Harvest (Neil Young album)

Harvest is the fourth studio album by Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released February 1, 1972 by Reprise Records, catalogue number MS 2032. It featured the London Symphony Orchestra on two tracks and vocals by noted guests David Crosby, Graham Nash, Linda Ronstadt, Stephen Stills, and James Taylor. It topped the Billboard 200 album chart[2] for two weeks, and spawned two hit singles, "Old Man", which peaked at No. 31 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and "Heart of Gold", which reached No. 1.[3] It was the best-selling album of 1972 in the United States.[4] The album has since remained Neil Young's signature album as well as his best selling.[5][6]

Harvest
Studio album by
Neil Young
ReleasedFebruary 1, 1972 (1972-02-01)[1]
RecordedJanuary–September 1971
Studio
  • Quadrafonic Sound, Nashville
  • Barking Town Hall, London
  • Royce Hall, UCLA
  • Broken Arrow, Woodside, California
Genre
  • Folk rock
  • country rock
Length37:10
LabelReprise
Producer
  • Neil Young
  • Elliot Mazer
  • Henry Lewy
  • Jack Nitzsche
Neil Young chronology
After the Gold Rush
(1970)		 Harvest
(1972)		 Journey Through the Past
(1972)
Singles from Harvest
  1. "Heart of Gold"
    Released: January 1972
  2. "Old Man" b/w "The Needle and the Damage Done"
    Released: April 17, 1972

In 2015, Harvest was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[7]

Background

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: "The Needle and the Damage Done" was a lament for great artists who had been addicted to heroin, including Crazy Horse bandmate Danny Whitten; "Alabama" was "an unblushing rehash of 'Southern Man'";[8] to which American southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote their 1973 hit "Sweet Home Alabama" in reply, stating "I hope Neil Young will remember, a Southern Man don't need him around, anyhow". 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."[9] "Words (Between the Lines of Age)", the last song on the album, featured a lengthy guitar workout with the band.

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."[10]

According to a note posted on Young's official website on May 1, 2019, much of Harvest "was written about or for Carrie Snodgress, a wonderful actress and person and Zeke Young’s mother."[11]

Recording

"The Needle and the Damage Done" was taken from a live solo performance at UCLA on January 30, 1971.

The recording of the remainder of Harvest was notable for the spontaneous and serendipitous way it came together. The story is told in an article in Acoustic Guitar Magazine, which includes interviews with the producer, Elliot Mazer, among others.[12]

Young arrived in Nashville in early February 1971 to perform on a broadcast of the Johnny Cash Show where Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor would also appear. Mazer had opened Quadrafonic Sound Studios in Nashville, and invited Young to dinner (or breakfast according to another Mazer interview)[13] on Saturday, 6 February, to convince him to record his next project at the studio. Young admired the work of the local studio musicians known as Area Code 615 who had recorded there and was interested. Young had a batch of new songs that he had been performing on the road, as seen by the repertoire on Live at Massey Hall 1971, and told Mazer that all he needed was a bass player, drummer, and pedal steel guitarist. Young made the decision to start recording that evening.

Since many of the Area Code 615 musicians were typically working on a Saturday night in Nashville, Mazer scrambled to find drummer Kenny Buttrey, bassist Tim Drummond (who was just walking down the street), and steel-guitarist Ben Keith. That night, they laid down the basic tracks for "Old Man", "Bad Fog of Loneliness", and "Dance Dance Dance". This version of "Bad Fog" was unreleased until its appearance on The Archives Vol. 1 1963–1972. "Dance Dance Dance" was also left off the album but had already appeared on the debut Crazy Horse album.

According to liner notes in Archives Volume 1, "Heart of Gold" was not recorded until Monday, 8 February. However, other sources reported that after taping the Johnny Cash Show on the evening of Sunday 7 February, Young invited Ronstadt and Taylor to come back to the studio with him. The three sat on a couch and recorded the background vocals for "Heart of Gold" and "Old Man." Taylor overdubbed a part for the latter song on Young's banjo guitar (a six-string banjo tuned like a guitar).

