Neil Young / Archives II 1972-1976 retail edition unboxed

A bit late in the day, but does anyone know why Will to Love wasn’t included? From what I can tell, it was written/performed in 1976…

Possibly the greatest collection of music ever released in one place. Phenomenal stuff.

my copy arrived today. totally agree with you Paul, this packaging is way better than vol 1.
Mind you that’s not saying much because NY’s packaging has a very low standard imho. Booklets/inserts are usually not very easy to read, as is the one in Archives 2, It’s all one sentence!

Thanks Geronimo! True words….

Received the retail Vol.2 and testify it’s an amazing collection of songs….quite worth it whatever package…..as always, music is the yardstick, not the packaging.

Now comes the new quandary for this fan: will the downloadable high-definition versions sound appreciably better than the CDs? (we had no bluRay option this go-around)

Do I spend $233.98 to find out (?)…..and still no hardcover book!

Got mine & it’s all I could have wished for. Thanks Paul, your packaging is amazing!

But, the poster – Oh dear! I just wondered, is anybody planning on hanging it on their wall?

Hi Paul,
Thanks for all you do for us passionate people that love to hold the music will send in our ears for the entire experience is still very important. What to say about Neil Young a Canadian national treasure…. natural treasure for the world. Great musician, wordsmith par excellence, a catalog to die for and incredible career considering he had a child with CP to take care of. What an incredible man…. may he live another 100 years. Of course I ordered mine.
God bless you Paul and all at SDE.
Tino

Hiya
My “Retail Edition” dropped Fri am by my trusted postie. All nicely packaged and protected as requested from Badlands. Yes plastic bubble and the squeezable air thingys. But hey when it comes to protecting our muzac who cares about the planet. The Hype sticker is therefore intact on the rest of the shrink wrap.
All discs are correct in terms of titles and sleeves.
Shrink wrap carefully removed only from the box opening in a surgical like procedure to allow the slip case to be removed. Great design as Paul says ala the Jap promo boxes that I have for Hackett stuff.
I have a reservation about the quality of the card sleeves not being correctly aligned when folded. A bit poor if you ask me. Also no protective sleeves for the discs, paper or tissue or LDPE
So I have done the usual and used my stash of proprietary sleeves purchased from Bags Unlimited in US; high postage though.
Covers protected in amended poly that are originally Comic bags from Collector Line again in US but I get mine from Page 45 in U.K.
Booklet and poster protected in same way.
Outer box protected in an amended 10” 400gsm poly sleeve.
All reassembled means that it is a solid item now, with no shelf wear, the discs do not rattle and scratch inside the covers or induce tears.
All logged and described on Discogs
Shipping note from Badlands retained.
Assiduous fastidious and pedantic but protecting my investment for my loving daughter, who thinks I spend way too much.
Don’t Spook the Horse

PS
Would love Where The Buffalo Roam OST to be included for future
Carl

I hope they reissue Archives Vol 1 in the same retail edition now

I hope they reissue Archives Vol 1 in the same retail edition now

Poorly made. The gate-folds contain nothing justifying making their spines so wide (other than the lettering) and they’re misaligned. The booklet is cheap and perfect-bound.
I preferred the awkward foldout packaging of Volume I as easier to store. It has the nifty magnet closure usually reserved for The Beatles and Rolling Stones.
Volume I listed for US$99.98 in 2009 for 8 discs (US$12.50 per disc)
Volume II listed for US$159 for 10 discs (US$15.90 per disc)
Inflation (US) brings Volume I up to about $124 in 2021 dollars (US$15.50 per disc) , but I can get $12 CDs I bought new then for $6 new now.
Whatever.

I’ve received my box today and … surprise: I have 2 CD #3 and no #2 ! As I already have Tuscaloosa, this is not so big issue but I will contact FNAC to see if they can exchange… anyone with the same issue?

Just bought mine for $100.07 with tax and shipping from importcds.com which I’ve never had any problems with. Might be just for the American market, but just wanted all to have a “heads up.”

I bought the limited reissue from The Greedy Hand.
Delayed until 19 March.

would like it to arrive, but as I have the FLACS I may never listen to the actual CDS.
One of the Way Down tracks is 500MB That is effectively the size of a CD.

Way Down arrived last weekend and Young Shakespeare is due on 26 so it is a very strong month for Neil product

Do you think there is a chance that they will reissue the first archive box again?

Mines despatched from amazon but doesn’t look like I got that £103 price ? Ordered as soon as link appeared

Remember, there’s a third version out there and I think it’s still available from The Greedy Hand. It was made available after the first Limited box sold out. It’s the one that has the red lettering which makes it unique. Me, I’m happy with the OG limited version as it matches the first box from many many moons ago. Also got my “signed” CoA last week.

I’m happy to send my spare copies of Roxy, Tuscaloosa and Homegrown to a new home if someone wants them, assuming that Greedy Hand manage to actually deliver me a box set. Am I allowed to make such offers on here? Not after any dosh.

