neil young

Shakey Decimal System

some of the best stuff is in the Archives. . . doghouse

I eventually found the track I was looking for by reading the press release, which cited a date the outtake was recorded, then looked on the timeline on that date and found it.

IDG how the cabinet works, at all.

"copy this list to the forums before the mood passes and we return to opacity!" - what, they're actually proud that their site is such a chaotic mess? damn.

more Catalyst 1990: Don't Cry No Tears

https://neilyoungarchives.com/news/1/article?id=Dont-Cry-No-Tears-Rust-Bucket-February-26

Johnny's Island is floating toward u:
https://www.stereogum.com/2114726/neil-young-lost-album-johnnys-island-release/news/

Is Evening Coconut on Johnny's Island? Inquiring minds want to know.

I'm guessing it isn't - 1976 vs 1982?

Man, I am so glad to see him really cranking up the release of his vaults, even if it seems like some of the stuff I was looking forward to is getting bumped already.

oh weird I had not heard of Johnny's Island

Johnny's Island is a re-do of the first album he submitted to Geffen — it was called Island In The Sun at the time. Some of it got moved on to Trans, some of it got left behind.

This is likely going to be on it, kinda lightweight, but nice. Yacht Rock Neil.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2xasVHiL6s

Also "Like An Inca"---Inca Yacht, look out! I see them wearing pyramid shades.

At least, he mentions that as one on orig tracklist, dunno if incl. here.

thing is, this likely isn't an "album" per se — it's probably a disc on the next archives set, including both released and previously unreleased stuff a la Dume or Walk On from archives II.

Oh, really? Maybe I misread the record, but I assumed that it was a standalone thing since it is scheduled to come out "this year"*. I would assume Archives III isn't coming anytime soon.

* - obviously the usual NY caveats apply as to what his announcements even mean at this point

Stereogum item lends itself to being read as stand-alone album announcement, but never know w NY anyhoo

yeah, who knows — before it was released he would refer to Dume as "an album" ... so it's hard to know what exactly he thinks of as "an album." anyway! when/if it comes out, it'll be cool to hear!

Wasn't there a complete & sequenced Island In The Sun that Geffen rejected? Imagine this could be that.

Yeah, I learned my lesson awhile ago and don't really get excited until I see official reviews start turning up, then it feels real. Hell, more than a handful of his announcements even got to the Amazon pre-order phase before getting memory holed again.

I saw this helpful list over at the H0ffman Forums (I know, I know):

Archives Vol. II - 1972-1976 Compilation Box Set. RELEASED in 2020

Homegrown - Unreleased 1975 Studio Album. Special Release Series. First mentioned 11 years ago (being ‘rebuilt’). RELEASED in 2020

Return to Greendale (Neil Young & Crazy Horse live, 2003). Live Album. RELEASED in 2020.

Odeon Budokan (Neil Young & Crazy Horse live, 1976). Live Album. RELEASED in 2020 as part of 'Archives Vol. II'.

Dume (Neil Young & Crazy Horse, 1975). Studio Sessions. RELEASED in 2020 as as part of 'Archives Vol. II'.

Toast - 2000 Studio Album. Special Release Series. First mentioned 12 years ago ( was up on Amazon pre-order in 2008) - Currently on the Timeline without a release date.

Alchemy - 2012/13 Live album. Live Performance Series. First Mentioned 7 years ago. Currently on the Timeline without a release date.

Ragged Glory II - 1990 Studio Album/Additional sessions from 'Ragged Glory' - First mentioned 2 years ago, with anticipated release in 2019, which never happened. Live Release Series. Currently on the Timeline without a release date.

Chrome Dreams - Unreleased 1976/77 Studio Album/Sessions. Special Release Series. First mentioned 11 years ago (being ‘rebuilt’). Currently on the Timeline without a release date.

Time Fades Away II - 1973 Unreleased Live Album. Live Performance Series. First mentioned 11 years ago. Possibly superceded by 'Tooscaloosa'.

Oceanside-Countryside - Unreleased Studio Album/Sessions. Special Release Series. First mentioned 11 years ago (being ‘rebuilt’)

Way Down in the Rust Bucket - Unreleased 1990 Live Album. Live Performance Series. Currently on the Timeline with a release date of 26th Feb 2020.

Young Shakespeare - Unreleased 1971 Live Album. Live Performance Series. Currently on the Timeline with a release date of Jan 2020, though the desktop version shows no release date.

Road of Plenty - Unreleased 1986-89 Studio Album/Additional sessions from various albums from this period. Special Release Series. Currently not on the Timeline. No release date.

Garage - Unreleased 1986 Live Album. Live Performance Series. Currently on the Timeline without a release date.

Early Daze - Unreleased 1969 Live Album. Live Performance Series. Currently on the Timeline without a release date.

Live Freedom - Unreleased 1989 Live Album. Live Performance Series. Currently on the Timeline without a release date.

