POLL: Harvest - Neil Young

Okay this is tough. I heard this TONS when growing up, so I really skipped over it a lot when I came to appreciate Neil on my own terms in college. But I gained a new appreciation for it with the 33 1/3 book. I'm completely torn between "Needle", "Old Man", and "Words" at this point. Dammit. Now I just need to go ahead and listen to the whole damn thing again.

Title tune.

Still the only major Young album I don't own.

Now would be a good time to get it, since it was in that first batch of reissues (the reason I finally own a copy).

Okay. This is unexpected. Another spin has me leaning very heavily towards "Alabama".

The first side is a juggernaut; the second side more characteristically Neil in its distraction. I voted for "Out On The Weekend", for its stoned gait (good grief what a rhythm section), Ben Keith's pedal steel, and its spot-on depiction of early 20s male ennui.

This was a good way to start the day. It turns out that the answer is 'Words'.

this is actually really hard

Okay. This is unexpected. Another spin has me leaning very heavily towards "Alabama".

Hmmmmm, not so unexpected

This album is nice, but somewhat underwhelming when compared to "After the Goldrush" (that was the album that preceded it, right?)

Hmmmmm, not so unexpected

It is for me! For some reason that song never clicked with me before, loving it right now though!

'Tis good but would probably have been even better if he hadn't already written "Southern Man"

Which is exactly the reason I'd always given it short shrift before, "why do I need this when we've got "Southern Man"?', etc etc.

You can hear "Old Man" and "Heart of Gold" 100kx on the radio and they both still sound different within the context of this album. I'm going with "Old Man" because of simplicity.

The last time I listened to this record it exacerbated my end-of-relationship depression something terrible.
Voted "Out on the Weekend."

Needle and the Damage Done, far and away. One of the two or three best songs he ever wrote.

"out on the weekend" without hesitation

Is there anything unridiculous about 'A Man Needs A Maid'?

I like it

The arrangement is absurd, but the lyric is one of his clearest lyrics. "I fell in love with the actress; she was playing a part that I could understand." Neil is playing a part here too, and it's one that I can understand.

Old Man.

the production is very gentle and beautiful, esp. the banjo that elevates the song toward the chorus.

out on the weekend 2nd.

xpost--Man Needs A Maid

It's a totally ridiculous song, but that's part of what makes it so sublime. There's literally nothing like it.

I really like "A Man Needs A Maid" but have had to skip it so many times due to the protests of anyone in the room when that song comes on. Literally dozens and dozens of times. Kind of gives it a special place in my heart.

Voted "Out On the Weekend" though, such a great great song. Somehow the fact that it opens the record still manages to surprise me after all these years and listens. Could probably listen to that loping intro into the first verse on repeat for 4 or 5 hours and not get sick of it.

Who hasn't ever wanted to just pack it in and buy a pickup?

Seriously.

not a big a man needs a maid fan:

http://storage.people.com/jpgs/19830926/19830926-750-80.jpg

"if anybody wants an actress who can cry, tell them to give me a call."

now THERE is a good song lyric!

This is really hard. Plumped eventually for the title track.

title track is so good -- insanely laid back music, not so laid back lyrics -- "screaming in the rain ..." With the archives coming out, the two main outtakes from this, "bad fog of loneliness" and "journey through the past" might've made a stronger album. I like "Alabama" and "Words" but they feel a little out of place ...

Alabama vs. Out on the Weekend

the double-time switchup in Alabama is teh awesome

or wait am I mixing that up with Southern Man haha

neeeedle

I love and voted for A Man Needs a Maid. I especially love the piano version on Live at Massey Hall, spoken-intro and all...

Overall, I've never really been captivated by much of this album despite some good songs.

I am going to be the lone vote for "Harvest," ain't I?

out on the weekend ftw.

i always think this is kind of a weak neil record but then i look at that track list and damn it's pretty dope.

title track vs. old man vs. alabama vs. old man

gonna go with old man i guess

"Old Man" makes me cry. So that.

"I am going to be the lone vote for "Harvest," ain't I?"
I was between it and Out on the Weekend, for me. I love the lyrics in Harvest. "Did she wake you up to tell you that it was only a change of plans?" in particular.

i never really noticed how weird the lyrics to "alabama" were...what the hell is it about?

"Alabama"

Oh Alabama
The devil fools
with the best laid plan.
Swing low Alabama
You got spare change
You got to feel strange
And now the moment
is all that it meant.

Alabama, you got
the weight on your shoulders
That's breaking your back.
Your Cadillac
has got a wheel in the ditch
And a wheel on the track

Oh Alabama
Banjos playing
through the broken glass
Windows down in Alabama.
See the old folks
tied in white ropes
Hear the banjo.
Don't it take you down home?

