Ticket 2 Ride

From 1976 to 1987, Neil Young would write and record so much music that he’d be releasing it decades in the future. This would include some of his best, and worst (in my opinion), in his long career.

The Archive Series is not a greatest hits collection or remastered albums (those are released as Original Release Series) from the period. Young has divided his career into chapters, and 1976-1987 is the third. He and the team have picked through his vault, and other archives, to find music created during that time period.

Young has pulled a few songs directly from released albums, but most of the Archive releases consist of selected live versions, alternate versions, demos and unreleased songs. The 1976-1987 period was a very creative one, not only for the impressive input, but from the genres and scope of technology utilized. From recording acoustic in front of a crackling fire to vocoders and synthesized polyrhythmic instruments, Young went from rockabilly to old country to industrial to blues to grunge.

The set I’m looking at is not the deluxe edition with the 11 films on Bluray, rather the one with just 17 CDs of music. The price difference between these two editions is several hundred dollars. Yikes.

The Archive sets are not for the casual Neil Young fan. The casual fan probably doesn’t own every studio release either. I might be wrong. Between the studio releases of new songs, live albums, unreleased albums and archive releases – that’s a lot of Neil product. I’ve collected a lot of Neil product through the past 50 years and I’m selective about what I buy. While I won’t buy everything, I do want to hear everything. Then I make the decision about what I want to add to my collection.

Volume III of the archives contains 198 tracks with 121 unreleased and 15 never-released songs in 28 hours of content. I’ve listened to each song on each disk. Here is what I found.

Disc 1 – Across the Water I (1976) Live at Budokan Hall, Tokyo. The first half of disk is performed solo, the rest with Crazy Horse. “Don’t Cry No Tears” is particularly rocking, and “Cowgirl in the Sand” more ragged and daunting than other versions. “Southern Man” and “Cortez the Killer”, also great concert songs get the full treatment, “Cortez” is the better of the two here, “Southern Man” sounded rushed. “Lotta Love” usually doesn’t sound good played live; this version doesn’t overpower the beauty of the song. Very lovely, especially Sampedro on the piano.

https://youtu.be/x_e0-mCgyW8?si=xF9Tra4Gy84NlLj6

Disc 2 – Across the Water II (1976). A different Budokan Hall concert later that same month. Also a mix of solo and Crazy Horse. “Stringman” is gorgeous with Young solo on piano. “Down By the River” is not one of the better live versions, uneven performance. “Like a Hurricane” however, excellent version. “Drive Back” is also beefy and well-played. Another version of “Cortez the Killer”, a bit longer than the earlier concert version. “Homegrown”, the song and performance are just average.

https://youtu.be/P4pclKWliy0?si=iG0y3zRuee_L5HNe

Disc 3 – Hitchhikin’ Judy (1976–77). Most of the 21 songs are previously released from Hitchhiker, Hawks & Doves and Songs for Judy.

Best version of “Powderfinger” ever! “Hitchhiker” is also so powerful in solo acoustic form. The later version is not this good. This is version of “Give Me Strength” from Hitchhiker, which was unreleased prior to that. Hitchhiker and Song for Judy were unreleased albums till recently.

https://youtu.be/Bn6PQR1v8YM?si=vATsXEjZlBZ2TEWx

“Will to Love” is from American Stars ‘n’ Bars. Young explains when it was initially recorded and overdubbed, but one of the few songs that is from an album in the same form. “Four Strong Winds” is from The Last Waltz film. “Lost in Space” was released on Hawks & Doves in a different version. Recorded with Ronnie Wood, this version is a sweet, gentle song.

Disc 4 – Snapshot in Time (1977). From the American Stars ‘n’ Bars period leading up to Comes a Time. Most of the disk is made up of songs Young wrote and demoed for Linda Ronstadt and Nicolette Larson. You can hear him explain the songs, and occasionally they will attempt backing vocals. Formative versions of these songs. Too bad that “Bad News Comes to Town” was never in a proper version. “Hey Babe” is the version from American Stars ‘n’ Bars. I like it much better now than almost 50 years ago. “Barefoot Floors” is a song Young gave to Larson to sing on her album. It’s a tender song, exemplified by Young’s solo acoustic demo he plays live for her.