"A Man Needs a Maid" and "There's a World" were recorded by Jack Nitzsche with the London Symphony Orchestra in early March at Barking Assembly Hall (credited as Barking Town Hall on the album notes[14] and now the Broadway Theatre) in the wake of Young's appearance on the BBC and concert at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

"Out on the Weekend", "Harvest" and "Journey Through the Past", along with overdubs by the session musicians James McMahon (piano on "Old Man"), John Harris (piano on "Harvest"), and Teddy Irwin (second acoustic guitar on "Heart of Gold"), were recorded in another session at Quadrafonic in April.

The electric-based songs were recorded in a barn at Young's ranch in California in September. Using a remote recording system, 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 (or Nash and Young were sitting in a rowboat on the lake—see notes). When asked about the stereo balance, he called out, "More barn."[15]

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. Mo Ostin mentioned this request at the 22nd annual ASCAP pop music awards.[16]

Critical reception
Retrospective professional reviews
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[17]
Christgau's Record GuideB+[18]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[19]
The Great Rock Discography9/10[19]
MusicHound Rock4/5[19]
Pitchfork9.3/10[20]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[19]
Spin Alternative Record Guide7/10[19]

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."[21] 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.[22] Reappraising the record in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Village Voice critic Robert Christgau wrote:

Anticipation and mindless instant acceptance made for critical overreaction when this came out, but it stands as proof that the genteel Young has his charms, just like the sloppy one. Rhythmically it's a little wooden, and Young is guilty of self-imitation on "Alabama" and pomposity on the unbearable London Symphony Orchestra opus "There's a World." But those two excepted, even the slightest songs here are gratifying musically, and two of them are major indeed—"The Needle and the Damage Done" and the much-maligned (by feminists as well as those critics of the London Symphony Orchestra) "A Man Needs a Maid."[18]

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,[23] then was re-ranked 82nd in a 2012 revised list,[24] and re-ranked 72nd in the 2020 list.[25] In 2007, Harvest was named the No. 1 Canadian Album of All Time by Bob Mersereau in his book The Top 100 Canadian Albums. The album was featured in TeamRock's list of "The 10 Essential Country Rock Albums".[26] It was voted number 93 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000).[27]

According to Acclaimed Music, it is the 102nd most celebrated album in popular music history.[28]

Reissues

On October 15, 2002, Harvest was digitally remixed and remastered for DVD-Audio format. The new 5.1 mix was the subject of minor controversy due to its unconventional panning, with the vocals in the centre of the room and the drums in the rear speakers. Harvest was remastered and released on HDCD-encoded CD and digital download on July 14, 2009, as part of the Neil Young Archives Original Release Series. A 180-gram remastered vinyl edition was released on December 1, 2009, along with remastered vinyl editions of Young's first four albums.[29] The remastered CD exists both as a standalone album and as Disc 4 of a 4-CD box set Official Release Series Discs 1-4, released in the US in 2009 and Europe in 2012.[30]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Neil Young. Track timings are from the original 1972 vinyl release, catalogue number MS 2032.[31]

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Out on the Weekend"4:35
2."Harvest"3:03
3."A Man Needs a Maid"4:00
4."Heart of Gold"3:05
5."Are You Ready for the Country?"3:21
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Old Man"3:22
2."There's a World"3:00
3."Alabama"4:02
4."The Needle and the Damage Done" (recorded in concert January 30, 1971)2:00
5."Words (Between the Lines of Age)"6:42
Neil Young Archives website outtakes
  1. "Bad Fog of Loneliness" – 1:57 (unreleased song, also appears on Disc 8 of the Archives Vol. 1 box set)
  2. "Dance Dance Dance" – 2:37 (previously unreleased version)

Personnel
Musicians
  • Neil Young – lead vocals, lead and acoustic guitar, piano, harmonica
  • Teddy Irwin – second acoustic guitar on "Heart of Gold"
  • John Harris – piano on "Harvest"
  • James McMahon – piano on "Old Man"
  • James Taylor – banjo, 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"
The Stray Gators
  • Ben Keith – pedal steel guitar
  • Jack Nitzsche – piano, lap steel guitar on "Are You Ready for the Country?," "Alabama," and "Words"; arrangements and orchestration on "A Man Needs a Maid" and "There's a World"
  • Tim Drummond – bass guitar
  • Kenny Buttrey – drums
Production
  • Neil Young, Elliot Mazer – producer
  • Henry Lewy – producer on "Needle and the Damage Done"
  • Jack Nitzsche – producer on "There's a World" and "A Man Needs a Maid"[32]

