Neil Young fans are about to be rewarded for their loyalty in a big way. The 10-disc Archives Volume 1 (1963 - 1972) finally has a firm release date – Jan. 29, 2009 – and it's no longer going to be available exclusively on Blu-Ray.
But there's a catch. Depending on the format, you can expect to pay between $344.99 and $431.99 for the package, which might seem a bit steep. But one has to consider that it includes a treasure trove of rare and unreleased material.
Reprise Records says the set will include eight audio discs, two video discs and an accompanying 150-page book, which might see the light of day by itself at some point. Amazon, meanwhile, claims it has a 1,200-minute running time. We don't know what to believe but either way it's a whole lot of Neil.
Meanwhile, Youngophiles can get their fix a little early on Dec. 2 with Sugar Mountain, a live recording from 1968 made a few months before the release of his solo debut. As previously reported, the collection contains the earliest known recordings of the singer’s solo material, including previously unreleased versions of tracks like “Mr. Soul,” “Expecting To Fly” and “Broken Arrow.”