In 1972, during the heyday of the singers-songwriters movement, Neil Young released his fourth studio album, Harvest. The album would become his most successful, reaching number one on the Billboard 200 album charts, and selling more than four million copies to date.
Unlike his previous works (such as 1970’s After the Gold Rush), Harvest moved into more of a country rock sound, and was in fact recorded with country session musicians, whom Young would christened the Stray Gators. Many of the ten tracks carried the usual themes Young was already known for addressing in his music. Two of those songs were “Alabama”, which was said to be “rehash” of the anti-racism song “Southern Man”, and a lament to those who have perished to drug use titled “The Needle and the Damage Done”. Harvest yielded two hit singles. One was “Old Man”, which was a Top 40 single, and “Heart of Gold”, which became Young’s first and only number one single.
Surprisingly (perhaps for those who did not grew up during the 1970s), Harvest did not receive a warm reception from critics upon its release, despite strong album sales. In fact, it was once panned by a critic in Rolling Stone. However, as time passed, the critical reception became far more positive, ranking high in numerous polls including Q Magazine’s list of the greatest albums of all time (number 64), and Chart magazine, where readers voted it the second greatest Canadian album of all time (behind Joni Mitchell’s Blue). Today, Harvest stands as one of Neil Young’s best works alongside albums such as 1970’s After the Gold Rush and 1975’s Tonight’s the Night.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Neil Young, inducted in 1995 (as a solo artist) and 1997 (as a member of Buffalo Springfield).
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