Monday, January 28, 2008

The Archives Will Come Out This Year ... Except...

Over the years, we've written quite a bit about the twists and turns with the legendary Neil Young Archives. So nothing really ever surprises us about the quest. That is, of course, until the next tantalizing clue surfaces.

So the following news really has folks in an uproar -- as usual -- about the latest development. From Billboard (via Hollywood Reporter) Neil says from Sundance:
"'I know it's in technical production now, but it's only coming out on Blu-ray and DVD. There won't be CDs. Technology has caught up to what the concept was in the first place [and] how we're able to actually present it. But there's no doubt it will come out this year.'"

That's right: no CDs, a format Young has long despised due to its audio limitations. Instead, Young is utilizing DVD capabilities to present an interactive "time line" for the music, allowing users to experience articles and film clips from a song's given era as well as ephemera like lyric sheets.

So no CD's for the Archives?! What could this mean??? And what is this Blu-Ray thing? Another disruptive format similar to the relegation of 8-tracks and vinyl to the dustbin? The horrors. Or could it be that once again Neil is ahead of curve?

To some extent, it's old news regarding the BlueRay DVDs.

Here's a small sampling of the reaction.

From Glorious Noise Derek posts:
I am rounding up a posse. We're going to storm Neil's ranch and seize all archival material. It's a matter of the National Trust and Neil can no longer be trusted as guardian of such important material.

From Steve Hoffman Music Forums rjp posts:
why on earth would a musician not want his art to be able to be heard on a CD, the main source of listening to music by most of the world?

neil really is a strange cat.

From Glorious Noise Jake posts:
It's just a delay tactic. Guess what, Neil: next week there's going to be a new technology that's even better than Blu-ray. Better push it back again!

Plus, now I have to go out and buy a Blu-ray disc player? F that.

Neil is insane and has proven that he's no longer competent to make decisions in regards to his archival material. He needs to pass it over to Joel Bernstein and recuse himself from the project entirely.

From Steve Hoffman Music Forums jb foreverchange posts:
"No Cds ? No buy! I'm not going to rush out & buy a blue Ray player just to see the 2 that might be the same that came out already on DVD. This is a sure way to kill sales on a box that no one knows is coming out soon.If I want to copy the first 4 albums to other CDrs this make it impossible. The record companies are commiting suicide. Why don't they just burn all the tapes in their vaults since they no longer need them!"

From Glorious Noise DJMurph posts:
I don't know if I wanna join this posse; part of me just wants to see the shit released. If the actual songs are coming out, and if he is choosing to release it on Blu-Ray and DVD for the HIGHER resolution sound those formats can offer (as opposed to ... mp3), then I'm okay with that. I can make my own damn CDs if that's the case. Neil has always been persnickety, harping about his belief about the shortcomings of CD sound quality. DVD-Audio offered a higher potential sound quality, before that format died. Maybe the implementation of his archive project on Blu-Ray and DVD will be the next logical extension of that higher resolution sound. If so, Neil's entitled to be persnickety, and if we get the music in SOME viable audio format, who the fuck cares if it isn't CD?

From Aquarium Drunkard Mike posts:
"I have come to the point that I give Neil the benefit of the doubt. Most likely, he feels that a CD release doesn’t really add much to what is out there, whereas a DVD is something entirely new. We know that he will only release things that add something real to his catalog (ie the whole One the Beach CD release issue). If his CD copies of shows he is releasing aren’t up to snuff, at least a DVD brings something else."

As far as we know, Neil, Elliot and Reprise have all thought about this for a long and hard time. And this is what they've come up with. This isn't about making a quick buck or maybe even something for all but the most hard core fans.

This is really about leaving a legacy. A quality legacy. And this format will allow for a transition into some future unknown technology someday. That's Neil. In it for the long run.

Also, a case can be made that the decision is also based on piracy concerns. A Blu-Ray DVD is going to be a lot harder to rip to MP3.

As far as we're concerned, as long as Neil is making great music like the wonderful Chrome Dreams II and touring with some of his best performances in years, we're quite happy to wait for the eventual release in whatever shape or format.

archives-vol1.jpg


More on the tortured history of the Neil Young Archives.

