Neil Young: Holes in the Archives, Volume 1

This CD takes the collection of Neil Young's recordings to almost Borgesian lengths. To give you an idea of what I mean by this, here's an excerpt from the sleeve notes, "Yes, there already five [sic] different versions of 'Birds' in the Archives, but I felt that this live recording with Graham Nash on backing vocals was unique and beautiful enough to include in this collection".

Other inclusions are mono versions of tracks from Buffalo Springfield's second album, shockingly never before released on CD (the first album apparently "got the mono/stereo HDCD remaster treatment in 1997" — phew). And there was me thinking you just needed to press the "mono" button on your amp if you wanted to hear a mono version…

Holes in the Archives came into my hands six weeks ago at the registration desk for the 2010 Neil Young Appreciation Society convention (a.k.a. RustFest) down the road in Brixton. Paul, who put the whole thing together, was trying to argue that I shouldn't pay the full registration fee as I'd only been there for a few hours over the weekend. I said I should, because any surplus from my fee was going to the Bridge School charity anyway. I looked down and saw this CD on the table, and suggested the compromise that I would pay the full fee, but take the CD as a discount. Done.

So now I'm getting to know the holes in the archives while my Archives remain unopened. (I see the blu-ray version has now doubled in market value, since it's no longer available: if this recession continues much longer, I may be tempted to leave it unopened and sell.) Glad to find that it's not all remixes of well-known tracks with the hi-hat and harmonica on opposite channels from the released version — there are still a few songs that are completely new to me.

Details and download links (untested and — can I say this without seeming disingenuous? — unendorsed)

Rate Your Music entry for this album

Comments

[Brian]

What is your primary reason for not opening the Archives?

Are you a Record Collector first and foremost?

[David]

Brian, full details on my archives post, but the primary reason is that I have the (definitive) blu-ray version, and I don't yet have a blu-ray player, so little point in opening until I do. (And, yes, I know there's a book in there and other stuff, but...)