The Neil Young Archives is a longtime project by singer-songwriter Neil Young. It started as a series of archival releases featuring previously released as well as unreleased studio and live recordings. It eventually developed into a website featuring almost the whole of Young's recording output throughout his career, available for streaming in high resolution audio format. The project has been long in the making – work began in the late 1980s. Throughout its development, Young himself has made several statements about the material included, release dates, and marketing that have proven false as the project was modified for new multimedia formats and expanded upon to accommodate new releases or other relevant material.Shakey, Jimmy McDonough As of 2024, the Neil Young Archives series of box sets is scheduled to have five volumes.Neil Young Archives Times-Contrarian article: "Volume 4 Creation Begins".
The archives are divided into several series. The main series consists of several volumes of box sets, each covering a separate period of the artist's career. The Performance Series consists of individual releases of live material, each representing a specific show or tour. Finally, there is the Special Release Series, which consists of previously unreleased albums. These different series also overlap; for example, two volumes of the Performance Series that are included on each of the first two Archives box set releases are also available separately. Homegrown is also included in its entirety on Neil Young Archives Volume II: 1972–1976 but was also released on its own earlier in 2020.
As of 2019, Young has launched a subscription website and application where all of his music is available to stream in high resolution audio. The Neil Young Archives also include his newspaper, The Times-Contrarian; The Hearse Theater, which shows limited runs of concert films and rare footage; and photos and memorabilia throughout his career.
Box sets Volume I: 1963–1972 The first volume, The Archives Vol. 1 1963–1972, was released on June 2, 2009. Covering Young's early years with The Squires and Buffalo Springfield, it also includes cuts, demos, outtakes and alternate versions of songs from his albums Neil Young, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, After the Gold Rush, and Harvest, as well as tracks he recorded with both Crazy Horse and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young during this time. Also included in the set are several live discs, as well as (on the Blu-Ray/DVD versions) a copy of the long out-of-print film Journey Through the Past, directed by Young in the early 1970s.
Volume I was released as a set of 10 Blu-ray discs in order to present high resolution audio as well as accompanying visual documentation. It is also available as a 10 disc DVD set and an 8 disc CD set. On January 31, 2010, the box set won the Grammy Award for Best Art Direction on a Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package, and was shared by Neil Young along with his art directors Gary Burden and Jenice Heo.
Volume II: 1972–1976 Similar in scope to the first box set, Neil Young Archives Volume II: 1972–1976 was officially released as a deluxe box set and for streaming on the Neil Young Archives site on November 20, 2020. Covering Young's work with The Stray Gators, Santa Monica Flyers, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Crazy Horse, and The Stills-Young Band during this period, Vol. II includes album cuts, demos, outtakes and alternate versions of songs from his albums Time Fades Away, Tonight’s the Night, On the Beach, Zuma, and Long May You Run, as well as the then-recently released album Homegrown in its entirety and tracks from CSNY's multiple sessions for their aborted Human Highway album. Also as with Volume I, included in the set are several live discs, including the unreleased live album Odeon Budokan. Volume II was released as a set of 10 CDs (with a deluxe edition containing a hardbound book), and did not have accompanying Blu-ray or DVD editions as Vol. I did due to, as Young has explained, “economic reasons.”
Volume III: 1976–1987 Neil Young Archives Volume III: 1976–1987 was released on September 6, 2024. Covering an eleven-year period from 1976–1987, Volume III included, among other tracks, an album and film called Across the Water that further documents his 1976 tour of Japan and Europe with Crazy Horse; A Snapshot in Time, an "audio documentary" of a rehearsal with Nicolette Larson and Linda Ronstadt prior to recording American Stars 'n Bars; Windward Passage, a live album of tracks recorded with The Ducks in Santa Cruz; the unreleased album Oceanside Countryside; Union Hall, a recording of Young rehearsing with Larson and the Give to the Wind Orchestra prior to their November 12, 1977 gig in Bicentennial Park in Miami; an album and film documenting his 1978 Boarding House residency; songs from both his unreleased album Island in the Sun and earlier versions of Old Ways; a live album documenting Young's February 7, 1984, shows with Crazy Horse at The Catalyst; and a disc of live tracks and studio cuts Young recorded with the International Harvesters.
On July 25, 2024, Young announced a pre-sale for members of his Archives website for the upcoming box set. Two distinct versions of this box set were released: a 17 CD standard box set available both online and brick-and-mortar retailers, and a "deluxe" version, available exclusively at Neil Young's Greedy Hand merch store, that also contains 5 Blu-Ray discs. These Blu-Rays will contain eleven films in total, including four that have never been released and are exclusive to this box set. Members of Neil Young Archives that pre-ordered in advance received a 16 track CD sampler and a pin. A 2 LP version of highlights, titled Archives Vol. III - Takes, was also released.
