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Neil Young’s Massive ‘Archives Vol. III (1976-87)’ Documents a Brilliant — and Problematic — Era: Album Review
Neil Young was riding high in the first half of the era covered in his massive 'Archives Vol. 3, 1976-87' set. But then something happened: the '80s...
But he’d spurned mainstream commercial success as soon as he’d attained it, famously forsaking the middle of the road “for the ditch,” as he wrote in the liners to his 1977 retrospective “Decade” — “A rougher ride, but I saw more interesting people.” In short order he became the most fiercely self-determined contemporary musician since Bob Dylan: His albums grew darker and harder, but swung up in mood with the rocking “Zuma.” He was riding that vibe when this set begins, with a load of 1976 live material (both solo and with his trusty bandmates in Crazy Horse), a pile of beautiful demos and a pair of tracks with Joni Mitchell from the Band’s Baby-Boomer-defining all-star “Last Waltz” concert. But for the first half of this set, Young is flying high, changing direction drastically but assuredly between the “Harvest”-esque acoustic material of “Comes a Time” and the punk-rock influenced “Rust Never Sleeps,” the last song of which features so much distortion that many buyers tried to return the album, thinking there was a factory defect. After several years in the wilderness, Young was finding his way back — and once he did, a whole new musical generation was there for him, from Pearl Jam (with whom he’d record the “Mirror Ball” album) to Sonic Youth (who he invited to open his 1991 “Smell the Horse” tour) to the entire Americana genre that he played such a huge role in inspiring.
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