Neil Young Archives Blu-ray: Rip off?
The box is jam-packed with stuff, but is a little short on unreleased musical content.
It's pricey. The "Neil Young Archives, Vol. 1: 1963-1972" Blu ray box goes for $349; the DVD is $250; and the CD set a mere $100. The Blu-ray box contains a sprawling 11-disc collection. Young's been working on this set for what feels like decades; was it worth the wait?
There's a beautifully bound, embossed-"leather," covered book with tons of cool pictures. Hard-core fans will love it, everyone else will look through it once and be done with it.
There's only one unreleased live disc, "Live at the Riverboat 1969." The Blu ray box also includes "Live at Canterbury House" (not a Blu-ray, just a DVD and CD), "Live at the Fillmore East 1970," and "Live at Massey Hall 1971," which have been individually released over the past couple of years. I already bought them, as I'm sure many fans have. What a rip off to make us buy them again.
Most discs have music running times of under 60 minutes, so why oh why didn't Neil fill up more of the discs' capacity, or did he just need to justify an exorbitant MSRP? $350 for 11 discs? Strange, Hollywood movies that cost hundreds of millions of dollars to make retail for under 20 bucks a pop, so why does Neil charge $31 for a disc for music he made nearly 40 years ago? Rip off.
The Blu-ray features ultrahigh resolution 24-bit /192 kHz stereo sound, which you can play over some newer AV receivers, but I'm not so sure that any high-end electronics can access the superduper-sounding PCM tracks. Surround sound? Only one disc has surround. Blu-ray sound quality is about the same as the previously released 24 bit/96 kHz sound on the DVDs that came out years ago. Don't buy the Blu-ray box for the sound; the DVDs are fine.
I had a rough time navigating the Blu-rays' stupidly designed menus and accessing some of the "bonus" material and "hidden" tracks. Hey, I paid my money, why do I have to go round and round to find the music I paid for?
As for video "content," I don't know about you, but watching an LP playing on a turntable or reel-to-reel tapes spinning gets old really fast. Reading pages of text off my TV is also less than entertaining. The photo galleries are nice.
Young's film "Journey through the Past" is included, but the Blu-ray's video quality is wasted. You might as well be watching a blurry VHS tape. The film's audio quality varies between awful and decent. Songs are interrupted by dialogue and edits, and there's no shortage of pointless imagery. There's a shot that goes on for five minutes of Young and a woman eating berries, smoking a joint, and drinking from a large jug, while sitting on the bumper of an old car. Can you say "self indulgent?"
Summing up, I can't recommend "Neil Young Archives, Vol. 1: 1963-1972" on Blu-ray. If you really love Young, get the CD box. Then again, if Young really cared about his fans he'd ditch the filler and put out a killer two-disc set of just the unreleased stuff.
Yes, of course, the Blu-ray, DVD, and CD sets are heavily discounted. Amazon has the Blu-ray for $279. It's still a rip off.
Steve Guttenberg is a frequent contributor to magazines and Web sites including Home Entertainment, Playback, and Ultimate AV. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. 
That's because Hollywood movies recoup some or all of their investment at the movie theaters, then get added revenue selling the DVD or Blu-Ray.
I agree the Neil Young box set is a complete rip-off though.
You sound like a bitter conservative who just found out that their favorite musician is a liberal, which is the political leaning of almost every rock and roll musician from the 60's and 70's.
Not if Neil Young wrote a song that sang about loving the policies of Dick Cheney, that Richard Nixon was framed, and that waterboarding is cool, then I bet you would be gobbling up that BS as if it was chocolate ice cream with a cherry on top.
It is one thing to say that Blu Ray costs more; no DUH! It is completely false to spread lies that Blu Ray does not look better.
Steve, go download the MP3,s and put them on your ipod and plug your Ipod into a boombox. I have a hunch you won't be able to tell the difference.
I'm not taking issue with you not liking the archives, I'm taking issue with I have wasted my time reading an article written by someone who doesn't have a clue.
One thing I can always count on with cnet is drivel like this.
Higher quality audio equipment will expose the deficiencies of low bitrate MP3's.
Sorry that your audio and visual senses are so poor, but stop spreading lies about the quality of different media sources. Not only do they sound better, but these media formats have better technical specs that are measurable via equipment.
Most people haven't and most people can't tell the difference but maybe you're an exception. See: Placebo Effect.
And that's likely what Neil is doing, to a degree. Blue Ray is the hot newest thing and people that have them most likely have the extra cash to pay a premium, so why not overprice the Blue Ray package? Cash in on those that have to have the newest shiniest media format.
Thanks for the review - I'll talk someone else into buying it & invite myself over.