Volume IV: 1987-2004 As of 2026, "Volume IV" is expected to be the second-to-last Archives box set to be released, according to a Times-Contrarian article. The set is currently in production and being developed by the Neil Young Archives team. While the exact scope is still being finalized, Volume IV is anticipated to cover the period from 1987 to 2004, beginning with material from his first tour with the Bluenotes in the fall of 1987.Neil Young Archives Times-Contrarian article:
Performance Series The series of box sets were preceded by individual concert releases, dubbed the Archives Performance Series. This section contains details of releases so far. The releases are ordered in chronological order of recording. The albums were released in a different order, with Volume 2 coming in 2006, Volume 3 in 2007 and Volume 1 included in the first Archives box.
1960s Volume 00: Sugar Mountain – Live at Canterbury House 1968
Sugar Mountain - Live at Canterbury House 1968 is labeled Volume 00 in the Performance Series, but was the third in the series to be released. It features recordings from Young's solo acoustic performances at Canterbury House on 9–10 November 1968. The album was released on December 2, 2008.
Volume 01: Live at the Riverboat 1969
Volume 1 is entitled Live at the Riverboat 1969 and is taken from a series of shows at the Riverboat Coffeehouse in Toronto in February 1969, recorded by Brian Ahern. The CD was released as part of the Archives Vol. I: 1963-1972 box set in June 2009. Chrome Dreams II from certain retailers also included a bonus CD with a preview track from the Riverboat. Different outlets had different CDs, each with a different preview track.
1970s Volume 02: Live at the Fillmore East 1970
Live at the Fillmore East, released in November 2006, features a March 1970 concert with Crazy Horse. The album was released on CD, LP and DVD with high definition 24/96 sound accompanied by still images from the concert. This album was also included as part of the Archives Vol. I: 1963-1972 box set.
Volume 02.5: Live at the Cellar Door
Live at the Cellar Door was recorded in Washington, D.C., during six-show between November 30 and December 2, 1970. This was released on December 10, 2013.
Volume 03: Live at Massey Hall 1971
A solo acoustic performance from January 1971, Live at Massey Hall 1971, saw release in March 2007. The album was released on LP, CD and DVD Video with the DVD version including high definition sound accompanied by 8mm film footage, which sourced from the Stratford, Connecticut, concert three days later (January 22, 1971). This album was also included as part of the Archives Vol. I: 1963-1972 box set.
Volume 03.5: Young Shakespeare
Young Shakespeare was released on March 26, 2021. It is an all-acoustic solo show and recorded at the Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, Connecticut, on January 22, 1971, just three days after the Massey Hall show. After talks of it possibly being paired with the 50th Anniversary Edition of After the Gold Rush, it was officially available as a stand-alone release along with a companion concert film, which had previously been used for Massey Halls accompanying DVD release.
Volume 04: Tuscaloosa
Tuscaloosa is a live album featuring recordings from the concert in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on the 1973 tour with The Stray Gators, during which Time Fades Away was recorded. The album was released on June 7, 2019. Young has since stated on his Archives website that Tuscaloosa is "as close as Time Fades Away II that we'll get." This album was also included as part of the Archives Vol. II: 1972-1976 box set.
Volume 05: Roxy: Tonight's the Night Live 1973
Roxy: Tonight's the Night Live was released on April 24, 2018, with a Record Store Day vinyl release on April 21. The album is culled from a set of shows played during the opening of the Roxy Theatre from September 20–22, 1973. The shows featured Young backed by the Santa Monica Flyers and songs from the recently recorded Tonight's the Night. This album was also included as part of the Archives Vol. II: 1972-1976 box set with an additional performance of "The Losing End" not present on the original release.
Volume 06
Originally projected to be Odeon Budokan, this ended up being released as a Special Release Series album on September 1, 2023. As of now, this catalog number could be earmarked for the Across the Water discs that can be found in the Archives Vol. III box set.
Volume 07: Songs for Judy
Songs for Judy was released digitally and on CD on November 30, 2018, and as a double LP on December 14, 2018. Compiled by Joel Bernstein and Cameron Crowe from solo acoustic performances on the 1976 North American tour, it previously circulated among fans as a bootleg titled The Bernstein Tapes.
Volume 08
Catalogue number possibly reserved for Boarding House, an album compiled from the recordings made during Young's five-day residency at The Boarding House, San Francisco in May 1978; some of these recordings appeared on side A of Rust Never Sleeps. On July 26, 2024, it was announced that this will finally be seeing release as part of the Archives Vol. III box set.
1980s Volume 09: A Treasure
A Treasure documents the International Harvesters tours of 1984–1985. It was first released May 24, 2011 as an LP, with Blu-ray (and accompanying film) and CD following June 14.
Volume 10
This catalog number could possibly be reserved for "Crazy Horse Garage" – a series of concerts by Young & Crazy Horse during their US concert tours in October and November 1986. However, the concert film In a Rusted Out Garage is seeing release as part of the CD/Blu-Ray version of Archives Vol. III.
Volume 11: Bluenote Café
Bluenote Café, released November 13, 2015, documents the 1987/88 tour with the Bluenotes behind the 1988 album This Note's for You.
1990s Volume 11.5: Way Down in the Rust Bucket