Neil Young has announced the complete track list for his long-awaited Archives Volume 2 box set along with a release date of November 20th. Spread chronologically across 10 discs, it begins with the songs he recorded shortly after the release of Harvest in 1972 and goes all the way to his March 1976 Asian/European tour with Crazy Horse.
The package has 12 songs that have never been released before this in any format as well as 50 previously unreleased versions of songs. The exact details of the release have yet to be announced, but a post the Neil Young Archives website say it will be “only available on the NYA,” and that preordering will begin October 16th.
The first Neil Young Archives box set was released in June 2009 and covered the birth of his recording career in 1963 all the way through the release of Harvest in 1972. This new set covers a smaller window of time, but he recorded new songs at such an astonishing pace in the mid-Seventies that it was impossible for his label to keep up. Many fans consider this to be the time when he peaked as a songwriter. He’s been gradually releasing material from it for the past few years, most notably the legendary lost 1974 LP Homegrown that finally came out earlier this year.
Archives Volume 2 begins with a disc of songs from 1972 and 1973 titled Everybody’s Alone. “Letter From ‘Nam,” “Come Along and Say You Will,” “Goodbye Christmas on the Shore” and “Sweet Joni” have never been officially shared with fans prior to this.
There’s also new version of Tonight’s the Night with a previously unreleased cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Raised on Robbery” and an unheard jam on the album track “Speaking Out.” The On the Beach period is represented with the 12-song Walk On, which includes new renditions of “Bad Fog of Loneliness” and “Traces” along with the never-before-heard “Greensleeves.”
Disc 6, This Old Homestead, contains the previously unreleased songs “LA Girls and Ocean Boys,” “Frozen Man” and “Daughters” in addition to 13 unheard versions of songs like “Pardon My Heart,” “On the Beach” and “Love/Art Blues.” The birth of the Frank “Poncho” Sampedro incarnation of Crazy Horse can be heard on Dume, which documents the 1975 Zuma sessions. It contains the new song “Born to Run” (not a Bruce Springsteen cover) and unheard takes on “Ride My Llama,” “Powderfinger,” Too Far Gone” and several others.
Look Out For My Love chronicles songs recorded around the time of the aborted CSNY reunion album Human Highway, including the unheard song “Mediterranean” and tunes like “Fontainebleau” and “Midnight on the Bay” that wound up on the 1976 Stills-Young Band LP Long May You Run.
It wraps up with Odeon Budokan, a live album recorded in London and Tokyo on Young’s first tour with the the new Crazy Horse lineup. It’s a mixture of acoustic songs like “Old Man” and “Stringman” with electric takes on “Drive Back,” “Cowgirl in the Sand” and others.
Archives Volume 2: 1972-1976 is just one of several archival Young records in the works. He’s also releasing Return to Greendale, Way Down in The Rust Bucket, a 50th anniversary edition of After The Gold Rush, Carnegie Hall 1970, Road of Plenty and Noise and Flowers, though exact dates have yet to be announced. (In a separate note on the NY Archives site, Young writes that vinyl plants have been unable to keep to schedule, postponing some releases.)
Here is a complete track list for Archives Volume 2: 1972-1976. (A # signifies an unreleased version of a song, while a * signifies a song that has never been released in any form.)
Disc 1 (1972-1973)
Everybody’s Alone
1. Letter From ‘Nam *
2. Monday Morning #
3. The Bridge #
4. Time Fades Away #
5. Come Along and Say You Will *
6. Goodbye Christmas on the Shore *
7. Last Trip to Tulsa
8. The Loner #
9. Sweet Joni *
10. Yonder Stands the Sinner
11. L.A. (Story)
12. LA. #
13. Human Highway
Disc 2 (1973)
Tuscaloosa
1. Here We Go in the Years
2. After the Gold Rush
3. Out on the Weekend
4. Harvest
5. Old Man
6. Heart of Gold
7. Time Fades Away
8. Lookout Joe
10. New Mama
11. Alabama
12. Don’t Be Denied
Disc 3 (1973)
Tonight’s the Night
1. Speakin’ Out Jam *
2. Everybody’s Alone #
3. Tired Eyes
4. Tonight’s the Night
5. Mellow My Mind
6. World on a String
7. Speakin’ Out
8. Raised on Robbery (Joni Mitchell song) *
9. Roll Another Number
10. New Mama
11. Albuquerque
12. Tonight’s the Night Part II
Disc 4 (1973)
Roxy: Tonight’s the Night Live
1. Tonight’s the Night
2. Mellow My Mind
3. World on a String
4. Speakin’ Out
5. Albuquerque
6. New Mama
7. Roll Another Number
8. Tired Eyes
9. Tonight’s the Night Part II
10. Walk On
11. The Losing End #
Disc 5 (1974)
Walk On
1. Winterlong
2. Walk On
3. Bad Fog of Loneliness #
4. Borrowed Tune
5. Traces #
6. For the Turnstiles
7. Ambulance Blues
8. Motion Pictures
9. On the Beach
10. Revolution Blues
11. Vampire Blues
12. Greensleeves *
Disc 6 (1974)
The Old Homestead
1. Love/Art Blues #
2. Through My Sails #
3. Homefires
4. Pardon My Heart #
5. Hawaiian Sunrise #
6. LA Girls and Ocean Boys *
7. Pushed It Over the End #
8. On the Beach #
9. Vacancy #
10. One More Sign #
11. Frozen Man *
12. Give Me Strength *
13. Bad News Comes to Town #
14. Changing Highways #
15. Love/Art Blues #
16. The Old Homestead
17. Daughters *
18. Deep Forbidden Lake
19. Love/Art Blues #
Disc 7 (1974)
Homegrown
1. Separate Ways
2. Try
3. Mexico
4. Love Is a Rose
5. Homegrown
6. Florida
7. Kansas
8. We Don’t Smoke It No More
9. White Line
10. Vacancy
11. Little Wing
12. Star of Bethlehem
Disc 8 (1975)
Dume
1. Ride My Llama #
2. Cortez the Killer
3. Don’t Cry No Tears
4. Born to Run *
5. Barstool Blues
6. Danger Bird
7. Stupid Girl
8. Kansas #
9. Powderfinger #
10. Hawaii #
11. Drive Back
12. Lookin’ for a Love
13. Pardon My Heart
14. Too Far Gone #
15. Pocahontas #
16. No One Seems to Know #
Disc 9 (1976)
Look Out for My Love
1. Like a Hurricane
2. Lotta Love
3. Lookin’ for a Love
4. Separate Ways #
5. Let It Shine #
6. Long May You Run
7. Fontainebleau
8. Traces #
9. Mellow My Mind #
10. Midnight on the Bay #
11. Stringman #
12. Mediterranean *
13. Ocean Girl #
14. Midnight on the Bay #
15. Human Highway #
Disc 10 (1976)
Odeon Budokan
1. The Old Laughing Lady #
2. After the Gold Rush #
3. Too For Gone #
4. Old Man #
5. Stringinan #
6. Don’t Cry No Tears #
7. Cowgirl in the Sand #
8. Lotto Love #
9. Drive Back #
10. Cortez the Killer #
From Rolling Stone US
