Neil Young - The Monsanto Years - out on 16 June 2015

So you don't understand why Neil Young's fans complain about Archives II not being released while, say, Paul Simon's fans do not complain about Archives I not being released. Fine. I was just trying to provide an explanation.

 

These guys distraught about 40 yr old recordings not coming out are hilarious. Neil is about to release his 5th album in just over 3 years, at least 1 of which was a double. Rejoice! He won't always be with us.

And just think what Archives vol 5 will bring in 2045, Pssychedelic Pill 2, the accoustic sessions ...

 

Did your dog and Aunt Edna survive the trip?

 

So you don't believe doing that type of thing to a child is willful psychological abuse? I hope you don't have kids!

But getting back to Neil....

If he said, "Sorry everybody, from now on I'm going to stop constantly yanking your chain about the Archives. Nearly 30 years of this relentless C--- teasing is enough. From now on I won't say a word about an Archive CD or boxset until each release has been put on the record company release schedule roughly 6-8 weeks before the release date."

If he did that, then all would be forgiven. As it stands "broken promises" sums it up pretty well.

 

In either 2000 or 2001!

He gave a VERY detailed summation (though not an exact tracklist) of what was coming out - definitely either "by the end of this year (2000)" or "sometime early next year".

I'd have to dig out the old magazine to verify exactly what Neil promised, but IIRC it was 8CDs and 2DVDs (video not DVD-A) and was to contain two or three live concert CDs. That's the earliest I'm aware of as far as Neil giving a specific timeframe rather than a general "coming soon" comment and his earliest comments nailing down the specific format that the Archives would take.

However, just because that's the earliest I'm aware of, that doesn't mean he hadn't been that specific previously. His vagueness of course goes all the way back to 1987 or 1988.

 

HA, only 15 years? Amateur! The Zappa family just announced the release of something whose release was imminent in 1993.

 

Ehhh....I don't know about distraught, but every now and again, just like a volcano, if your a Neil fan, you've got to vent/rant.
The man's been phenomenal to me, at least in a live setting, if not entirely consistent with the studio output, but I'll take anything new Neil puts out just to check out what he's doing, and this thing with the Nelson boys will be no different.

Having said that, there's no doubt Neil (and Elliot Roberts) have been jerking around record companies and fans for years over this project.
As noted above, it was first mentioned in the late 80's. Mid 90's it got close, as Neil had decided that HDCD was good enough sound, which was good enough until DVD-A arrived shortly after, and
then that went dormant for about a decade.

Amazingly enough, NYA Vol 1 arrived in 2009 with little fanfare, and with Elliot Roberts saying that now the format had been established, the Archives would/could be rolled out every 2,3 years.

So 6 years later, here's what Neil had to say about Vol. 2 in an interview last year in May 2014:

Though it’s been five years and counting since the Canadian rocker released the first volume of his ‘Archives’ series, it looks like we might be close to seeing the release of the second.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Young talked about the state of the next box set. “It’ll be finished this summer. All of the music will be done,” Young said.
“It goes just past [1979's] ‘Rust Never Sleeps.’ It’s full of albums that weren’t there before – stuff I did that I never put out.” Of the albums that Young recorded but never released during this period include ‘Chrome Dreams’ from 1977 and ‘Homegrown’ from 1974-5.
Young went on to discuss the release plan for the volumes following the next iteration which will cover the singer’s ‘80s, ‘90s and ‘00s periods respectively. “The rest will come out pretty quickly. While we’ve been working on ‘Volume II,’ we’ve been working on the other volumes,” he said. “I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve made a template for how to release it in the future, if I can’t do it myself. I’ve also done a lot of it myself. The quality is there. It’s a model for how to preserve music.”

Again, note that when this one comes out, "the others will follow quickly", which is just what Roberts said in 2009.

What's entirely clear, is that getting this stuff into the fans hands is not a priority, which leads to speculation that Neil is merely leveraging this project to keep Warner Brothers paying him to continue doing
what he does. Warners is so invested right now, they can't let Neil walk away and take the Archives with him, so they keep paying him.

 

Well they don't call him "Shakey Deal" for no reason....

