i agree. folks should watch the samples .... crank them. they're absolutely enjoyable and really .... the add on price up here on amaz.ca (when i ordered, which was this afternoon) was less than $12 more for the deluxe, w added CD and the DVD. a no brainer as the marketplace sellers had it for about $40 bucks more (than the just vinyl box) .... CAD that is. sorry if i'm repeating this lol, its been a long time since i got a break (deal) lmao. or at least what's considered a deal up here ....
Do you mean on the cover of Arc? I was thinking recently that the cover of Weld may be my favorite image of Crazy Horse.
This is all true, but it really is the perfect end to the story. The guy writes this tome chronicling all of the people that Neil has used and left behind with little more than a passing thought, and it ends with McDonough himself a victim of the same cycle.
I've had my lp framed (sans discs) and on the wall on our main staircase for years. Everytime I think about switching it out I look at the photo and change my mind.
Really enjoying this release. Today my wife, who was doing something else in the room while I was playing it, said “When I hear his guitar I know he’s going to take us on a journey.”
Agreed, especially when its use is so clearly off the mark. Neil fans have been begging him to "free the archives" for years and years, and then when he finally starts to, he gets cynically accused of a "cash grab". Haha, yeah, as if the release of a 30 year old concert by an artist who's way past his commercial peak is some foolproof get-rich-quick scheme. As to the question of why now? Well, since he launched his Archives website, it's common sense that he would more frequently release things from his...um, archives. Also, the pandemic has kept him off the road and given him time to focus on all of these excellent releases, and then outtakes on top of that. Truly an incredible time to be a fan.
Will these things sell out or are I get the feeling I’ll be listening to Bucket and Weld back to back often.
I was surprised to see my set numbered; in the 13000's. I would not thought they would press this many at all. As much as we love him, I don't get the sense he sells a lot of records anymore.
He told me hasn't listened to any of them, ha ha! Not even Archives I! Or II! (And I better shut up now!)
'Forgetting' I'd indeed take with a grain of salt. However, Neil's focus has always been on the 'now', touring, a new album. He started work on Archives (Decade 2) around 1989, with the main focus on 63 - 72, so it's easy to 'forget' the stuff that came afterwards, it's only when he started working on subsequent volumes that new stuff came to his attention. I'm pretty sure he 'discovered' Homegrown in 2007 when all of a sudden he started playing Try, Mexico and Kansas. And 'sometimes' he can be stubborn. For how many years has he refused to listen to Massey Hall until realizing Briggs was right (only to conclude 13 years later that the show from 1/22 was even better). Also, he has played more than 2000 shows. I'm pretty sure he can't remember them all (it's us Rusties that have been listening to bootleg recordings for the past 40 years and therefore have a better memory in that respect). On top of that, his memory of a certain show may be clouded, maybe all that stuck in his memory was how badly Billy sang his part on Danger Bird. And Neil is far from methodical, he's rather whimsical I'd say. That's why his releases are all over the place, working on one thing, losing interest and starting the next. It CAN be really boring to go through 25 shows worth of tapes, just to find the best take of a particular song.
Mine is numbered over 21,000. Not a bad number. Good to hear! Man, this is so great. Working from home today and was able to crank the first two LPs as I was alone for a while; not any longer, but sides 5-7 sound just equally fine on cans. The 25 minutes of side 8 will be recompense for making dinner. Last Neil record I got arrived two days ago, the vinyl version of The Times EP. I love that for its lo-fi shambling vibe, but this, this just roars!
You make an evocative point. I think the whole "trail of destruction" (as Neil describes it) isn't really a reflection on Neil as a person, but on the lifestyle he's grown up with. We must make the distinction between the man and his environment. The same way that all of us probably communicate more considerately in private conversation than we do on the blood-stained battleground of social media. Neil, too, has written about this subject thoughtfully in recent months and has taken some flak for it on social media: sort of proving his point, I think. We all have our unique personal situations that affect how we interact with other people. Some sides of our personalities get developed more than others. In Neil's case, he has spent much of his life shielded by managers and handlers whose job is to profit by keeping him satisfied. That brings with it some great benefits but also some pitfalls; as the ghost of Elvis Presley might warn you. Neil is a very focused, wise and caring man. That's why he is a hero. The double-edged sword is the word "focused". Laser-like focus is great for his art, but it means other people have often fallen outside the focus of the moment. And rather than communicating directly with these people, it's often been left to his management. PS I think in recent years the man who wrote the beautiful One Of These Days has finally made time to write that "long letter" and has made peace with a lot of old friends from the past. PPS Yes, somebody will doubtless be preparing to burn me at the stake because I've gone off-topic for a handful of paragraphs.
