Neil Young
Archives III
★★★★★
REPRISE
Halfway through Across The Water – a new two-hour documentary on Neil Young's 1976 Japanese and British tours with Crazy Horse that opens the visual component of his gargantuan, third Archives box – the singer is interviewed over dinner in his London hotel. Asked how he wants to be remembered after he's gone, Young, then 30, jokes about a prospective tombstone: "He died looking for a heart of gold!" Then his mood turns. "I'd like people to know I was here. I've spent the first quarter of my life trying to make a mark . . . I'd like to leave something behind with a point of view."
Archives III is everything that happened next in chaos, transcendence and distortion: through the Harvest redux of Comes A Time and garage-rock spectacle of 1979's Rust Never Sleeps and Live Rustinto the serial crisis and genre U-turns of Young's 1980s at Geffen Records. And it's a monolith: 17 CDs with nearly 200 tracks and five Blu-ray discs of gonzo cinema (Bernard Shakey, take a bow) and invaluable concert footage, much of it previously unseen or first issued in antique formats (VHS, LaserDisc). Writing about it is like trying to catalogue and analyse a newly opened Egyptian tomb. Archives III is more legacy than most artists muster in a lifetime. And it's all from Young's album-chart nadir. Of his five Geffen LPs, only 1983's Trans, that nutty polarity of Hawaiian-breeze ballads and electro-pop shock, went Top 20.
Naturally, Young didn't care. "If I feel like writing a song, if I hear a melody that I have to do something with," he once told me, "I don't give a shit whatever else I'm doing. That's why I'll never be a jet pilot. Because I will write down the song and forget to fly the plane. That's my job." For all of its sweep and detail – the audio alone is like getting half a dozen Decades at once – Archives III is simply the sound of Young at work, answering only to inspiration in his wildest era of change.
Like Archives I and II, this instalment draws on recent stand-alone releases in the series as well as the official canon (although given its original, dismal reception, it's hard to believe many fans buying this set paid for the ’50s costume party, Everybody's Rockin', in 1983). But this is storytelling, not a scavenger hunt. The selections, in generally strict, chronological order and the extended passages of newly excavated live and studio material, at times across multiple CDs, illuminate Young's long game in creative resolve and quixotic impulse with instructive twists and surprises in the crevices.
There is certainly an argument along the way that Young's late ’70s were as unhinged as anything he did at Geffen. One disc subtitled Hitchhikin' Judy pairs Young's August '76 recordings for the aborted, acoustic LP Hitchhiker with solo performances from a tour with Crazy Horse that November, compiled on 2018's Songs for Judy. That solitary calm is momentarily broken by Young's Thanksgiving with the Band, performing at The Last Waltz.
Then in December, Young falls into the black hole of Will To Love, a trance-like ballad from the unreleased Chrome Dreams given a fearless overdubbing: vibraphone, wah-wah guitar, percussion that sounds like he's drumming out of time on the mike stand. It's a startling weirdness – like spectral-folk Can – that Young inexplicably dropped into the miscellany of 1977's American Stars 'n Bars. It also shows the modernist urgency of Trans lying in wait.
The epic sprawl of Archives III means a lot of prime time on stage, Young taking his left turns right to the people when FM radio didn't want to know and David Geffen was suing him for not making Neil Young records. An hour of avenging country with the International Harvesters in 1984 and '85 comes with a blistering tease from an Australian tour by the Crazy Harvesters, a hybrid combo with Crazy Horse, torching Old Ways' Misfits (Dakota) like something from a Cajun Zuma. A return to Young's '77 bar-band holiday with the Ducks includes a high-speed nugget not on 2021's High Flyin': Cryin' Eyes, cut with Crazy Horse for 1987's Life but blowing up here like it fell off a Moby Grape outtakes reel, especially when that group's former singer-bassist Bob Mosely takes the answer vocal in the bridge.
Then there's Young's four acoustic nights in May, 1978 at the Boarding House in San Francisco, spread over two CDs and the source of the opening tracks on Rust Never Sleeps. Except that record did not have the stark preview of Shots, a violent despair Young put through electric wildfire on 1981's RE-AC-TOR, or the plaintive reach back to his Buffalo Springfield ballad, Out of My Mind. And if the Blu-ray flick Catalyst – Young and the Horse at that Santa Cruz club on February 7th, 1984 – has the production values of a hostage video, the fuzz and fight come through on the companion CD like you're right there at the bar.