Alabama, you got
the weight on your shoulders
That's breaking your back.
Your Cadillac
has got a wheel in the ditch
And a wheel on the track

Oh Alabama.
Can I see you
and shake your hand.
Make friends down in Alabama.
I'm from a new land
I come to you
and see all this ruin
What are you doing Alabama?
You got the rest of the union
to help you along
What's going wrong?

can't listen to this all the way thru cuz of 'maid'

He just wanted to get back at Skynyrd, probably.
Song never made much sense to me, either.

xpost

A Man Needs a Maid

between Harvest and Out on the Weekend for me too ... though maybe Old Man ... hmmm.

He just wanted to get back at Skynyrd, probably.
Song never made much sense to me, either.

― Trip Maker, Thursday, February 25, 2010 6:17 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i think that beef was pretty overblown

Oh I know, I'm just joking.

But the fact remains that he was called out in a song called "Sweet Home Alabama."

tied in white ropes

always thought this was robes (aka KKK), not ropes? ropes doesn't really make sense

ropes are way better for tying up old people than robes though

Sweet Home Alabama didn't come out til 1974, tho right?

Watch Journey Through The Past and the secrets of "Alabama" will be unlocked.

(not really)

never noticed this

There is a semi-hidden vocal line in the second verse after the "Well, I heard Mr. Young sing about her" line. In the left channel, you can hear the phrase "Southern Man" being sung lightly (at approximately 0:55). This was producer Al Kooper doing a Neil Young impression and was just another incident of the band members messing around in the studio while being recorded. According to Leon Wilkeson, it was Kooper's idea to continue and echo the lines from "Southern Man" after each of Van Zant's lines. "Better...keep your head"..."Don't forget what your / good book says", etc. But Ronnie insisted that Kooper remove it not wanting to plagiarize or upset Young. Kooper left the one line barely audible in the left channel.

Sweet Home Alabama was a response to both Southern Man and Alabama, although as someone wrote earlier the "feud" was largely overblown. Ronnie Van Zant has been pictured wearing a Tonight's The Night t-shirt in concert, and I believe Neil Young offered Van Zant the song Powderfinger before he released his own version on Rust Never Sleeps.

I think Harvest would have been a better album without the London Symphony Orchestra on the two tracks but since I wasn't around at the time I don't know. Maybe in 1972 combining country-rock with orchestration was pushing new ground. Personally I much prefer the solo piano performances of those songs on Live At Massey Hall where they have a completely different vibe.

My guess is that Are You Ready For The Country? and There's A World are the two songs that won't get any votes.

I love Are You Ready For the Country, but probably won't vote for it ... Nice, sleazy vibe there.

Ronnie Van Zant has been pictured wearing a Tonight's The Night t-shirt in concert

and on the cover of street survivors.

re: Alabama as a response to Skynyrd: That's cool, sorry guys, my chronology is off (big surprise).

I need to get the remaster of this (even though most everything -- except Out On The Weekend!) is on the archives ... sound is ridiculously improved. Old Man in particular has all kinds of things going on in it that I never noticed.

That tune is sort-of responsible for one of the most excruciating moments of my life - on a work night out a colleague from my floor got bladdered and started blubbing about what a great guy his dad was and how he wished he could tell him that. The way he'd like to do it, he said, would be to get him alone and sing 'Old Man' to him - then jerked upright on his barstool and treated us all to an air guitar rendition.

Good, good times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4jbRueJx0E

rhythm section on this record is so laid back. Neil must've had them smoke a lot of weed beforehand. Or is this the record where he made the drummer not use his left hand or something?

from my limited experience it is really REALLY difficult to find/get a rhythm section that can play this sparely and still stay together

oh hell yeah -- no drummer wants to play like that. Even if it fits the song, they're gonna want to do a tasty fill somewhere just cuz they can.

This may seem silly but I wonder if the album cover is partly responsible for people's lukewarm appreciation of this record. I mean, if the picture on the back cover of them playing in the barn had been on the front instead, it would have given the album a rougher look and people might not be so quick to dismiss it as too 'nice' an album.

Will be interesting to see if Heart Of Gold ends up getting any votes since no one's mentioned it so far.

I like Heart of Gold fine, don't really understand what's so different about it that made it his only hit - certainly it bears a lot of similarity to plenty other songs of Neil's. just timing I guess.

^I think that hardcore NY fans are lukewarm on this record but the general music listening populace seems to view it as his canon record. I mean, Heart of Gold.xpost

re. the remaster: I listened to it earlier today and was struck by all the new percussion I could hear in "There's A World". I liked it more than I ever had before...which doesn't mean I think it's a great song (good though).

