that it took 12 years from that point to assemble the first volume? There’s no doubt that a lot of work went into this, and I’m sure that there were clearances to be worked out, but 12 years’ worth? After immersing myself in this work, I’m prepared to give Young the benefit of the doubt and believe that he waited for the technology to catch up so that he could release this material in the highest quality format. Apparently the advent of Blu-ray marked that point for him. (more…)