Harvest (album)

chronology
Harvest
Neil Young studio album
Publication ; (s)	February 1, 1972
Label (s)	Reprise Records
Format (s)	LP , CD , DVD-Audio , MC
Genre (s)	Folk rock , country rock
Title (number)	10
running time	37m10s
occupation	Neil Young - guitar , harmonica , vocals ; The Stray Gators :; ; Ben Keith - guitar, pedal steel guitar , vocals; ; Jack Nitzsche - guitar, piano , keyboards, slide guitar ; ; Tim Drummond - bass ; ; Kenneth A. Buttrey - drums ; Graham Nash - vocals (Are You ready for the Country & Words) ; Linda Ronstadt - vocals (Heart of Gold & Old Man) ; Stephen Stills - vocals (Alabama & Words) ; James Taylor - vocals (Heart of Gold & Old Man), banjo (Old Man) ; David Crosby - guitar, vocals (Are You ready for the Country & Alabama) ; John Harris - piano (Harvest) ;
production	Neil Young; Eliot Mazer; Jack Nitzsche; Henry Lewy;

Harvest is Neil Young's fourth and most successful solo album . In 1972, the year it was released, it was the best-selling album in the United States. In the local Billboard 200 as well as in the English and Canadian charts it conquered number 1.

Recordings and songs

The London Symphony Orchestra and its former band members David Crosby , Stephen Stills and Graham Nash as well as Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor participated in the recordings . The cover of the album was designed by Tom Wilkes .

After Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young broke up, Neil Young asked for country musicians from "The Stray Gators" for this country rock album, which also contains the US number 1 single Heart of Gold .

In some of the pieces he took up familiar topics. In Alabama - as in Southern Man on the previous LP After the Gold Rush - he devoted himself to the American southern states; Words is in the musical tradition of long guitar pieces like Down by the River or Cowgirl in the Sand . The Needle and the Damage Done tells of Danny Whitten , the guitarist with whom Young worked in the band Crazy Horse , who fell into heroin addiction ; as well as from roadie Bruce Berry . Young wrote the piece Old Man about the manager of his Northern California "Broken Arrow Ranch", which he had acquired in 1970 for US $ 350,000. The song compares the life of a boy (Young) with that of an old man (administrator).

The success of the album reached Neil Young overnight. He responded by withdrawing from the hype that was now being made around him. He later wrote: “Heart of Gold put me in the middle of the street. Lingering there quickly became boring for me, so I headed for the ditch. A more difficult ride, but I got to know more interesting people there. "

Track list

All the tracks on the album were written and composed by Neil Young.

Page 1:

Out on the Weekend - 4:35
Harvest - 3:11
A Man Needs a Maid - 4:05
Heart of Gold - 3:07
Are You Ready for the Country? - 3:33

Page 2:

Old Man - 3:24
There's a World - 2:59
Alabama - 4:02
The Needle and the Damage Done (recorded on January 30, 1971) - 2:03
Words (Between the Lines of Age) - 6:40

reception

source	rating
Allmusic
Pitchfork	(9.3 / 10)
Robert Christgau	B +
Rolling Stone	(negative)

At the time of publication, the reviews were mixed. Rolling Stone's John Mendelsohn called the album a "disappointing overhaul of previous songs," but that didn't detract from its audience success. Over the years, reviews have also gotten more positive. In 1998, Q magazine readers voted Harvest # 64 of the best albums of all time. Rolling Stone also revised its criticism. Harvest ranks 78th on his list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" .

Sales figures and awards

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Belgium (BEA)	platinum	50,000
Germany (BVMI)	3 × gold	750,000
France (SNEP)	diamond	1,000,000
Italy (FIMI)	gold	50,000
Switzerland (IFPI)	platinum	50,000
Spain (Promusicae)	platinum	100,000
United States (RIAA)	4 × platinum	4,000,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	3 × platinum	900,000
All in all	2 × gold 11 × platinum 1 × diamond	6,900,000