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Harvest by ReleasedFebruary 1, 1972RecordedJanuary–September 1971Studio Various   Length37:11 Neil Young       chronology
(1970)Harvest
(1972)
(1972)

Harvest is the fourth studio album by Canadian musician , released on February 1, 1972, on , catalogue MS 2032. It featured the  on two tracks and vocals by noted guests , , , , and . It topped the  album chart for two weeks, and spawned two hit singles, "", which peaked at #31 on the , and "", which reached #1. It was the best-selling album of  in the United States.

Background

After the members of  went their separate ways in 1970, Young recruited a group of country session musicians (which he christened ) 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: "Alabama" was "an unblushing rehash of ''"; and "" was a lament for great artists who had died of  addiction. The former song was also at least partially responsible (along with the aforementioned "Southern Man") for the creation of 's 1973 hit "" which mentions Neil by name. Young later wrote of "Alabama" in his autobiography , 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." "Words (Between the Lines of Age)", the last song on the album, featured a lengthy guitar workout with the band. It has a typical Neil Young structure consisting of four chords during the multiple improvised solos. The song is also notable for alternating between a standard 4/4  for verses and choruses and an  11/8 (6/8+5/8) for interludes.

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."

Recording

"The Needle and the Damage Done" was taken from a live solo performance at UCLA on 30 January 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 , which includes interviews with the producer, , among others.

Young arrived in  in early February 1971 to perform on a broadcast of  where Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor would also appear. Mazer had opened  in Nashville, and invited Young to dinner (or breakfast according to another Mazer interview) 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  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 , and told Mazer that all he needed was a bassist, 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 , bassist  (who was just walking down the street), and steel-guitarist . That night, they laid down the basic tracks for "Old Man", "", and "Dance Dance Dance". This version of "Bad Fog" was unreleased until its appearance on . "Dance Dance Dance" was also left off the album but had already appeared on the debut  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  (a six-string banjo tuned like a guitar).

"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  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, .

Background vocals by  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."

According to a  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.  mentioned this request at the 22nd annual ASCAP pop music awards.

Critical reception Professional ratingsReview scoresSourceRatingB+(9.3/10)(negative)

Assessments by critics were not overwhelmingly favorable at the time. 's  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 ." A review in  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.

More recent evaluations of the album have been far more positive: in 1998,  readers voted Harvest the 64th greatest album of all time. In 1996, 2000 and 2005,  polled readers to determine the 50 greatest  albums of all time – Harvest placed second in all three polls, losing the top spot to 's  in 2000, and to   in the other two years. In 2003, a full three decades removed from its original harsh assessment, Rolling Stone named Harvest the 78th . In 2007, Harvest was named the #1 Canadian Album of All Time by  in his book . The album was featured in 's list of "The 10 Essential Country Rock Albums".

Track listing

All tracks written by .

Side oneNo.TitleLength1."Out on the Weekend"4:352."Harvest"3:113.""4:054.""3:075.""3:33Side twoNo.TitleLength1.""3:242."There's a World"2:593."Alabama"4:024."" (recorded in concert January 30, 1971)2:035."Words (Between the Lines of Age)"6:40