Track Listing

1. Out on the Weekend
2. Harvest
3. Man Needs a Maid - London Symphony Orchestra, Neil Young
4. Heart of Gold
5. Are You Ready for the Country?
6. Old Man
7. There's a World - London Symphony Orchestra, Neil Young
8. Alabama
9. Needle and the Damage Done [Live] - Neil Young
10. Words (Between the Lines of Age)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4681 in Music
• Released on: 1990-10-25
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
Japanese only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD - playable on all CD players) pressing. Warner.

Amazon.com essential recording
Proclaiming his intentions with "Are You Ready for the Country?" Young detoured briefly to the Nashville mainstream. On this No. 1 1972 album, even the singer's acquired-taste voice comes across smooth and beautiful--the smash "Heart of Gold," with steel guitars and Linda Ronstadt's backup vocals, is by far Young's most commercial-sounding song. His usual dissonant touches, like the otherworldly guitar in "Out on the Weekend," are less spooky in this new context. The last two tracks, the deceptively gentle "The Needle and the Damage Done" and the hypnotic rocker "Words (Between the Lines of Age)," predict "Tonight's the Night," Young's haunted 1975 classic. --Steve Knopper

Customer Reviews

It's that good
Neil Young's Harvest is sometimes dismissed as his most commercial album, due in part to the success of Heart of Gold as a single. He's been criticized for employing lush strings on a couple of tunes here (A Man Needs a Maid; There's a World) but I don't care what anybody says; they work, and the songs are gorgeous. In fact, the whole record is full of great songs. Out on the Weekend, Heart of Gold, Old Man, Needle and the Damage Done, -- how many albums can boast a lineup like that? Bottom line is, this rates with his best work. Don't miss it.

Gold Harvest
Neil Young fans had to wait two years for the successor to AFTER THE GOLDRUSH.In between albums, moved out to the country,got divorced and found love again with actress Carrie Snodgrass,and injured his back severly while moving furniture. All these factors contributed in a mellow release entitled HARVEST;with pickup group The Stray Gators(plus guest artists like James Taylor and Linda Rondstat).HARVEST is a country tinged album,with a lot less to worry about than later releases.Neil broods on love(HARVEST,OUT ON THE WEEKEND,A MAN NEEDS A MAID,THERE'S A WORLD),racism (ALABAMA),and drug abuse(THE NEEDLE AND THE DAMAGE DONE).Two hits resulted from this album,HEART OF GOLD(which Young claims put him in the middle of the road,so he headed for a ditch)and OLD MAN. WORDS(BETWEEN THE LINES OF AGE)is a long jam session.ARE YOU READY FOR THE COUNTRY became a hit for Waylon Jennings.A few Young fans regard the album as two countrified and commercial;I think this is his best in his country period which includes COMES A TIME,HARVEST MOON and OLD WAYS. This was my first Neil Young album,and I'll probably have a copy of it on me somewhere when I go.

"Awhile ago somewhere I don't no when . . . "
Few artists can match Neil Young in musical artistry, creative versatility, and artistic/personal intergrity - Dylan, Lennon, Hendrix, Stipe, Young - the list does not go much beyond that. Young's *Harvest* is further reminder that we are dealing with a legendary composer and performer, one who defies categorization while still remaining relevant to so many categorized styles. Not many artists can lay claim to that(see the short list above and maybe add three or four more).

Harvest ranges from the understated, pensive mood of songs like "Out on the Country," "Harvest," and "Old Man" to the sheer desperation of "A Man Needs a Maid," and "Words" to the acoustic heartbreak of "Needle and the Damage Done," to the Moody Blues-style optimism of "There's A World," to the dark country rock of "Are You Ready for the Country," all the way down to the proto-grunge social criticism in "Alabama" (Made famous on the top 40 thanks to Lynard Skynard). With the possible exception of "There's a World," (which, a la Moody Blues, rather lays the London Symphony on a bit too thick - it works on "A Man Needs a Maid owing to the sheer drama of the song, but goes over the top on "There's a World), each track is a masterful cut, demonstrating Young's ability to conquer and mix numerous genres. Lyrically Neil is at his best, capturing mood and evoking emotion in ways that few composers can even touch. Young's singing, in spite of criticisms of the alleged "thin quality" in his voice, is superb - skillfully phrasing his lyrics so that they play well off of the Stray Gators heavier sound. You have to go pretty far to find a better Neil Young album - *Everybody Knows This is Nowhere* and *After the Gold Rush* are superior, but not by much, and after that there isn't much from the Young catalogue that beats it. Indeed, there aren't many albums from anyone that surpass *Harvest*. I've been playing it since 1972 - and I still find it fresh and meaningful. Highly recommended.