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65 Comments:

At 1/28/2008 08:41:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

WTF?! I'll believe it when pigs fly.

 
At 1/28/2008 09:14:00 PM, Blogger Will Kouf said...

If this is the case, that's some bullshit. I'll still buy it to get the songs, and no doubt the DVDs will be cool and chock full of good stuff, but I don't listen to music at my dvd player as I'm sure most people don't either. I'm sure there is a way to extract audio and make CDs, but what a hassle. Sometimes he is so ridiculous.

 
At 1/28/2008 09:23:00 PM, Blogger steven said...

This post has been removed by the author.

 
At 1/28/2008 09:37:00 PM, Blogger Johnny B said...

Boy, for someone who disdains pretension and claims to have the side of the ordinary people, Young sure has no clue about what makes up his fan base, does he?

Even assuming I could pony up the price tag for this long-awaited Archive, I sure as hell can't afford to buy a Blu-Ray player to play it!

 
At 1/28/2008 09:40:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Two possibilities

1. he's stalling - who knows why anymore. If I didn't know better I'd think the archival material actually didn't exist.

2. he hates CDs so much that he's willing to take the risk of a DVD only music release. Less of a risk now; look at the increasing number of concert recordings that only show up as DVDs (e.g. Heart of Gold) without any audio soundtrack being released on CD. This is happening to studio recordings slowly. CDs are dying.

If it's Possibility 1, Neil has passed the BS line with me. Too many false starts and too much waiting for the perfect medium. Get it in the can and on the shelves so I can throw it down on the table at the bar and stop my friends from laughing at me about what will come first, the end of the Mayan Calendar or the Archives

If it's Possibility 2,
I'm OK with it but that's because I wrote CDs off last year - the format is clearly dying. In fact I sort of expected this when Neil started talking up the video elements. I can move the audio into another format quite easily

However, I have to question how audience friendly this move is. Most fans don't have the inclination or the ability to deal with a non-CD medium for music at this point. Neil's fan base is older and used to CDs.

At the least, the songs should be provided in CD format in some permutation of the box set.

I understand his point about audio quality and taken to the extreme that means Blu Ray.

But we are talking about masters that are 40 years old and likely in many cases somewhat roughly recorded (hence their rarity). Does this type of recording really warrant a DVD only release, if the tradeoff is that the majority of the fan base cannot access the music in the format they want? Does The Sultan in Blu Ray really sound that much better than the The Sultan in WAV?

Will be interesting to see if Archives can be purchased by song on Itunes. Top quality there is sub-CD.

 
At 1/28/2008 09:51:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is the best news I've heard since I bought my PS3. Bring on the blu-ray Neil.

The man doesn't want you listening on crappy mp3 players and car stereos, he wants you to hear it in the best format available, which is uncompressed PCM audio, that is bit for bit the same as the original master.

 
At 1/28/2008 10:00:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The other benefit of blu-ray is that a BD50 (50 GB disk) can obviously hold alot more than a 750MB cd, so, in theory, archives Vol 1 could fit on 1 blu-ray disk and drive down the cost of the 'box' set. All theorhetical of course. I'm sure it'll still be expensive.

 
At 1/28/2008 10:02:00 PM, Blogger Johnny B said...

Well, I sure do appreciate good ol' Neil looking out for my best interests and trying to drag me into the 21st century, whether I can afford to or not!

Thanks a lot, buddy!

 
At 1/28/2008 10:04:00 PM, Blogger Ben said...

This post has been removed by the author.

 
At 1/28/2008 10:05:00 PM, Anonymous Glenn said...

So does this mean I have to buy a Blueray machine to play? If so, than I'm out of luck if I want to hear this in my car.

Please Neil don't do tthis to me. I've waited too long.

 
At 1/28/2008 10:08:00 PM, Blogger Ben said...

