...
“I want to live,
I want to give
I've been a miner for a heart of gold”
I didn’t listen to Neil Young’s ‘Harvest’ again for many years. But I never forgot those two songs...
Neil Young was born in Toronto, the son of a sports writer, and moved to Winnipeg with his mother when ... Read review
Harvest - Neil Young
Proclaiming his intentions with "Are You Ready for the Country?", Young detoured briefly ... more
to the Nashville mainstream. On this 1972 album, even the singer's acquired-taste voice comes across smooth and beautiful--the smash "Heart of Gold", with steel gu...
Harvest - Neil Young
Proclaiming his intentions with "Are You Ready for the Country?", Young detoured briefly ... more
to the Nashville mainstream. On this 1972 album, even the singer's acquired-taste voice comes across smooth and beautiful--the smash "Heart of Gold", with steel gu...
Harvest Moon - Neil Young
When Neil Young seems about to zig, he zags. Two years after 1990's loud Ragged Glory, he ... more
retreats to an old world of steel guitars, gentle folk melodies, and pristine country choruses. (That's Linda Ronstadt, who helped make 1972's Harvest a hit album, singing backup on the follow-up.) Young name-drops Hank Williams, Jimi Hendrix, and his old dog, King, in rich reminiscences about the musical ride he and his fans have shared since the late '60s. The album, as Young sings in "One of These Days," is "a long letter to all the good friends I've known." --Steve Knopper
Harvest Moon - Neil Young
When Neil Young seems about to zig, he zags. Two years after 1990's loudRagged Glory, he ... more
retreats to an old world of steel guitars, gentle folk melodies, and pristine country choruses. (That's Linda Ronstadt, who helped make 1972'sHarvesta hit album, singing backup on the follow-up.) Young name-drops Hank Williams, Jimi Hendrix, and his old dog, King, in rich reminiscences about the musical ride he and his fans have shared since the late '60s. The album, as Young sings in "One of These Days," is "a long letter to all the good friends I've known."--Steve Knopper
A review by sandrabarber on Harvest - Neil Young July 11th, 2002
Author's product rating:
Originality
Lyrics
Quality and consistency of tracks
How does it compare to the artist's other releases
Value for Money
Advantages:
beautiful
Disadvantages:
an acquired taste
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
The year was 1972. I was 9. My dad was a music nut. I knew all the Beatles albums, all the Stones. I learnt the lyrics to Sgt Pepper almost as soon as I could read. But this night he was playing something different on our gramophone (one of those that looked like a sideboard, that you could stack half a dozen LPs or singles on and it would - when it worked properly - let them drop down and play one at a time.
Tonight I was hearing a voice like I’d never heard before. It sounded like a grown man crying. I’d never heard a grown man crying. I wasn’t sure what the lyrics meant, but I knew they were tortured, tragic, and utterly personal.
“I've seen the needle and the damage done A little part of it in everyone But every junkie's like a settin' sun”
I didn’t know what a junkie was, though I’d heard the term before. I guessed it was something I didn’t want to be.
I didn’t like this LP. It made me feel sad. The man’s voice made my stomach twist inside. I couldn’t wait for it to be over and for the Beatles to come on, preferably singing something daft like ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ or ‘When I’m Sixty Four’. (Yes, I knew the lyrics to Sgt Pepper, but I was 9 for god’s sake, I liked the funny records best).
Anyway, I went to bed that night and found that one song in particular was playing in my head. It was from that upsetting record and it was a song called ‘Heart of Gold’.
“I want to live, I want to give I've been a miner for a heart of gold”
I didn’t listen to Neil Young’s ‘Harvest’ again for many years. But I never forgot those two songs...
Neil Young was born in Toronto, the son of a sports writer, and moved to Winnipeg with his mother when his parents divorced.
A music lover from childhood, he formed several different bands and moved to Los Angeles in 1965. Here he formed the band Buffalo Springfield.
In 1968 he recorded his first solo album, the first of 21 solo albums to date. In ‘69 he co-formed the band for which he is perhaps most well known, Crazy Horse. The band have now released 12 albums.
He later joined the already well-known Crosby Stills and Nash, who became, not surprisingly, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.
Famous for his unpredictability, drug use and poor health, his musical output has been varied to say the least, taking in country, rock, metal, grunge (in ’95 he released Mirror Ball with Pearl Jam, though you won’t see Pearl Jam named as that for legal reasons), and all manner of other passing genres. It’s been equally varied in quality, too.
But back to ‘Harvest’…
Released in 1972, this album has a definite country flavour, but the raw, high, bleeding voice and socio-realistic lyrics keep it safely removed from any hints of overblown, melodramatic, sugary ‘country and western’.
Instead we get Neil dealing with drugs, mortality, love, longing, depression, war and loss.
