Let's make one thing immediately clear, amigo: "Decade" is certainly no mercenary enterprise intended to exploit the dedication of Neil Young's audience. The apparently indulgent and extravagant design of this triple album retrospective is powerfully justified by the impressive authority and diversity of its contents, and the invaluably comprehensive account of Young's artistic development and maturity into one of rock's most individual and arresting performers that it so generously and lucidly offers.

The compilation follows a vaguely chronological course through Young's career, from the precocious adventures of his work with Buffalo Springfield—"Mr. Soul," "Broken Arrow" and, especially, the immaculately conceived "Expecting To Fly," remain startlingly fresh and vivid—through his stirring alliance with the robust, bar-room rock of Crazy Horse and beyond the mellow pastures of "After the Goldrush" and "Harvest."…

The selections from [the earlier] albums are discriminating and calculated to reflect the consistent pertinence of...