But there may no greater, unexpected pleasure on Archives III than the impromptu magic of a roundtable session on March 1st, 1977 at Linda Ronstadt's Malibu home, Young running down new songs with the latter and her friend Nicolette Larson, a young session singer who happened to be at the house that day. Larson and Young's bond as singers (and, briefly, a couple) was profound and enduring (see below), and she is heard again in III, to soaring effect, in an electrifying November '77 gig rehearsal with a one-off country big band Young dubbed the Gone With the Wind Orchestra, riding the racket next to his ragged authority with warm, earthy soul.
Also of note: Young and Devo's sci-fried Hey Hey, My My from a studio afternoon between Boarding House shows; the return of Berlin, Michael Lindsay-Hogg's long-AWOL video of Young with his Trans band live in 1982, the best evidence of that experiment in full; and Road of Plenty, a thrilling prototype with Crazy Horse of Eldorado, destined for Young's next turning point, 1989's Freedom. What's not here: Young's rehearsal of that song during a fleeting (and filmed) 1986 Buffalo Springfield reunion. "I was distracted by other things at the time," Young later admitted. "Life was moving fast, perhaps a bit too fast for me to see." Jump in here at any point, and you'll know what he means.
Back Story: Neil Young And Singer Nicolette Larson’s Karmic Connection
"I didn't know much about Neil Young," Nicolette Larson confessed, recalling their first encounter at Linda Ronstadt's house. But their vocal connection, however, was immediate and karmic: Larson's 1978 debut LP, Nicolette, with her cover hit of Young's Lotta Love, and his Comes A Time – featuring Larson on almost every track – were released in the same week. "Nicolette sang better with Neil than anyone," Young associate Joel Bernstein contended. She "understood . . . his soulfulness and what to get across." Larson was Young's harmony angel of choice into the ’90s, singing on Harvest Moon and Unplugged, before her death from a cerebral edema in 1997. She was 45
Archives III is out now on Reprise.
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Tracklisting
Disc 1: Across The Water I (1976) Neil Young & Crazy Horse
1. Let It Shine (previously unreleased live version)
2. Mellow My Mind (previously unreleased live version)
3. Too Far Gone (previously unreleased live version)
4. Only Love Can Break Your Heart (previously unreleased live version)
5. A Man Needs a Maid (previously unreleased live version)
6. No One Seems to Know (previously unreleased live version)
7. Heart Of Gold (previously unreleased live version)
8. Country Home (previously unreleased live version)
9. Don't Cry No Tears (previously unreleased live version)
10. Cowgirl in the Sand (previously unreleased mix)
11. Lotta Love (previously unreleased live version)
12. The Losing End (When You’re On) (previously unreleased live version)
13. Southern Man (previously unreleased live version)
14. Cortez the Killer (previously unreleased live version)
Disc 2: Across The Water II (1976): Neil Young & Crazy Horse
1. Human Highway (previously unreleased live version)
2. The Needle And The Damage Done (previously unreleased live version)
3. Stringman (previously unreleased mix)
4. Down By The River (previously unreleased live version)
5. Like a Hurricane (previously unreleased live version)
6. Drive Back (previously unreleased live version)
7. Cortez the Killer (previously unreleased live version)
8. Homegrown (previously unreleased live version)
Disc 3: Hitchhikin’ Judy (1976-1977): Neil Young
1. Rap
2. Powderfinger (previously released on Hitchhiker_)_
3. Captain Kennedy (previously released on Hawks & Doves, Hitchhiker and Hawks & Doves_)_
4. Hitchhiker (previously released on Hitchhiker_)_
5. Give Me Strength (previously released on Hitchhiker_)_
6. The Old Country Waltz (previously released on Hitchhiker_)_
7. Rap
8. Too Far Gone (previously released on Songs For Judy_)_
9. White Line (previously released on Songs For Judy_)_
