Harvest ranges from the understated, pensive mood of songs like "Out on the Country," "Harvest," and "Old Man" to the sheer desperation of "A Man Needs a Maid," and "Words" to the acoustic heartbreak of "Needle and the Damage Done," to the Moody Blues-style optimism of "There's A World," to the dark country rock of "Are You Ready for the Country," all the way down to the proto-grunge social criticism in "Alabama" (Made famous on the top 40 thanks to Lynard Skynard). With the possible exception of "There's a World," (which, a la Moody Blues, rather lays the London Symphony on a bit too thick - it works on "A Man Needs a Maid owing to the sheer drama of the song, but goes over the top on "There's a World), each track is a masterful cut, demonstrating Young's ability to conquer and mix numerous genres. Lyrically Neil is at his best, capturing mood and evoking emotion in ways that few composers can even touch. Young's singing, in spite of criticisms of the alleged "thin quality" in his voice, is superb - skillfully phrasing his lyrics so that they play well off of the Stray Gators heavier sound. You have to go pretty far to find a better Neil Young album - *Everybody Knows This is Nowhere* and *After the Gold Rush* are superior, but not by much, and after that there isn't much from the Young catalogue that beats it. Indeed, there aren't many albums from anyone that surpass *Harvest*. I've been playing it since 1972 - and I still find it fresh and meaningful. Highly recommended.


A must for all music fans   September 21, 2000
12 out of 13 found this review helpful

This album is the mortar and bricks that have built up the music industry. The lush sounds, sad themes and haunting melodies are beyond category, beyond time, and beyond what I had expected. The people influenced by this album are numerous. The song "Sweet home alabama" has references to Young's own Alabama. There is a Nirvan bootlegg named after "Needle and the Damage done," and, there was numerous uproars about the song "man needs a maid" This album is definately worth checking out!


The Promise Of A Man   May 3, 2001
David Bradley (Sterling, VA USA)
46 out of 59 found this review helpful

This is where Neil Young's lyrics began to lose some of their contrived weirdness and really hit home.

"I wanna live, I wanna give...it's these expressions I never give that keep me searching for a heart of gold. And I'm getting old."

That pretty much sums up a point a lot of us get to in our late 20s/early 30s, doesn't it?

So much of this album is about reaching that point where a decision must be made between good or bad, up or down, right or wrong. Much has been made of "Are You Ready For The Country?" and Young's turn away from Rock to Country music. To me, that is just one of the decisions Young struggles with on HARVEST, and a minor decision at that. He is fighting over his solo-mountain-man image and living a more social life in a band; trying to decide if traditional southern thinking makes any sense or if a full-blown step into 20th century civil rights philosophy is viable ("The devil fools with the best laid plans" in "Alabama"), and argues against the worst case results of 1960s drug culture.

This is an album about reaching breaking points, about deciding which way to go at lifes crossroads.

Or, as Young hinted at with the the albums title, it is about reaping what you've sown when it's time for the HARVEST.