Charts
Chart performance for Harvest
Chart (1972) Peak

position

Australia (Kent Music Report)[33] 1
US Billboard Top LPs & Tape[34] 1
UK Album Charts[35] 1
Canadian RPM 100 Albums[36] 1
German Album Charts[37] 4
Spain Album Charts[38] 4
French Album Charts[39] 1
Finnish Album Charts[40] 12
Swedish Album Charts[41] 12
Norwegian VG-lista Albums[42] 1
Dutch MegaCharts Albums[43] 1
US Cash Box Top 100 Albums[44] 1
US Record World Album Chart[45] 1
Chart (1982) Peak

position

Japanese Album Charts[46] 6
Chart (1993) Peak

position

New Zealand Album Charts[47] 48

Year-end charts
Chart (1972) Position
Dutch Albums Chart[48] 1
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[49] 10
US Billboard Year-End[50] 1
US Cashbox Year-End[51] 3
US Record World Year-End[52] 1

Certifications and sales
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[53] 7× Platinum 490,000^
France (SNEP)[54] Diamond 1,000,000*
Germany (BVMI)[55] 3× Gold 750,000^
Italy
sales 1972-1982 		— 900,000[56]
Italy (FIMI)[57]
since 2009 		Gold 25,000*
Netherlands (NVPI)[58] Gold 25,000[59]
Norway (IFPI Norway)[58] Silver 20,000[59]
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[60] Platinum 100,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[61] Platinum 50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[62] 3× Platinum 900,000^
United States (RIAA)[63] 4× Platinum 4,000,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

See also
  • Neil Young discography
  • List of best-selling albums in France
  • List of best-selling albums in Italy
  • List of number-one albums of 1972 (Australia)
  • List of number-one albums of 1972 (U.S.)
  • List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 1970s

