Neil Young - Harvest (1972)

Neil Young is a prolific Canadian singer-songwriter who has been releasing records since the 60s.

After the disintegration of folk-rock supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Neil Young released his first solo album since 1970, and it proved to be his most successful by far.
He went to Nashville to record at Elliot Mazer's studio, with a backing band consisting of top Nashville session musicians - drummer Kenny Buttrey, bassist Tim Drummond and pedal steel guitarist Ben Keith (the latter of whom would stick with Young until his death in 2010). At Mazer's studio they began recording the basic tracks. Piano from Andy McMahon and John Harris was added, as well as acoustic guitar from Teddy Irwin. Young also got backing vocals from his superstar friends Linda Ronstandt and James Taylor.
Back at his ranch in California, Young took Buttrey, Drummond and Keith, with the addition of his old friend Jack Nitzsche on piano, and recorded some more electric-based songs. He christened this band The Stray Gators. Two other solo piano songs were recorded by Nitzsche with the London Symphony Orchestra (an unusual move for Young, especially when heard in comparison to his previous two solo record), and "The Needle And The Damage Done" was a live performance taken from Young's solo tour. Several of the songs had backing vocals later overdubbed by Crosby, Stills & Nash.
Putting all these songs together, Young created a fine (yet actually quite uneven) country-rock record - Harvest. It featured two hit singles - "Old Man" reached #31, and then "Heart Of Gold" managed to make it to #1. It became the best-selling album of his career and catapulted him into super-stardom.
Due to its succes it is often cited as his greatest album, but Young aficionados usually argue against that. Its renown is generally due to its chart performance based on the "Heart Of Gold" single. Its success took Young completely by surprise, and he famously wrote that Harvest "put me in the middle of the road. Travelling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch." This brief time in the centre of the highway earned him a legion of new fans, who were all about to be confounded and alienated by his next career move.

After The Gold Rush (1970) <|> Time Fades Away (1973)
More from Neil Young

Download