UPDATE 11/12/2020: It’s been a long time since Neil Young released his last Archives box set. In the intervening 11 years since Neil released Archives, Volume 1: 1963-1972, fans have endlessly speculated what might be on Volume 2 – or if it might happen at all. As our readers probably know by now, Neil Young Archives, Volume 2: 1972-1976 is a go, with a limited-edition box set arriving next Friday, November 20. A digital edition will also be available on Neil Young Archives and all major digital services.

Following the swift sell-out of the limited set, Neil announced on NYA’s Times Contrarian that a general retail edition would follow. True to his word, it’s now available to pre-order. This version of the box set includes the same 10 CDs and oversized fold-out Archives Poster as the deluxe edition, plus a 24-page booklet instead of the 252-page hard bound book (which will be available for separate purchase at a later date). The retail edition features a simpler cube-shaped slipcase box, rather than a large deluxe box. This retail edition of the box set is due for release on March 5, 2021. Pre-order links are now live and can be found below! Note that if you order the retail edition from Neil Young’s Greedy Hand Store, you’ll get high-resolution digital files of all the music.

This slimmed-down retail version of the highly anticipated box set will be welcome news to those who may have missed out on the high-demand original run, but it’s worth noting that contrary to a prior announcement posted by Neil on his site, the deluxe edition WILL be re-pressed for release in March, exclusively from Greedy Hand! That edition includes an oversized fold-out Archives Poster, a 252-page book chronologically illustrated with hundreds of photographs (many previously unpublished), additional archive materials, a partial tape database, a detailed description of the music and a fold-out timeline of the period. Note that the “II” numerals are printed in red on this repressing to distinguish from the originally announced first run. Meanwhile first-run buyers will be sent a certificate of authenticity. Whether you purchased the last time around or are going for the re-press, buyers of the the deluxe box will also receive a 1-year subscription to NYA streaming service, and a free hi-res digital audio download of the box, to be delivered on March 5, 2021.

Now what about the music?

As we’ve noted, Archives, Volume 2 is sequenced chronologically to spotlight the astonishingly prolific period lovingly referred to as the Ditch Years. The box contains a staggering 131 tracks from Neil’s personal archive. Of those, 12 songs have never been released by Neil in any form before, a further 49 songs are presented in previously unheard versions. And though recent releases Homegrown, Tuscaloosa, and Roxy: Tonight’s The Night Live are all repeated here, there’s plenty of completely unheard material to satisfy any fan of this era.

The box begins with Everybody’s Alone, a disc of tracks recorded in the wake of Harvest and into 1973. A sort of alternate version of Time Fades Away, the disc includes unreleased versions of that song, “L.A.,” “The Loner,” “Monday Morning” (otherwise known as “Last Dance”), “The Bridge,” and “Human Highway.” The long-awaited unreleased tracks “Letter From ‘Nam,” “Come and Say You Will,” “Goodbye Christmas on the Shore,” and “Sweet Joni” round out the disc.

CD 2 contains Tuscaloosa, the 2019 release that features 11 songs from Neil Young and The Stray Gators’ set at the University of Alabama in February 1973. It’s followed by an expanded Tonight’s The Night featuring an unheard jam on “Speaking Out,” an alternate version of “Everybody’s Alone,” and – very surprising given her stance on outtakes – the long-rumored jam between Neil Young and Joni Mitchell on “Raised On Robbery.” The song from her Court and Spark album is said to be treated completely differently here. “It kicks ass…” Neil says in his book, Waging Heavy Peace. “It was funkier than anything she has ever cut. A total gem!” Next up, CD 4 includes an expanded Roxy: Tonight’s The Night Live. Originally released in 2018, these raw live versions are supplemented with a live cut of “The Losing End.”

An alternate On The Beach follows on the fifth CD, called Walk On. In addition to the studio cuts that we’ve known for decades, it includes the unreleased song “Greensleeves,” an alternate version of “Traces,” and a Beach-era outtake of what must be Neil’s favorite, “Bad Fog of Loneliness.”

CD 6 is called This Old Homestead and seems to mirror Young’s vision for what he called Homefires. A companion to the recently released Homegrown (which itself appears as CD 7), This Old Homestead features tracks that were prepared for that album alongside songs intended for CSNY’s brief and tumultuous reunion. It’s a disc that’s full of sought-after material, including “L.A. Boys and Ocean Girls” (which became part of Zuma‘s “Danger Bird”), an unreleased version of “Pushed It Over the End,” “Changing Highways.” The clutch of Homegrown outtakes includes unheard versions of “Love/Art Blues,” “Give Me Strength,” “Bad News Comes to Town,” plus the never-before-heard songs “Homefires,” “Frozen Man,” and “Daughters.” The unreleased music continues on CD 8, Dume, which collects classics from Zuma and eight session outtakes, including the unreleased “Born To Run” (an original song, not the Bruce Springsteen classic). CD 9, Look Out For My Love, brings together songs from the aborted CSNY album that became The Stills-Young Band’s Long May You Run, plus tracks that were eventually released on American Stars ‘n’ Bars and Comes A Time.

The set closes out with a collection that Neil has been teasing for years, Odeon Budokan. The 10-track disc presumably mirrors an original track listing for a proposed live album featuring a resurrected Crazy Horse. It features a blend of acoustic and electric material, recent songs and fan favorites from across his career. Among them are “After The Gold Rush,” “Cowgirl in the Sand,” “Old Man” as well as “Lotta Love,” “Stringman,” “Too Far Gone,” and more.

You can purchase the retail edition and repress of the Deluxe Edition of Neil Young Archives, Volume 2: 1972-1976 through the links below!