 

Shakey Flake
Dinosaur Sr, The Loner

 

I'm tempted to agree, but not in whole. That is, what appears to most of us as being "flakey and shakey" I believe is a guy who has a knack for living in the moment. That's probably a good lesson that most of us could learn. I know I could. On the other hand, it's a lot easier to live in the moment when you're a millionaire.

Anyway, yes, he frustrates a lot of us, but as others have pointed out, we're not going to have Neil Young forever, so I guess taking everything into consideration I love having new music from him. I'll take this moment and roll with it. The old stuff will always be there, waiting in the wings.

I am also well aware that his new music probably suffers from being so much in the moment. He just kind of throws it out there, and if it sticks, it sticks...but taking his time to refine his new songs probably wouldn't be keeping with his apparent resolve to put out as much new stuff as he can before he kicks it.

Oddly enough, I'm geeked for that. The promise of a new Neil Young album is always exciting, even if it falls a little flat in the end. At least I can enjoy him while he's here.

If he's not here while I'm listening to Archive II, I'll probably cry like a baby.

 

I think you nailed it here. Once Archives 1 was released, I got the feeling that the rest weren't going to be a priority. It was almost like the first volume merely came out to prove that it could be done and that was enough for Neil. Both for himself and to use as leverage with Warners.

 

Check post #82 of this thread.

 

Can you copy and paste where Neil promises it?

 

I honestly tried to advise you. Neil said what he said... but I see you're from Canada heh heh. Figure it out yourself.

 

I think it's great that Neil Young, who releases the equivalent of two new records per year (lately) can get eight pages of pretty emotional posts for an unheard album that won't be out for a couple of months. Says a lot about Neil as an artist.

 

It was said that he promised it. Nowhere in that interview does he promise it. It's not hard to understand.

Also, contrary to what post #82 that you quoted states - nowhere in that interview does he say it's coming out in 2015.

I take issue with people misrepresenting what Neil has said and then criticizing him for what he didn't say.

 

Me too. Both these albums have good moments...just not enough of them.

 

Quote from RS. I think the way the questioner at RS posed the question, and the way Neil answered, people took it to mean it'll be finished /out this summer.

Neil also says "The rest will come out pretty quickly. "

Love that Neil!! LOL



RS: What is the state of Archives: Volume II? I've heard that it could be out by the end of this year.

NEIL: It'll be finished this summer (2014). All of the music will be done. It goes just past [1979's] Rust Never Sleeps. It's full of albums that weren't there before – stuff I did that I never put out. [Already confirmed for the set by Young: material from the unissued LPs Chrome Dreams and Homegrown and an alternate edition of the 1973 live album, Time Fades Away.]

NEIL: The rest will come out pretty quickly. While we've been working on Volume II, we've been working on the other Volumes. [Young has said that there will be five Volumes, the last covering the 2000s.]

 

Pretty cool. It says one per ticket, but do you know if it's actually one per order? I'm going with two buddies and wondering if we all get one if bought together.

 

Yes, he's saying the music will be done and it will be finished. Finished as in he'll be finished the work on it. Note there is nothing about it being released in 2015 and nowhere does Neil say when it will be released. The interviewer stated what he heard but Neil said nothing to substantiate that.

I take the "rest will come out pretty quickly" to mean that once Archives Vol. II comes out, so much work has been done on the other volumes already that their timeline will be shorter.

Again, none of this substantiates any of what I was objecting to - that people stated Neil promised them Archives and by a certain date. He didn't promise anything (and if he did, I'd be happy to take it all back).

 

Welcome to the forum, Daryl!

 

I'm taking them at their word of "one per ticket" so I'm assuming one for me and one for my friend who is going with me.

 

So, you're saying it was finished last summer, but now they're just sitting on it?

 

No offense to anyone (it's a free Internet), but trying to talk about anything related to Neil Young and not having Archives come up is like trying to get Basil Fawlty to not mention the war.

 

He's playing Stills' Benefit for Autism tomorrow so maybe some better recordings will surface soon. That is, if he does a similar set and not a solo acoustic set like last year's shows.