Neil Young to release archive on BluRay disc (1 Viewer)

[Ruz-El]

it is in standard DVD

Amazon.com: Neil Young Archives Volume 1 (1963 - 1972) 10 DVD: Neil Young: Music

$310.89, so not much cheaper. Plus with the Blu Ray in that vid he made it look like he would send out updates to save to your hard drive with Blu Live or whatever it was called.


True true. Sadly, I wont be able to listen to Neil while playing Grand Theft Auto 4, so my dream of running over hookers to the sounds of "Learning To Fly" in Hi-def audio will continue to be in the pipe...

 

[Jimi C]

Im a pretty big Neil Young fan, but, honestly, this guy isnt a great musician and there are not a lot of subtleties to his music and his playing. I own a few DVDA discs of his and while the soundquality is better its not really anymore enjoyable than a regular cd. These highquality formats are really nice for Jazz and other genres of music. I just find this whole thing sort of silly, that he wouldnt release this stuff on a cd, the redeeming factor of his music is his soul and his message. I dont think Blueray is going to make those things better. Not to say im not interested in buying this, but I dont see why the wait was necessary. Maybe I'm alone here.

Well, I take that back, I didnt get to the second page yet when I typed that. For nearly $400 I think ill pass. Maybe rent a Ferrari for a week insted.

 

[Henry Gale]

OK

I'm just going to respond with the first paragraph of Neil's bio at allmusic.com


"After Neil Young left the Californian folk-rock band Buffalo Springfield in 1968, he slowly established himself as one of the most influential and idiosyncratic singer/songwriters of his generation. Young's body of work ranks second only to Bob Dylan in terms of depth, and he was able to sustain his critical reputation, as well as record sales, for a longer period of time than Dylan, partially because of his willfully perverse work ethic. From the beginning of his solo career in the late '60s until the late '90s, he never stopped writing, recording, and performing; his official catalog only represented a portion of his work, since he kept countless tapes of unreleased songs in his vaults. Just as importantly, Young continually explored new musical territory, from rockabilly and the blues to electronic music. But these stylistic exercises only gained depth when compared to his two primary styles: gentle folk and country-rock, and crushingly loud electric guitar rock, which he frequently recorded with the Californian garage band Crazy Horse. Throughout his career, Young alternated between these two extremes, and both proved equally influential; there were just as many singer/songwriters as there were grunge and country-rock bands claiming to be influenced by Neil Young. Despite his enormous catalog and influence, Young continued to move forward, writing new songs and exploring new music. That restless spirit ensured that he was one of the few rock veterans as vital in his old age as he was in his youth."

 

[Mike Frezon]

What?!?

Music is subjective?

 

[Henry Gale]

We have a saying around our household: Neil Is Lord.

 

[Jimi C]

You just don't get it Henry.

 

[Henry Gale]

That's OK, thankfully we're all different.
For instance, I don't "get" video games.

 

[Jack Gilvey]

Love Neil, but I can't see myself buying this archive. Too little time, too much money. His music does indeed have the subtlety and nuance that deserves careful treatment, though. If the Harvest DVD-A is any indication, it should be great.
Funny, even many guitarists don't "get" his playing, but his style is truly unique and expressive. I recall seeing him on the "Weld" tour with CH and during "Cortez" realizing what a musician he truly is. His tone, phrasing, and inflections are very difficult to replicate. I also saw him on a solo all-acoustic gig at the Beacon Theater in NYC from the second row and had a similar epiphany...great stuff.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

I just got the Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury CD/DVDA package. A bit of tape hiss but overall really good.

 

[Sam Favate]

The list price on the Blu-Ray set is $432. That's $43.20 per disc! That's completely outrageous. Even at the discounted $324, it's the most expensive disc collection I've ever seen on a per-disc basis.

I have every album NY ever made, but I won't be getting this at these prices.

 

[Ruz-El]

It is outrages. In his defense though, it's not like the disc is just 12 songs. Looks like each one is packed with Video and text galleries on top of the music. I'm hoping anyways. Still no track listing that I can find, but there is a picture of the packaging, looks unwieldy. :S

 

[Mark_TS]

I woldnt hold out much hope for BRs survival- it cant quite consistantly crack the 10% of the market after 2 years-and the economy will kill it soon
And if SONY follows the path of WAMU Chase-etc
There may be no more SONY products.


I mean they are Hemmoraging cash in their various movies tvs consmer producds office prouducts, depts like crazy they are the next in line for a bailout BR or chapter (7)?SONY wont be around much longer -or BR

 

[Ruz-El]

BLu-Ray has enough support though, so until a newer format comes around, it should last regardless of Sonys state.

I finally got the "Sugar Mountain" release, and it has a trailer for this boxset. Looks fantastic! 128 songs, the feature film "Journey Through The Past" is included on top of the other video materia and a 256 page hardcover book. PRetty exited for this, even though Amazon now shows a Feb 2009 date... maybe it wont come out after all.

