Neil Young has announced another archive release. Young Shakespeare is a live album and concert film recorded in 1971 at the Shakespeare Theater in Statford, Connecticut. It features the earliest known live solo performance material by Young in existence. The acoustic set includes performances of “Old Man”, “Helpless”, “Heart of Gold”, “Down by the River” and more. Watch the trailer and listen to “Tell Me Why” played on the album below.

The concert was recorded just days after his performance at Massey Hall in Toronto, which was released on the 2007 album Live at Massey Hall. In a statement, Young called the new film and album “a quieter performance without the festive atmosphere of Massey Hall, recorded live on 16mm”. He continued, “For my fans, this is the best ever … one of the purest sounding acoustic performances we have in the archive.”

The album will be available on CD and vinyl and the concert will be released on DVD. A deluxe box set with all three will also be available. It is also published on high resolution digital audio through its Neil Young Archives website.

The new announcement comes just before the release of Way Down in the Rust Bucket – another concert film and live album, recorded by Young with Crazy Horse in 1990 in Santa Cruz, California. Elliott Mazer, who produced Harvest, passed away earlier this week.

Young Shakespeare::

01 tell me why
02 old man
03 The needle and the damage done
04 Ohio
05 dance dance dance
06 Cowgirl in the sand
07 A man needs a maid / heart of gold
08 Journey through the past
09 Don’t let yourself fall
10 helpless
11 Down by the river
12 Zuckerberg