Neil Young & The International Harvesters: A Treasure Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		1.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.5

Neil Young & The International Harvesters: A Treasure Blu-ray Movie Review

More than a little bit country.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 25, 2011

Neil Young has always been something of a scrappy iconoclast, and that tendency certainly is in full flower on the new combo Blu-ray/CD release of A Treasure, a 13 song compendium of country flavored tunes culled from Neil’s 1984-85 tour with the road band International Harvesters. Neil, who not so long ago released the patently weird but hugely enjoyable Blu-ray Le Noise, pretty much discards half of what typically draws consumers to high definition—namely, a sparkling image—and actually is on record on an interview included here stating that he doesn’t much care what things look like on this Blu-ray. That’s a good thing, for the limited video presentation included on A Treasure is mostly culled from grainy bootleg video that seems to have been shot by fans in the audience who didn’t exactly have state of the art equipment to begin with, and who, either by dint of herbal or other enhancement, or due to the raucous surrounding crowds, can’t quite hold the camera steady in any case. Young famously released the 10 disc Archives Volume 1 a few years ago at a hefty multi-hundreds of dollar price point (there’s a trailer for the set included on this Blu-ray), and this release is a continuation of that project, which should ultimately give us everything Neil has recorded in high definition audio at least. Never really content to be a pop-rock superstar, or at least one pigeonholed into a single formulaic genre, Neil has been the closest thing to a good ol’boy, country style, in terms of the Los Angeles coterie with whom he initially entered the mainstream limelight, including of course Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. While both of those supergroups certainly built on the nascent folk-rock idiom of the early to mid-1960’s, Neil has had more of a purist’s heart at times, delivering occasional rockabilly and even outright country flavored tunes, and that predilection is firmly on display throughout A Treasure. Neil’s plaintive, at times semi-screechy vocals seem perfectly suited for the country idiom, and when he’s backed by such a stellar group of iconic country sidemen, the results are often viscerally exciting.

Young has had a somewhat tempestuous history with both the public at large and especially with critics due to the very fact that he so regularly defies expectations, radically altering the course of his career and offering unusual albums that sometimes at least seem to be round pegs trying to fit into critics’ and fans’ square holes. Interestingly, this has endeared him to a lot of fans (and critics, too, truth be told), simply because Neil so regularly eschews the corporate rock behemoth consciousness and seems most of all to be an archetypal individual who’s going to do what he damn well pleases, consequences be damned. Famously prickly on an artistic level, Neil has often seemed to be a loner, that modern era Diogenes searching for a heart of gold. It’s wonderful, then, to see his unmistakable rapport with the International Harvesters, and to actually feel the ineluctable joy and glee with which so many of these songs play out.

The 1980’s were a transitional period both for the music industry generally and for Young in particular. Was an artist like Neil Young even relevant anymore given the twin phenomena of punk and hair bands? Even Neil seemed to be unsure, withdrawing from the public eye (due at least in part to issues with his disabled son) for large swaths of time and rarely venturing out on tour to support his somewhat sporadically released albums. That’s what makes so much of A Treasure so special: it’s a fitting document proving that Neil had lost none of his joie de vivre, no matter what personal and professional problems he was working through, as well as showing that that same “who gives a **** what people expect me to do“ ethos that had guided him previously was still firmly on display.

A Treasure finds Neil and band tearing through a surprisingly wide variety of tunes, some long associated with Young, others not so much. We get songs from Re-ac-tor and Buffalo Springfield, but the real draw here is probably the five previously unreleased Young tunes which are presented. There is a stylistic continuity here despite the disparate backgrounds of the songs, a continuity granted by the absolutely first rate International Harvesters and (for wont of a better word) guest stars, including Ben King, Rufus Thibodeaux, Anthony Crawford, Spooner Oldham, Tim Drummond, Joe Allen and Hargus “Pig” Robbins. This is a somewhat more “unplugged” country sound than Everybody’s Rockin’, for example, but it’s no less pulsating and energetic. Young in fact seems personally inspired to be playing with these guys, and there’s an immediacy to these performances that can’t be denied.

