That became crystal clear when I sat down with the three-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee last week in Santa Monica to talk about his long-gestating Archives box set that finally sees release on June 2.
The stockpile mentality has resulted in massive amounts of material in his own storehouses, both at his Broken Arrow Ranch in Woodside, in Northern California, and others in Redwood City and southern San Francisco. Beyond that, he reached out to countless friends, family members and musicians hes played with over the years to get his hands on memorabilia or recordings they had that might figure into his Archives retrospective.
But it was fascinating to hear him talk about his philosophy in the recording studio, whether it was during his first go-round with fame as a member of Buffalo Springfield in the mid-1960s, the solo recordings he made right after the group disbanded in 1968 or his collaborations over the years with Crazy Horse and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
I always recorded everything, Young told me at his managers office while he walked me through the disc covering the earliest part of his career, when he was a member of the Squires, his high school band in Winnipeg, Canada.
I recorded everything and kept everything, because I figured the guy who recorded over something to save tape, he said, practically sneering when he spit out the words save tape, we would kill that guy. And if the guy wasnt rolling when we started playing a song, we would kill him. The guy wouldnt be around any more.
[Producer David] Briggs and I, if you werent rolling as soon as one guy sat down, you were out, he said. We were not about saving tape. Our whole message wasjust be rolling all the time, anytime anybodys in there. That way therell never be a start or an end, because its always on. Then musicians relax. Theres no Wait, were not rolling. Theres none of that. You just go in that room and you play, and later on you hear what you did.
As a result, the first installment of this career retrospective, Neil Young Archives: Volume 1 (1963-1972)," has all sorts of intriguing studio outtakes, radio interviews and other material that help flesh out what we know about Young and his music.