Disc 5 – Windward Passage (1977). Young performing with The Ducks. Most of the tracks released on High Flyin’. “Sail Away” was unreleased. “Little Wing” is gorgeous. This is one of Young’s songs, usually recorded acoustically and in a much shorter form, this version is the standout here. “Windward Passage”, an instrumental is a rocker and shows off the guitar work of Young and Jeff Blackburn. “Cryin’ Eyes” is also a rocker.

https://youtu.be/bZAVO4VR-ME?si=lbRACWJ8yJEsayUa

Disc 6 – Oceanside Countryside (1977). Countrified versions of songs recorded at Crazy Mama’s, Nashville. The rest of this disk’s songs recorded at Indigo and Trinidad Studios, Ft. Lauderdale. “Pocahontas”, “Peace of Mind” and “Comes a Time” are superior to the released versions. “Lost in Space” is a longer version with more guitar overdubs. “Goin’ Back” is a different mix than on Comes a Time. This might be a better version. Yes, it is.

Disc 7 – Union Hall (1977). Recorded with Nicolette Larson at mostly Nashville Musicians Union Hall and Sound Shop in Nashville, during rehearsal with a fine backing band. A few of these songs were done with an orchestra, including “Lady Wingshot” an unreleased song. “Down By the River” is an interesting version, not better, just different. “We’re Having Some Fun Now” is a previously unreleased song, too bad, this is a good one. “Motorcycle Mama” here is a rousing, bluesy version with Larson belting out a great vocal.

https://youtu.be/uX2Bkt1wS-g?si=XjPKeuGpww7wXnBB

Nicolette Larson was a wonderful vocalist, successful on her own, but a real treasure during this period with Young. She is missed, but her presence on this set is golden.

Disc 8 – Boarding House I (1978). Previously unreleased live versions from previous albums and songs not yet premiered. These are solo, live performances at the Boarding House in San Francisco. Songs that would appear on Comes A Time and Rust Never Sleeps. A few older songs are thrown in like “Birds.” Although most were new songs, Young performs them with feeling and familiarity that really engage the audience.

Disc 9 – Boarding House II (1978). Also songs recorded at the Boarding House. Some are solo performances, others he has accompaniment. “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)” was recorded with Devo at Different Fur. Nine minutes of carnage. “The Ways of Love” is one I wasn’t familiar with, nicely performed. The acoustic version of “Down By the River” is very good; I almost prefer the solo acoustic to the electric band versions. That’s just me. “After the Gold Rush” is lovely, as always. “Out of My Mind” a Buffalo Springfield song, is played on the piano in all of its poignancy.

Disc 10 – Sedan Delivery (1978). Mostly live tracks from Live Rust or unreleased versions from Rust Never Sleeps. The disk contains one unreleased song, “Bright Sunny Day” which could have remained unreleased, it’s unremarkable. The rest of the disk shows Young and Crazy Horse at their best.

Disc 11 – Coastline (1980–81). This disk is made up of previously released songs from Hawks & Doves and RE-AC-TOR.

These are countrified songs, Hawks & Doves was never an album I played very much. Previously unreleased “Winter Winds” and “Get Up”, plus unreleased original, “Sunny Inside” are included here. The latter song was released This Note’s For You. “Southern Pacific” is quite a piece of guitar work. I need to revisit RE-AC-TOR.