This is a Blu-ray that is probably best experienced as an audio only offering, at least with regard to the concert footage, despite the inclusion of some video elements. While “Amber Jean” was culled from a Nashville cable television performance and so is at least passable, the rest of the offerings—and every song does not include video—look horrible, to put it mildly. The bottom line is I guess if the video quality doesn’t matter to Neil, it shouldn’t matter to his fans. It’s always been the music that has mattered most to Young, and A Treasure is indeed a trove of rare and wonderful songcraft played by incredibly capable musicians.

Neil’s setlist includes:

• Amber Jean
• Are You Ready for the Countyr
• It Might Have Been
• Bound for Glory
• Let Your Fingers Do the Walking
• Flying on the Ground is Wrong
• Motor City
• Soul of a Woman
• Get Back to the Country
• Southern Pacific
• Nothing is Perfect
• Grey Riders

Neil Young & The International Harvesters: A Treasure Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

A Treasure has mostly bootleg quality video presented in 1080i and 1.33:1 via an AVC codec. "Amber Jean," as mentioned above in the main body of the review, is sourced from a Nashville cable television program and so at least sports relatively passable video. The other offerings (with one exception) are pretty lamentable, with shaky, grainy, extremely fuzzy quality that is close to unwatchable. One has to wonder why Neil even chose to include these elements, especially as he states unequivocally in one of the extras that he doesn't much care how things look. It probably would have been better to just go with audio only on at least a couple of these, which also suffer from tracking problems and incredible noise. Just don't turn your television on for the concert offerings unless you're really, really curious and you'll be fine. Or take a deep breath and look over the screencaps here for some idea of what's in tap should you choose to actually watch as you listen.

Neil Young & The International Harvesters: A Treasure Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

A Treasure has only one audio option, an LPCM 2.0 24-bit 48kHz mix that is brilliantly clear and precise and ably recreates an exciting live ambience without resorting to a faux surround mix. Fidelity is spot on here, especially robust in the low and mid ranges, with sparkling clarity that is really rather surprisingly nuanced in terms of instrument separation. The jingle-jangle of Neil's guitar is crisp without sounding brittle, and everything from the fiddle to keyboards is very well mixed, offering exceptional balance and tone. The low end thumps along quite nicely with clearly defined bass and drums, again with a rather surprising lack of muddiness. As hideous as at least some (most?) of the video is on this release, few if any fans are going to be disappointed with the audio quality here, despite the fact it's approaching 30 years old now (wow!) and is sourced from live performances.

Neil Young & The International Harvesters: A Treasure Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interview (1080i; 4:24) is a vintage 1980's piece made during the International Harvesters' tour where Neil talks about his love of country music and his "tiff" with his record label concerning that love.
• Tech Notes and Credits (1080i; 17:06) is a very funny piece, replete with dubs (in a completely different voice) replacing Neil's speech about audio quality on "DVDs" with "Blu-rays." This is the piece where Neil states outright he doesn't really care what stuff looks like and to just experience this release as a basically audio Blu-ray. There's quite a bit of background on the tour and the players here and this is overall a very informative, albeit brief, piece.
• Archives Trailer (1080i; 5:13) is a nice extended promo piece, again often very funny, advertising the massive 10 disc Volume 1 set that was released a couple of years ago.
• CD Copy

Neil Young & The International Harvesters: A Treasure Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Not knowing quite what to expect with Neil Young is half the fun of being one of his fans. This is an incredible compilation of rare tracks and old chestnuts that show Neil is about as able a country music practitioner as anyone could imagine. His rapport with the International Harvesters is palpable, and this music is unusually joyful and ebullient for a Young outing. Forget the video elements here and just concentrate on the outstanding music. Highly recommended.