Legendary rocker Neil Young announced earlier this month he finally plans to release his archive project on Blu-ray Disc, which will eventually include each decade of his music, along with video, still photos, and other items whose retrieval and multi-use applicability will enhanced with Blu-ray technology.
After fits and starts over the project—which was delayed because of hurdles with other technologies that Young said were finally overcome with Blu-ray—the singer-composer outlined some of his plans at a recent Sun Microsystems conference in San Francisco, according to Bill Sheppard, Sun’s chief digital media officer. (Blu-ray uses Sun’s proprietary Java technology.)
Sheppard told HD Notebook that Young’s first 10-disc set will chronicle the politically active decade of 1963-1972. Along with HD audio recording from the original analog master tapes of all his songs (including a few unreleased works), the Blu-ray discs also will include videos (HD and archival), handwritten notes and manuscripts, and other mementos from his long music career. Users will technically be able to browse through each disc’s archival material while listening to recordings simultaneously, without degrading audio quality.
The inaugural Neil Young Archive set is currently scheduled for release this fall from Reprise/Warner Bros. Records.
