The Second Disc

Expanded and Remastered Music News

/ News

Like a Hurricane: Neil Young's Remastered "Official Release Series" Vol. 5 Contains Four Albums, Expands "Ragged Glory"

By 14 Comments

Neil Young ORS Volume 5 CD

BUY NOW FROM AMAZON.COM

Neil Young's Official Release Series Volume 5 is on the way.  Set for release July 14, the 6-CD or 9-LP box set will include Freedom (1989), an expanded edition of Ragged Glory (1990), Weld (1991), and Arc (1991).  As with all titles in this series, the albums have been remastered, with Ragged Glory sourced from analog tape.  This marks the first time these four LPs have been remastered for vinyl.

After a rocky stint at Geffen Records, Neil Young returned home to the Warner/Reprise family with 1988's This Note's for You with The Bluenotes. With a pronounced rhythm and blues influence and a brass section, that album was hardly what fans were expecting...though most knew - and still know - to expect the unexpected from Young.  In 1989, though, he was back with Freedom, an eclectic LP taking in R&B, country, folk, and blazing electric rock-and-roll.  It introduced one of his most beloved rock anthems, "Rockin' in the Free World," in both acoustic and electric versions.  The electric version shot to No. 2 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, while "No More" also reached the top ten of that chart.

The second album in the new box, Ragged Glory, reunited Young with Crazy Horse.  Recorded at Young's Broken Arrow Ranch in Northern California, the album belatedly built on the hard-hitting, heavy sound of such past records as Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and Zuma.  For this reissue, four rarities have been added under the umbrella title of Smell the Horse: the B-sides "Interstate" and "Don't Spook the Horse," and the previously unreleased outtake "Box Car" and extended, 12-minute version of "Born to Run."  (In 2018, Young revealed that 38 minutes of session material from Ragged Glory had been newly discovered, with an extended version of one song among the five that were found.  "Born to Run" may well be that extended version.  "Box Car" is likely also from those tapes, though whether the remaining material will be released is anybody's guess.)

1991's Weld and Arc were originally released simultaneously in a limited package called Arc-Weld.  The Weld double concert album featured high-octane, amped-up versions of such Young and Crazy Horse staples as "Cortez the Killer," "Cinnamon Girl," and "Hey, Hey, My, My (Into the Black)."  Its companion disc, Arc, featured 35 minutes feedback, improvisation, scorching guitar solos, and vocal fragments. This marks the album's first release on vinyl.

The vinyl and CD box sets are individually numbered, and the LPs are pressed on 180-gram vinyl. The vinyl box for the four albums is in a telescoping box, and the CDs are housed in a slipcase.  High-resolution digital audio will also be available, and all purchases at Young's official Greedy Hand Store come with a free high-resolution digital download.

Look for the fifth volume of Neil Young's Official Release Series on July 14.  You'll find the track listings and pre-order links below!

Neil Young, Official Release Series Volume 5 (Reprise/NYA, 2023)

6CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
9LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

CD 1/LP 1-2: Freedom (Reprise 9-25899-2, 1989) (ORS Disc 22)

  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)

CD 2-3/LP 3-5: Ragged Glory (Reprise 9-26315-2, 1990) - Smell the Horse (ORS 23+)

  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 (Natural Anthem)"
  11. "Interstate" (from Reprise single 936243731-2, 1996)
  12. "Don't Spook The Horse" (from Reprise single PRO-CD-4448. 1990)
  13. "Box Car" (previously unreleased)
  14. "Born To Run" (Extended) (previously unreleased)

Arc-Weld (Reprise 9-26746-2, 1991)

CD 4-5/LP 6-8: Weld (ORS 24)

  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 (For The Road)"

CD 6/LP 9: ARC (ORS 25)

  1. "Arc (A Compilation Composition)"
Avatar photo

Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with Real Gone Music, has released newly-curated collections produced by Joe from iconic artists such as Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Chet Atkins, and many others. He has contributed liner notes to reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, B.J. Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, and Andy Williams, and has compiled releases for talents including Robert Goulet and Keith Allison of Paul Revere and the Raiders. Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray. Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.

Connect With Joe: FacebookTwitter

You Might Also Like

Comments

  1. Joe, just a correction to your reporting on the release history of "Interstate."

    The catalog # you list as the original release of Interstate is assigned to a promo single for "Big Time" released in 1996, not 1990, and does not include "Interstate." See here:

    https://www.discogs.com/release/2497990-Neil-Young-With-Crazy-Horse-Big-Time

    The actual prior releases of Interstate were also from 1996. Interstate was a vinyl-only bonus track on the Broken Arrow album, and also included on the commerical CD single releases of Big Time (from Broken Arrow) in Australia and Europe. See here:

    https://www.discogs.com/release/2081251-Neil-Young-With-Crazy-Horse-Broken-Arrow
    https://www.discogs.com/release/3300594-Neil-Young-With-Crazy-Horse-Big-Time
    https://www.discogs.com/release/3334295-Neil-Young-With-Crazy-Horse-Big-Time/image/SW1hZ2U6Mjc5NzIyOTQ=

    Interstate was not released at all in the Ragged Glory promotional cycle.