10. Mr. Soul (previously released on Songs For Judy_)_
11. A Man Needs A Maid (previously released on Songs For Judy_)_
12. Journey Through the Past (previously released on Songs For Judy_)_
13. Campaigner (previously released on Songs For Judy_)_
14. The Old Laughing Lady (previously released on Songs For Judy_)_
15. The Losing End (When You’re On) (previously released on Songs For Judy_)_
16. Rap
17. Helpless (previously released on The Last Waltz_)_
18. Four Strong Winds (previously released on The Last Waltz (2002 edition))
19. Rap
20. Will To Love (previously released on American Stars ‘n Bars and Chrome Dreams_)_
21. Lost In Space (previously unreleased original)
Disc 4: Snapshot In Time (1977): Neil Young with Nicolette Larson & Linda Ronstadt
1. Rap
2. Hold Back The Tears (previously released on Chrome Dreams_)_
3. Rap
4. Long May You Run (previously unreleased version)
5. Hey Babe (previously unreleased version)
6. The Old Country Waltz (previously unreleased version)
7. Hold Back the Tears (previously unreleased version)
8. Peace of Mind (previously unreleased version)
9. Sweet Lara Larue (previously unreleased version)
10. Bite the Bullet (previously unreleased version)
11. Saddle Up the Palomino (previously unreleased version)
12. Star of Bethlehem (previously unreleased version)
13. Bad News Comes To Town (previously unreleased version)
14. Motorcycle Mama (previously unreleased version)
15. Rap
16. Hey Babe (previously released on American Stars N Bars_)_
17. Rap
18. Barefoot Floors (previously unreleased version)
Disc 5: Windward Passage (1977) The Ducks
1. Rap
2. I Am A Dreamer (previously released on High Flyin’)
3. Sail Away (previously unreleased original)
4. Wide Eyed and Willin' (previously released on High Flyin’)
5. I’m Tore Down (previously released on High Flyin’)
6. Little Wing (previously released on High Flyin’)
7. Hey Now (previously released on High Flyin’)
8. Windward Passage (previously unreleased edit)
9. Cryin' Eyes (previously unreleased original)
Disc 6: Oceanside Countryside (1977): Neil Young
1. Rap
2. Field of Opportunity (previously unreleased mix)
3. It Might Have Been (previously unreleased version)
4. Dance Dance Dance (previously unreleased version)
5. Rap
6. Pocahontas (previously unreleased mix)
7. Peace of Mind (previously unreleased mix)
8. Sail Away (previously unreleased mix)
9. Human Highway (previously unreleased mix)
10. Comes A Time (previously unreleased version)
11. Lost In Space (previously released on Hawks & Doves_)_
12. Goin’ Back (previously unreleased mix)
Disc 7: Neil Young & Nicolette Larson Union Hall (1977)
1. Comes A Time (previously released on Comes A Time_)_
2. Love/Art Blues (previously unreleased version)
3. Rap
4. Are You Ready For the Country? (previously unreleased version)
5. Dance Dance Dance/Love is a Rose (previously unreleased version)
6. Old Man (previously unreleased version)
7. The Losing End (When You're On) (previously unreleased version)
8. Heart Of Gold (previously unreleased version)
9. Already One (previously unreleased version)
10. Lady Wingshot (previously unreleased song)
11. Four Strong Winds (previously unreleased version)
12. Down By The River (previously unreleased version)
13. Alabama (previously unreleased version)
14. Are You Ready For the Country? (reprise) (previously unreleased version)
15. Rap
16. We’re Having Some Fun Now (previously unreleased song)
17. Rap
18. Please Help Me, I'm Falling (previously unreleased version)
19. Motorcycle Mama (previously released on Comes A Time_)_
Disc 8: Boarding House I (1978): Neil Young
1. Rap
2. Shots (previously unreleased live version)
3. Thrasher (previously unreleased live version)
4. The Ways of Love (previously unreleased live version)
5. Ride My Llama (previously unreleased live version)
6. Sail Away (previously unreleased live version)
7. Pocahontas (previously unreleased live version)
8. Human Highway (previously unreleased live version)
9. Already One (previously unreleased live version)
