Neil Young pushes back Archives, Greendale headed to stage :: Music News :: Articles

Neil Young’s long-waited Archives series is being pushed back. Again. The box set is being held up because Young, long an opponent of digital music, has decided to release the material via DVD and Blu-Ray. The format change will allow the set to more closely adhere to the songwriter’s multimedia vision.

"I know it's in technical production now, but it's only coming out on Blu-ray and DVD," Young told Billboard.com. "There won't be CDs. Technology has caught up to what the concept was in the first place [and] how we're able to actually present it. But there's no doubt it will come out this year."

In addition to the music Young recorded with his early band The Squires and plenty of unreleased studio cuts, the set will include the previously released concert recordings Live at the Fillmore East and Live at Massey Hall. In addition to music, Archives Vol. 1 will include never-before-seen film footage, photos, letters and a 150-page book.

In the meantime, we do know that the premiere of the rock opera adaptation of Young’s Greendale will premiere at the Undermain theater in Dallas, Texas on March 29. Greendale, which in previous incarnations has been an album, a film, and a tour, will be performed onstage with the help of some of the Dallas music scene’s biggest names, including Kenny Withrow of New Bohemians, Paul Semrad of Course of Empire, and Alan Emert of Brave Combo. The production will run through May 3. By then, who knows, there might even be a Greendale graphic novel. Oh wait, that's right, there will be.