Neil Young: writer of songs, scarer of children (both with his voice and his head, really) and maker of some of 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 album starts off with Out On The Weekend, which begins with a solid drumbeat and lazy harmonica, setting the pace for the song. It's quite mournful in parts, as in "I'm so down today". The harmonica that is basically the chorus is excellent and really sets the sorrowful tone of the song. One of my favourite opening tracks, it is a good indicator of whether you'll like the album or not.

9\10

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 him with. One I particularly liked was "Well, I see you give me more than I can take, well I only harvest some". This song is very folky, and I think that's why I like it, as it makes a change to what I normally listen to.

10\10

Next, we reach Neil's extremely sexist views in A Man Needs A Maid. Piano greets us followed by Neil telling us how he's going to get a maid, to cook and clean etc. To be honest, I find the chorus a bit scary, with clashing piano and Neil's weird voice proclaiming that all men need a maid. There are bells and drums and all sorts, and Neil shows us his entire vocal range... so it's high pitched then. A pretty weak song to be perfectly honest, but can be alright in parts.

6/10

Heart Of Gold was I think the only success of this album and it's not hard to see why. A blend of fast guitar and a steady drum beat, with a bit of harmonica thrown in for good measure. Neil's voice isn't even scary! It's just folky enough to appeal to folksters and just commercial enough to appeal to everyone else. The lyrics are poor "I want to live, I want to give, I've been a miner for a heart of gold" pour examplo. However the strongest point of this song is the guitar in the chorus, which is extremely good. Overall, if you ignore the lyrics it's a pretty darn good song.

8/10

Are You Ready For The Country? displays the side of Neil Young I detest. he has a habit of making songs that just mess about for a few minutes, an most of them are absolutely unlistenable. Luckily, this one isn't that bad but it could have gone horribly wrong. Throughout, it has piano played with a real western feel, and a hint of electric guitar every now and then. The chorus mostly consists of him shouting the title. It made me laugh at first but it's worn on me slightly.

7/10

Old Man is a return to the great songs on this album. It has a catchy little guitar riff at the start, with Neil singing "Old Man take a look at my life, I'm a lot like you were". There is a song on After The Gold Rush that I think this song is almost certainly ripped from, though it's name has escaped me. I shouldn't have brought it up really. The drums are laid back, as is the guitar. One of the highlights of the album.

9/10

There's A World is another scary song, as it starts off with drums and clanging which reminds me slightly of the stormtrooper march song, which would explain the fear. And then suddenly, it stops and there is the tweeting of birds and soft singing. But then it turns evil again, and the loud drums crash once again. It repeats this a few times. At the start, i really hated this song, even more than A Man Needs a Maid. Now, however I've come to appreciate it, and indeed even like it.

8/10

And so we reach Alabama, another 10/10 song (I hate to spoil the suspense). Again, it's Neil giving out about southern people. Will he never learn? To be honest the two songs he's written about them, this and Southern Man, are two amazing songs. This a perfect blend of piano and guitar, Neil's voice and those of Crosby,Stills and Nash (who Neil Later joined to form Crosby,Stills,Nash and Young, as the name obviously wasn't long enough). The harmonies in it are excellent especially in the chorus where they all sing "Alabama, you've got the weight on your shoulders that is breaking your back, your cadillac has got a wheel in the ditch and a wheel on the track. Superb stuff.

10/10

And before you knew it, we're on the ninth track, The Needle And the Damage Done. Wasn't that fast? this is a live track, and it's just Neil and his auld acoustic. Neil plucks away and ponders on the damage of drugs to people. It's only two minutes long and it seems shorter, as time flies when you're listening to good music. As the audience claps, they are abruptly cut off for the last track.

9/10

Which is called Words, the longest song on the album at a "massive" 6 and a bit minutes long. The lyrics aren't great "Someone and someone were down by the pond". Hmmm... quality stuff. The chorus itself makes up for it as it crashes into "Words, Words, between the lines of hate". The song kind of fades near the end but not before he shows us a little bit of the electric guitar that would become a LOT more prominent with Crazy Horse. A good finishing song, but in the grand scheme of things only so-so.

7/10

So there you have it. 83\100, so I'll say 4 stars.

How do you make the perfect folk\rock album? Take some sugar, add flour, milk, some chocolate and then cook. Voila, you have brownies. Eat and enjoy.