• Record Label: Reprise
  • Release Date: Jun 2, 2009
Metascore
92

Universal acclaim - based on 13 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 13
  3. Negative: 1 out of 13
  1. This exhaustive project is the most impressive retro-fest of recordings, photographs, video footage and digiti sed memorabilia ever assembled.
  2. 100
    There’s more, too much more, to come, but for now, Volume One will do just fine.
  3. The much richer sound on these formats spins songs recorded as many as 40-plus years ago eerily into the moment. It’s as if you’re listening at the exact instant of recording, making the music as personal as a direct memory.
  4. Mojo
    100
    The sound is excellent, especially considering the age and the state of technology of some of the recordings. The songs, too, are invariably excellent. [Jul 2009, p.111]
  5. 100
    Shakey’s long awaited archives box set.
  6. If Archives is ultimately less of a career-redefiner than Decade, that’s only because Young’s become such an entrenched part of rock history that his career has been exhaustively picked-over. Aside from the heretofore under-explored surf influence, there are really only a few new connections made or questions raised with Archives.
  7. Not only was the wait worth it, Archives feels like it was 20 years in the making. It's an extraordinary work that redefines what an autobiography can be.
  8. It's built for fanatics, yet the goods could make a fanatic out of anyone.
  9. An impressive package, but fans will be paying big bucks for a lot of stuff they already own.
  10. This critic is prepared to believe that the fact he found the menus slightly counterintuitive points to deficiencies on his own part, but suffice to say that at least one Neil Young fan--temporarily unable to navigate away from one of the on-stage "raps" provided as "audio bonuses" and gripped by the fear that he was going to spend the rest of his life listening to Neil Young saying "ummm...ahhhhhh ... wrote this sahwng...ummmm...my house"--found himself howling for the luddite comforts of a CD box set with a nicely illustrated booklet.
  11. Q Magazine
    80
    Vol. 1 is long on quality, variety and versatility, whatever format you choose. [Aug 2009, p.114]
  12. Certainly Archives' first volume contains enough audio and visual stimuli to keep a Neil Young fan busy till the next edition arrives (presumably) in 2029.
  13. Billed as something of a multimedia breakthrough, the 10 discs here present good--and often great--music paired with sub-standard video content. Unreleased tracks? They’re here, although in disappointing quantity and quality.
User Score
8.3

Universal acclaim- based on 18 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 18
  2. Negative: 2 out of 18
  1. PauloO.
    Oct 23, 2009
    10
    Just amazing! Buy the blu ray version-staggering audi quality as good as vinyl played on a top grade system.
  2. ChrisG.
    Jul 26, 2009
    10
    Just got the Bluray edition, and it is amazing, No doubt about it, it is intended fore more than the casual fan, but does not disappoint at all.
  3. JohnH.
    Jul 23, 2009
    6
    I came for the music. I was disappointed. There is so little new here. And Decade changed my life ...