Neil Young continues his occasional Official Release Series box sets with a new volume (No 5) which brings together four albums released as the 1980s turned into the 1990s.
The albums are 1989’s Freedom, Ragged Glory from 1990, the live album Weld and it’s experimental companion, Arc (both 1991). These are discs 22, 23+, 24 and 25 in the series. The ‘+’ for Ragged Glory indicates some bonus material which is two B-sides (‘Interstate’ and ‘Don’t Spook The Horse’) and unreleased versions of ‘Box Car’ and ‘Born To Run’, the latter a 12-minute version.
In Neil Young's extensive career, this period of music came at a definite turning point. The 1990s were almost ready to start, and Young had recently returned to his long-time home at Reprise Records. It definitely appeared to be a joyous and jubilant moment for the man who had recently celebrated the 21-year anniversary of a solo career that had never stopped progressing.
The first album in VOLUME 5 is aptly named FREEDOM, and includes the song "Rockin' in the Free World."
RAGGED GLORY (1990) was a non-stop celebration for the music Neil Young & Crazy Horse are still creating at full force, and was recorded at Young's Broken Arrow Ranch in Northern California. The 10 song original album is expanded for this re-issue with 4 rare tracks. “Interstate” and “Don’t Spook The Horse” were both b-sides to singles. “Box Car” and the 12 minute “Born To Run” are both previously unreleased versions. The 4 additional songs have resulted with the album expanded to 3 LPs and 2 CDs.
WELD (1991) is one of the most groundbreaking albums of Neil Young's history. It's a live album recorded with Crazy Horse after the release of RAGGED GLORY. It was from a wildly creative period of the band's history, and as Neil Young has often done, gave notice that he was a rock & roll originator who could never be second-guessed.
ARC (1991) is the live companion collection to WELD, and at the time generated the kind of musical notoriety that has often marked Young's creations. ARC is a 35-minute outburst of feedback, improvisation, guitar solos and vocal fragments. This marks the album's first release on vinyl.