There's A World is pretty nutso. I imagine if he'd made a whole album of big orchestral kinda things like that and "Maid" it'd be loved by Scott Walker fans.

wasn't van zandt BURIED in that neil young tonight's the night shirt? i thought i read that...

long-ass article on the mythic Skynyrd/Young Feud!
http://www.thrasherswheat.org/jammin/lynyrd.htm

There's A World is pretty nutso. I imagine if he'd made a whole album of big orchestral kinda things like that and "Maid" it'd be loved by Scott Walker fans.

honestly think Neil's voice is too whiny to sustain the required mood/atmosphere/approach.

either that or it would sound like a late period Mercury Rev record

There's A World is pretty nutso. I imagine if he'd made a whole album of big orchestral kinda things like that and "Maid" it'd be loved by Scott Walker fans.

the first record is very "produced"

yeah, but nothing quite as dramatic/theatrical/bombastic as those two Harvest songs ...

"you need more french horns, kid."

http://www.filmreference.com/images/sjff_04_img1569.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCElUItrLZc

Mixing was done at both Quadrofonic and at Young's house. During playback at the ranch, Mazer ran the left channel into the PA speakers still in the barn and the right channel into speakers in the house. With Crosby and Nash beside him Young sat outside listening to the mix. When asked about the stereo balance, he called out, "More barn."

this is an awesome album, which i sometimes forget.

I never knew that Carrie Snodgress stuff. So depressing. According to Wiki, "Later she and film score composer Jack Nitzsche became lovers. In 1979, Nitzsche was charged with threatening to kill her after he barged into her home and beat her with a handgun. He pleaded guilty to threatening her and was fined and placed on three years' probation." She died in 2004 while waiting for a liver transplant :(

Bummer city :((((

Yeah, from reading "Shakey" Snodgress comes off as ... an interesting person. Maybe deserving of a book herself! The most bizarre thing is that her and Nitzsche had a relationship *after* all that nuttiness.

I'm pretty sure that's *not* actually that bizarre in terms of relationships marked by domestic violence, sadly.

yeah i guess that's true. depressing!

the banjo in "Old Man" is def. one of my all time musical moments

but I have to go with "Needle"

it's perfect, reallt

More barn! Fantastic anecdote :)

This is a childhood album, discovered when I dug into my parents record collection. Will dig it out for a listen tomorrow (I think I have my mum's LP at home)

i've listened to this album 4 times just trying to decide how to vote in this poll, and i still have no idea.

MORE BARN!!!

fucking <3 this dude...

btw that new Demme Neil live movie trailer looks pretty awes

In the left channel, you can hear the phrase "Southern Man" being sung lightly (at approximately 0:55). This was producer Al Kooper doing a Neil Young impression

wow. just listened. that's a pretty good neil young impression! also, as i believe ILM is well aware, sweet home alabama >>>>>>> alabama/southern man

as for this album: needle > weekend > harvest > a rotating cast of all the rest

where is that fantastic out on the weekend video from?

More barn!

always more barn

Going for the title track here.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Needle.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

eh

and the damage done

hm, i like needle fine, but I dunno, it's one of the last songs I'd like to hear him play live. It's pretty much always the same, isn't it? As some of you know, I listen to a lot of Neil bootlegs, and I'm always not terribly excited for that one to be in the setlist.

It's funny, too, that it usually elicits huge cheers. It did when I saw him, anyway.

"Oh yeah! He's playing the one about heroin overdose!"

overdoseaddiction

wouldn't mind him doing a big gnarly electric version of it ... but it's always just been a solo song. kind of unique in his catalog for that reason I guess.

I want him do a reverse Rust Never Sleeps concert--play an acoustic set of electric songs and an electric set of acoustic songs. Wouldn't you love to hear Crazy Horse rip through "Sugar Mountain"?

that would be cool

oh yeah, i guess sugar mtn is the other one that's always solo ... maybe he could do a crazy horse "man needs a maid" too ...

I want him do a reverse Rust Never Sleeps concert--play an acoustic set of electric songs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZrE93pcroA

I like his solo organ version of "After the Gold Rush" more than hurricane fwiw.

i'm disappointed. personally, i like romance more than i like heroin addiction.

it's those danged lurkers.

dumb old heroin over something worthy and beautiful like love? danged indeed.

this is right, except "Are You Ready For the Country?" is pretty rad, better than Words

I like the version on Journey Through the Past better tho

Waylon's version was ok too

Harvest ownes all the other songs easily tbh

Did she wake you up to tell you that it was only a change of plans?

I guess I missed this...1. "A Man Needs a Maid," 2. "Are You Ready for the Country," 3. "Out on the Weekend" or "Alabama" or "Heart of Gold." (Or "Harvest.") Strings aside (two songs? three?), a less polished album than Neil's famous dismissal would indicate. This is bad fog's poll, and "Bad Fog of Loneliness" would have indeed gotten my vote if it had been on here.

when i was a very young Pearl Jam fan I went to the local record store to find some Neil Young. (I had heard PJ do “Rockin in the Free World”). All they had was “Harvest” so i bought the cassette.

