Album: Harvest
Recorded: January-April and September 1971
Released: February 1972
Recorded: January-April and September 1971
Released: February 1972
Songs / length: 10 / 37:11
1971 was a fallow year for Neil Young fans, largely because Young had suffered a slipped disc injury that dented his productivity, but also because of his decision not to release a solo live album, despite pressure to do so from his producer David Briggs who had gone to Massey Hall, Toronto in January 1971 to record Young's live performance. Live At Massey Hall 1971 is now available as an archival release – highly recommended – and reveals how Young was already performing 5 out of the 10 songs on Harvest a full year before the album's eventual release.
All that Young fans got at the time was CSNY's live album 4 Way Street, which isn't particularly great – it's all a bit too polite and bureaucratic the way that each of the 4 members gets a fair share of the spotlight, and their hallmark harmonies are lacking. The extended performance of Southern Man is too long and loses its way, but worth checking out is Young's great acoustic medley of The Loner / Cinnamon Girl / Down By The River on the expanded version of the album.
Young talks about the recording of Harvest in chapter 24 (titled "Pains") of his autobiography, Waging Heavy Peace, and details how several of the album's key songs – The Needle & The Damage Done, Heart of Gold and Old Man – were written while on tour in early 1971. The tour ended up in Nashville, where Young performed on The Johnny Cash Show, along with James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt, who would both feature in the recording sessions for Harvest.
The Needle & The Damage Done was inspired by the heroin addiction of various musicians, notably Danny Whitten, who would die later in 1972, and the live version that appears on the album was recorded at UCLA at the end of January 1971. The lyrics sum up the desperation of junkies ("knockin' at my cellar door") who will try any technique ("milk blood to keep from running out", a reference to heroin-mixed blood that's saved in the syringe for later) to stay high. The song's poetic final line, "Every junkie's like a settin' sun", was sadly prophetic in Whitten's case.
While in the UK, Young also made the daring move of recording two tracks (A Man Needs A Maid and There's A World) with the London Symphony Orchestra at Barking Town Hall on 1st March 1971. There's video footage of the performance online, which shows Young suffering from back pain and feeling self-conscious in front of a full orchestra, though still able to work through his anxiety with the conductor. Jack Nitzsche also provided moral support, as well as devising the arrangements, which are superb even if a little "overblown", by Young's own admission. This is certainly the case with There's A World, though I think the orchestral backing works well on A Man Needs A Maid, a song about being vulnerable and needing someone to care for you when you're sick – I'd tend to agree with this article by Rumer that any allegations of sexism in the song are misplaced.
A Man Needs A Maid and Heart of Gold were both inspired by Young's relationship with film star Carrie Snodgress, who nursed him back to health after his back problems, and in the Massey Hall live performance he performs the two songs together as a medley. The freedom from pain and new-found comfort that Young felt on his Broken Arrow ranch in California are expressed in the two simple (almost cliched) songs he recorded in April 1971 – Out On The Weekend and the album's title track, Harvest. This is Neil Young in easy listening mode, and though I like the melody of Out On The Weekend, I find the pace of this song and the title track a little too plodding (though lyrically Harvest is one of the stronger tracks on the LP). In fact, he was enjoying this new life so much that he didn't record any further material for this album for almost 6 months.
The final sessions for the LP were recorded in September 1971 in a barn on Young's ranch, after he had persuaded producer Eliot Mazer to fly out the Stray Gators. The raggedy country rock of all three songs is enjoyable, but feels out of place along side the other Harvest tracks. Lyrically and musically Are You Ready For The Country feels like a throwaway, while Alabama is more political, addressing similar issues to Southern Man. The song would spark a response from Lynyrd Skynyrd, in the shape of Sweet Home Alabama, and Young would later admit his lyrics were "condescending".
The album's final track, Words, hints at the impending split with Carrie, specifically all the hangers-on and media sideshow that came with the relationship – Young expresses his regrets about the relationship in his autobiography, but says that because of their son Zeke, he'd never want to change what happened. Words is also available as an extended 16+ minute version on Young's other 1972 LP release, Journey Through The Past, a soundtrack to his first feature film and a retrospective of his musical career to date. Young talks about the "birth of Shakey Pictures" in chapter 46 of his autobiography, and is honest about the amateur way he went about filming Journey Through The Past and its lack of narrative structure, but says the film was "ahead of its time" in the way it pioneered the music video, albeit in a much longer form.
Researching in depth how Harvest was recorded, across various sessions over a long period of time in wildly different circumstances, helped me understand why it feels like such a patchwork album to listen to. Still, it's a nice easy listening intro to Neil Young's various musical styles, with some great tracks.
Highlights: Heart of Gold, Old Man, The Needle & The Damage Done
Album rating: A-
1971 was a fallow year for Neil Young fans, largely because Young had suffered a slipped disc injury that dented his productivity, but also because of his decision not to release a solo live album, despite pressure to do so from his producer David Briggs who had gone to Massey Hall, Toronto in January 1971 to record Young's live performance. Live At Massey Hall 1971 is now available as an archival release – highly recommended – and reveals how Young was already performing 5 out of the 10 songs on Harvest a full year before the album's eventual release.