I’m Happy Y’All Came Down - 1971 - Live Album. Bootleg Series. Taken from Mutlitrack soundboard. April 2021? Not on timeline.

Carnegie Hall 1970 1 - Live Album. Bootleg Series. Taken from Mutlitrack soundboard. April 2021? Not on timeline.

Royce Hall 1970 - Live Album. Bootleg Series. Taken from Mutlitrack soundboard. April 2021? Not on timeline.

The Bottom Line (Neil Young live, 1974) Live Album. Bootleg Series. Audience tape (?). Release date April 2021? Not on timeline.

Over The Rainbow Live: Tonight’s The Night(Neil Young & the Santa Monica Flyers live, 1973) Live Album. Bootleg Series. Audience tape (?). Release date April 2021? Not on timeline.

Ducks Live in Santa Cruz (Neil Young with the Ducks live, 1977) "Trick Of Disaster" - Live Album. Bootleg Series. Taken from Mutlitrack soundboard. Release date April 2021? Not on timeline.

Other albums mentioned but little additional detail:

Boarding House Solo (Neil Young live, 1978) - Unreleased Live Album.

Island in the Sun (Neil Young, 1982) - Unreleased Studio Album/Sessions.

Old Ways (Neil Young, 1983) - Unreleased Studio Album/Sessions.

Times Square (Neil Young & the Restless, 1989) - Unreleased Studio Album/Sessions.

Harvest Time (Neil Young & Stray Gators, 1971) - Unreleased Live album. Possibly suerceded by various Bootleg Series releases?

Mirror Ball Live (Neil Young & Pearl Jam live, 1995) - Unreleased Live Album.

Polar Vortex (Neil Young live, 2019) - Unreleased Live Album.

The Tower - Philadelphia (Neil Young live, 2018) - Unreleased Live Album.

Homefires (Neil Young, 1974) - Unreleased Studio Album/Sessions. Some tracks released as part of "Archives Vol. II"

CSNY at Fillmore East (Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young live, 1970)- Unreleased Live Album.

Summer Songs 1986 - Unreleased Studio recordings? Possibly overlap with 'Road Of Plenty'.

Archives Vol. III - 1977-19?? - Compilation Box Set

Wasn't there a complete & sequenced Island In The Sun that Geffen rejected? Imagine this could be that.

could be! but why change the title? would be like if he suddenly decided Homegrown was called Homefires instead. but again, this is neil-town.

xp Tooscaloosa: preferred title.

“One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don’t know. Then we tried to remove the tusks. . . . But they were embedded so firmly we couldn’t budge them. Of course, in Alabama the tusks-are-loosa, but that is entirely ir-elephant to what I was talking about.” Groucho, in Animal Crackers (1930)

Homefries: preferred title.

I will continue to dream of a stoned jam session that gets titled Honey Slider

Times Square (Neil Young & the Restless, 1989) - Unreleased Studio Album/Sessions.

Wasn't there a complete & sequenced Island In The Sun that Geffen rejected? Imagine this could be that.
Yes, some relation to JI (whatevs tracklist will be)---xpost Stereogum links to interview cited: According to a 1995 interview with Young, the album — which was at one point referred to as Island In The Sun — was offered to Geffen Records before Trans. “It was a tropical thing all about sailing, ancient civilisations, islands and water,” he said.

Oops, Stereogum's quote links to another quote (of a Mojo interview).

There was a Times Square bootleg — if I remember right it was mostly not very exciting rough mixes of Freedom + El Dorado stuff. But at some point he put up a cool outtake of Fuckin Up from those sessions, a really nasty power trio sound.

RIP Elliot Mazer

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/elliot-mazer-engineer-producer-dead-1125570/

assuming Polar Vortex from the Hoffman thread is from the Minneapolis shows that are now coming out as Timeless Orpheum

Times Square (Neil Young & the Restless, 1989) - Unreleased Studio Album/Sessions.

This might be the one on the list I’m most excited about hearing. If it ever comes out.

There was a Times Square bootleg — if I remember right it was mostly not very exciting rough mixes of Freedom + El Dorado stuff. But at some point he put up a cool outtake of Fuckin Up from those sessions, a really nasty power trio sound.

For a long time this was my very favorite Neil Young music. Even now it nearly is.

As mentioned elsewhere, it was mastered and delivered to WB/Reprise, and they rejected it, presumably with suggestions as they didn't ask him to scrap it altogether, just to make some changes or adjustments that would make it more commercial (and I think give them something that was more or less a single). In WB's defense, this resulted in "Rockin' in the Free World," which is much better known than anything that came out of these sessions

The bootleg was made possible by an acetate of the original Times Square LP. It's not rough mixes at all but it sounds very rough because the acetate was audibly worn and it's very possible a tape copy was made (as well as a copy or copies further generations away) which then became the source tape for the bootleg. I'd say the latter is very plausible because the music plays at the wrong pitch and speed on the bootleg. If you apply the same correction to every track, the tracks that overlap with Freedom will consistently match in speed and pitch.

