"It's already together. All you have to do is make sure it's in chronological order, pick the art that goes with it, pick the packaging (and) put it out."
That's how Neil Young summed up his Archives box to a biographer.
In 1991. That was two years into the project.
What happened between then and now, only Neil knows for sure. All I know is that Archives has been a Holy Grail of rock 'n' roll for so long, it makes Chinese Democracy look like a rush job.
But finally, after countless blown deadlines, a few technological upgrades and ever-expanding horizons, Archives Vol 1: 1963-1972 -- now supposedly the first of four boxes chronicling the Canadian folk-rock icon's long and winding career -- is here.
For real.
I've got it.
I've heard it.
I've watched it.
And you know what?
It was almost worth the wait.
Available Tuesday in three formats -- on 10 Blu-ray DVDs (about $315 online), 10 regular DVDs (about $265) or eight CDs (about $100) -- Archives Vol. 1 is almost worth the price too.
Simply put, it's monumental in every sense of the word. It's technologically innovative. Historically definitive. Exhaustively (and exhaustingly) detailed. Artistically revealing -- and not just for fans.
"It's interesting how I contradict myself over time," Young chuckles at one point. Nice of him to notice.
Here's what I noticed about Archives Vol. 1:
The Outside
Even before you take it out of the plastic, it's impressive. The box stands a foot high, and is 7.5 inches wide and deep -- about the size of a decent-sized stereo speaker. Weight: Six pounds.
The Inside
Flip the lid and you find four vertical slots housing another box that snugly holds the discs; a 4.5-foot foldout poster; a thick book; and a "secret stash" drawer with extra goodies (more on the last two later).
The Overview
True to its title, this covers Young's early career -- his beginnings in Winnipeg, his days with Buffalo Springfield and CSNY, and his albums up to Harvest. In that chronology: Nearly 130 songs that last nearly 10 hours. About 50 tunes are previously unreleased cuts, live recordings, alternate takes and different mixes. And those numbers don't include dozens of hidden songs and videos.
The DVD Interface
You can do it the easy way, and just play the songs in order. Or you can do it the hard way, which is more fun. Hit Song Selection and a virtual filing cabinet opens. Each tune has its own folder. You can play the cut, read the lyrics, check the credits, scan photos, examine documents (letters, postcards, drawings, sheet music, etc.), read press clippings and eyeball memorabilia. Each disc also has a bio for the period, and a giant timeline that puts it all in context (and sometimes links to bonus fare). The Blu-ray version allows new content to be downloaded to the set.
The Audio
In a word: Pristine. In fancier words: Everything is remastered in 24-bit 192 kHz PCM audio (Blu-ray) or 24-bit 96 kHz PCM audio (DVD). The latter has 256 times the resolution of a CD. That technology works wonders not only on the scratchy old recordings, but also on the later material and hits. You might have heard some of these songs a million times, but you've never heard them quite so clearly.
The Sonic Highlights
Along with familiar fare, there are dozens of buried treasures. Among them: Young's first singles with his teenage band The Squires; early demos of Sugar Mountain, Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing and more; the unreleased Springfield cut Sell Out; 15 minutes of the band's final concert in 1968; a slew of live CSNY; different versions of Wonderin', When You Dance I Can Really Love and others; radio spots and interview excerpts; and concert "raps."
The Videos
All the songs come with visuals -- an assortment of tape decks, turntables and oscilloscopes that serve as video wallpaper. But the set is also peppered with a couple of hours of footage, including: TV appearances by Buffalo Springfield and CSNY; unseen footage of CSNY at Woodstock, Big Sur and the Fillmore East; Young solo in a New York folk club; Neil recording with the London Symphony Orchestra; interviews at his California ranch; videos of him rooting through documents with archivist Joel Bernstein in 1997; his surreal 1974 film Journey Through the Past; and even a film of Young finding a CSNY bootleg while record shopping in Hollywood -- and then confiscating the album from the bewildered clerk.
The Book
All those pictures and letters on the DVD? Most of them are also in the book -- a 240-page tome with a faux leather cover. It also includes a list of all the tracks -- along with more recordings that remain tantalizingly unreleased.
The Goodies
Inside the cigar-box drawer are a Whisky A Go Go notepad, a copy of the Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House CD/DVD, and -- best of all -- a download card for MP3s of all the tunes.
The Quibbles
Two discs -- Live at the Fillmore East 1970, and Live at Massey Hall 1971 -- have already been released in Young's Performance Series. Ditto the Sugar Mountain set. Another album, Live at the Riverboat 1969, is also part of the series. A small problem: These discs don't have all the same features as the others. A bigger problem: Young completists -- the fans most likely to shell out for this -- already own most of them.
The Bottom Line
So, Neil: How long until Vol. 2?