10. Birds (previously unreleased live version)
11. Cowgirl in the Sand (previously unreleased live version)
12. Sugar Mountain (previously unreleased live version)
13. Powderfinger (previously unreleased live version)
14. Comes a Time (previously unreleased live version)
Disc 9: Devo & Boarding House II (1978): Neil Young and Devo
1. Rap
2. Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black) (previously unreleased version)
3. Back to the Boarding House
4. My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue) (previously unreleased live version)
5. Homegrown (previously unreleased live version)
6. Down by the River (previously unreleased live version)
7. After the Gold Rush (previously unreleased live version)
8. Out Of My Mind (previously unreleased live version)
9. Dressing Room
Disc 10: Sedan Delivery (1978): Neil Young with Crazy Horse
1. Bright Sunny Day (previously unreleased song)
2. The Loner (previously released on Live Rust_)_
3. Welfare Mothers (previously released on Rust Never Sleeps_)_
4. Lotta Love (previously released on Live Rust_)_
5. Sedan Delivery (previously released on Rust Never Sleeps_)_
6. Cortez the Killer (previously released on Live Rust_)_
7. Tonight's the Night (previously released on Live Rust_)_
8. Powderfinger (previously released on Rust Never Sleeps_)_
9. When You Dance, I Can Really Love (previously released on Live Rust_)_
10. Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black) (previously released on Rust Never Sleeps_)_
Disc 11: Coastline (1980-1981): Neil Young
1. Coastline (previously released on Hawks & Doves_)_
2. Stayin’ Power (previously released on Hawks & Doves_)_
3. Hawks And Doves (previously released on Hawks & Doves_)_
4. Comin' Apart at Every Nail (previously released on Hawks & Doves_)_
5. Union Man (previously released on Hawks & Doves_)_
6. Winter Winds (previously unreleased song)
7. Southern Pacific (previously released on RE-AC-TOR.)
8. Opera Star (previously released on RE-AC-TOR.)
9. Rapid Transit (previously released on RE-AC-TOR.)
10. Sunny Inside (previously unreleased original)
11. Surfer Joe and Moe the Sleaze (previously released on RE-AC-TOR.)
12. Get Up (previously unreleased song)
Disc 12: Trans (1981) & Johnny’s Island (1982): Neil Young
1. Rap
2. Sample and Hold (previously released on Trans_)_
3. Mr. Soul (previously released on Trans_)_
4. Computer Cowboy (previously released on Trans_)_
5. We R In Control (previously released on Trans_)_
6. Computer Age (previously released on Trans_)_
7. Transformer Man (previously released on Trans_)_
8. Rap
9. Johnny (previously unreleased song)
10. Island In The Sun (previously unreleased song)
11. Rap
12. Silver & Gold (previously unreleased version)
13. If You Got Love (previously unreleased version)
14. Raining in Paradise (previously unreleased song)
15. Big Pearl (previously unreleased song)
16. Hold On To Your Love (previously released on Trans_)_
17. Soul Of A Woman (previously unreleased original)
18. Rap
19. Love Hotel (previously unreleased song)
Disc 13: Evolution (1983-1984): Neil Young
1. California Sunset (previously unreleased original)
2. My Boy (previously unreleased original)
3. Old Ways (previously unreleased version)
4. Depression Blues (previously released on Lucky 13_)_
5. Cry, Cry, Cry (previously released on Everybody’s Rockin’)
6. Mystery Train (previously released on Everybody’s Rockin’)
7. Payola Blues (previously released on Everybody’s Rockin’)
8. Betty Lou's Got A New Pair Of Shoes (previously released on Everybody’s Rockin’)
9. Bright Lights, Big City (previously released on Everybody’s Rockin’)
10. Rainin' In My Heart (previously released on Everybody’s Rockin’)
11. Get Gone (previously unreleased original)
12. I Got A Problem (previously unreleased original)
13. Hard Luck Stories (previously unreleased original)
14. Your Love (previously unreleased version)
15. If You Got Love (previously unreleased version)
16. Razor Love (previously unreleased original)
Disc 14: Touch The Night (1984): Neil Young with Crazy Horse
