# Deep Tracks - Neil Young - "Harvest"



## Guest (Aug 30, 2018)

View attachment 107253


Please *choose up to seven* selections for this particular poll.

On all polls created if you click on the number of votes following the song title the username of all voters and their chosen selections will appear.

The tunes themselves will be found below the poll itself as links rather than as embedded videos due to bandwidth issues for those who wish to reacquaint themselves with a tune that may have receded a bit too far into the past to be remembered with the clarity that came when they were first released...

Next up is - Neil Young - "Harvest"

"_("Harvest") put me in the middle of the road. Traveling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch. A rougher ride but I saw more interesting people there._"
- Neil Young

After the members of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young went their separate ways in 1970, Young recruited a group of country session musicians (which he christened The Stray Gators) and recorded a country rock record, "Harvest".

The record was a massive hit, producing a US number one single in "Heart of Gold". Other songs returned to some usual Young themes: "Alabama" was "an unblushing rehash of 'Southern Man'"; and "The Needle and the Damage Done" was a lament for great artists who had died of heroin addiction.

The former song was also at least partially responsible (along with the aforementioned "Southern Man") for the creation of Lynyrd Skynyrd's 1973 hit "Sweet Home Alabama" which mentions Neil by name. Young later wrote of "Alabama" in his autobiography "Waging Heavy Peace", saying it _"richly deserved the shot Lynyrd Skynyrd gave me with their great record. I don't like my words when I listen to it. They are accusatory and condescending, not fully thought out, and too easy to misconstrue."_

The album's success caught Young off guard and his first instinct was to back away from stardom. He would later write that the record "put me in the middle of the road. Traveling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch. A rougher ride but I saw more interesting people there."

The electric-based songs were recorded in a barn at Young's ranch in California in September. Using a remote recording system, producer Elliot Mazer set up PA speakers in the barn for monitors rather than have the players wear headphones. This resulted in a lot of "leakage" as each microphone picked up sound from other instruments, but Young and Mazer liked the resulting sound. "Are You Ready for the Country", "Alabama", and "Words" were recorded in these sessions with Buttrey, Drummond, Keith, along with Nitzsche on piano and lap steel. Young named this band, which would accompany him on his tour in the winter of 1973, The Stray Gators.

Background vocals by Crosby, Stills & Nash were later recorded by Mazer in New York.

Mixing was done both at Quadrafonic and at Young's house. During playback at the ranch, Mazer ran the left channel into the PA speakers still in the barn and the right channel into speakers in the house. Young sat outside with Crosby and Nash sitting beside him listening to the mix. When asked about the stereo balance, he called out, "More barn."

According to a Rolling Stone interview, Young had wanted the album sleeve to biodegrade after the shrink-wrap was broken, but was overruled by the record company on the basis of expense and the possible product loss due to shipping accidents.

Assessments by critics were not overwhelmingly favorable at the time. Rolling Stone's John Mendelsohn called the album a disappointing retread of earlier, superior efforts by Young, writing of "the discomfortingly unmistakable resemblance of nearly every song on this album to an earlier Young composition - it's as if he just added a steel guitar and new words to "After The Gold Rush"."

A review in The Montreal Gazette gave the album a mixed verdict, calling it "embarrassing" in places but interesting lyrically, and singling out "Are You Ready for the Country?" as the record's best cut.

More recent evaluations of the album have been far more positive: in 1998, Q magazine readers voted Harvest the 64th greatest album of all time.

In 1996, 2000 and 2005, Chart polled readers to determine the 50 greatest Canadian albums of all time - Harvest placed second in all three polls, losing the top spot to Joni Mitchell's Blue in 2000, and to Sloan's Twice Removed in the other two years.

In 2003, a full three decades removed from its original harsh assessment, Rolling Stone named Harvest the 78th greatest album of all time.

In 2007, Harvest was named the #1 Canadian Album of All Time by Bob Mersereau in his book "The Top 100 Canadian Albums".

Musicians

Neil Young - lead vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, piano, harmonica

Ben Keith - pedal steel guitar

Jack Nitzsche - piano, lap steel guitar, arrangements, orchestration on "A Man Needs A Maid" and "There's A World"

Tim Drummond - bass

Kenny Buttrey - drums

Teddy Irwin - second acoustic guitar on "Heart of Gold"

John Harris - piano on "Harvest"

James McMahon - piano on "Old Man"

James Taylor - banjo guitar, backing vocals on "Heart of Gold" and "Old Man"

Linda Ronstadt - backing vocals on "Heart of Gold" and "Old Man"

David Crosby - backing vocals on "Are You Ready for the Country?" and "Alabama"

Stephen Stills - backing vocals on "Alabama" and "Words"

Graham Nash - backing vocals on "Are You Ready for the Country?" and "Words"

London Symphony Orchestra - orchestra on "A Man Needs A Maid" and "There's A World"

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvest_(Neil_Young_album)

Your commentary on any and every aspect of the album and especially any memories reawakened as a result of the poll is welcomed.


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## Guest (Aug 30, 2018)

"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)" -


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## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

When I was young and this first came out, my friends and I could be rather judgemental. (What's changed I hear you ask?). Those of us who cherished After The Goldrush felt it was a safe second rate affair (as your review summary suggests), only liked by those late to the party.

Making choices on your poll showed its strengths in depth. If it didn’t quite reach the same heights (Needle and the Damage done excepted) as ATGR, it doesn’t have any of the formers throw away tracks either. It also reminded me that in the years since, I’ve reached for Harvest At least as often as AFTGR. 

He was on a roll.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Another very successful album from Neil. The mix of sounds--from country-ish to CSN&Y to LSOrchestral (Moody Bluesy?)--works for me.


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## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

Words - this song is so cryptic. Who is The King who laughs and talks in rhyme? I used to think it was Dylan, but it could be Elvis.

Anyway, I consider Words to be the sleeper of the bunch. Great album, but maybe the Goldrush was better. The bass and drum sound of Crazy Horse was very unique...


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