At times you’ll get sexism:
“I was thinking that maybe I'd get a maid Find a place nearby for her to stay. Just someone to keep my house clean, Fix my meals and go away” (A Man Needs a Maid)
At times you’ll get depressed:
“Old man take a look at my life I'm a lot like you I need someone to love me the whole day through Ah, one look in my eyes and you can tell that's true” (Old Man)
At times you’ll be touched deep deep down:
“I want to live, I want to give I've been a miner for a heart of gold. It's these expressions I never give That keep me searching for a heart of gold And I'm getting old” (Heart of Gold)
What you won’t be with this album is bored. Though it received a mixed reception from the critics, it was a huge seller and gave him a no. 1 single with Heart of Gold. And you’ll now usually find it in the ‘best albums ever’ list of the music press.
It’s an album I return to again and again, and Neil’s up and down musical journey is one that constantly fascinates.
Pushing 60 now, he’s earned his credentials as a rock dinosaur, and for me his music is as valid and alive as it was back when I first heard it in ’72.
If bleeding made a sound, it would be the sound of Neil Young’s voice.
Track List:
· OUT ON THE WEEKEND · HARVEST · A MAN NEEDS A MAID · HEART OF GOLD · ARE YOU READY FOR THE COUNTRY · OLD MAN · THERE'S A WORLD · ALABAMA · THE NEEDLE AND THE DAMAGE DONE · WORDS (BETWEEN THE LINES OF AGE)
Look out for:
Linda Ronstadt: Vocals on "Heart Of Gold" and "Old Man" James Taylor: Vocals on "Heart Of Gold", Vocals and Banjo on "Old Man" David Crosby: Vocals on "Are You Ready For The Country" and "Alabama" Steven Stills: Vocals on "Alabama" and "Words" Graham Nash: Vocals on "Are You Ready For The Country" and "Words" John Harris: Piano on "Harvest" London Symphony Orchestra: on "A Man Needs A Maid" & "There's A World"
Easily available on CD on the Reprise label, often at a bargain price.
He's an acquired taste, but one I'm very glad I acquired.
(This op was written in response to a DINOSAUR ROCK OFF challenge from 29th_Candidate).
Advantages: Alternative country/rock classic Disadvantages: none
...the closing sunrise of "Words", Harvest paints an emotional portrait of the post 60's world as seen through the eyes of Neil Young, godfather of alternative rock and grunge.
Harvest is Neil Young's biggest selling album that still resonates today. It is a must have album for Neil Young fans and fans of alternative music across the world in this post grunge post britpop era. It is an unashamed alternative country album with contributions from notable ... ...of NY stalwarts David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash. A gentle melancholia fills each song, and is one of the first things which strikes you about this record. Although this may have been due, in part, to the heavy medication which Neil was on at the time of recording. The heavy sense of loss and longing also hangs over this record like a calming breeze, particularly in the Needle and the Damage done, a heart-felt song written about Danny ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
...the best folk\rock songs ever. Harvest is full of these songs, and is my personal favourite of Neil Young's albums.
I have a lot of respect for Neil Young, mostly because of his attempts to piss off his record company by being as uncommercial as possible, but also because being one of the freakiest looking beasts that ever hatched on this planet (if it was on this planet) hasn't stopped him becoming a great songwriter. So, about those songs...
... ...The next track is Harvest itself. Light guitar combines perfectly with Young's high pitched voice, and you have what is possibly the best song on the album. The chorus is really what makes this song, as Neil croons "Did she wake you up, to tell you that, it was only a change of plan, dream up, dream up, let me fill your cup, with the promise of a man". Aside from this line, there are other excellent lyrics, something which I had never really associated ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: beautiful music, makes life worth living Disadvantages: I REALY WISH THE AUDIO QUALITY WAS GOOD
...Tailor and Linda Rondstat.
In Harvest Neil Young broods on love like in “A Man Needs A Maid”. He says
"I will go some where I don’t know when
I was watching a movie with a friend
I fell in love with the actress.
She was playing a part that I could understand
Maid, a man needs a maid
When will I see you again?"
Talking about Drug abuse in “The Needle And The Damage Is Done” Young ruminates
"..I’ve seen the needle, and the damage is done
... ...setting sun…. " probably his grave concern on drug abuse from personal experiences.
He is been quite unequivocal in raing his voice against racism as in “Alabama” he is philosophical about it and puts anger poetically saying..
"Oh Alabama
Banjos playing through the broken glass
Windows down in Alabama
See the old folks tied in white ropes
Hear the banjos..
Don’t it take you down home?"
Throughout the album Neil Young is mellow or pensive ...
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Originality
Lyrics
Quality and consistency...
How does it compare to ...
Value for Money
helpful
24.05.2009
Quick review of Harvest - Neil Young Review ofHarvest - Neil Youngby
emi_nic
Its absolutely beautiful, classic Neil Young, his fabulous rasping voice and inspired lyrics. Its a wonderful example of the folk/rock genre, and this album contains slightly softer songs than some others, so its a nice gentle way in to discovering Neil Young.