 

[Gary Seven]

Agreed. Everyone I know has never heard of these formats even though I am a big fan. However, everyone I know is aware of Blu Ray.

 

[Ron Reda]

I'm really curious about this set but the big turnoff is that I don't love NY enough to fork over this much coin. That being said, every single review I've read gushes over it. This is good because it significantly raises the bar for other bands to pursue this type of comprehensive set for their recorded output. Well done.

 

[Ruz-El]

I finally did it! Splurged big this weekend and picked this up in Blu Ray. I'm not even close to going through all of it yet, but it's already impressed the hell out of me.

The set itself is unweildy, the 10 discs are in a box similar to the CD version, and fits into a slot in the box. The problem with this mini-box is, it flips open at the center, with flaps covering the discs, 5 per side. I imagine the wear and tear will affect this, and because it doesn't locked closed at the fold out, it flops a bit and can be tricky to get out the slot. Which brings us to the book. Absoloutly gorgeous it is, replicating a leather covered journal. The problem is, it has it's own slot, and once you take it out the wrapper, it's a total bitch to get out! The hole is just big enough to accomodate it, but it's open under the rim of the slot so the book opens a bit and wont slide back out due to catching on the rim! Really annoying. Also, that SUGAR MOUNTAIN release is not in blu ray, but is the DVD/CD set thrown into the last slot in this box which features what's best described as a stash box. I'm guessing the similarity in performance and time frame to the RIVERBOAT blu ray disc for the reason, but I have no idea obviously.

The discs themselves are amazing. Anyone hating the price based on 12-15 songs per disc really shouldn't be worried about lack of content. The music itself is well worth the price, the extras make the set though. For example, selecting MR. Soul on disc 2, while listening to it, you can look at press clipping, read the lyrics etc. You can also select a video of the Buffalo springfield lip synching it on "The Hollywood Parade" . These types of clips are not advertised anywhere on the box. Some of the songs have period audio interviews, and others have short vids of Young in the archives with some of the material (one I watched was from his first single THE SULTAN, where he opens up a letter he sent to himself in 1963 to copywrite the song). Granted, these little clips wont get much play after the first few go throughs, but it creates one hell of an immersive experiance. I have no idea how many of these are too be found, the only other vid I 've seen was for SEA OF MADNESS, where you can see CSN&Y perform it at Big Sur (I was hoping for Woodstock since it's on the soundtrack album, but not in the movie.)

So there you go, best boxset I've ever seen. I've spent maybe 20 minutes with it, and already I'm confident in the purchase. I got it for $285CDN, which makes it 10 blu ray discs at $28 a piece, not too bad when most new blurays cost $32, and these are truely multi-media in content as opposed to good sounding CDs. It's too bad those Beatles remixed sets aren't getting a similar treatment in Sept. As much as I'm looking forward to that mono set, it's going to feel a bit empty next to this.

*another thing I've noticed, Youngs first 4 albums got remastered and put out on CD along with this set. Sadly, they didn't get the DVD treatment. I might still grab them up though, the original CDs for EVERYONE KNOWS THIS IS NOWHERE and AFTER THE GOLDRUSH sounded like hell.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Wow, Russell! Cool!

Would it make sense to move the discs into standard blu cases and keep the nice cardboard packaging separate to cut down on wear & tear?

 

[Ruz-El]

Originally Posted by Mike Frezon


Ha ha, sorry about that! I didn't say anything about the sound since every review I've read made mention of it. I haven't done comparisons or anything, and only sampled some of the more odd ball tracks. What I have sampled all sounded great. Everything is 2 channel mixes for the audio, I think only the movie got the 5.1 treatment. The few Buffalo Springfield tracks I sampled where crystal clear, but still sounded natural and warm to my ears. I haven't listened to anything off his solo debut yet, supposedly this set and the remastered version are the first times the proper mix have been released. (I just looked at NY's website to confirm this as this is where I read it. Looks like those first 4 albums will be coming out in Blu in the future!)

As far as the packaging, there's no need to transfer the discs to other cases. If you're familiar with the archive releases from last year with the MASSEY HALL and SUGAR MOUNTAIN discs, each Blu is packaged in a similar sleave. So you can take the discs out of the two big boxes, and they'll fit right in line with your CD collection. Which is what I'm going to do as soon as I make room for them on my shelf.

/forum/thread/272111/neil-young-to-release-archive-on-bluray-disc/30#post_3592300

 

[Mike Frezon]

Huh. So everything got the remastering treatment...but the music is all still in stereo and not in surround?

I'm surprised by that. I figured there would be 5.1 mixes (possibly alongside 2.0 mixes as well).

 

[Ruz-El]

I thought they might get the 5.1 as well. I'm guessing Young is such a purist, he's representing the original mixes at the highest possible quality. Still would of been nice to have 5.1 on the live releases if possible, though I don't feel short changed at all.

There's a blurb here on Neilyoung.com about the 4 remasters:

http://www.neilyoung.com/news/index.html