I'm sorry but all you people complaining are total assholes. For one thing, it's the easiest shit in the world to rip DVDs and put the audio on CD, and I don't see any indication that anything from the archives will be avaiable on Blu-Ray but not DVD. This isn't a way to fight piracy, that's completely ridiculous. Just look on any torrent site and you'll see plenty of pirated DVDs. It's about Neil being an audiophile and respecting the fact that CDs and mp3s sound like shit. I respect his decision to preserve the sound of this important collection so much and so should all of you. I'm not the kind of guy to act smug about being some big audiophile but everyone bitching about not being able to listen to this on their ipod or in their car is just a confused technological retard.

 
At 1/28/2008 10:13:00 PM, Blogger Johnny B said...

Oh my God, Ben, you saw right through me. I'm so ashamed.

Neil would be proud of you, I'm sure.

Also:

Quote: There won't be CDs.

Also, I'm not so sure, unless you have access to tech that the average guy who doesn't rip CDs and DVDs as a hobby has, that it will be so simple to rip songs from a Blu-Ray DVD. I may be wrong about that, because I'm a confused technological retard.

Nice.

 
At 1/28/2008 10:31:00 PM, Blogger Ben said...

I didn't say ripping Blu-Ray was easy. I said ripping average, run-of-the mill DVDs, on which the archives will also be released, is totally easy. There are so many ways to do it whether you have a DVD drive or just a stand-alone player. Tell you what, just buy the damn box, send it to me, and I'll send it back with some CDs, if it'll make you stop crying about how Neil is alienating his fans by caring about the quality of his music.

 
At 1/28/2008 10:48:00 PM, Blogger Judd said...

"Brothers and sisters. Brothers and sisters, brothers and sisters … who’s fighting and what for. Brothers and sisters, come on now! That means everybody just cool out! We can cool out, everybody! Everybody be cool, now."

"Either those cats cool it, man, or [Neil} don't play. Keep it cool! Hey, if you don't cool it, you ain't gonna hear no music!”

Hearing is believing. Until then, fire up a boot and wait for the goods.

 
At 1/28/2008 10:54:00 PM, Blogger Ben said...

Haha are those quotes from Do the Right Thing?

 
At 1/28/2008 11:00:00 PM, Blogger Judd said...

Nope...quotes from two friends of the era.

Hint: Dogs on stage, angels in crowd.

Different scene, same vibe.

 
At 1/28/2008 11:07:00 PM, Blogger Johnny B said...

Ha- you'll excuse me if I decline your kind offer...if I do buy this thing, I don't think I'll want to mail it to anybody!

Peace!

 
At 1/28/2008 11:11:00 PM, Blogger Ben said...

Shit man I'll just burn you some of mine, god knows I"ll be at the record store before they open the day this comes out.

 
At 1/28/2008 11:25:00 PM, Anonymous Jerry Garcia said...

so does that mean no vinyl either?
bummin dude. i''ll still buy the devd's i mean i've been to rehab three times, and no matter what, i still come out addicted to neil!

 
At 1/29/2008 01:06:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I suspect that at the end of the day Neil will release the Archives in a variety of formats - BlueRay, DVD, MP3, CD and so forth. Might be prudent to take a hint from Radiohead.

 
At 1/29/2008 02:53:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

JUST DO IT BEFORE WE ALL DIE, NEIL!

 
At 1/29/2008 04:03:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Blu-ray , or DVD, I'm sure this will be a very cool package, but no CD's is a huge mistake. What he'll be doing is forcing us to sit in front of our DVD players listening quietly instead of taking some possibly amazing gems out into the world with us. Neil's big on the impressions his music and words create. I think we all know how great his songs sound coming out of the tailgate of a mini-van. One of my favorite memories is listing to Tonight's the Night, and For the Turnstiles on a cold fall night in northern Canada before heading out on a canoe trip the next day. The eerie vibe of TtN blending with the cold and dark, pine and rock.
I don't understand why he'd want to limit the impact these songs could possibly have.

 
At 1/29/2008 06:02:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ben, you're a goose. Calling people names because they dare to criticize Neil. It's not like it's unwarranted criticizm either. And you're going to be first in line to buy them are you? They'll sound just the same if you are second or third in line. But you want to spruik to everyone you know about how you were the first to get them, and how you're Neil's biggest fan don't you? Neil's biggest sycophant is more like it...

 
At 1/29/2008 08:01:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Fuck Neil, the former illegal alien invader to The United States and his Blow-Rays and DVDs.

