‎– Harvest Label:  ‎– K 54005 Format: , LP, Album 
Country: Released: Genre: Style: ,  Tracklist A1Out On The Weekend4:34A2Harvest3:12A3A Man Needs A Maid Conductor – Featuring – Producer –  4:05A4Heart Of Gold Backing Vocals – ,  3:07A5Are You Ready For The Country? Backing Vocals – ,  3:24B1Old Man Backing Vocals – ,  3:25B2There's A World Conductor – Featuring – Producer –  2:59B3Alabama Backing Vocals – ,  4:02B4The Needle And The Damage Done2:03B5Words (Between The Lines Of Age) Backing Vocals – ,  6:40 Credits Featuring –  Producer –  (tracks: A1, A2, A4 to B1, B3, B5),  (tracks: A1, A2, A4 to B1, B3 to B5) Written-By –  Notes Track B4 was recorded live at Royce Hall, UCLA.

Lyric booklet included.
Review by William Ruhlmann 

's most popular album,  benefited from the delay in its release (it took 18 months to complete due to 's back injury), which whetted his audience's appetite, the disintegration of ('s three erstwhile partners sang on the album, along with  and ), and most of all, a hit single. "Heart of Gold," released a month before , was already in the Top 40 when the LP hit the stores, and it soon topped the charts. It's fair to say, too, that  simply was all-pervasive by this time: "Heart of Gold" was succeeded at number one by "A Horse with No Name" by , which was a  soundalike record. But successful as  was (and it was the best-selling album of 1972), it has suffered critically from reviewers who see it as an uneven album on which  repeats himself. Certainly,  employs a number of jarringly different styles. Much of it is country-tinged, with  backed by a new group dubbed  who prominently feature steel guitarist , though there is also an acoustic track, a couple of electric guitar-drenched rock performances, and two songs on which  is accompanied by . But the album does have an overall mood and an overall lyric content, and they conflict with each other: The mood is melancholic, but the songs mostly describe the longing for and fulfillment of new love.  is perhaps most explicit about this on the controversial "A Man Needs a Maid," which is often condemned as sexist by people judging it on the basis of its title. In fact, the song contrasts the fears of committing to a relationship with simply living alone and hiring help, and it contains some of 's most autobiographical writing. Unfortunately, like "There's a World," the song is engulfed in a portentous orchestration. Over and over,  sings of the need for love in such songs as "Out on the Weekend," "Heart of Gold," and "Old Man" (a Top 40 hit), and the songs are unusually melodic and accessible. The rock numbers, "Are You Ready for the Country" and "Alabama," are in 's familiar style and unremarkable, and "There's a World" and "Words (Between the Lines of Age)" are the most ponderous and overdone  songs since "The Last Trip to Tulsa." But the love songs and the harrowing portrait of a friend's descent into heroin addiction, "The Needle and the Damage Done," remain among 's most affecting and memorable songs.