Customer Reviews

Neil Young Archives: Volume One [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Kindly ignore the other "reviews". This box is fantastic. At this point in time, it is arguably the finest musical release EVER. While it is true that there is the image of a record player or tape player when you play the songs, that isn't the only option. This only happens if you choose to play all of the songs from the menu. If you select the songs INDIVIDUALLY from the file cabinet, you you will have all sorts of nifty bonuses to enjoy. For example, there are concert videos, video and audio interviews with Neil, photographs of Neil and his various bands that were shot around the time the songs were recorded, handwritten song lyrics, typed lyrics, detailed song info, and photos of memorabilia - like 45 sleeve art, concert ticket stubs, letters Neil had written, etc. Plus, there are LOADS of "easter eggs" on each disc. Most of these are really cool. Even hunting for them is a blast. My favorites include hilarious video footage Neil shopping in a record store in the early '70s and finding bootlegs of his music. He gives the store clerk such a hard time and it's a lot of fun to watch. Also, there is nifty footage of Neil visiting the factory at the time the 'Harvest' album covers were printed. Fun stuff. In addition to all of this, there is a clever "timeline" feature where you can see a month by month timeline of Neil's life complete with photos and little pushpins that you can click on to play other songs and videos and if your blu-ray player (like the PS3) is connected to the internet, you will be able to download addition "bonus" content, which appear as blue pushpins on the timeline. Since its release, there have been around 10 bonus songs that can be downloaded at no additional cost (featuring a couple Mynah Birds songs!). The film 'Journey Through the Past' is also included in this box and while it isn't the greatest movie ever made, it's a wonderful treat for any Neil Young fan, as this film was never released before. Best of all, all of the songs in this box have been remastered at the best possible resolution available (linear PCM 24bit/192kHz) and if your equipment is up to speed (high quality speakers and a nice receiver that accepts HDMI connection), you will never hear these songs sounding better. Neil himself says this is as close as you are gonna get to hearing the songs in master tape quality. Finally, with the purchase of this set, you also get a card with a special code that allows you to hop online and download the songs in mp3 format (320kbs). Neil is supposed to release 3 or 4 more of these boxes, each one basically covering a decade of Neil's career. Hopefully the uneducated reviews haven't dissuaded people from buying this first installment. Yes, it is expensive. But I managed to get it for around $240. At $24/disc it is worth it when you consider the tons of stuff you get along with the best audio quality possible. 5 stars.

I debated a long, long time before buying this. The expense, and some of the really bad reviews, put me off for awhile. But I've been a Neil Young fan since I was about 15, and that means 36 years now. Ultimately, I couldn't resist this.

I'm very glad I succumbed. :) Volume One of Young's "Archives" is, OBVIOUSLY, for the hardcore fan, but for us, it's just an amazing experience.

Hearing some of Young's more problematic material on Blu-ray is a delight and a revelation. Even after it was remastered and partly remixed just a few months after its initial 1968 release, Young's eponymous debut solo album never sounded quite right. The vocals were tough to hear, and on the songs with more complex instrumentation, the overall sonic picture lacked clarity.

One of the first things I did, then, when I received this box was to cue up "The Old Laughing Lady" from that first album. The multichannel Blu-ray mix astonished me. From Young's vocal to Jack Nitzsche's electric piano to Earl Palmer's drums, the parts were easy to hear -- and, at long, long last, I could hear what Young was aiming for here: A kind of orchestral folk/pop/rock. This always has been one of my favorite Young songs, and he's recorded other versions of it, including live renderings, but it was excellent to hear the original in this brave new setting.

The format also proves beneficial to Young's noisier numbers, including the early stuff recorded with backup band Crazy Horse. "Cowgirl in the Sand" and "Down by the River," both from "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere," are a hoot to hear; the mix allows your ears to distinguish between the guitars of Young and the late Danny Whitten as never before. And despite the Horse's reputation for sloppiness ... well, all I can say is they sound great here, including the rhythm section of drummer Ralph Molina and bassist Billy Talbot.