This Archive Box Set series which we've been hearing about since about 1987 or '88 doesn't exist. It's fantasy made up by Neil to keep people interested in him.

Word is that he's got a couple of acoustic demos of songs and that's it. Nothing else unreleased. No taped concerts. The Archives are never coming out. There are NO archives.

 
At 1/29/2008 08:38:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thrasher...could you please edits the posts and delete the profanity...yes I am adult but given all the hate and bad vibes in the world we don't need the profanity here about music. To those of you that use the profanity it only demeans your arguement and logic. Grow up and realize what is important in the world. Yes, I love Neil but it is still NOT worth the profanity..thanks...JBU

 
At 1/29/2008 08:48:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Big Frank Sampedro said in a recent interview that the archives would probably never surface.
Jim (to the North )

 
At 1/29/2008 09:35:00 AM, Blogger BrynjarTakle said...

Hahaha-stroke of genius with the Altamont reference back there, Judd! Hahahaha, allright! So here we go again...Neil's lost it...He only cares about money...blah blah blah... So please listen up: I promise you that when you buy The Archives-either on DVD (as I'm sure that's a format most of us've already got) or Blue-Ray, you'll get a totally out of this world fantastically great audio/multimedia experience, crammed to the hilt with concert and documentary videos (Neil in the studio etc..), related articles, pictures, lyric sheets, works in progress..etc etc...IN ADDIDTION to all the unreleased songs we've been waiting for! This is a mammoth undertaking that no one in the music world (at least not as I know of) has EVER attempted before, and we should be really happy that he's included all this extra stuff in the package. Just keeping my fingers crossed that it'll actually come out this year-but of course, I won't believe it 'till I hold The Archives in my hands:)

 
At 1/29/2008 10:01:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well after almost 20 years of looking foward to the Archives, and feeling that we finaly got close , I totaly give up and have no intention of buying it when it comes out. If I cant put it in my car, if I cant carry it around with me wherever I go, without making my own CD's, then screw it.
This wont be a fan friendly release if I'd have to make my own CD's from Blu Ray or DVD.For that I'm not gonna pay $.Keep it Neil, there's other thing in life to spend my $ on and other things to enjoy my time with.You've killed the spirit.

 
At 1/29/2008 10:10:00 AM, Anonymous Pete Plastic said...

When i read about this it put shudders up my spine. One i don't have a Blur ray dvd player or care about higher definition audio as i play my music mostly on my pc or my ipod on the way to work. I do care for lossless audio as compressed audio is crap, we all know that. Alienating everyone with the box will make some people detirmined to rip it and leak it in mp3 for everyone else. There will be a few robin Hoods around im sure. I really want this box but the idea of not being able to play it tells me not to bother. We all still play cds, even if mp3 is the main choice of ppl thesed ays. You can always rip and re rip them later. Blu ray or whatever it's called isn't for me....

 
At 1/29/2008 11:31:00 AM, Blogger Ben said...

"Ben, you're a goose. Calling people names because they dare to criticize Neil. It's not like it's unwarranted criticizm either. And you're going to be first in line to buy them are you? They'll sound just the same if you are second or third in line. But you want to spruik to everyone you know about how you were the first to get them, and how you're Neil's biggest fan don't you? Neil's biggest sycophant is more like it..."

I don't know exactly what you're talking about because it seems like English isn't really your first language but
a. I've criticized Neil plenty, the reason I'm defending him now is because he's right to release his music in a better-sounding format
b. I don't care if there's somebody in front of me, I'm just enthusiastic to get this set because I know how amazing it will be, especially now that he's going with a superior format that in no way limits the way you can listen to it.

Everyone complaining about your ipods and car stereos, give me your email address. I'll send out a zip file of mp3s when this comes out.

 
At 1/29/2008 12:21:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

With the invention of the audio CD + that crappy mp3 people have lost their abilities to actually "LISTEN" to music. Nowadays we have kids running around with cellphones and ipods blasting horrendous sounds out of little speakers that play back music at 48kbits. That's not listening to music, it's just bull$hit crap. Neil is on the right track. Neil has recognised that it takes some sort of education or "training" to fully worship an audio listening experience. Right on, Neil !

