Hot on the heels of his long-delayed Archives Vol. 1 box set, Neil Young has a new archival live album prepped for release, according to Young’s NY Times news website.
Dreamin’ Man, due “on our about Nov. 2,” is officially listed as #12 in the Archives Performance series — single concerts drawn from Young’s tape cache, which have already yielded recordings of shows from Canterbury (1968), the Riverboat (1969), Fillmore East (1970) and Massey Hall (1971).
But here’s the weird part. Dreamin’ Man does not slide neatly into that chronology; it was recorded in 1992. According to Young’s site, it’s “A closer look at Harvest Moon songs, all performed solo acoustic before the release of Harvest Moon, DREAMIN’ MAN contains intimate live performances recorded in concert halls during 1992. ”
Vaulting over chronology will raise some eyebrows. The fan site ThrashersWheat says there is speculation among serious Young watchers that this could mean the next box set in the Archives series might not be Vol. 2, but perhaps volume 4 or 5.
The trouble with speculation this far out from an announced release date is, Neil has plenty of time to change his mind and a propensity to do just that.
