Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 12/09/1982
Run Time: 37:10
Neil Young's most popular album,
Harvest employs a number of jarringly different styles. Much of it is
country-tinged, although there is also an acoustic track, a couple of electric guitar-drenched
rock performances, and two songs on which
Young is accompanied by
the London Symphony Orchestra. 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.
Young's concerns are perhaps most explicit on the controversial
"A Man Needs a Maid," which contrasts the fears of committing to a relationship with simply living alone and hiring help. Over and over, he sings of the need for love in such songs as
"Out on the Weekend," "Heart of Gold," and
"Old Man," and the songs are unusually melodic and accessible; the
rock numbers
"Are You Ready for the Country" and
"Alabama" are in
Young's familiar style and unremarkable, and
"There's a World" and
"Words (Between the Lines of Age)" are ponderous and overdone. But the love songs and the harrowing portrait of a friend's descent into heroin addiction,
"The Needle and the Damage Done," remain among
Young's most affecting and memorable songs.
~William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
Cart 0 items
Login
My Account
Order Status
Help
Listen