 
At 1/29/2008 01:48:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"If I cant put it in my car, if I cant carry it around with me wherever I go, without making my own CD's, then screw it."

wow. anyone here actually remember the days when you couldn't just carry around music? i do, and i'm only 34!

yes, it's a bit of a bummer that he won't be releasing this on CD, but i'm pretty sure 98% of us have a DVD player. and if you're tech savvy enough to be on a computer, you're more than likely able to grasp the concept of ripping a DVD.

doesn't matter to me anyhow, the old lady works in music retail, i'll be getting this for free a few days before it gets released. BAM!

can't wait.

 
At 1/29/2008 01:54:00 PM, Anonymous pelagius42 said...

This news really didn't surprise me at all. Neil has released his last few albums with optional DVD's, which are essentially higher quality versions of the CD's with interactive video. None of the CD/DVD's I have of Neil are in 5.1, but are simply in stereo, suggesting that Neil feels DVD simply provides a better quality of sound. Honestly, i can't say i can tell the difference. On the DVD for the Filmore concerts, there is a clip of Neil talking to Joel Bernstein (circa 1997?) about the layout of the archive project, how Neil wanted people to be able to listen to the music, while simultaneously looking at photographs from the show, press clippings etc. It seems to me that he has, at least for the past 10 years, wanted the archives project to be more of a multimedia experience, rather then simply audio.
My hope is that Neil will provide a way for people to have audio only versions of the tracks, like the Flaming Lips did with the Live at the Zoo DVD. I also hope that making the archives DVD's the price will go down. Let's be honest, a proposed 8 CD 2 DVD boxset of material would be prohibitively expensive for many people. Having the archives primarily on DVD, a format with greater storage space, should make the number of disks smaller.
That's just my two cents.

 
At 1/29/2008 02:45:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've always loved Neil Young (for 36 years now), but I'm not liking him lately - just the contrary. He'd better not try and make any more money singing about the little guy or the military heroes, because he has shown he could care less about them. Now, his elitist circus is coming to my town in Europe and I'll have to miss it. He put tickets on sale on the Monday before Xmas at 10AM. Tickets were priced at 200 dollars and 180 dollars - no cheaper seats (plus service charge). So, I suppose folks were supposed to spending their holiday gift money on Neil tickets. If they have kids, tell them that their gifts this year are tickets for mom and dad to see Neil. And now, after making his fans wait for years and years, he is making his archives unavailable to those who, if they can scrape together the cash for the collection, must also be sure to have a high enough quality DVD player to enjoy it. I'm not sure of all the factors involved, but it does seem like he should make it available on CD. The one pass I will give it on this is that CD's will probably be obsolete in 5 to 10 years and maybe he figures that as a consumer issue, to have folks invest 100 plus dollars in a product that they can't use in 5 years would be unreasonable. While Neil has done many great things and continues to, his new elitist actions are turning him into an enemy of the average people he often portrays in his songs - the farmers, the soldier, the hippie, the hard-working middle class. None can afford to see him in concert. I wonder if I will ever see him live again (and I've seen him about 100 times).

 
At 1/29/2008 03:50:00 PM, Blogger rkennke said...

Oh man, he's only proving that he doesn't understand a bit about CDs. Show me anybody who can seriously differentiate between a CD and a DVD (or vinyl for that matter, which in Neil's opinion is also better than CD) on a good hifi. A well mastered CD is just as good as a well mastered vinyl or DVD. Ok, the DVD has potentially 48db more dynamic range, which is impressive, but I hardly doubt that Neil's music comes even close to using 130db dynamic range. For comparison, this is the difference between the most quiet thing anybody can probably hear (like a leaf cracking) around 20db, to listening a boing747 turbine from 1m distance around, which would certainly be a big pain (around 150db). Not to mention, that no amp under $5000 would have the power to reproduce that properly. Don't get me wrong, I love vinyl as a medium, but certainly _not_ because of better sound reproduction quality. CDs are at _least_ as good as any vinyl.

 
At 1/29/2008 03:59:00 PM, Anonymous Dan said...

