"It's already together. All you have to do is make sure it's in chronological order, pick the art that goes with it, pick the packaging (and) put it out."
That's how Neil Young summed up his Archives box to a biographer.
In 1991.
That was two years into the project.
What happened between then and now, only Neil knows for sure. All I know is that Archives has been a Holy Grail of rock 'n' roll for so long, it makes Chinese Democracy look like a rush job.
But finally, after countless blown deadlines, a few technological upgrades and ever-expanding horizons, Archives Vol 1: 1963-1972 -- now supposedly the first of four boxes chronicling the Canadian folk-rock icon's long and winding career -- is here.
For real. I've got it. I've heard it. I've watched it. And you know what? It was almost worth the wait.
Available Tuesday in three formats -- on 10 Blu-ray DVDs (about $315 online), 10 regular DVDs (about $265) or eight CDs (about $100) -- Archives Vol. 1 is almost worth the price, too.
Simply put, it's monumental in every sense of the word. It's technologically innovative. Historically definitive. Exhaustively (and exhaustingly) detailed. Artistically revealing -- and not just for fans.