The Neil Young Archives: Everything You've Ever Wanted To Know But Were Afraid To Ask

UPDATE: August 10, 2009: The Making of The Neil Young Archives

UPDATE: July 27, 2009: The Thrasher's Wheat review of The Neil Young Archives Vol 1 (1963-1972)


Neil Young Archives Cover Art
Zoom & Pan Art

On June 2, 2009 the Neil Young Archives Volume #1 (1963-1972) was released at long last.

Considered to be the Holy Grail for Neil Young fans, The Archives is a 10 disc edition available in Blu-Ray, DVD, CD and MP3. Unprecedented in the history of music making, The Archives took literally decades to produce and is the stuff of legends.

Fans even began going nuts over the early Preview Disc #00, with its rarities, hidden tracks and live updates.

TONEAudio MAGAZINE's Bob Gendron says that The Archives: "defy expectation and transcend limitation". Gendron's rave review continues:

"And nowhere is that attribute more manifest than in the sonics. The warmth, richness, fullness, airiness, separation, body, extension, detail, intimacy, tonality, depth, dimensionality, clarity, and sheer life-like presence that these recordings convey defy expectation and transcend limitation. At every step, whether on 1965's "The Sultan" or a wowing, previously unheard 1971 version of "Dance Dance Dance" with Graham Nash, the sound is room-filling, balanced, natural, lively, and utterly engaging. Digital has never been better."

An official Archives FAQ website is now up and running. The site has lots of useful information about the project and technical details -- some of which has been distilled from comments on this blog.

So, here's a roundup of previous posts on The Archives. After going through this exercise, we were somewhat stunned at how much we've covered on NYA over the years given what some consider to be an effort in futility.

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Here are the 4 Neil Young Archives discussion topics:

Archives Commentary Open Thread

Archives Technical Questions Open Thread

Archives Easter Eggs, Virtual Bongs, and Hidden Tracks

Archives Ordering Questions Open Thread



NYA Riverboat Disc

Archives Open Thread Friday, 6/12/09


NYA Disc #1 Back Cover

Archives Open Thread Thursday, 6/11/09


Topango Canyon #1, Disc #2: 1968-1969

Archives Open Thread Wednesday, 6/10/09


Neil Young - circa 1972
Boxset Photo by Joel Bernstein

Archives Open Thread Tuesday, 6/9/09

Archives Open Thread Monday, 6/8/09

Archives Open Thread Sunday, 6/7/09

LRR Opens the Neil Young Archives from ra7968 on Vimeo.

A Guide To The Neil Young Archives (Great work Lone Red Rider!)

Heidi's dog Whiskey Admires NYA

Archives Open Thread Saturday, 6/6/09

TW Platform Sustains All Time Traffic High
(Simultaneous Site Visitors 1,000+/hr)

From BIFF BAM POP!: Biff Bam Unboxed! Andy B Unboxes Neil Young's Archives Volume 1

Archives Open Thread Friday, 6/5/09

1st night with Neil Young Archives by John R., New York

Archives Open Thread: Thursday, 6/4/09

Archives Open Thread: Wednesday, 6/3/09


Zak Claxton and Neil Young Archives Vol. 1 Review

Stick around while the clown who is sick does the trick of disaster



Countdown to Hell freezing Over NYA Release

And I've been waiting for you.
For such a long time now.

- Today's The Day: The Neil Young Archives Finally Arrives


The opening of The Arc of the Covenant by
tomlong95

- OFFICIAL Website: The NYA Post Informer

- Neil Young Archives Tutorial and Archives Guy Q&A ...

- Archives Open Thread: Sunday, 5/31/09


Box set Design by Gary Burden

- Archives Open Thread: Saturday, 5/30/09

- Thanks Again Archives Guy!

- Archives Guy Q&A Session: Wednesday, 5/27


Sneak Peek

- NYA Question of the Moment: Riverboat Recordings

- Archives Guy Q&A Session: Tuesday, 5/26

- Unique NYA Moments

- Archives Guy Q&A Continues This Week

- Comment of the Moment: Archives Preview



- Neil Young Archives Volume #1 track samples are now available for preview on Amazon.com. (5/2009)


The Ark of the Covenant

- Neil Young Archives: "Defy expectation and transcend limitation" - TONEAudio MAGAZINE (5/2009)

- Blu-Ray System Recommendations (5/2009)

- Archives Guy Online *NOW* for Q&A Session (5/2009)

- Archives Guy Stops By For Some Q&A (5/2009)



- Demo of North Country Archives Disc #8 (5/2009)


The Holy Grail
- Neil Young News: So What's Really on Archives Vol. #1? (5/2009)



- Counting Down the Days for the Neil Young Archives (5/2009)


Neil Young Archives Preview Blu-Ray Disc

- A NYA Blu-Ray Preview (5/2009)

- Archives Guy Has Some Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) (3/2009)


See? The Archives really exist!

- An Archives Analysis: It's Such A Fine Line (3/2009)

- Fans React to Neil Young Archives Track Listing: Are We A Nation Of Whiners? (3/2009)



- Finally!!! The Neil Young Archives Track Listing - Release Date Now June 2, 2009 (3/2009)



- Uncut Magazine's Archives Preview (Feb 09)



- Official Reprise Neil Young's Archives Website Up

- Neil Young Archives Update from Archives Guy on official NYA website status (Jan 09)



- Archives Release Date Poll Analysis (Jan 09)

- Archives Q&A Session and Continued (Dec 08)

- Archives Update from Archives Guy (Dec 08)

- The Archives: Burned with Both Feet on the Ground (Dec 08)



- Is Blu-Ray Dead Already? Not So Fast Yet (Oct 08)

- Seriously, Pre-Order on Amazon Archives Volume 1 (Oct 08)



- The excruciatingly delayed 'Archives' project is 'supposed to be' released on November 3, 2008 (Aug 2008)



- Archives To Be Available On CD, DVD (July 08)

- The Archives Release Delayed Until 2008 and More On ‘Archives’ Delay (June 08)

- Archives Preview Video and Partial Track Listing (May 08)

- The Archives Turns Fans Blu (May 08)

- Reaction to The Archives: Into the Blu and Out of the Black (May 08)



- Webcast of Archives Announcement at Sun JavaOne Conference Keynote with Neil Young (May 08)



- Report on JavaOne Conference (May 08)

- The Archives Will Come Out This Year ... Except...(Jan 2008)


Coming in 2007!
(according to official reprise site still!)

- The Archives Vol.01 1963-1972: Let The Speculation Continue (Mar 07)

The Archives: Easter Eggs, Virtual Bongs, & BlueRay DVDs (Feb 06)


The Shroud of Archives:
Tracklisting of NYA

Also, we've been doing some Blu-ray research and found this Amazon page helpful in comparing various players' specifications.


The Neil Young Archives Vol. 1 Trailer by Neil Young

And -- of course -- many Neil Young fans just said The Archives Be Damned long ago. So let The Archives Be Praised ... hopefully in our lifetimes.

When will Archives Vol #1 be released?

On schedule, Feb. 24, 2009
It'll slip until March 2009
Sometime later in 2009
2010
Never

View Results
Polldaddy.com

Analysis of resuluts from Archives Release Date Poll.