I've been a huge Neil fan for decades (no pun intended) and remain so. But I'm also very realistic about what I'm getting in the deal. And he's been pretty clear about it forever -- especially in his interviews over the years -- Neil does what he wants and anyone that wants to follow is weclome to be along for the ride -- on HIS terms. That's not meant as a criticism its simply my viewpoint. He sings about 'Ordinary People' but doesn't per se feel obligated to accomodate them by making his art more affordable. In the recent Chrome Dreams Tour he wanted to tour small venues and still pay his band and crew (and himself) a market wage so prices were really high. His comments about it in an interview were that its not a mandatory event -- 'ie' if you don't have the money or don't wan't to spend it then you don't have to. A lot of fans are under the impression that Neil owes them something because of their loyalty over the years but I think that sets fans up for dissapointment. I think his view is he'll make his art in the format, timeframe, and price of his choosing and he doesn't really care about who or how many show up. There's a quote out there that he's going to get the whole archive out there with all its warts and he doesn't care if anyone will buy it he'll be happy to have done it right. I think he's driven by making good art in numerous formats (albums, concerts, movies, films, ect...) and if he thinks its good he's pleased ... The good part of this deal is that he's creative and productive .. the bad part is most of the time the payoff is not exactly the way we expect ... Probably if the archives ever come out they will be cooler and better than anything anyone else has done but I'm not getting my hopes up ... when they arrive I'll do what I always do with Neil - I'll approach it without expectations, I'll keep an open mind and I'll probably be totally blown away.

 
At 1/29/2008 05:25:00 PM, Blogger Thrasher said...

To JBU @ 7:38 - Regarding the above requests to edit/delete profane posts, I'll direct you to Comments Policy at Thrasher's Wheat.

We reluctantly only delete in the more egregious cases. We try and promote healthy, active discussion here at TW. While we haven't seen the film Deja Vu, early reports indicate that it contains profane language directed negatively towards Neil & CSN. Neil has stated that opposing views were included in Deja Vu to "provoke debate". Thus, we feel that this is a discussion that Neil would be OK with. Afterall, it was called the "Freedom of Speech" tour. Which is something we strongly support here at TW.

Feel free to respond here or at the link above on posting policy.

 
At 1/29/2008 05:52:00 PM, Anonymous Jimmy said...

I don't know, but all of this sounds like Neil is making a big leap away from "dying" CD format to what he thinks is the next technical revolution in music.

So what happens if blue-ray goes the way of Betamax?

There's a reason they call it bleeding edge.

By the looks of things, a lot of fans are not too comfortable with being guinea pigs in this experiment. If I'm going to shell out $100+ I'd like a reasonable guarantee that it'll be usefull years down the road. Although I do have a box of cassettes around that seem obsolete.

 
At 1/29/2008 06:11:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"So what happens if blue-ray goes the way of Betamax?"

Once again, this is coming out on DVD and Blue-Ray. If you have a machine that'll play either of those formats, you're covered.

 
At 1/29/2008 06:25:00 PM, Anonymous LAK said...

CDs good as vinyl? Are you nuts?You understand how sampling works? Do you understand how much more information is in a DVD-Audio signal at a 96khz sampling rate (let alone a stereo 192khz sampling rate) than a CD at a 44.1khz rate? And that's nothing on a clean analog signal. I can tell in an isnatnt whether I'm listening to "an anonymous wall of digital sound" that is a CD, and a record or DVD-A. There is a reason I own On the Beach on DVD-A and record, to be sure. If you *can't* tell the difference, I would question your listening.

Neil is a sound snob and has always been, and for good reason. CDs are things of the past a 44.1khz sampling sucks. It compromises the high frequecies that are a part of the superposition that is any given sound wave.

Most DVD players these days can play DVD-As anyways, so y'all should chill out a bit. Also it isn't hard to reformat music and burn it on a CD for your cars.

 
At 1/29/2008 06:44:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Someone asked about needing to buy a BLU-Ray player. Yep, you'll need to get all the benefits of the release.

And don't forget about making sure you have a high resolution flat screen and surround sound speakers.