With that in mind, it's actually easy to recreate the Times Square LP without any generational loss on all but one track. Most of it's on Freedom, and Eldorado will have two crucial outtakes plus an unedited version of "Don't Cry" (which is just how it was on the Times Square LP). The only track missing is "Boxcar," which is NOT the version on Chrome Dreams II (released 20 years later) - it's very obvious that version is a completely new recording. For "Boxcar," the only available source is the bootleg, but you'll have to pitch correct it, which should be easy - again every track was off by the same amount, so whatever adjustment you'd need to make on any track that was ultimately released, you can make on "Boxcar."

we need a special ILX in-joke 12" pressing of "Boxcar" b/w "Doghouse"

I just don't understand why, if he wants to release this stuff, he doesn't just ... release it. Like, do one a month or something.

He seemed responsive to one dying fan who wanted to hear his stuff before he couldn't...you'd think the pandemic what have driven the point home.

he's releasing a lot of stuff, guys!
Homegrown, Archives II and Return To Greendale all came out last year ... he's got a triple disc live album coming out in a couple weeks ... bootleg series starts in the spring ... and that's not counting the full live shows he put up on NYA ... and the outtakes that just went up over there as well.

sorry ... for all ... the ellipses

Can I ask a stupid question? If he’s had all this stuff sitting around all these years, why has he been so slow to release it? It really isn’t that hard is it?

Ok that was three questions sorry

This may sound snarky, but it's not meant to be: are you a relatively new fan? This is kind of how he is, and if you've been following his music for the past 20 or 30 years, it's not a surprise. Jimmy McDonough first wrote about an archival project around 1989 for the Village Voice - it started off as "Decade II," but when they realized how much stuff they had and how much of it would be good to release, it blew up into the "Archives" box set, and for nearly 20 years, it was a running joke where they had this big box set in the works or ready to go, but there'd always be an excuse NOT to release it. Back in 2003, critic Greg Kot asked his manager Elliott Roberts (now deceased), and Roberts said he personally killed a tentative release date because in his mind, it was the kind of thing you released when your career was over. So when it was announced in 2009, it was a huge deal partly for that reason - there was only vague hope that it would ever see the light of day.

I’m an old fan but I’ve never paid much attention to anything related to his business side. I asked my question because I’ve seen references to the Decade II thing and the archives for years and never bothered to look into what was holding them up. The “this is what happens when musicians die” explanation make some sense.

On the other hand, I've heard artists as varied as Stevie Wonder (supposedly) and Brian Eno (very recently) indicate they want their unreleased stuff destroyed when they died, and that would be a huge shame. Neil Young is most definitely closer to the end of his career than to the start, but even if he wasn't he's got so much stuff in the can that it doesn't exactly feel like scraping the bottom in desperation whenever he deigns to release it, not least because he keeps releasing new stuff, too. The closest parallel is probably Prince, and he's also the perfect example of life getting in the way of your plans (or lack thereof). Granted, I think the Prince estate (whoever they are) have released some great sets since his death, but I'd much prefer to have Prince around, too, to enjoy the spoils and benefit from the publicity, all while making new music.

I just hope that Neil Young and a lot of these old folks have some backup plan in place, some kid who knows where and what everything is.

I can't recall his name, but I know that Neil has an archivist guy...would imagine in his 40s or so?

I remember reading, around the time that the "Bowie is ... " exhibit opened, that Bowie had at least a couple of people in charge of his physical and musical archives, organizing and itemizing every last thing (from shoes in storage rooms to studio sessions) in a easily accessible computer data base.

this say joel berstein is in charge (not that he's much younger than neil) tho i swear i read about another guy - with a more computer/technical background - maybe tyler knows

another one just went up on NYA today — the 1971 solo Young Shakespeare Theater show ... due out 3/26. "Performance Series 3.5," haha

haha i got a notification on my phone from the app that "tell me why" from that show was up, but it didn't say the whole show was

i tried to listen to it but the app crashed my phone

xp i think bernstein has come and gone as the lead archivist over the years — not sure exactly how much input he has in to what actually gets released.

oh and it's just one song up for that new thing right now ...

still kind of weird that he's putting another solo show from this period out — Massey Hall and Cellar Door kinda cover the vibe. And there are supposedly even more from this era coming out in his Bootleg Series. great stuff, obviously, but not radically different from show to show.

yeah, it's like he was certainly a consistently great solo acoustic performer back then but unless it's something like bottom line where it's bringing something to the table i'm not that interested

crazy horse live boots i feel like can all have different vibes, different jams etc

plus, if I'm looking correctly, there is no song in the tracklist of young shakespeare that isn't represented in either massey hall or cellar door (or, in some cases, both)

yeah it's pretty much "The Set" he was playing at the time. Maybe he tells some great jokes.

SECRET NEW ARCHIVES RELEASE: Having Fun With Neil Young On Stage...