Neil and I decided several years ago that the ORS – read Official Release Series numbering would only apply to the record albums in his catalog that had been previously released that were going to be re-released many years after their original release date. In other words – “the second time”. And we are talking vinyl here, not specifically the web site.
That means that these newer studio records such as Silver & Gold, Are You Passionate, Greendale, Living With War, Fork In The Road, Monsanto Years, Earth, Peace Trail, The Visitor and numerous others – and right through last years Colorado will not be getting an ORS number designation until such time as they are re-released again for vinyl, and CD (possibly).
You will find this system in place on all of the vinyl records re-released in this fashion. That includes all of the albums contained in the first four box sets which means Harvest, After The Gold Rush etc through the soon to be re-released Eldorado that will round out Hawks & Doves, Re-Ac-Tor and This Note’s For You for NYA Box set 4.
We also decided that any compilation record such as Decade, Lucky Thirteen and for instance Greatest Hits will not get an ORS or Official Release Series number as they really are collections in most instances of previously released songs. So they should not qualify. And you will not find that series numbering on any of the re-released Decade album vinyl or Greatest Hits LPs for that matter.
As you can see, the numbering on the NYA website timeline has been treated somewhat differently. But those numbers are not the final ones and are subject to change. The bible if you will, is the numbering applied on the actual physical vinyl record albums and their corresponding CDs as they are re-released in these box sets and one offs.
The PS (as in Performance Series) numbers were assigned long ago in 2012 to live projects that Neil then had the intention of making available for a new release. But they are unique as they are live performances and as you can imagine, that list has grown as we discovered subsequent earlier possible bodies of live work that needed to have a number assigned. Where we had found a concert that fell between earlier number designations – well then the .5 fractional was added since other numbers were locked as assigned.
The SRS numbers for Special Release Series are less problematic as these are assigned to new releases of studio projects that had been done years and years ago but never before released. You will probably never see a fractional SRS numbered release.
In terms of ORS numbers for instance the fractional does appear but rarely. Such an example can be found on NYA box set 3 where the four studio albums or more correctly the next four original releases after Zuma were always American Stars & Bars, Comes A Time, Rust Never Sleep and Live Rust. It was only later that Neil decided to bring the Stills Young Band’s Long May You Run into the fold on that Box set 3, thus ORS 8.5 and five, not four albums in that box.
To follow through with your letter’s inquiry regarding Journey Through The Past, that record is a film soundtrack album of songs that are not all Neil Young performances and compositions. So it does not get an Official Release or Special Release designation, not yet anyway.
Yet Paradox was an SRS because we thought it deserved to be recognized as such even though it too was a film soundtrack record, but also because it was all Neil and Promise Of The Real and in any case mostly Neil’s compositions.
In summary, since we are talking about Rock ‘N Roll here, it is imperative to note that the first rule of Rock ‘N Roll is: THERE ARE NO RULES!
So that means we employ NO RULES, just guidelines that are subject to change and don’t always make sense. In this case the website information is subject to change. And in terms of original “Official Release Series” numbers, with the exception of perhaps Deadman (ORS 30) you will not find any numbering at all on original studio albums that are records in Neil’s catalog after This Note’s For You (ORS 20) until Eldorado vinyl is re-released as ORS 21, and that will be the first time it has ever been on vinyl anywhere let alone released in the United States.
I hope this clarifies or further confuses you, whichever is desired!
Senior Chief Hanlon