So box set, player, screen, and speakers should set you back a few grand.

And the labels worry about piracy.

 
At 1/29/2008 07:35:00 PM, Anonymous rko said...

You folks need to get a grip. We've waited 20 years for this. Finally Neil is ready to let us have it and all we do is bitch and complain.

I wouldn't be surprised if he just says "F- it, ungrateful bastards".

But I hope he doesn't.

 
At 1/29/2008 07:53:00 PM, Anonymous cheesewiz said...

RKO, let's go have a beer and celebrate ...

 
At 1/29/2008 08:09:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I couldnt be more happy to have this on blu ray!!! I always listen to my music on my oppo dvd player for the 5.1 surround sound in sacd or dvd-a,now i have an excuse to buy a blu ray disc player, and by october the blu ray players will be selling around the $199.00 price range as we''ll be getting lower priced imports from china! BTW I NEVER listen to my cds in my car im retired so while my wife is at work i rock out at home in surround sound THE ONLY WAY TO LISTEN TO MUSIC!!!.

 
At 1/29/2008 09:20:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree with the sentiment of Neil losing his asthetic bearings recently... after overloading the CSNY your with his substandard anti-war screeds (just playing several would have been more effective).. his out of pitch careening and limp material in "Heart of Gold... and remove "Ordinary People" from Chrome Dreams reveals it as another substandard endeavor that just doesn't seem to resonate with the times. I'm grateful for his good songs, confused as to why God let something like "Traces" and "Everybody Alone" pass throigh him (so it can sit in a vault for 30 years?!!!) and resigned to my increasing suspicion the Archives are becoming a misbegotten stunt. Maybe he should redirect his attention to tuning up his 30 or so cars, or trying to salavage Lionel... I'm listening to Gene Clark

 
At 1/29/2008 09:36:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Funny...I got into Neil (and RnR in general) from listneing to an old transistor radio with an earphone jammed in one ear, late at night.

WTF, who ever said RnR had to be audiophile quality?

Neil (and the Horse) were always lo-fi to me. This is pretentious and stupid...

 
At 1/29/2008 10:02:00 PM, Anonymous T-Money said...

Well Brian Wilson eventually put "Smile" out... 30 years after he started working on it...

The Archives?
Chinese Democracy?

Just think, if you put a dollar in the bank every week after Neil first said he was working on it you could afford it by now no matter what medium Neil puts it out on.

 
At 1/29/2008 10:34:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jeez--what are you ging to do when all television signals change to HD and you need a new television?

Get a grip! The Archives are coming and it's a good thing!

-Chicago

 
At 1/30/2008 12:08:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Am I the only one who never listens to music on my TV? It just doesn't work. I like to play my music in the car, at a friends, or when I relax in my bedroom...on a CD player!!! I fully support putting video footage on the DVD's or Blu-ray discs, but to be completely honest, I think it would be a terrible mistake for the entire Archives to be put on a DVD/blu-ray disc. That is just ridiculous in my opinion. Maybe if the audio from the DVD's would be able to play on a CD player, I might consider changing my view on this whole situation. Neil, please...if you ever see this, as unlikely as the chances are, please reconsider what you are doing. I understand that you don't like digital music, but there must be a way to make this work...

 
At 1/30/2008 03:11:00 AM, Blogger Andrew Clanahan said...

It's absurd that he's so hung up on releasing his ARCHIVE material at a higher quality than his officially-released stuff. Makes no sense to me.

 
At 1/30/2008 03:47:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

To the above person who posted this: "None can afford to see him in concert." How come most shows are sold out ?

 
At 1/30/2008 03:51:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

So it seems that people would buy an expensive 8 CD + 2 DVD set, but are bitching about a DVD-only set that would probably end up being 5 DVDs inl. the same content at about the same price ?! And: you don't have to listen to it on your TV set - simply connect the audio-out of your DVD player to your stereo and rock !

