Neil Young releases archive collection on Blu-ray

Curious how Neil Young looked while writing “Cinnamon Girl”? Want to see images of his early records? How about listening to his entire collection while reading news clips and viewing pictures that fit chronologically?

Young has announced that he will release his oft-rumored archival collection on Blu-ray disc. When we say complete archival collection, we mean complete archival collection. The timeline begins in 1963 with his first days of making music, moving along into the Buffalo Springfield era and beyond.

“I only give the record company what I want people to hear at the time,” Young told CNet. “So I have a lot of unreleased material. Putting it all together tells a much different story than just what has been produced (for public consumption).”

If somehow five years from now they discover something that they missed, fans can download it online and add it to the disc because of Blu-ray’s impeccable digital capabilities. Young seemed especially pleased with the ease of use with the PlayStation 3 for this function. Shakey Pictures produced the project in addition to Young’s other films.

Viewers get to listen as they thumb through a digital filing cabinet (which is not a metaphor—it really looks like a filing cabinet), selecting tracks with the ability to then continue to page through images and newspaper articles. Reportedly, Young has wanted to produce a project like this for over 15 years. He was waiting on a medium that could provide a superior quality of both sound and interactive capabilities.

No word yet on what rock legend will be next to follow suit, though it is reported that the Criterion Collection will be available via Blu-ray soon.

Watch Neil Young hang out with the guys from Sun:

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