Neil Young, Archives, Volume 2: 1972-1976 (Reprise, 2020)

Retail edition: Greedy Hand Store / Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Your Local Record Shop link tbd
Deluxe edition repress: Greedy Hand Store

* = previously unreleased song
# = new unreleased version

Disc 1 (1972-1973) – Everybody’s Alone

1. Letter From ‘Nam *
2. Monday Morning #
3. The Bridge #
4. Time Fades Away #
5. Come Along and Say You Will *
6. Goodbye Christmas on the Shore *
7. Last Trip to Tulsa
8. The Loner #
9. Sweet Joni *
10. Yonder Stands the Sinner
11. L.A. (Story)
12. L.A. #
13. Human Highway #

Track 7 released as B-side to “Time Fades Away,” Reprise Records single REP-1184, 1973.
Track 10 released on Time Fades Away, Reprise Records LP MS-2151, 1973.

Disc 2 (1973) – Tuscaloosa

1. Here We Go in the Years
2. After the Gold Rush
3. Out on the Weekend
4. Harvest
5. Old Man
6. Heart of Gold
7. Time Fades Away
8. Lookout Joe
9. New Mama
10. Alabama
11. Don’t Be Denied

All tracks released on Tuscaloosa, Reprise Records LP 587621-1, 2019.

Disc 3 (1973) – Tonight’s the Night

1. Speakin’ Out Jam #
2. Everybody’s Alone #
3. Tired Eyes
4. Tonight’s the Night
5. Mellow My Mind
6. World on a String
7. Speakin’ Out
8. Raised on Robbery [with Joni Mitchell] *
9. Roll Another Number (For The Road)
10. New Mama
11. Albuquerque
12. Tonight’s the Night Part II

Tracks 3-7, 9-12 released on Tonight’s The Night, Reprise Records LP MS-2221, 1975.

Disc 4 (1973) – Roxy: Tonight’s the Night Live

1. Tonight’s the Night
2. Mellow My Mind
3. World on a String
4. Speakin’ Out
5. Albuquerque
6. New Mama
7. Roll Another Number
8. Tired Eyes
9. Tonight’s the Night Part II
10. Walk On
11. The Losing End #

Tracks 1-10 released on Reprise Records LP 566051-1, 2018.

Disc 5 (1974) – Walk On

1. Winterlong
2. Walk On
3. Bad Fog of Loneliness #
4. Borrowed Tune
5. Traces #
6. For the Turnstiles
7. Ambulance Blues
8. Motion Pictures
9. On the Beach
10. Revolution Blues
11. Vampire Blues
12. Greensleeves *

Track 1 released on Decade, Reprise Records LP 3RS-2257, 1977.
Track 2, 6-11 released on On The Beach, Reprise Records LP R-2180, 1974.
Track 4 released on Tonight’s The Night, Reprise Records LP MS-2221, 1975.

Disc 6 (1974) – The Old Homestead

1. Love/Art Blues #
2. Through My Sails #
3. Homefires *
4. Pardon My Heart #
5. Hawaiian Sunrise #
6. LA Girls and Ocean Boys *
7. Pushed It Over the End #
8. On the Beach #
9. Vacancy #
10. One More Sign #
11. Frozen Man *
12. Give Me Strength #
13. Bad News Comes to Town #
14. Changing Highways #
15. Love/Art Blues #
16. The Old Homestead
17. Daughters *
18. Deep Forbidden Lake
19. Love/Art Blues #

Track 16 releases on Hawks & Doves, Reprise Records LP HS-2297, 1980.
Track 18 released on Decade, Reprise Records LP 3RS-2257, 1977.

Disc 7 (1974) – Homegrown

1. Separate Ways
2. Try
3. Mexico
4. Love Is a Rose
5. Homegrown
6. Florida
7. Kansas
8. We Don’t Smoke It No More
9. White Line
10. Vacancy
11. Little Wing
12. Star of Bethlehem

All tracks released on Homegrown, Reprise Records CD 2-628761, 2020.

Disc 8 (1975) – Dume

1. Ride My Llama #
2. Cortez the Killer
3. Don’t Cry No Tears
4. Born to Run *
5. Barstool Blues
6. Danger Bird
7. Stupid Girl
8. Kansas #
9. Powderfinger #
10. Hawaii #
11. Drive Back
12. Lookin’ for a Love
13. Pardon My Heart
14. Too Far Gone #
15. Pocahontas #
16. No One Seems to Know #

Track 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 11-13 released on Zuma, Reprise Records LP MS-2242, 1975.

Disc 9 (1976) – Look Out for My Love

1. Like a Hurricane
2. Lotta Love
3. Look Out For My Love
4. Separate Ways #
5. Let It Shine #
6. Long May You Run
7. Fontainebleau
8. Traces #
9. Mellow My Mind #
10. Midnight on the Bay #
11. Stringman #
12. Mediterranean *
13. Ocean Girl #
14. Midnight on the Bay #
15. Human Highway #

Track 1 released on American Stars ‘n Bars, Reprise Records LP MSK-2261, 1977.
Tracks 2 and 3 released on Comes A Time, Reprise Records LP MSK-2266, 1978.
Tracks 6 and 7 released on Long May You Run, Reprise Records LP MS-2253, 1976.

Disc 10 (1976) – Odeon Budokan

1. The Old Laughing Lady #
2. After the Gold Rush #
3. Too Far Gone #
4. Old Man #
5. Stringman #
6. Don’t Cry No Tears #
7. Cowgirl in the Sand #
8. Lotta Love #
9. Drive Back #
10. Cortez the Killer #​​