Category: Neil Young

Look, it’s just too big. Weighing in at 17 compact discs (198 tracks!) and five Blu-Rays (11 films!), Neil Young’s upcoming Archives Vol. III box set is a monster that we’ll be grappling with for years to come. Covering the songwriter’s ridiculously prolific / ridiculously divergent span of 1976 to 1987, Vol. III can’t really be summed up in a meaningful way in one cursory review. So, what we’ve got here is a little addendum to Takes, the 16-track Vol. III sampler — 16 more unreleased highlights that give a hint of the treasures in store.

On July 2, 1996, Neil Young released his 22nd album, Broken Arrow. Recorded with his long-time running mates Crazy Horse, it was also the first record that Young had released since the death of David Briggs the previous fall. To break down all things Broken Arrow, two Neil Young devotees—Joel Berk and Scott Bunn—are here to answer the question: what is the purpose of Broken Arrow?

Is On The Beach a bummer? Well, maybe. But it’s a brilliant bummer. To celebrate 50 years of the record, dig into an alternate version of the album, made up of rare live renditions and fireside sessions. Neil didn’t often return to many of these tunes onstage, but when he did, he gave them his all. Some of it is solo — “alone at the microphone;” elsewhere, Young is joined by CSN, Ben Keith and, most interestingly, Britfolk legend Bert Jansch, who shows up on a 2006 version of “Ambulance Blues.”

Neil Young kept promising us that Archives Vol. 3 was coming in 2023 … but guess what? It was delayed. That’s OK, any Neil fan worth his/her/their salt is accustomed to the waiting game. And anyway, there was plenty to keep us occupied last year in Shakeyland — a return to touring (and subsequent live album); several”officialbootleg” releases; and ongoing shenanigans on the wild/wooly Archives website. This fourth annual Honey Slides mix gathers up some choice rarities that Neil has sprinkled throughout his site, alongside several cuts that have yet to see the official light of day. As always, a few honey slides won’t hurt.

Hallelujah, Neil Young is back on the road after a long pandemic delay — perhaps the man’s longest break from touring … ever? On his west coast solo tour, Neil is going (relatively) deep into his back catalog, playing some rarely heard numbers from the days that used to be.

…a brilliantly raw snapshot, a weirdo masterpiece that trades the celebratory nature of most live albums for uncertainty, experimentation and feral wildness. To celebrate Time Fades Away’s golden anniversary, we’ve compiled an alternate version of the album. Some of it comes from the original Stray Gators tour, some of it comes from much later on. All of it captures the unhinged thrills of the original. Don’t be denied — listen in.

Will the well ever run dry when it comes Neil Young live jams and rarities? God, I hope not. In recent years, Young has begun sporadically posting a selection of complete live gigs on his Archives site, spanning the from the late 1960s to the late 2010s. It’s been a welcome feast for Neil fanatics. For this mix, the third installation of our Honey Slides series, we’ve grabbed a few highlights (as well as a choice Barn jam) for your enjoyment. Stretching from 1976 to 2010, it’s all electric and leans heavily towards the darker, grittier side of Young’s material. Plenty of Crazy Horse, of course, but also the Stray Gators, Booker T. & the M.G.’s, the International Harvesters and more.

Never underestimate Neil Young’s hype-building skills. He first teased Toast way back in the late 2000s, tantalizing fans with tales of a missing album recorded with Crazy Horse in San Francisco around the turn of the century. Now, after nearly a decade-and-a-half, Toast is finally here — and we can decide for ourselves whether it lives up to Shakey’s hype.

Absolute homegrown ephemera gold courtesy of a 1972 Germany documentary which finds Neil Young in a honey slide haze on his fabled Broken Arrow Ranch, work-shopping “Out on the Weekend” (endearingly amused by his own lyrics), and hanging with Elliot Roberts, the fellas, the dogs, and the cows.

Neil Young’s Harvest turned 50 this month — and thanks to hits like “Heart of Gold” and “Old Man,” the 1972 LP remains one of the songwriter’s signature efforts. To hear it with fresh ears, step into the barn with Neil one more time and check out this decades-spanning, re-imagined version of the album, compiled out of ranch rambles, live arrangements, fireside sessions, and even a little chicken coop jam.

After a somewhat, er, “shakey” start, the online home of the Neil Young Archives has hit its stride. The past year has seen an incredible array of previously unavailable material show up for subscribers to enjoy. Outtakes stretching back to the Buffalo Springfield days, full live shows available to stream, rare films … All this and Neil himself regularly answering your questions in the Letters to the Editor column. Suffice to say, if you’re a fan of the man, you should consider signing up for the Archives. Below, we’ve got a small sampler mix of some of the goodies — plus a few things that haven’t made it to the NYA just yet.