Neil Young Archives Vol. 1: 1963-1972 (2009)

First of all, you have to hand it to Neil to even attempt something like this. The first of five planned boxsets documenting his entire career, this is a massive undertaking. As I understand it, he made a deal for this in the early 90s but this first volume didn’t materialize until 2009, despite some material being released separately in the few years before. Live at Fillmore East 1970 was released in 2006 and Live at Massey Hall 1971 was released in 2007. I distinctly remember trying Archives Vol. 1 out for the first time and being utterly boggled by the breadth of it (137 tracks over 8 discs). I’ve talked about it before, of course, but Live at Massey Hall is just magical, one of my favorite releases of all time at this point (thankfully you can buy it separately if the entire box set is too much to handle).

I’m not going to go through all 137 tracks here, don’t worry, but I did want to acknowledge this release as something that brought me back to Neil after a long absence. Since I first got in to Neil in high school, my musical tastes and knowledge kept expanding (indie rock, industrial, electronic, hip-hop, etc) and Neil didn’t occupy my time as much. But in 2009, I had just started working for myself at home, heard about this archive business, and figured it would be a great soundtrack to a day of work…

Disc 1 - Early Years (1963-1965)

I was transfixed. Much of Early Years was completely new to me, chronicling Neil’s surf rock songs with The Squires, you get a lot of fun moments. “The Sultan’s” gong! Neil’s first vocal on “I Wonder!” Already you could tell he took songwriting seriously and was prolific. Granted, much of The Squires’ work was variations on the surf rock theme and his early solo songs are a little unformed. “Hello Lonely Woman” starts breaking into blues as he leaves the Squires, but he was already tinkering with folk with an early version of “Sugar Mountain” in 1965 (even with the much different voice, this nearly 60 year old song is still one of his best). As this first disc is wrapping up, Neil is moving on to Buffalo Springfield with his friend Stephen Stills. That’s where Early Years picks up and it’s a good overview of the Buffalo Springfield era, containing mostly already released material but a few outtakes and alternate mixes break it up. I’m not the biggest Buffalo Springfield fan, but this was clearly a fruitful period of time for Neil and informed a lot of what came next. In context, it’s essential for seeing how he transitioned from his beginnings to his solo career.

Disc 2 - Topanga 1 (1968-1969)

Topanga 1 is somewhat of a greatest hits of Neil Young and Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, with both albums represented in one combined disc. There are unreleased or little known versions of some songs, like the non-Crazy Horse version of “Everybody Knows This is Nowhere” or the early “Birds” recording, recorded with the Neil Young band. While it’s strange to hear these with a different band, the songs are instantly compelling. They are also the earliest recordings with Briggs. Interestingly, there are also a few takes from the Sugar Mountain - Live at Canterbury House 1968 live album, which had been released the prior year as part of the Archives Performance Series.

Disc 3 - Live at the Riverboat (Toronto 1969)

A very strange live album that I’m sure Neil takes perverse pleasure in. As he debuts song after song with funny banter, the audience is unresponsive and Neil is frequently giving directions to sound and lighting guys (the comment about feeling like he was in Mordor kills me). What’s hilarious about this is that Neil was once kicked out of the Riverboat and in revenge, he convinced them that Bob Dylan was going to come play there. The place was packed waiting until 6am for a Dylan who was never going to come.

Disc 4 - Topanga 2 (1969-1970)

The next disc continues to cover the Everybody Knows This is Nowhere and Danny Whitten period with Topanga 2. Topanga is the neighborhood Neil was living in at the time and home to a huge community of artists and musicians. Once you get past some straight album tracks, there are quite a few alternate versions and unreleased songs, notably “Everybody’s Alone,” which has been played live very rarely but made a random appearance in 1997 at a Crazy Horse show. It’s a pretty good track with great guitar licks, but remains unreleased. This is also the period where Neil joined CSN to become CSNY (the inclusion of Neil’s “Sea of Madness” is fun). We get into some of those songs towards the end of this disc. And he was starting work on After the Gold Rush songs. So it was an important couple of years.

Disc 5 - Live at Fillmore East (New York 1970)

I like how this Archive pushes all these things together so you get a sense of Neil’s headspace. Especially because Danny Whitten was present for this short run. He gets showcased on the Live at Fillmore East volume that gets included here, despite being previously released on its own. I continue to love hearing Danny’s vocal on “Cmon Baby Let’s Go Downtown,” but hearing it it in context of this set is a different vibe than it’s inclusion on Tonight’s the Night.

Disc 6 - Topanga 3 (1970)

Topanga 3 is firmly After the Gold Rush territory, with an almost song for song replay of the album (as with the rest of the Archive, the songs are in order of recording) followed by CSNY versions and additions, like “Ohio” and “Helpless.” These songs fit very well with After the Gold Rush and the relationships’ strength is highlighted here. The original version of “Wonderin’” shows up here as the only real After the Gold Rush outtake, after appearing in a much different form on Everybody’s Rockin’.

Disc 7 - Live at Massey Hall (Toronto 1971)

Of course, when I said earlier that I was transfixed by this Archive, what I really meant is Live at Massey Hall. This hit me like a lightning bolt and I kept going back to this particular part of the Archive for weeks afterward, more so than any other material included here. No slight to the rest of the archival material but there is a lot of stuff in the 137 songs that is just straight album tracks. The real gems are these live performances and the interesting alternate takes throughout. And this is the best of the lot. It encapsulates this period of Neil’s career better than anything, showing his deft hand at connecting to his audience, his gorgeous guitar work, the heartfelt emotions behind the lyrics, and impeccable recording by David Briggs. Not only that, but he debuts some songs here that will vault him into his greatest success and most fertile period of songwriting yet. Harvest’s “Heart of Gold” is played here a full year before it was released. Speaking of which…

Disc 8 - North Country (1971-1972)

Archives Vol. 1 concludes with North Country covering the Harvest period with album tracks and unreleased live versions and alternates. In some ways, it’s a better set of songs and performances than Harvest simple because of how it’s sequenced, with more connections between songs being apparent. Harvest has always struck me as a kind of hodgepodge of songs anchored by a few stellar moments that can’t be denied. A nice touch is starting the disc with the 3rd ever performance of “Heart of Gold” on its own, after previously debuting as part of a suite with “A Man Needs a Maid.” About a week after the performance here, it would be recorded in the form that everyone knows today.

There are a lot of neat versions here, including the Graham Nash duet on “Dance Dance Dance.” Nash also is part of the “War Song” ensemble. This song is Young, Nash, and the Stray Gators (the Harvest band) in support of George McGovern’s 1972 Presidential campaign. It’s not bad, with some extremely provocative lyrics. Even the less known Journey Through the Past film and soundtrack has era-appropriate appearances here. An especially long, ramshackle “Words (Between the Lines of Age)” is notable for its rehearsal insight. Neil will stop the song, give a note, and then the band will slowly come back in. It’s like a long jam you weren’t supposed to hear. I should get around to watching that film and talking about its odd soundtrack. Ending Volume 1 here is a cool move, as Harvest is the moment where Neil was vaulted into superstardom and he took a stark turn in the face of that limelight.

Hearing this collection over the course of an entire day definitely struck something inside me and reawakened what I loved about music in the first place, when I was at that formative age. Neil isn’t afraid of experimentation, isn’t afraid to make mistakes and let those mistakes be part of the art. That made a lot of sense to me and has always given me this soft spot and respect for the mercurial musician. It’s hard to be unimpressed by his sheer breadth of work, too. This is only the first volume!

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