Neil Young - 50th anniversary "Harvest"

Following the long list of tributes to the music of the 70s, today we speak about one of my favorite artists, Neil Young and I am doing it now, because in 2022 was the 50th anniversary of the publication of the first Neil Young album I listened to, Harvest, which has a privileged place in my vinyl, CDs and DVDs collection.

Harvest, Neil Young's fourth album

Harvest was published in February 1972. In January 6th 2023, the three wise men brought me a commemorative box of Harvest 50th anniversary, published in December 2022 that I am enjoying very much.

The box includes in addition to the original disc, a CD with three songs not included in the former recording, a DVD with a live concert in 1971, a second DVD with the movie Harvest time, a book with photos, credits and a fold-out poster.

At that time, due to a back problem, Neil couldn't play electric guitar, so Harvest was an acoustic album perhaps out of necessity. Two songs, "There is a world" and "A man needs a maid", feature the London Symphony Orchestra.

The history of how the album was recorded is interesting and perfectly described in numerous specialized magazines. Just a couple of notes. Young was on a television show that also featured Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor. After recording the show, Young invited them to the studio where he was recording. Both participated in the backing vocals, at the end of "Heart of Gold" and in "Old Man". David Crosby, Graham Nash and Stephen Stills also starred on the album.

The Harvest Time DVD, included in that 50th anniversary commemorative box, shows scenes during the recording of a few songs at the Broken Arrow ranch that Young owns in California. It is a fantastic documentary that shows, without filters, all the emotion and artistic expression of Young as a composer.

It is Neil Young's only album to reach number one on the U.S. charts, replacing Don McLean's American Pie. It also reached number one in other countries including its home country, Canada. Young was never particularly influenced by reaching number one on the charts.

If I have to choose three songs from the album I'll stick with "Heart of Gold", "Out on the Weekend" and "Alabama".  Very close would be "Old man"

No doubts, the song "Heart Of Gold" is the best known. I think it's a fantastic song in any of the versions I've heard it. " ... I'm still looking for a heart of gold and I'm getting old..."

On "Out on the weekend" I love when the harmonica is played. The song sounds sad because of its rhythm, lyrics and Neil's slightly muted voice. Finally, "Alabama" has an introduction with electric guitar, some chords and a way of playing that I found spectacular and in which I found the first sound of the electric Neil Young.

Harvest was one of those first records that encouraged me to read, again and again the lyrics of each song which, helped me understand and speak decent English with not much effort.

Neil Young, among the best guitarists in history

I don't remember when I first listened to Neil Young. But, most probably it was on Popular FM radio, in Toma Uno, the program of “maestro” Manolo Fernández, back in 1974.

Surely, I listened to the song "Heart of Gold". From there, I bought the album, and since then I have not stopped listening to all Harvest songs.

I have about 12 Neil Young albums, and I've listened to almost all of the more than the published 50 studio and live albums. Neil Young has, in my opinion, three very different faces:

A few covers of Neil Young´s albums

Neil Young and his country side... The album Old Ways is pure country sound, banjo and violins with Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson participating in the record. It's not his best album, but of the ones I've listened to, it's the most dedicated to country music and sound, which I like so much.

The second Neil Young is the acoustic. I have already talked about Harvest, additionally in 1992 he published Harvest moon, where the song of the same name is fincluded, an excellent ballad of the acoustic Young, "From Hank to Hendrix" is another masterpiece and  "Comes a time" in the homonymous album, is another acoustic wonder.

The third Young is electric. At times, this face seems to me of a very high level, close to the acoustic Young. In 1975, he released the album Zuma. In it, songs like "Looking for a love"  remind us of the traditional Young, but suddenly, it comes "Cortez The Killer" . (published in Spain under the name Cortez Cortez... because of the censorship), more than 7 minutes of song, with the traditional rhythm of Young, but with a display of electric guitar that left me perplexed. It's the first time I've listened to this sounds coming from Young. This is what I had in mind when listening to "Alabama." intro. My favorite trilogy of electric songs includes "Cortez the killer," "Powderfinger" and of course "Like a Hurricane." Songs I've listened to hundreds of times. In many DVDs of their live performances there are spectacular versions. Live Rust, or Live in San Francisco seem exceptional to me. Neil Young is among the greatest guitarists in history.

Neil Young ranked 17th of the 100 greatest guitarist of all time

To be honest, I must say that there are songs, even complete albums, which I think are quite bad, but his discography includes 12-15 masterpieces.

In early 2022, he withdrew all of his songs from Spotify. He gave up important income for not agreeing with the misinformation that, from a program promoted by the platform, was spread in relation to the effectiveness of COVID vaccines.

The Neil Young Archives project, developed on the website of the same name, contains unpublished recordings, streaming access to his music and a multitude of constantly updated material for his followers.

Neil Percival Young, Canadian, 77 years old, thank you very much for your music. I hope you have found your heart of gold.