1. Rock (previously unreleased song)
2. So Tired (previously unreleased song)
3. Violent Side (previously unreleased live version)
4. I Got A Problem (previously unreleased live version)
5. Your Love (previously unreleased song)
6. Barstool Blues (previously unreleased live version)
7. Welfare Mothers (previously unreleased live version)
8. Touch The Night (previously unreleased live version)
Disc 15: Grey Riders (1984-1985): Neil Young with The International Harvesters
1. Amber Jean (previously unreleased original)
2. Get Back To The Country (previously unreleased original)
3. Are You Ready For The Country? (previously released on A Treasure_)_
4. It Might Have Been (previously released on A Treasure_)_
5. Bound For Glory (previously released on A Treasure_)_
6. Let Your Fingers Do the Walking (previously released on A Treasure_)_
7. Soul of a Woman (previously released on A Treasure_)_
8. Misfits (Dakota) (previously unreleased live version)
9. Nothing is Perfect (previously unreleased version)
10. Time Off For Good Behavior (previously unreleased song)
11. This Old House (previously unreleased original)
12. Southern Pacific (previously released on A Treasure_)_
13. Interstate (previously unreleased live version)
14. Grey Riders (previously released on A Treasure_)_
Disc 16: Road Of Plenty (1984-1986): Neil Young
1. Drifter (previously released on Landing On Water_)_
2. Hippie Dream (previously released on Landing On Water_)_
3. Bad News Beat (previously released on Landing On Water_)_
4. People On The Street (previously released on Landing On Water_)_
5. Weight of the World (previously released on Landing On Water_)_
6. Pressure (previously released on Landing On Water_)_
7. Road of Plenty (previously unreleased song)
8. We Never Danced (previously unreleased original)
9. When Your Lonely Heart Breaks (previously unreleased original)
Disc 17: Summer Songs (1987): Neil Young
1. Rap
2. American Dream (previously unreleased original)
3. Someday (previously unreleased original)
4. For The Love Of Man (previously unreleased original)
5. One Of These Days (previously unreleased original)
6. Wrecking Ball (previously unreleased original)
7. Hangin On A Limb (previously unreleased original)
8. Name Of Love (previously unreleased original)
9. Last Of His Kind (previously unreleased original)
10. Rap
Blu-Ray 1:
Across The Water
Blu-Ray 2:
Boarding House
Rust Never Sleeps
Blu-Ray 3:
Human Highway
Trans
Berlin
Blu-Ray 4:
Solo Trans
Catalyst
A Treasure
Blu-Ray 5:
In A Rusted Out Garage
Muddy Track
Takes (vinyl only)Tracklisting:
Side A:
1.Hey Babe (previously unreleased version) (From: Snapshot In Time: Neil Young with Nicolette Larson & Linda Ronstadt)
2.Drive Back (previously unreleased live version) (From: Across The Water II: Neil Young & Crazy Horse)
3.Hitchhikin' Judy (From: Hitchhikin' Judy: Neil Young)
4.Let It Shine (previously unreleased live version) (From: Across The Water I: Neil Young & Crazy Horse)
Side B:
1. Sail Away (previously unreleased original) (From: Windward Passage: The Ducks)
2. Comes A Time (previously unreleased version) _(_From: Oceanside Countryside: Neil Young)
3. Lady Wingshot (previously unreleased song) (From: Union Hall: Neil Young & Nicolette Larson)
4. Thrasher (previously unreleased live version) (From: Boarding House I: Neil Young)
Side C:
1. Hey Hey, My My, (Into The Black) (From: Boarding House II: Neil Young)
2. Bright Sunny Day (previously unreleased song) (From: Sedan Delivery: Neil Young with Crazy Horse)
3. Winter Winds (previously unreleased song) (From: Coastline: Neil Young)
4. If You Got Love (previously unreleased version) (From: Trans/Johnny's Island: Neil Young)
Side D:
1. Razor Love (From: Evolution: Neil Young)
2. This Old House (previously unreleased original) (From: Grey Riders: Neil Young and The International Harvesters)
3. Barstool Blues (previously unreleased live version) (From: Touch The Night: Neil Young with Crazy Horse)
4. Last Of His Kind (previously unreleased original) (From: Summer Songs: Neil Young)
Picture: Neil Preston