References
  1. "Harvest by Neil Young | Neil Young Archives official website".
  2. Harvest – Neil Young > Charts & Awards > Billboard Album at AllMusic. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
  3. Neil Young > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles at AllMusic. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
  4. "Year End Charts – Year-end Albums – The Billboard 200". Billboard.com. Archived from the original on 2007-12-11. Retrieved 2009-08-05.
  5. Lynch, Joe (2021-01-13). "The 25 Best Neil Young Songs: Staff Picks". Billboard. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
  6. "Readers' Poll: The Best Neil Young Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 2012-08-08. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
  7. "Grammy Hall of Fame Letter H". Grammy. 18 October 2010. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  8. So characterized by Jim Miller in Rolling Stone; quoted in Inglis, Sam (2003), Harvest, pp. 93-94. The Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0-8264-1495-8.
  9. Young, Neil (2012). "Chapter Fifty-seven". Waging Heavy Peace: A Hippie Dream. New York, New York: Penguin Books. p. 417. ISBN 978-0-14-218031-0.
  10. Bronson, Fred (2003). The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, p. 308. Billboard Books. ISBN 0-8230-7677-6.
  11. "Photographic image of magazine review" (PNG). Images.ctfassets.net. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
  12. Simons, David (July 2001). "Recording Harvest: The Making of Neil Young's Classic 1972 Album". Acoustic Guitar Magazine (103): 34–41.
  13. Elliot Mazer, Neil Young's Heart of Gold Archived 2004-11-22 at the Wayback Machine. In Mix, 2001-05-01, webpage found 2007-11-29.
  14. "Classic Album: Neil Young - Harvest". Long Live Vinyl. 2017-06-02. Retrieved 2017-10-06.
  15. Luling, Todd Van (21 June 2016). "Neil Young Finally Confirms The Most Popular Legend About Him". Huff Post. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  16. Randy Lewis (May 18, 2005). "Comes a time for a tux". LA Times.
  17. Ruhlmann, William. Harvest at AllMusic. Retrieved 2 July 2004.
  18. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: Y". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 23, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  19. "Harvest". Acclaimed Music. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
  20. Richardson, Mark (December 11, 2009). "Neil Young: Neil Young / Everybody Knows This is Nowhere / After the Gold Rush / Harvest > Album Reissue Reviews". pitchfork.com. Retrieved 11 December 2009.
  21. Mendelsohn, John (March 30, 1972). "Neil Young Harvest > Album Review". Rolling Stone. No. 105. Archived from the original on 13 October 2004. Retrieved 2 July 2004.
  22. Mann, Bill (March 11, 1972). "A Big Month for Home Brews". Montreal Gazette. Gazette Printing Company Ltd.: 50.
  23. Levy, Joe; Steven Van Zandt (2006) [2005]. "78 | Harvest – Neil Young". Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (3rd ed.). London: Turnaround. ISBN 1-932958-61-4. OCLC 70672814. Archived from the original on 16 March 2006. Retrieved 5 April 2006.
  24. "500 Greatest Albums of All Time Rolling Stone's definitive list of the 500 greatest albums of all time". Rolling Stone. 2012. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
  25. "Harvest ranked 72nd greatest album by Rolling Stone magazine". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  26. Ewing, Jerry (September 5, 2016). "The 10 Essential Country Rock Albums". TeamRock. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
  27. Colin Larkin, ed. (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 73. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
  28. "Harvest ranked 102nd greatest album". Acclaimedmusic.net. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  29. "Because Sound Matters, Retrieved September 15, 2010". becausesoundmatters.com. Archived from the original on November 14, 2009.
  30. "Neil Young - Official Release Series Discs 1-4". Discogs.com. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
  31. "Vinyl Album: Neil Young - Harvest (1972)". 45worlds.com. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
  32. "Neil Young – Harvest". Discogs. Retrieved 2016-10-10.
  33. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 295. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  34. "Stephen Stills". Billboard. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  35. "STEPHEN STILLS | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  36. Canada, Library and Archives (2013-04-16). "The RPM story". Bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  37. "Offizielle Deutsche Charts - Offizielle Deutsche Charts". Offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
  38. Salaverri, Fernando (2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002. Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  39. "InfoDisc : Les Albums (Interprètes, Classements, Ventes, Certifications, Les Tops, Les N° 1...)". Infodisc.fr. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
  40. Sisältää hitin: Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1961.
  41. "HITSALLERTIJDEN". Hitsallertijden.nl. Retrieved 2020-11-08.
  42. "norwegiancharts.com - Norwegian charts portal". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  43. Hung, Steffen. "The Stills-Young Band - Long May You Run". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  44. "CASH BOX MAGAZINE: Music and coin machine magazine 1942 to 1996". Worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  45. "RECORD WORLD MAGAZINE: 1942 to 1982". Worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  46. "クロスビー,スティルス,ナッシュ&ヤングの売上ランキング". ORICON NEWS. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  47. "New Zealand Albums". Charts.nz. Retrieved 2016-07-22.
  48. "Dutch charts jaaroverzichten 1971" (ASP) (in Dutch). Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  49. "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. 1972. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  50. "1971 Year-end Albums – The Billboard Pop Albums". Billboard. 25 December 1971. p. 15. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  51. "CASH BOX MAGAZINE: Music and coin machine magazine 1942 to 1996". Worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved 2021-04-03.
  52. "Record World Year End 1972" (PDF). Worldradiohistory.com.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  53. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2002 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  54. "French album certifications – Neil Young – Harvest" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique.
  55. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Neil Young; 'Harvest')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
  56. "Il rock irrompe fra i purosangue". Corriere della Sera (in Italian): 17. August 14, 1982. Retrieved January 16, 2021. Dopo gli Stones, Neil Young e senz'altro l'artista più attento dal pubblico italiano che ha sempre dimostrato il proprlo gradiemento verso il cantautore anche in termini molto "pratici", cloè nell'acquisto di dischi. Soltanto "Harvest" ha, venduto sinora, in dieci anni, circa novocentomila copie
  57. "Italian album certifications – Neil Young – Harvest" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved November 13, 2019. Select "2015" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Select "Harvest" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Album e Compilation" under "Sezione".
  58. "WEA's International's…" (PDF). Cash Box. 16 September 1972. p. 42.
  59. "Gold/Silver Record Chart". Billboard. 26 December 1974.
  60. Salaverrie, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (PDF) (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Madrid: Fundación Autor/SGAE. p. 961. ISBN 84-8048-639-2. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
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  63. "American album certifications – Neil Young – Harvest". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
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