Harvest – Neil Young

The MARK’S VINTAGE VINYL page features something from Mark’s collection of recordings from over the years. Most of it is on vinyl – hence the name – though there will be a few entries from his CDs (remember those?).

Harvest, by Neil Young

• Fourth studio album released by Neil Young in 1972.
• While the album is quite old, I didn’t pick it up until well into the 00s, and my copy is a CD. This was when the kids were older, and I was catching up with many years of lost music time. Some of that was rediscovering the classic sounds of the 70s, and I got on a Neil Young binge.
• The album was the best selling record of 1972. The song Heart of Gold reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and Old Man made it to #31. Both are absolute classics – my favorite is Old Man, with its typical Neil Young tenor vocal and story about how a young man and an old man both have similar needs. James Taylor plays banjo on the song, and adds a backing vocal, along with Linda Ronstadt. Young wrote the song for the caretaker of the Broken Arrow Ranch in Northern California, which he purchased in 1970.
• Funny – Rolling Stone gave it a poor review when it was released, but apparently they changed their minds when they rated it at #82 of the Greatest Albums of All Time in 2009. They also rank Young at #34 on their Greatest Artists List.
• It is certified 4x platinum in sales – his best selling album.
• Here’s a clip of Young performing Old Man. A true classic song and artist.