CD set - real price $70 (Best Buy and Amazon)
8 CDs ; Price per CD $8.75
Average price for new CDs (Amazon) - $10
DVD Set - Real Price $200 (Best Buy and Amazon)
11 DVDs; price per DVD $18.18
8 DVDs (subtracting three live previously issued); $25
Average price new DVDs (Amazon) $18
Difference between Neil Young Archives at 8 DVD price and 8 new DVDs - $56
Added value in Neil Young Archive - 125 MP3 downloads (Itunes value $100-125 ; book, poster, etc.
BR Set - Real Price $267 (Amazon); $279 (Best Buy)
11 BRs; price per BR $25.36
8 BRs (subtracting three live previously issued); $34.87
Average price new BRs (Amazon) $25
Difference between Neil Young Archives at 8 BR price and 8 new BRs - $79
Added value in Neil Young Archive - 125 MP3s- Itunes value $100-125 ; book, poster - BD Live w/ free ongoing additions to archive
Now fairly obviously that's going to be hard to follow for someone of your limited intellectual firepower, so let me sum it up for you in a short version:
The Archives are ripping off no one. If you don't want them, don't buy them, but don't try to convince someone that they're being hosed using lies and half-truths.
After reading what's in the set, I'm convinced Guttenberg is right. Or did you even bother reading.
For all you people who say Blu-ray is a rip-off, you're all no doubt just made because you bought HD-DVD when it was way too expensive, and you hate that Blu-ray owners are getting things much more cheaply now, and the format is taking off faster than DVD took over from VHS.
I guess you didn't read the last line.
Nobody seems to complain about Toby Keith's politics or anyone else's on the right. Why can't musicians on the left speak or sing what's on their mind?
Let's not forget Ronald Reagan was a celebrity before he was a politician.
If you think the Archives are a rip-off then save your money.
Mr. Guttenberg must be fine still lessening to his tape deck. The quality in sound on Blu-Ray is unreal. The extras of videos and other info it part of the experience. I kind of like that artistic visuals on each disk and I like finding hidden gems on each disk.
Now it is allot of money, however it is in the best and must new format out on the market right now. So you pay for anything top of the line.
What Mr. Guttenberg did not tell you is that you get an access card with the box set to download all the music from the box set online for free in MP3 format. This allows you to take the music with you in your iPod. That must be worth close to $150 at .99 a song!!
I don't think that Mr. Guthenberg likes Neil Young because he would not say the following statement. "Now if you really love Young, get the CD box. Then again, if Young really cared about his fans he'd ditch the filler and put out a killer two-disc set of just the unreleased stuff".
Sorry to brake it to you but Neil Young has started something that all artists are going to fallow with their box sets!!!
The day of the CD is gone deal with it!!
Your don't get it..
Finally, finally someone utilizes Blu-RaY 50g
This set is Historical and will likley change
how many artists issue there music.
It sounds as good as anything I have ever heard.
Please go home and listen to your Backstreet Boys CD
Your don't get it..
Finally, finally someone utilizes Blu-ray 50g
This set is Historical and will likley change
how many artists issue there music.
It sounds as good as anything I have ever heard.
Please go home and listen to your Backstreet Boys CD
- You recommend that people buy the CD box set of the Archives because you couldn't figure out the Blu-Ray/DVD navigation that my 9-year-old son understood immediately.
- You claim to be an aficionado of music, but don't understand the paradigm of watching a tape reel or record player spin while focusing on the listening experience.
- You present yourself as an audiophile and yet aren't sure if any high-end electronics can access digital sample rates of 192kHz.
All in all, the only thing I imagine you were trying to do was to be provocative enough to get hits to this blog, and a nice list of comments. Congratulations, if that was your goal. In terms of writing a review that was of value to your readers, you have failed miserably. I'm sure your career as a theater projector operator gives you high qualifications to dispense your wisdom on the creative and technical aspects of a project like the Neil Young Archives, but perhaps for the next lifetime retrospective you slam, you could take a step back and see what real, qualified reviewers are saying before you out yourself as an imbecile again. Or don't; it matters not to me. I'm only thinking of the poor people who might not immediately realize that you are utterly incapable of doing this job.
On a final note, I will agree that the 24-bit, 96kHz audio quality of the DVD package (as compared to the Blu-Ray version) sounds terrific, about as good as digital audio gets. I still would have purchased the Blu-Ray version if I'd had easy access to an affordable Blu-Ray player, but my son would have taken the new PS3 and I'd compete against his desire to use it for video gaming. For the sake of peace in my household in this regard, I'm fine with the DVD set, which I own and love, and feel was a terrific value, based on the amount of joy it's brought me so far.
In any case, I certainly hope CNET doesn't compensate you for this blog... that, truly, would be a rip-off of astronomical proportions.
If SG is not a Neil Young fan, why did he buy it or did he get if free?
- by hefeman June 13, 2009 11:59 AM PDT
- Compare this review with the one in Sound@Vision magazine:
- Like this Reply to this comment
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