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Great Tracks Throughout With Some of The Best Lyrics Around Disadvantages: There's A World Slackens The Pace A Bit
...I am in all truth, no great fan of rock critics, many of whom either rely upon flattering their own ego to produce a piece of musical criticism that usually falls into simply stating faults and then adding a couple of lines relating to positives. This though can also be reversed, with the positives given and the negatives pushed under the rug, and yet even though I do admit that I would do much the same in many cases, the review that Rolling Stone Magazine, (previously) one of the most respected rock magazines around, gave for Harvest by NeilYoung seems to me more self-indulgence than criticism. The rock critic who rated this review panned this album on far too many levels, when it is now, rightly, seen as a brilliant piece of rock history and now sitting as No.78 on the Rolling Stone Magazine 500 Greatest Albums, retribution if there...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Great Songs Throughout, That Stand Together As A Great Cohesive Piece Of Work Disadvantages: Not Quite As Accessible As Harvest
...and Alabama on NeilYoung?s next album Harvest. This put plainly is a decry towards the racist attitudes, past and present, of Alabama, asking them to pay them back for the damage and emotional harm that they have caused, in splitting and segregating members of society. The Southern Man in the song could perhaps be seen as a stereotype pointing towards a wider problem, or simply a call to all southern men, but then this is simply a minor point, and the message is pretty much the same. The song itself is dominated by a driving electric guitar, coming in with a couple of solos between verses, perhaps to provide some backing to the lyrics by indicating distortion of social equality. This though is still a great song even if the message behind is not fully grasped, as the driving guitar and continuous backing from the piano provides a near apocalyptic...
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Advantages: good selection of tracks Disadvantages: not very imaginative in its choices
...1. Down By The River - Young, Neil & Crazy Horse
2. Cowgirl In The Sand - Young, Neil & Crazy Horse
3. Cinnamon Girl - Young, Neil & Crazy Horse
4. Helpless - Crosby Stills Nash & Young
5. After The Goldrush
6. Only Love Can Break Your Heart
7. Southern Man
8. Ohio - Crosby Stills Nash & Young
9. Needle And The Damage Done
10. Old Man
11. Heart Of Gold
12. Like A Hurricane - Young, Neil & Crazy Horse
13. Comes A Time
14. Hey Hey My My (Into The Black) - Young, Neil & Crazy Horse
15. Rockin' In The Free World
16. Harvest Moon
This album serves as a decent intro into the world of NeilYoung but considering how there is little from later albums like Sleeps With Angels, Broken Arrow, This Notes For You or Life I would recommend the double disc of Decade which features more songs and spans his time...
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Album Notes: Personnel: Neil Young (vocals, guitar); James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Stephen Stills (vocals); Ben Keith (pedal steel guitar); Jack Nitzsche (slide guitar, piano); John Harris (piano); Tim Drummond (bass); Kenny Buttrey (drums); David Crosby, Graham Nash, The London Symphony Orchestra. Producers: Neil Young, Eliot Mazer, Jack Nitzsche. Recorded at Quadrafonic Sound Studios, Nashville, Tennessee, Broken Arrow Studio #2 & Royce Hall-UCLA, California and Barking Town Hall, London, England.
Recognized as one of Young's (hence one of rock & roll's) finest albums, HARVEST put the singer on the mainstream map with the megahit "Heart Of Gold," which defined a soft folk-rock style subsequently done to death by lesser artists throughout the '70s. Trouble was, that approach had very little to do with what Young, or even HARVEST, was really about. To the contrary, this album features some of his darkest compositions, like the entropy-obsessed "Old Man" and the junkie eulogy "The Needle And The Damage Done." Deceptively laid-back-sounding country-rock plaints like "Out On The Weekend" and the title cut caress the ear unassumingly, pulling you into the more ominous subtext that is present even in the rollicking "Are You Ready For The Country." Due to back troubles, Young recorded much of this material while wearing a brace, a fact that seems audible in the tension and unease that underlies the friendly, acoustic surface of HARVEST.
Album Reviews: NME (10/2/93, p.29) - Ranked #60 in NME's list of the 'Greatest Albums Of All Time.' NME (9/18/93, p.19) - Ranked #22 in NME's list of the 'Greatest Albums Of The '70s.' Q (7/00, p.141) - Included in Q's "The Best Male Angst Albums Of All Time" - "...The showcase for [his] most affecting artistic devices..." Mojo (11/01, p.150) - "...If he was laid-back at this time it was simply because spinal surgery had made him literally so..."
Titles on disc 1
1.: Out On The Weekend
2.: Harvest
3.: 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.: Needle And The Damage Done
10.: Words (Between The Lines Of Age)
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