Neil Young has announced that he will launch an online archive that will include "every single, recorded track or album I have produced" since his first recording session in 1963.
A technological evolution of his sprawling Archives boxed set - the first volume of which was released in 2009 - the archive will display as a timeline where fans can click on songs or albums and view loads of information around each release.
"View all albums currently released and see albums still unreleased and in production just by using the controls to zoom through the years," Young wrote in a detailed letter announcing the archive.
"Unreleased album art is simply pencilled in so you can see where unreleased albums will appear on the timeline, once they are completed."
Ever the exacting audiophile, Young also promises that the music will be streamed via Xstream Music, a streaming service that "are always pure uncompressed masters."
A rep for Young said the project has been in the works for many years and has no release date, and longtime fans will know not to hold their collective breath.
More than any other artist except perhaps Prince and Frank Zappa, Young is both wildly prolific and a meticulous curator of his own career, with seemingly boundless patience to wait until he deems the moment right for his creations to be shared with the world. Songs and entire albums sit unreleased for years or even decades after their creation, if at all - the latest example, coming on September 8, is Hitchhiker, a stunning solo acoustic album containing early versions of songs like Pocahontas, Captain Kennedy and the title track, that has sat in his vault for some 41 years.