    Reply

  2. Really looking forward to this, as first, I love Neil's stuff & I find it fun to collect his catalogue...and this period is what made me a hardcore Neil Young fan...now I noticed, as I've been keeping track of his Neil Young Archives, that "Arc" got its own new number #ORS25...on Wikipedia it was listed as #ORS24.1, while "Harvest Moon" was listed as #ORS25...so I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of it is catalogue numbered...and the Archives 3 box, whenever it gets revealed & released...

    Question...on Archives 2, there are what looks like the full "Tonight's The Night" & "Zuma", even "On The Beach", mixed among a few discs in the set...do I need to pay top dollar for the second "ORS #2: 5-8" box?? (it goes for like $150 & up currently) Or just the recently released "Time Fades Away", the remaster of "On The Beach", and original used "Tonight's The Night" & "Zuma"??

    Lastly, and this always confused me, the "Archives 1" box...I would buy either the DVD or BluRay version for the video content, but the music was not on audio CDs, just either DVD Audio or BluRay Audio, so it would be awkward to play em...and if you get the CD version, you don't get the video content, nor do you get the "Sugar Mountain" album either (I do know you can get it separately)...and I know you don't get the book either...and no I'm not buying both a CD version & a DVD/BluRay one...what's the best solution??

    Reply

    • Answer...on Archives 2, it depends on whether you are a completist or not.

      "Tonight's The Night" & "Zuma" and "On The Beach" are all missing 1 or 2 tracks on Archives 2 but add tracks missing on the original albums. Regarding "Time Fades Away", 2 tracks are missing and some other tracks appear on "Tuscaloosa" recorded on different nights than the original album.

      Archives 1 : It's difficult (pricey) to get the box anyhow at this moment. Neil has indicated that a reissue can be expected in the future, so better wait for that to make a decision.

      Reply

      • Yes, after looking even closer going between the tracklistings on Archives 2 & the Wikipedia page, only a few TFA tracks from the album but there is 1 track missing from OTB & Zuma, and on TTN, 2 are missing, Hungaround Joe & a live track from the Fillmore East...perhaps a full archive live set is coming down the line?? As for a reissued Archives 1, hmmm, perhaps Neil will combine CDs for the audio with either BluRay or DVD for the video?? TBH, that's the way it shoulda been, from the getgo...I'll hang tight, thanks...I see copies on Discogs & Ebay go for top dollar, a CD box just popped up on Amazon for like $600...

        Reply

        • Live at the Fillmore East was actually the first NYA release, back in 2006, and includes the TTN track missing on Archives 2 (1972-1976), as it is from 1970.

          Lookout Joe on TTN is played with the Stray Gators. Another performance is included on Tuscaloosa in Archives 2 (an entire disc with the Stray Gators) while the TTN disc in Archives 2 is entirely with the Santa Monica Flyers. There is logic in all this 😉

          Reply

  3. I'm a bit confused by the labeling of "Born to Run" as an "extended version." It seems to imply that a shorter version of that song apeared on the album, but that's not the case. The original "Born to Run" is a Zuma outtake from 15 years prior, finally released on the Archives Vol II box set in 2021. To me, this 1990 recording, even if significantly longer than the original, is a whole new thing, not an "extended version" of the 1975 recording.

    Reply

    • The press release is scant on details other than indicating that this previously unreleased version of "Born to Run" is 12 minutes in length.

      Reply

  4. i am sure glad that i do listen to or collect neil. its so confusing. also the the he takes tracks from a different sessions to make one lp would be driving me nutz

    Reply

  5. In response to Gerbrand... the response window got too narrow to type...it seems that some of Neil's original albums are/were jigsaw puzzles where he put tracks together from totally different sessions & shows (even different years) that seemed to fit well at the time (like on TTN) & the Archives sets put the tracks back in their original places & expands on those...because of this, I think it's probably best to NOT pay top dollar for the ORS set #5-8, when the albums are not even from complete sessions & only 1 or 2 tracks are missing on Archives 2...so it's best to get the reissued TFA, the separate remastered OTB & used CD copies of TTN & Zuma...as for that Fillmore East set, it's in Archives 1 I saw, so as you said, I'll wait for a reissue/reset of that, which should really be a mix of audio CDs & video on BluRay or DVD, and packaged like the cube slipcase that the retail Archives 2 was...also, just got the deluxe box of "Noise & Flowers"...many complained about the sound of it, but I have no problem with it, the roughness adds to the authenticity & atmosphere...looking forward to the new ORS #5 set in July, and the Archives 3 reveal & release!!

    Reply

    • But first we will have the announcement within a couple of weeks of the unreleased 1976 album Chrome Dreams. Tracks from these sessions ended up on several other albums (some re-recorded) and other songs and/or versions are previously unreleased. Chrome Dreams will not be included in Archives 3 (apparently).

      Reply

      • Interesting, knew it was coming...not surprised it's not included in Archives 3...lemme guess, it's in the SRS series like "Toast" & "Hitchhiker" were...I love keeping up with Neil's releases...

        Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy