In between receiving my preview Blu-Ray disc of Neil Young’s Archives Volume 1 and the arrival of the full package this coming week, what can a poor boy do except speculate about what could be on Archives Volume 2?
Volume 1 traces Young’s work through his commercial watershed Harvest in 1972 and the release of his first movie, Journey Through The Past. Check out this fetish video of one lucky fan opening their advance box.
With his career at its very summit, Young would quickly endure some of his harshest personal setbacks – the death of Crazy Horse guitarist, singer and ideal foil for Young, Danny Whitten, as well as the later passing of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young roadie Bruce Berry. On top of that, Young entered into a difficult relationship with Oscar-nominated actress Carrie Snodgrass. All this would pitch him into a funk that would last several years and coax out of Young some of his finest work. There is evidently even more unofficially released music and film/video dating from this era which could paint an even more vivid portrait of Young at his most triumphant and most despairing.
Aside from my own collection, my main source for details of this period through 1979 is Jimmy McDonough’s indispensable biography, Shakey. Every home should have one and I’m just summarizing his pioneering research here. If anyone out there has more to add or corrections to what I’ve cobbled together here, by all means …
Time Fades Away Era
Young followed up the multi-million selling Harvest by hiring most of the studio band from those sessions and taking them on the road to record a new record before live audiences.
What might be in the vault?
Demos — McDonough suggests there were demos of some songs recorded before the tour
Video – Producer Elliott Mazer had a video link-up between the stage and the remote recording truck. It’s not clear if any of those video recordings were archived.
Live – Multiple dates were recorded, so there would be multiple takes of the songs that appeared on the proper album, plus also some of the older material performed at those shows.
Special treasure – March 31, 1973 in Oakland, Young reportedly performed “Southern Man” but interrupted the song when he observed an African American cop punch out a fan. Young left the stage and a riot ensued. Including this performance on Archives Volume 2 would test Young’s commitment to a warts and all document.
Human Highway
Young worked on songs for a proposed CSNY album at his Broken Arrow Ranch and in Hawaii for an album entitled Human Highway. Graham Nash told me in an interview: “We went to Hawaii with this great album planned called Human Highway. Great songs. We had “Human Highway,” we had “Wind On The Water.” We had “Carry Me.” We had a lot of great stuff. We ended up arguing about something silly and never ended up making it.” The album was scrapped although some songs were resurrected later (the title cut ended up on Comes A Time and provided the title for a later Young film).
What might be in the vault?
Presumably demos or recordings of varying readiness from the aborted album project.
Tonight’s The Night era
What might be in the vault?
Alternate version of the album – Longtime Young associate David Briggs prepared a version of the album with a different running order and included some bizarre between-song chatter captured during the nocturnal sessions at Studio Instrument Rentals in Los Angeles. Briggs suggested in Shakey that the official version of Tonight’s The Night was a compromise; his was the real deal. It would be nice to let listeners decide.
Outtakes – Among the known outtakes is a version of the woozy band backing Joni Mitchell on a version of “Raised On Robbery.
Live tapes – Although little of the manic subsequent tour was officially recorded, the band did tape a series of shows at L.A. nightclub The Roxy. Some audience recordings of later shows could be excerpted just to show what the TTN band sounded like once they really got cooking.
Film – Some 8mm film of the band was shot at the Roxy shows, but McDonough says the reels are lost.
On The Beach era
What might be in the vault?
Outtakes/alternate versions – McDonough writes of an alternate version of “Tonight’s The Night” with former CSNY bassist Greg Reeves, a ballad called “Traces,” a version of “Winterlong” and a take of “Bad Fog of Loneliness” described as “wonderfully inebriated.” As well, there’s said to be a bizarre recording of the traditional song “Greensleeves” bookended with some surreal chatter between Young and Rusty Kershaw.
Homegrown
What might be in the vault?
Unreleased album — Around May 1974, Young’s relationship with Snodgrass finally unraveled and the misery of that time sparked a run of songwriting that culminated (or didn’t culminate, as it turned out) in the unreleased album Homegrown. Songs mentioned from this era include “Homefires,” “Bad News,” “Love Is A Rose,” “Barefoot Floors,” “Love/Art Blues,” “Through My Sails,” “Old Homestead,” “Hawaii,” “Star of Bethlehem,” “Separate Ways,” “L.A. Girls & Ocean Boys.” Some received later release, some have circulated among fans and some like “L.A. Girls,” morphed into later songs (“Dangerbird” from Zuma). From an autobiographical perspective, it makes sense to collect up versions of these songs dating from that era and listen to them as a piece.
Live recording – There is highly-regarded audience recording of a secret show Young performed at the Bottom Line in New York from this period.
Video — There is an oft-bootlegged video of a CSNY gig at London’s Wembley stadium which is in very high quality video, but captures a rather listless performance. Still, it could be mined for highlights.
Other session outtakes – While in England, Young recorded the track “White Line” as a duet with Robbie Robertson of The Band (who opened the Wembley date). In December 1974, Young returned to Quadrophonic, the Nashville studio where he cut Harvest to record “Separate Ways” with The Band’s Levon Helm. McDonough describes the result as “the ultimate ballad of failed romance.” Other recordings mentioned from this period – “Homegrown,” “We Don’t Smoke It,” “Vacancy,” “Try” and a song called “Give Me Strength” which McDonough calls “almost mystical.” In January, 1975, Young cut “Kansas,” “Mexico” (like “Brian Wilson at his ethereal best,” says McDonough). At the last minute, the album assembled from this productive spurt of writing and recording was canceled and Tonight’s The Night was taken off the shelf and released instead.
Chess Studio sessions
What might be in the vault?
While in Chicago in 1974, Young spent some time in the fabled blues label’s studio but the results were described by McDonough as “a washout.”
Criteria Studios
What might be in the vault?
The sessions (helmed in Miami by legendary Atlantic Records producer and engineer Tom Dowd) began as a Stills-Young collaboration, converted into yet another CSNY reunion and then back into Stills-Young, much to Crosby and Nash’s chagrin. The resulting album, Long May You Run, and tour were contentious.
Here’s what Graham Nash told me of the incident: “Me and David weren’t talking to Stephen. I was living in San Francisco, and Neil comes to my house and says, “Hey, listen to this.” He puts a cassette of six songs. Three of his and three of Stephen’s. They were damn good. Neil gets you like that, every time. No matter what you are arguing about, you can’t argue about something great coming off tape, through speakers. He didn’t argue. He put the tape on and it was great. I said, what’s this? He said, it is something me and Stephen are working on in Miami. You wanna piece? And it was great music. I said, f–k! I called David and said, you better get over to my house. Neil is here. David comes over. Neil plays him the tape. I mean, what an a–hole! He knows we can’t deny it.Me and David were in the middle of making our own record called Whistling Down The Wire, we didn’t have a release date. It wasn’t finished yet. We put our plans on hold. We go to Miami and sing for a month in Miami. It all sounds great. We had to get back and finish our record. We can’t finish the CSNY record. But Neil and Stephen had booked a tour as the Stills-Young Band. They need something out there to promote. So when David and I got back, they had taken off our voices and put it out as a Stills-Young record. I can’t tell you how much that hurt, because you know, it is not like we sweat blood, but we do sweat blood for our music. To have it erased for non-musical reasons was very painful for me and David.”
Outtakes — Do any of the CSNY versions of that material still exist?
Live recordings — McDonough mentions a soundboard recording from Providence exists, with an interesting Stills-Young version of “The Loner.”
Zuma era
What might be in the vault?
It’s difficult to sort out what material may be salvageable from this episode aside from the album itself.
Outtakes – “Born To Run,” a track Young recorded for Zuma, Freedom and Ragged Glory, began here. An early version of “Powderfinger” and a track called “Get Over Here, Woman” may also be in the vault. A session at Indigo Studio provided versions of “Powderfinger,” “Pocahontas,” “Out of the Blue,” “Ride My Llama,” “Like An Inca” and “Will To Love.” Later sessions in the “white house” on Young’s ranch included some recordings with Nicolette Larson and Linda Ronstadt, which produced the track “Bite The Bullet.”
Live Recordings – A best-of tape from the acoustic portions of Young’s 1976 tour has been widely bootlegged as “The Bernstein Tape” (in honor of Young’s archivist Joel Bernstein). Quality recordings from Japanese dates with Crazy Horse also exist.
Video – Great video of Neil and Crazy Horse in Japan and London has circulated among fans under the title Yesteryear of The Horse. There’s also some strange footage from the UK of Young busking in the streets, all but ignored by passers by with the exception of one eagle-eyed fan who brandishes for the camera a music paper adorned with Young’s image and then points knowingly at the mysterious sidewalk performer.
Chrome Dreams
What might be in the vault?
An alternate version of American Stars ‘n’ Bars, widely bootlegged over the years. Includes a solo version of “Powerderfinger,” “Stringman” and “Hold Back The Tears.” Bootleg versions have also included “Campaigner,” and a slower version of “Sedan Delivery”.
Comes A Time era
What might be in the vault?
Alternate version of the album – Young initially recorded this as a solo acoustic record. The label convinced him to dress it up with strings and elaborate backing. The original solo version, divided into “Ocean Side” and “Country Side” is a natural for Archives Vol. 2.
Outtake – Young and Nicolette Larson recorded a duet on a song Annie Oakley called “Lady Wingshot.”
The Ducks
What might be in the vault?
For a time, Young relocated to Santa Cruz and played with former Moby Grape member Bob Mosley as The Ducks. A planned album was scrapped, but live recordings exist.
Rust Never Sleeps era
What might be in the vault?
Outtakes – Young performed in the studio and onstage with Devo during this period, including a chaotic version of “Hey Hey, My My” recorded at Different Fur studio in San Francisco (video evidence from the Human Highway film here). As well, while the live songs on the Rust Never Sleeps LP featured some overdubs (including a slamming door on “Hey Hey, My My”), the Live Rust versions were unadorned, so both versions could be included.
Film – A set of 1978 acoustic shows at San Francisco’s Boarding House were filmed. As well, it’s unknown for certain but likely that the movie Rust Never Sleeps could and should yield some additional material..