All that Young fans got at the time was CSNY's live album 4 Way Street, which isn't particularly great – it's all a bit too polite and bureaucratic the way that each of the 4 members gets a fair share of the spotlight, and their hallmark harmonies are lacking. The extended performance of Southern Man is too long and loses its way, but worth checking out is Young's great acoustic medley of The Loner / Cinnamon Girl / Down By The River on the expanded version of the album.
Young talks about the recording of Harvest in chapter 24 (titled "Pains") of his autobiography, Waging Heavy Peace, and details how several of the album's key songs – The Needle & The Damage Done, Heart of Gold and Old Man – were written while on tour in early 1971. The tour ended up in Nashville, where Young performed on The Johnny Cash Show, along with James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt, who would both feature in the recording sessions for Harvest.
The Needle & The Damage Done was inspired by the heroin addiction of various musicians, notably Danny Whitten, who would die later in 1972, and the live version that appears on the album was recorded at UCLA at the end of January 1971. The lyrics sum up the desperation of junkies ("knockin' at my cellar door") who will try any technique ("milk blood to keep from running out", a reference to heroin-mixed blood that's saved in the syringe for later) to stay high. The song's poetic final line, "Every junkie's like a settin' sun", was sadly prophetic in Whitten's case.
Old Man and Heart of Gold were both recorded in early February 1971 with the Stray Gators at Quadrafonic Sound Studios in Nashville. The band included the legendary session drummer Kenny Buttrey, guitarists Tim Drummond, Teddy Irwin and Ben Keith, as well as backing vocals from JT and Linda Ronstadt. JT also played banjo on Old Man, a song inspired by Louie Avilla, the caretaker of the ranch that Young had bought in California, as mentioned in the video below filmed by the BBC in late February 1971, just 3 weeks after he laid down the track in Nashville. It's such a classic song, and one of my favourites, a rare example in pop of a song about the elderly and lost love.
While in the UK, Young also made the daring move of recording two tracks (A Man Needs A Maid and There's A World) with the London Symphony Orchestra at Barking Town Hall on 1st March 1971. There's video footage of the performance online, which shows Young suffering from back pain and feeling self-conscious in front of a full orchestra, though still able to work through his anxiety with the conductor. Jack Nitzsche also provided moral support, as well as devising the arrangements, which are superb even if a little "overblown", by Young's own admission. This is certainly the case with There's A World, though I think the orchestral backing works well on A Man Needs A Maid, a song about being vulnerable and needing someone to care for you when you're sick – I'd tend to agree with this article by Rumer that any allegations of sexism in the song are misplaced.
A Man Needs A Maid and Heart of Gold were both inspired by Young's relationship with film star Carrie Snodgress, who nursed him back to health after his back problems, and in the Massey Hall live performance he performs the two songs together as a medley. The freedom from pain and new-found comfort that Young felt on his Broken Arrow ranch in California are expressed in the two simple (almost cliched) songs he recorded in April 1971 – Out On The Weekend and the album's title track, Harvest. This is Neil Young in easy listening mode, and though I like the melody of Out On The Weekend, I find the pace of this song and the title track a little too plodding (though lyrically Harvest is one of the stronger tracks on the LP). In fact, he was enjoying this new life so much that he didn't record any further material for this album for almost 6 months.
The final sessions for the LP were recorded in September 1971 in a barn on Young's ranch, after he had persuaded producer Eliot Mazer to fly out the Stray Gators. The raggedy country rock of all three songs is enjoyable, but feels out of place along side the other Harvest tracks. Lyrically and musically Are You Ready For The Country feels like a throwaway, while Alabama is more political, addressing similar issues to Southern Man. The song would spark a response from Lynyrd Skynyrd, in the shape of Sweet Home Alabama, and Young would later admit his lyrics were "condescending".
The album's final track, Words, hints at the impending split with Carrie, specifically all the hangers-on and media sideshow that came with the relationship – Young expresses his regrets about the relationship in his autobiography, but says that because of their son Zeke, he'd never want to change what happened. Words is also available as an extended 16+ minute version on Young's other 1972 LP release, Journey Through The Past, a soundtrack to his first feature film and a retrospective of his musical career to date. Young talks about the "birth of Shakey Pictures" in chapter 46 of his autobiography, and is honest about the amateur way he went about filming Journey Through The Past and its lack of narrative structure, but says the film was "ahead of its time" in the way it pioneered the music video, albeit in a much longer form.
Researching in depth how Harvest was recorded, across various sessions over a long period of time in wildly different circumstances, helped me understand why it feels like such a patchwork album to listen to. Still, it's a nice easy listening intro to Neil Young's various musical styles, with some great tracks.
Highlights: Heart of Gold, Old Man, The Needle & The Damage Done
Album rating: A-
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