Neil’s high keening voice & this very lilting, country sounding music was NOT what i expected SEEE THE LOOONELY BOOOOY

honestly i made it through like 3 songs and stared at my tape player like uh this isnt gonna work for me.

but! i kept putting it on now and then because there was something about it that slowly grabbed me, that darkness & the unique voice & quite beautiful music

eventually when I got a car it lived in the glovebox for my colac to melb uni roadtrips “out on the weekend” and was a hangover-Sunday favorite after a houseparty ... album has been my ride or die for just shy of 30 years now

if I had to pick one it’d be “Old Man”...the layers of instruments, harmonies, lyrics...and I love when that banjo comes in, it’s so great

You know who plays that banjo, right?

I don’t, but I would certainly like to know and am afraid to guess, although I have a suspicion.

Ha, I was totally wrong.

goddammit

You fell into a similar trap, VG?

yes ie expected someone cool & discovered it was a jerk lol

Ben Keith’s steel guitar sighs on “old man”... incredibly beautiful

otm

linda’s harmonies reaching for the ceiling are really something too

Long story but I had a friend who played in said banjo player's backing band for several years and everyone we went to high school with was like 'that is so cool' and I secretly was like 'i used to think he was cute'

when i was a very young Pearl Jam fan I went to the local record store to find some Neil Young. (I had heard PJ do “Rockin in the Free World”). All they had was “Harvest” so i bought the cassette.

My route in was exactly the same, except my first purchase was the infinitely more PJ-appropriate Weld, and I was sold.

Harvest ownes all the other songs easily tbh

― yuoowemeone, Wednesday, February 16, 2011 5:04 AM (nine years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Needle And The Damage Done is my jam off Harvest

Will I see you give more than I can take?
Will I only harvest some?
As the days fly past, will we lose our grasp?
Or fuse it in the sun?

When I was in my 20s living on my own in a new city, I went to a small houseparty and somehow wound up with a guitar playing Out on the Weekend for a handful of guests. Every line felt self-incriminating. It was excruciating for them and me. Great song, though.

With the archives coming out, the two main outtakes from this, "bad fog of loneliness" and "journey through the past" might've made a stronger album. I like "Alabama" and "Words" but they feel a little out of place ...

I nearly agree with this, but I kept "Words" and I went with "Dance, Dance, Dance" instead of "Journey through the Past." "Journey through the Past" is the better song, but I much prefer it on Time Fades Away - the dobro on the Harvest outtake feels too damn intrusive.

As much as I love Neil, Harvest and American Stars n' Bars are the only two '70s albums that I never bothered purchasing. To be fair Decade scoops up half of Harvest and Chrome Dreams scoops up the essential tracks from Stars n' Bars, but Harvest feels very slight and uneven compared to everything else he did then. "Alabama" feels too much like a weak rehash to me, and I can't stand "There's a World" - one orchestral track was enough. Dropping those two and replacing them with "Bad Fog of Loneliness" and "Dance, Dance, Dance" helped immensely. It gave me something I can listen to from start to finish, and it's a lot more enjoyable now for its simple, easy charms and occasional depth.

I've never really cared for "Needle." After "There's a World," it's the only other song on the album where I'd say that.

Strange, "Needle" is probably my favorite. (I missed this poll so I didn't get to vote for it - still topped it anyway.)

I've always liked the way this so-called "light", "laidback" album slips into darkness as side 2 progresses. I prefer "Alabama" to "Southern Man", and "Words" is almost a flash-forward to the Ditch Trilogy. I only know those outtakes as live songs.
My actual pick for this poll would have been the title track.

The three outtakes are so short that if Young really wanted to, he could've thrown them on top of the album as it was released and still clock in under 44 minutes. I'm not sure how it would flowed, but it wouldn't have been a weaker collection songs.

Can't imagine not caring for "Needle"! If it was a 4 minute song with 4 verses it might drag a little musically but it's perfect at its length. And Halfway There otm about the slipping into Darkness. That's why Neil's bucolic albums can be just as classic as his darker ones - the depth and darker colors still poke through.

https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2022/02/18/neil-young-harvested-harvest-re-imagined/

Box set looks pretty tasty I have to say

https://hmv.com/store/music/cd/harvest-(3)

Damn, link is broken.

Here’s another:

https://neilyoung.warnerrecords.com/en/neil-young/music/vinyl/harvest-50th-anniversary-edition-deluxe-lp-box-set/093624862888.html

three votes for “a man needs a maid”?!?

too many or too few?? seems about right to me!