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Neil Young / Official Release Series Volume 5

Freedom, Ragged Glory, Weld and Arc

By Paul Sinclair

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Neil Young / Official Release Series Volume 5

Neil Young continues his occasional Official Release Series box sets with a new volume (No 5) which brings together four albums released as the 1980s turned into the 1990s.

The albums are 1989’s Freedom, Ragged Glory from 1990, the live album Weld and it’s experimental companion, Arc (both 1991). These are discs 22, 23+, 24 and 25 in the series. The ‘+’ for Ragged Glory indicates some bonus material which is two B-sides (‘Interstate’ and ‘Don’t Spook The Horse’) and unreleased versions of ‘Box Car’ and ‘Born To Run’, the latter a 12-minute version.

Rockin’ in the Free World from Freedom

The Freedom studio album relaunched Young’s career to a certain degree and features a mix of musicians and sessions. It includes the NY anthem ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’. Ragged Glory saw Neil reunited with Crazy Horse and was recorded a Young’s Broken Arrow Ranch in Northern California.

Live album Weld comprises performances recorded on the tour to promote the Ragged Glory album. It was originally issued as a 3-disc set with Arc, an experimental 35-minute outburst of feedback, improvisation, guitar solos and vocal fragments. This Official Release Series box marks the album’s first release on vinyl.

The 9LP vinyl version of Original Release Series Volume 5 (click image to enlarge)

There are two box sets. One is a 9LP offering (pressed on 180g black vinyl) with Freedom as a 2LP set, Ragged Glory and Weld as 3LP packages and Arc as a single vinyl record. For the 6CD version Ragged Glory and Weld are doubles and the other two, single discs. All box sets are numbered. Like all the reissues in this series, the albums are remastered from the best source available, the original analog tape in most cases. This is, in fact, the first time any of these four albums have been remastered.

The Original Release Series Volume 5 box will be released on 28 July 2023 (was 14 July), via Warner Music.

The 6CD version of Official Release Series Volume 5 (click image to enlarge)

Tracklisting

Neil Young / Official Release Series Volume 5

Official Release Series Volume 5 Neil Young /

    • LP 1 & 2: Freedom
      1. Rockin’ In The Free World (Live Acoustic)
      2. Crime In The City (Sixty to Zero Part 1)
      3. Don’t Cry
      4. Hangin’ On A Limb
      5. Eldorado
      6. The Ways of Love
      7. Someday
      8. On Broadway
      9. Wrecking Ball
      10. No More
      11. Too Far Gone
      12. Rockin’ In The Free World (Electric)
    • LP 3, 4 & 5: Ragged Glory Smell the Horse
      1. Country Home
      2. White Line
      3. Fuckin’ Up
      4. Over and Over
      5. Love to Burn
      6. Farmer John
      7. Mansion on the Hill
      8. Days That Used To Be
      9. Love and Only Love
      10. Mother Earth (National Anthem)
      Bonus tracks
      1. Interstate
      2. Don’t Spook The Horse
      3. Box Car [Previously unreleased version]
      4. Born To Run [Previously unreleased version]
    • LP 6, 7 & 8: Weld
      1. Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)
      2. Crime in the City
      3. Blowin’ in the Wind
      4. Welfare Mothers
      5. Love to Burn
      6. Cinnamon Girl
      7. Mansion on the Hill
      8. Fuckin’ Up
      9. Cortez the Killer
      10. Powderfinger
      11. Love and Only Love
      12. Rockin’ in the Free World
      13. Like A Hurricane
      14. Farmer John
      15. Tonight’s the Night
      16. Roll Another Number
    • LP 9: Arc
      1. Arc (A Compilation Composition)

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