Disc 12 – Trans/Johnny’s Island (1981–82). In all honesty, I never really connected with Trans. Listening to the songs here, I’m not sure why, other than the vocoder used for Young’s vocals. A little of that goes a long way for me. The guitar work and arrangements are great; with a bit less of the 1980s new wave effects, this is a rockin’, punchy albums full of sweet grooves. “Johnny” thankfully does not contain the vocoder vocals; decent song. “Island In The Sun” is a fine song, devoid of gimmicky sounds. The rest of the disk is bright, uptempo, keyboard centered songs that relate thematically to Johnny’s Island. According to something I read, Young recorded songs in Hawaii for an album to be called Island in the Sun with his new band The Royal Pineapples. Unfortunately, the album was not released and he went a different direction. A few songs appeared on Trans like “Silver & Gold” and “If You Got Love.” The other songs Unreleased songs including “Raining in Paradise”, “Love Hotel”, “Island in the Sun” and “Big Pearl” are here.

Disc 13 – Evolution (1983–84). This is the strangest assortment of music styles by a single artist on one disk. From country to rockabilly to synth rock. Young was having issues with what he wanted to record and what his record company boss expected. Contemporary music styles were also changing. Young changed style with each album he submitted to David Geffen.

On this disk are songs recorded in sessions that were for the country album Old Ways, the rockabilly Everybody’s Rockin’ and the industrial synth rock Landing On Water.

Disc 14 – Touch the Night (1984). All of the songs here were recorded at The Catalyst in Santa Cruz with Crazy Horse.

This was a “club tour” Young and Crazy Horse did in 1984. Boozy, rough and loud. These songs were available from a radio broadcast recording released on vinyl.

Disc 15 – Grey Riders (1984–85) Mostly unreleased live versions, from a variety of performances, plus three unreleased songs. Young’s live album, A Treasure, is the source for several of these songs, including “Get Back to the Country.” Nearly all the songs here are countrified. “Interstate” recorded in Philadelphia is a song that’s new to me. The arrangement is great.

https://youtu.be/oD-B_r_0VVU?si=CxJZWk7XIlGEau-n

In 1985, Young released Old Ways, a collection of songs Geffen Records sued him over.

Disc 16 – Road of Plenty (1984–86). This CD contains mostly tracks from the synth-drenched Landing On Water, the album Young made with Danny Kortchmar and Steve Jordan. “Road of Plenty” is an unreleased song, and a decent one. “We Never Danced” and “When Your Lonely Heart Breaks” are unreleased versions of songs that appear on Life. The live version here of “We Never Danced” is more poignant than the album version.

Landing On Water is an album I listened to a couple times and shelved for 20 years. Even a recent attempt at listening ended quickly. “Weight of the World” is the only track that rises above the production muck to stand on its own.

Disc 17 – Summer Songs (1987). This disc contains songs recorded during 1987, songs that would surface in other versions on further Young projects. For example, “American Dream” was the title track of a CSN&Y studio album. “Someday” later surfaced on Freedom. “For the Love of Man” Psychedelic Pill. “One of These Days” Harvest Moon. “Wrecking Ball” Freedom. “Hangin’ On a Limb” Freedom. “Name of Love” American Dream. “Last of His Kind” only appeared with the other songs on Summer Songs, an EP he made available to stream on his website, it appears here.

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Final Thoughts:

Thanks for sticking with me through 17 disks. I have to say, there were some surprises. For example, I forgot how good RE-AT-ROR is, and despite the synthesized vocals, there are things to like on Trans. I have both in my collection.

There are of course nuggets from his unreleased recordings. Island in the Sun is a lost gem. Neil Young is known to shelve projects suddenly, substitute songs, completely rework songs, and release long-forgotten albums. I applaud his archivists for keeping track of and maintaining his recordings.

Like it or not, Young is an artist who stands by his work. I don’t care for his rockabilly phase or the synth-drenched Landing On Water album. These songs are well-represented on this Archive set. Young also goes a bit heavy on the country genre, but I have less issue with that. I found it quite interesting to listen to his demo session with Nicolette Larson and Linda Ronstadt, debuting his a group of songs to them. This was a period that showed the emergence of Larson as a performer and it’s great that Young featured her as much as he did here.

All in all, this was a great listening experience. There is much to like and appreciate here. Neil Young is an incredibly talented and driven artist. If you have the time, this is a great musical journey.

4.7/5