Harvest (1972 album) - Definition and Overview

Harvest
LP by Neil Young
Released	February 1, 1972
Recorded	1971 (?)
Genre	Rock
Length	37 min 10 s
Record label	Reprise Records
Producers	Neil Young, Henry Lewy
Professional reviews
All Music Guide review	4½/5	link (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=Akrkqikz6bbo9)
RollingStone review	NR	link (http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album?id=306863)
Neil Young Chronology
After the Gold Rush (1970)	Harvest (1972)	Journey Through the Past 1972

Harvest is an album by Neil Young, which was the best-selling album of 1972. The album featured several high calibre guests, including the London Symphony Orchestra, Linda Ronstadt, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and James Taylor. Harvest hit #1 on the Billboard Music Charts (North America) pop albums chart.

From the article on Neil Young: After the supergroup split, Young recruited a new group of country session musicians, which he christened The Stray Gators and recorded a country rock record in Harvest. Catching the mood that would soon lift The Eagles to superstardom, Harvest 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 inferior rehash of "Southern Man"; "Words" featured a lengthy guitar workout with the band and "The Needle And The Damage Done" chronicled Danny Whitten's descent into heroin addiction. The album's success caught Young off guard and his first instinct was to back away from stardom. He would later write that "Heart Of Gold put me in the middle of the road. Travelling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch. A rougher ride but I saw more interesting people there."

In 1998 Q magazine readers voted Harvest the 64th greatest album of all time.

Track listing

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
6. "Old Man" - 3:22
7. "There's a World" - 3:00
8. "Alabama" - 4:02
9. "The Needle and the Damage Done" - 2:00
10. "Words (Between the Lines of Age)" - 6:42

All songs written by Neil Young

Personnel

• The London Symphony Orchestra - Orchestra, Performer
• Graham Nash - Vocals
• Linda Ronstadt - Vocals
• Stephen Stills - Vocals
• James Taylor - Vocals
• Neil Young - Guitar, Harmonica, Composer, Vocals, Producer
• Jack Nitzsche - Guitar, Piano, Arranger, Keyboards, Producer, Slide *Guitar
• Ben Keith - Guitar, Guitar (Steel), Vocals
• Joel Bernstein - Photography
• Kenneth A. Buttrey - Drums
• David Crosby - Guitar, Vocals
• Tim Drummond - Bass, Drums
• John Harris - Piano
• Henry Lewy - Producer
• Elliot Mazer - Producer
• David Meecham - Conductor
• Stray Gators - Group, Performer
• Tom Wilkes - Design

External links

• Neil Young Album/CD reviews (http://www.thrasherswheat.org/tnfy.htm)
• Harvest (http://www.lyricsfreak.com/album/7656.html) (EXCLUDES "THERE'S A WORLD")
• "There's A World" Lyrics (http://www.lyricsdomain.com/14/neil_young/theres_a_world.html)