OK, things I DON'T like about the set: Give me a break with all this "hidden track" stuff, and the Easter Egg approach to finding them. Come on ... first of all, is it REALLY a hidden track when you tell people they're there? Then present them with the challenge of finding them? It almost feels like being baited. Sorry, but with this much material, just present it as simply and straightforwardly as possible. Another gripe: I wish, upon inserting the disc, we'd be prompted to use PCM. Yes, there's a reminder to do so, but on my player, at least, I have to go into the setup menu of the player and select it as the HDMI output. Failing to do so prohibits you from getting the full lossless mix. Because I watch a lot of movies, I prefer my player's default setting to be bitstream, simply so the idiot lights on my receiver do work, letting me know something is in DTS HD Master or whatever.

Finally, to those who complained that the visual element of this set consists of images of tape recorders and albums spinning around: That's only when you select play all. Accessing the tracks individually allows you to view a huge amount of information, from photos to lyric sheets to memorabilia such as original album covers. There's also a timeline function that clearly is going to eat up a lot of my time over the next few months, given its interactive nature.

This set is unlike any other and is a monumental work that I find to be superbly put together. The sound quality is excellent and it's obvious that Neil Young has put in a great deal of effort in offering such a great set. The timeline and other extras are worth the purchase of the Blu-ray version but the sound quality is what really makes the set. Needless to say you'll need a good sound system to realize the improvement. I'm looking forward to the the next volume.

Most of the reviews so far do not address the actual reason this set was produced. It would have been released a long time ago if it was intended to be lossy 16/44.1 (CD quality). But the whole point of it is not so much the near-comprehensive compilation of early material or the video content. The emphasis is on the high-resolution audio. Neil Young is an audiophile. So are many of his fans who want to hear his material produced for the best possible sound quality. The archives was many years in coming--material in search of a medium. Finally Blu-ray became an established format and Neil produced his archives. I won't go into a lot of detail on the video content or breadth of material. The remastered material has a holistic or organic quality that is almost always lacking in digital audio. This commitment to quality and detail benefits the entire spectrum of sounds throughout the dynamic range and pays off instruments to their fullest. The reviewers who rated this set poorly obviously did not understand the whole point of the Archives. Yes, it's expensive. Yes, the video content of the studio recordings is incidental--showing a spinning turntable or a reel-to-reel tape--just turn your TV off and feast your ears on the sounds. The 24/192 audio is the main reason to buy the archives. That--along with the painstakingly indexed mountain of material--make the Blu-ray version of the archives Vol 1 an essential purchase for all Neil Young fans who care about audio quality.

I was a little disappointed bu this, I sort of thought that as it was a blue ray disc set, there would be blue ray concerts for all not just a blue ray of an lp spinning around while the song played. It was cute at first but I would have preferred if there was no actual video, that it just be DVD Audio or some such thing. Apart from that the packaging is awesome but as yet I haven't come across too many songs that weren't on Neil's albums. Maybe DVD would have been enough but I just love blue ray - hence I bought this set in prefernce.

This guy has been preaching about the best audio and video quality. Please realize audio quality is limited to 192 24hz stereo and the limitations of the actual video. DVD's have the same capacity for the audio quality and there is not too much video on the freqking discs. I would recommend being honest with the fans and giving all the blue ray purchasers a partial refund.

.....or at least admit it. C'mon man, this averages out to be 35 bux per disc. It bugs me that someone of Neil's anti-establishment stature would yield to record company pressure to price this box set out of the reach of his primary fan base - baby boomers (u know, the wealthy common sense generation). Very unfortunate, but typical, I guess that older folks begin to subscribe to the religions that they opposed in their youth.

DJ

All what is about is the music with the image of a tape recorder or a turntable, I thought this was about live in person recordings. Don't buy it, better get decade cd as a recopilation of him. This box set is just ridiculous who wants to watch an image of a tape recrdr or a turntable with music in the bacground .? Dums