Harvest [Original recording remastered]

Neil Young | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 14, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 1972
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Reprise Records
• ASIN: B001VZY4LY
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  DVD Audio  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (163 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,822 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #43 in Music > Rock > Country Rock
  • #98 in Music > Rock > Folk Rock

Editorial Reviews

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

Product Description

1972's best-selling album and one of its best, too, with Heart of Gold; Old Man , and The Needle and the Damage Done . R.I.P. Jack Nitzsche.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's that good, February 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Harvest (Audio CD)

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.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Awhile ago somewhere I don't no when . . . ", September 4, 2000

By 

haikuvulcan "haikuvulcan" (Harrisonburg, Virginia USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harvest (Audio CD)

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.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Neil's masterpiece...remastered at last, July 19, 2009

By 

William M. Feagin "A thousand miles can lead ... (Salem, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harvest (Audio CD)

I suppose the release of the Archives box set (which I still plan to buy on Blu-ray) could have easily been the harbinger of a remastered Neil Young catalogue, but even if not, this is still most welcome. Up to now, the closest thing I had was the 30th Anniversary DVD-Audio, with Harvest remixed in 5.1 Surround, but we've definitely needed the straight CD to be improved.

And Neil has not let us down - this, and its 3 predecessors (his self-titled solo debut from 1969, the first album with Crazy Horse [Everybody Knows This is Nowhere], and the equally-classic After the Gold Rush), are now remastered and greatly improved upon from the muddy CD mixes Warners first gave us in the late '80s. I should imagine that SHM-CD or Blu-spec versions aren't far behind, although I'd like to see Neil go back and redo the Buffalo Springfield albums next, preferably the expanded 1997 version of the first album and an expanded version of Again with the long-unavailable 9-minute version of "Bluebird" added as a bonus track, perhaps even as a Collector's Edition. (Note to Neil if he's reading this: Please do it!)