Neil Young – Harvest

Harvest is Neil Young's fourth album and his first to top the album charts (in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K.). The two singles from the album were also both top 10 hits: "Heart of Gold" (backed with "Sugar Mountain," a non-album track) went #1 in Canada and the U.S. and #10 in the U.K. and "Old Man" (backed with "The Needle and the Damage Done," a live track recorded at Royce Hall, UCLA) peaked at #4 in Canada and #31 in the U.S.

Although Harvest initially received mixed reviews, more recent reviews treat it more favourably:

• AllMusic gave it a near perfect 4.5 stars out of 5
• Robert Christgau graded it a B+
• Pitchfork rated it a 9.3 out of 10
• Rolling Stone magazine initially gave it an unfavourable review, saying "he's all but abdicated his position as an authoritative rock-and-roller for the stereotypical laid-back country-comforted troubadour role," and only 3 stars in the album guides, but upgraded that to 4 stars in the later record guides
• Spin gave it a 7 out of 10 in the Alternative Record Guide

Despite that luke-warm reception, Harvest is generally picked by the critics and fans as one of the greatest albums of all time:

• 94th in Paul Gambaccini's Critic's Choice Top 200 Albums (1978)
• 49th in Guitarist magazine's The Top 50 Most Influential Guitar Albums of All Time in 1994
• 60th in New Musical Express magazine's Top 100 Albums in 1993
• 21st in Q magazine's The 50 Best Albums of the 70s in 1998
• 78th in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2003) and 82nd in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2012)
• 1st in CBC Radio's the 100 Greatest Canadian Albums Ever (2013)
• 2nd in all three of Chart magazine's Great Canadian Music polls (1996, 2000 and 2005)
• 27th in Mar*Star's Canada 125 poll (1992) and 1st in Mar*Star's Great Canadian Music poll (2011)
• 1st in Bob Mersereau's The Top 100 Canadian Albums (2007)

As with Joni Mitchell's Blue, I was introduced to Harvest upstairs at my grandmother's house, by my sister Sherri and her roommates.

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Track Listing

1. "Out on the Weekend" (Neil Young) – 4:35
2. "Harvest" (Neil Young) – 3:11
3. "A Man Needs a Maid" (Neil Young) – 4:05
4. "Heart of Gold" (Neil Young) – 3:07
5. "Are You Ready for the Country" (Neil Young) – 3:33
6. "Old Man" (Neil Young) – 3:24
7. "There's a World" (Neil Young) – 2:59
8. "Alabama" (Neil Young) – 4:02
9. "The Needle and the Damage Done" (Neil Young) – 2:03
10. "Words (Between the Lines of Age)" (Neil Young) – 6:40

Personnel

• Neil Young – After the Gold Rush (album)
• Neil Young – Tonight's the Night (album)
• Neil Young – Rust Never Sleeps (album)
• Neil Young – Harvest Moon (album)
• Neil Young – Heart of Gold (song)
• Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Helpless (song)
• Neil Young – After the Gold Rush (song)
• Neil Young – Old Man (song)