Vol 1 1963 to 1972 will be in Blu-Ray, DVD and CD versions
By Stephen Pate, NJN Network, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, May 4, 2009
Famed rocker, folk and grunge artist Neil Young is re-releasing his while catalog, from 1963 forward. Obviously this is geared at the true believers and Neil Young has fanatical followers. It comes with the usual supporting materials like videos, books, and gee gaws.
Young supervised the set himself which speaks volumes about an artist who has run out of inspiration. I shouldn’t pick on Young: he has post polio syndrome by now. The old body just won’t party until dawn and work at noon. However, fans want new material not multiple box sets that will cost $500 to $2,000 to collect.
On the other hand, the archivist project shows Young’s interest in all things new. The Blu-ray set will boast some of the highest sound quality this side of vinyl.
I dug out my turntable not long ago and can attest to the better quality sound from the old LP’s. These is more depth and definition from an LP. You can sense the space between the artists.
However, we only go backwards a little bit. Blu-ray promises better sound with 24 bit/192 kHz, stereo PCM. CD’s are 16 bit with 44 kHz compression. Blu-ray should be better with almost five times as much of the songs data on the disk.
Blu-ray is the high definition successor to DVD’s. If you have an HD TV set, things look better in Blu-ray. The sound should be a major improvement. It is still compressed so perfect sound will arrive with Dolby TrueHD, just about the time we get hearing aids.
It’s adventurous of Young to use Blu-ray. It would have been better to adopt the lossless, uncompressed highest standard. It’s also pretty silly to still be listening to 2 channel stereo when they could master the disk in 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound.
Pricing is from $100 to $300 for the Blu-ray set.
From the site
“This is the first volume of the Neil Young Archives series of box sets, produced by Neil Young himself. Volume I covers the period from his earliest recordings with The Squires in Winnipeg, 1963, through to his classic 1972 album Harvest and beyond, including studio and live tracks with the legendary Buffalo Springfield; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and Neil Young with Crazy Horse.
Audio in the Blu-ray edition is presented in ultra-high resolution 24-bit / 192 kHz stereo PCM state-of-the-art master quality sound, while audio in the DVD edition is presented in high resolution 24-bit / 96 kHz stereo PCM audiophile quality sound. The CD edition is presented in standard resolution 16-bit / 44 kHz stereo PCM CD quality sound.
Each of the 10 Blu-ray discs feature 1920×1080 high definition picture quality while the 10 DVD discs have 720×480 standard definition picture quality.
An interactive timeline feature, which presents an in-depth overview of Young’s life and career, is in both the Blu-ray and DVD editions, The Timeline on the Blu-ray edition is enhanced with BD Live™ capability, which enables users to download additional content to their players or to external drives.
Completing Volume 1 in the Blu-ray and DVD editions is Young’s acclaimed first film, Journey Through The Past, which is now available for the first time since its original theatrical release in 1973. This disc features pristine picture transfer, audio presented in both DTS-HD 5.1 surround and stereo 24-bit / 96 kHz PCM, plus archival materials.
The Blu-ray and DVD editions are sold in a durable custom display box that houses a lavish 236-page full-color hardbound book that features additional archival materials, tapes database, and detailed descriptions of the music and artwork; a foldout Archives poster, a custom keeper for the 10 sleeved discs, and more. The CD edition is sold in a custom disc keeper for the 8 sleeved discs and descriptive booklet.”
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