 
At 1/30/2008 08:17:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

And there was me thinking that this was meant to be a site for Neil FANS! Part of Neil's appeal is his unpredicatbility, Tonights the Night, Rust Never Sleeps, Trans, Old Ways, Freedom, Mirror Ball, Greendale, Living with War and now the Archives. This means that I may have difficulty getting it if and when it does actually come out, but I'll live! And as for you people like steven saying that you are going toget rid of your collection, then you are just a bunch of jokers who aren't real fans and you're all just pissing in the wind. At the end of the day, I refuse to believe anything about the archives anymore until I see it in front of me at the shop.

 
At 1/30/2008 09:38:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Does this mean that there won't be a cassette and vhs version of the archives! Christ!! I just had to fork out $8.00 on a cd player to play chrome dreams 2, now this!!!

 
At 1/30/2008 10:00:00 AM, Anonymous www.didimaumusic.com said...

put it on vinyl

 
At 1/30/2008 10:58:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

could someone point me to a decent link or links which explain the differences in the varous audio mediums (vinyl vs. cd vs. dvd-a, etc.)? it would really be great to undertsand what the hullabulloo is all about.

 
At 1/30/2008 01:19:00 PM, Anonymous traveling_musician said...

I for one am enjoying the fact that Neil is and continues to be an Artist that releases New Material. The fact we have to wait longer is something I can deal with so long as the man is as active as he is...all the bit**ing that happened when Chrome Dreams came out...all the bit**ing that happened when the Ticket Prices come out...whine whine whine! Neil's washed up/Neil's no longer relevant/Neil has lost it...blah blah blah...
I can see the "Neil Young Live @ The Riverboat" coming out soon with this new wait. Enjoy all the activity that is surrounding Neil Young...hmm, now that I said that I remember all the crap about Neil not being creative in years either on here. Wrong again eh?

 
At 1/30/2008 02:18:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I've heard a rumor that Neil is going to wait until holograph technology is all worked out so that he can issue the Archives in 3D (or 4D) format. In the first disc, fans will be able to drive next to Neil in old Mort and actually jump out on Sunset Blvd and run down Stephen Stills... In another famous sequence, fans will don a long flowing wig and be able to experience the wind blowing through their hair at the Hammersmith Odeon through the Hurricane extended solo. In the final scene, fans will play golf with Neil at Pebble Beach and complain about consumerism... :-)

 
At 1/30/2008 03:01:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

What's the big deal? I own a DVD player and it's gonna be released in DVD format so I'm fine. I am amazed that some people don't own a DVD player in the year 2008.

 
At 1/30/2008 04:24:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't understand all the garbage of which device has better sound quality.Bring it out on cassette.As long as i can hear it that's fine by me

 
At 1/30/2008 06:27:00 PM, Blogger Jimmy said...

end result: Neil gets less money AND more people will be illegally downloading vastly inferior copies of MP3s ripped from DVDs rather than going to a store and buying the CDs. (which...by the way...sound just fine to 99.9% of consumers)

 
At 1/31/2008 01:18:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

For you that wish to give up or find Neil's action a bit modern-day absurd, shame, shame, shame! Amongst yourselves, you have the abilty to record incredible music from a master artist, yet you want it done in a neat CD package. That is not the point of the music. When you can hear one of Neil Young's songs and have it be cemented so deeply to a life memory, you will understand. After 30+ years being a fan, I will always hear his music and his message. Maybe it won't be your high tech version, but us old folks understand. Show the man his respect

 
At 1/31/2008 02:21:00 AM, Blogger Ben said...

Reading some of these old folks struggling with new technology is like watching the apes at the beginning of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

 
At 2/02/2008 11:58:00 PM, Anonymous minglewithcircumstance said...

I have been a fan of Neil's since EKTIN, and was wondering how many of you are 50+ like me, and can't hear the high frequencies to any great degree anymore. Much of this high fidelity modern technology will be wasted on my mp3 class ears! Can you feel it now...can you

 
At 1/28/2009 01:05:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

So if Neil feels sound matters and doesn't think too highly of CDs then why is it he still releases CDs like Canterbury, Chrome Dreams II, Fillmore East, Massey Hall etc etc??? And what about the bonus track from Canterbury available on itunes??? Aren't MP3s worst sound than CDs?

I think he picked Blu-Ray because he rightfully feels that there is no present technology to copy the music and have it available for free download. Can't blame him for that.

 

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