Now That’s What I Call A Very Good Box Set. That is much more preferable to the Behemoth that is the limited edition version. They could have gone one better and made it an excellent box set by ditching the gatefold sleeves and the poster and really slimming it down in the process.

The “basic” box looks far nicer than I was expecting so I’m looking forward to receiving that. The poster will be unfolded once out of curiosity then never again.

I should be wise to Neil’s tendency to include previously released CDs in the Archive boxes but I do regret doubling up on the Homegrown CD after having bought the RSD vinyl. Ah well.

Hi I am interested that some people have had free membership and a letter over the deluxe debacle . I bought the box and have received nothing other that the ltd box set . Can I ask did it arrive automatically or did you apply ? Questions to NY .com have so far been inconclusive. Any ideas Paul or anyone else . Thanks

Sorry, I don’t mind a little bit of Neil Young in small doses. I’m sure he’s sponsoring this website!

In the last few weeks Neil has been putting out details on Volume 3 which he says will be released early 2022 or “even sooner”.As well as the normal 10cds he said there will be 9 movies in the box.It goes up until the International Harvesters-1985-at least.There have already been 3 archival releases from this period-A Treasure,Hitchhiker and Songs For Judy-so be prepared for the usual amount of repeats.
With 10 cds and up to 9 dvds/blurays it is going to be pricey.
The Covid lockdown has been good for Neil’s Archives work flow.

Please reprint Volume 1, missed it the first time.

I passed on Volume I back in the day, and would to see a CD reissue in this same format.

Bummer that the retail edition was so much cheaper than the limited first edition, but I take heart in the fact that I recently received a COA for the limited edition, which is actually signed by Neil Young. That more than makes up for it, in my view.

Hi all Superdeluxers,
Just received confirmation that my Retail Edition set has been despatched from Badlands.
Great news; my wife doesn’t understand why I’ve got the (famously very) limited edition and have kept it sealed and have purchased this edition. I have said previously that, for a fleeting second, I did consider buying the deluxe edition from Greedy Hand and keep that sealed, but could not rationalise the purchase price for essentially a minute unrecognisable change to the box from 1st edition. Indeed my wife would have had my wotsits for breakfast, but she’d have had to have sewn them back on again. So I settled for the Retail Edition, but from an actual bricks and mortar retailer albeit online during COVID restrictions on travel.

Now to those complaining yet again about price. Get over yourselves. Amazon is a behemoth that is ruining the market place. Do you not read Neil’s site? Buy local and that is what I choose to do, in full knowledge that I will pay more. However, the quid pro quo is that shipping to a UK address is included.

Paul attempts to disrupt but cannot hope to compete solely on price and neither can Badlands. Paul adds value by presenting his excellent unboxing vids.

These help us saddos to view the items in all their virtual reality. I have said elesewhere, on this site and others, that I wish more care was taken in the handling of the product and contents. That aside, keep up the good work Paul.

So I get the value = price x quality / service sum that clearly those that choose Amazon don’t. I also get the wise wise words of John Ruskin on the same theme; again there are some that clearly don’t. Don’t bleat when all your local stores have disappeared and there’s no RSD.

To paraphrase messers Zappa and Gallagher (Rory / Donal) disrupt the disrupters!

Don’t be Denied.

TTFNQ
Carl

Great video! Besides the book and the box design, the deluxe also gives you 1 year free access to NY web site wich one is wonderful. Of course, almost 100 box over is still a lot but also is the price for this “retail” box set. It is cheaper than the Deluxe one but still expensive.
@rett Russel jut 3 albuns were released before and they are Roxy, Tooscalosa and Homegrown. Tonight´s the Night is not the same as it´s well known homonimus.

This is on my Amazon orders page at £103.05. When did it drop to this price?

Way too much, it´s too expensive.

Re-ordered my pre-order (don’t ask, it’s complicated) of this retail version today; this time from the Greedy Hand US Store. Fully expect to get the box set AND the hi-res download from them which failed to happen with the UK store!
Your unboxing video confirms I was right to go with the retail version even though it looks a bit underwhelming after all this time waiting for it! I’d love to have the big box to go with my Archives Vol 1, but an extra £100 for a nice quality book and a matching box is just not on. The music is what counts, and it’s the same in both versions.

Paul, another wonderful unboxing video. You helped me make up my mind, so I will be getting the smaller retail box (more so for storage considerations).

BTW, I have to compliment you on your videos. The plain white backdrop used to eliminate any visual distractions, and your showing and describing all the bits and pieces of a box set is so informative to your viewers, and superior to any other unboxing videos I’ve seen on YouTube (no kidding). Also, you have the most pleasant looking hands. Have you ever considered being a hand model? :-)

Such a quandary for the Neil fan who picked up the stand-alone albums as they were released in the last year or so.
I think about how magnificent this NYA II box would be if I hadn’t heard/owned quite a few of these discs already.
Such is the life of a fan…. I’m grateful we’re getting to hear this great stuff in our lifetime.