Harvest (studio album) by Neil Young

From JoaoMoreira 02/09/2024 00:47

An OK record. I was hoping for better.
Clearly overrated. Not bad though.

TBC…

Album Rating:

01.02.1972

Neil Young (CAN): Harvest

1.Out On The Weekend. 96
2.Harvest
3.A Man Needs A Maid
4.Heart Of Gold
5.Are You Ready For The Country?
6.Old Man
7.There's A World
8.Alabama
9.The Needle And The Damage Done
10.Words (Between The Lines Of Age)

I am often torn between this one and 'After the Gold Rush', never really sure which sits in poll position. Does it really matter, both are great but quite different albums? The instrumental layering on this album is superb. I love 'Heart of Gold' and 'Old Man'. Strong message in 'The Needle and the Damage Done'. Parts of this album sound so much like Nils Lofgren, I came to him first so perhaps that statement should be reversed. I know Nils was in the band on keyboards through some of Neil Young's work so perhaps the style rubbed off on him, no bad thing!

A musically stunning album from Neil Young that takes his folk style and elevates it to a new level. He accomplishes this by adding a more diverse array of instrumentation which give a huge amount of depth to the music. This means that we get all the classic folk stylings of Neil Young with the addition of more layers and complexities which make the music so engaging and enjoyable to explore. When you look at the credits on here it is easy to see why the performances are all so outstanding with the three other members of CSN&Y appearing on here alongside some other notable names. Young also utilises an orchestra on some of the songs which adds a lot to the sound as well and does a great job of making one of the less interesting songs on here, A Man Needs A Maid, sound so grand and full of character. At the centre of it all is the fantastic Neil Young who gives one of his greatest performances both instrumentally and vocally on this release. He is also at his best when it comes to song writing with some of the lyrics on here being truly outstanding. Overall, this is one of Neil Young's masterpieces and it deserves all the credit and praise it receives as it is that phenomenal.

I must admit that I'm not very familiar with the extensive Neil Young catalouge. I have been presented to his music many times, and liked a lot of what I heard; but I somehow never really got "into" it. I liked his contributions to Buffalo Springfield very much; his songs were generally by far the strongest there. I decided to take a chance on one of his earliest solo album, and coincidentially I chose "After the Gold Rush" which could be achieved very cheap at that time.

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I recognized tracks like "Southern Man" and "Don`t Let it Bring You Down" but the rest of the album I had never really noticed. "Tell Me Why", which opens the album, is song in the same vein as his world-wide hit record ?Heart of Gold? - a good song, but not as good as the hit record.

Excitment begins with the title track, great tune and a highlight. The waltzy "Only Love Can Break" is also great. "Southern Man" is probably best known from the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young "Fout Way Street"; I think I prefer their version to this one.

His cover version of Don Gibson's "Oh Lonesome Me" is very personal, and musically far from the orginal. "Don`t Let it Bring You Down" is simply great! "Birds" is also a great track - very moving!

I find the rest of the album is a little lame; "When You Dance You Can Really Love" has a good guitar-riff; but otherwise it does not do much for me. "I Believe in You" and "Cripple Creek Ferry" are just okay.

All in all this is a good album. Unfortunately it has a rather short playing time, but that's typical of albums from that period.

Great

Vibey country wholesome-ness.

I came late to Neil Young but I did always love the song Alabama. I got this album in 2016 and it was the first Neil Young album I delved into. I immediately liked it - his voice, the laid back songs atmosphere, quite crisp production sound. It was the springboard for becoming a firm favourite and this album rides high in my top 100.
Out For The Weekend, Heart of Gold and Words are all 10/10 for me.

An incredibly modest record with tremendous heart and passion. With each release his tremendous songwriting ability carries on impressing with impeccable grace and beauty.

Great singing as always with Neil, there is no really bad tracks on here but most of them aren't amazing in my opinion either. My favorites are Heart Of Gold and Words (Between The Lines Of Age).