POLL'd King: Neil Young's HARVEST MOON (1992)

Do people remember that the title track was an actual hit single--at least in Canada, where it went to #5 and where the video was in heavy rotation on MuchMusic in late '92 and a lot of '93?

Anyway, "Unknown Legend" not only remains my favourite here, but also a song that will always make my shortlist of greatest Neil songs.

I'll have to give it another listen in the car. I've been rewatching Big Little Lies, which has Nicole Kidman and Alexander Skarsgård dancing to "Harvest Moon."

"Unknown Legend", for sure.

xp

Our girl Sarah Polley also uses that song for a dance scene in Away from Her as I recall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll5Gv2LFbAE

If you haven't seen it, Skarsgård's a monster.

Age-restricted? They dance.

The title track, though I prefer the solo acoustic version on Dreamin' Man Live '92. In general I thought the songs were better than the sonics on this record.

I’m a dreamin man, I guess that’s my problem

Harvest Moon, with You and Me a very close second.

One Of These Days tbh

his best-selling post-RNS album!

The title track remains a lustrous little pearl. I learned to like "Unknown Legend" after the TV on the Radio guy sings it in Rachel Getting Married.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi7mmLtIixw

Do people remember that the title track was an actual hit single--at least in Canada, where it went to #5 and where the video was in heavy rotation on MuchMusic in late '92 and a lot of '93?

i definitely remember seeing the video on US TV a ton that year (I'm gonna assume VH1 rather than MTV)

gonna listen again before i vote but the title track casts a special kind of spell

title track is all time

4 years ago i posted a youtube embed post here tracing the roots of the song's chromatic melodic devices:

songs that sound like other songs

just dawned on me that i've somehow managed to listen to just about every NY release EXCEPT this one.

neko case’s cover of dreaming man is my favorite neil cover, so that

Forgot that "Harvest Moon" turns up a second time in Big Little Lies (S2, E1), but this time Cassandra Wilson's cover.

I don't mean to be judgmental, but Neil and Pegi's divorce (which was, admittedly, 22 years later) would make it hard for me to listen to this again.
Funny to me now that he and his wife were 46 and 39 when this was issued, I'm sure I read some reviews of the record that talked about their romance as if they were twice as old!

One of these days.

Dreamin' man live '92 is the best version of this album imo

Title track in itself has soured due to xp, but that's mostly cause i can't help but think of the music video of them dancing when I hear it (sad vibes)

I also played it to death teaching 7yo's guitar so it's burnt out from multiple directions for me

The title track is the only thing about this album I remember, though I definitely owned it when it was new.

voted title track but big fan of the opener and closer

I actually go back to the 1992 Centerstage concert more than the album. Covers most of its songs as well as many others (it's a two-hour show), but I prefer hearing the Harvest Moon songs in that context. I wish he'd put the whole thing out on DVD, I prefer it to his Unplugged performance by a good margin.

Also voted for "Unknown Legend"

xpost lol pvmic <3

(voted title track)

Dale Crover of the Melvins features in the video of Harvest Moon!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2MtEsrcTTs

I’ve never gotten bored of the title track, and listening to it never fails to pick me up a little. If you wanted to pick a single unrepresentative pop song from his repertoire, I’d definitely take it over “Heart of Gold”.

I’ve always thought of this as a very old-man album— those bushy sideburns made him look ancient — but I just noticed I’m older than Young was when he recorded it. And he looks youthful in that video. So I guess it’s whippersnapper music now.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

but now it’s getting late and the moon is climbin high
i want to celebrate it, see it shining in your eyes

so yeah, voted for the title track. haven’t seen anyone mention “war of man” yet, but that one is an equal to the other obvious runners up, imo (you and me, unknown legend, dreamin man)

This is one of those albums that now practically sounds like a collection of standards. Like, it's hard to imagine these songs not existing for years and then Neil just plucking them out of the ether.

It explains why I've never warmed to it.

Maybe! I can imagine it being so instantly familiar that listening to it might seem redundant.

part of it is how self-referential it is. the title “harvest moon” calling back to harvest, of course, and “you and me” calling back to “old man.” there are lots of classically neil melodies on here, after a decade of him trying hard not to write those

"Natural Beauty." (Took a shortcut--re-listened to the two songs I singled out on a different Harvest Moon thread when I bought it.)

I've never warmed to this either - I'll take Comes a Time for mellow, loved-up Neil.

I had a chance to listen to this. It sounded all so familiar but alien at the same time. Not sure if I had ever played it in the past. Voting From Hank to Hendrix.

I do think "now they're heading for the big divorce, California style" is the most memorable line from this album

"headed"? I forget

This all reminds me of sitting on a porch at some party in my 20s and a (likely high) woman telling me with wonder how much she loved the line "The chrome and steel she rides
collidin' with the very air she breathes."

Pretty boring album imho
Even as an old guy I can’t get with the soporific vibe

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

nice spread

Indeed! Props to whoever voted Such a Woman. Usually I can't stand syrupy Neil + strings, but there's something about Such a Woman that gets to me. I would've voted for it too, if not for Natural Beauty. Which was my pick *despite* its kinda bland chorus. The verses are too good. I love when Neil gets that drifty.

As far as the soft & pretty acoustic side of Neil goes, my favorite in the catalogue is Prairie Wind... love Silver & Gold too.

No wait! I forgot Homegrown! So Prairie Wind is second.

Love Unknown Legend and Hank to Hendrix, but the title track is just a miracle, one of his 5 or 10 best songs, never considered voting for anything else

It's the song that closes his Greatest Hits album, no wonder it won.

HM is definitely one of his most popular songs now. Even my mom, who was not a Neil fan and pretty checked out on music in general, once shared it to her FB wall.

it plays on the radio a lot. i didn't see the poll in time to vote but i probably would have voted for it. it has lost some of its luster for me due to overexposure (it is definitely one of his most popular songs) but it is undeniably gorgeous and delicate

It's also a supermarket/CVS banger, maybe Neil's only one other than "Heart of Gold"?

The Cassandra Wilson cover is a beauty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUgpfCEkz4o

Jane Birkin does it well
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOmgbd-c4f0

Unknown Legend is a two-chord miracle

Old King, really?

Dreamin' Man has been a lot on my mind lately, such a fun call response

I became a really big Everly Brothers fan as I was concurrently digging into Neil Young's catalog (albeit at a much slower pace) so when I first heard "Harvest Moon," my immediate reaction was that it was an homage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FT5iOAYt5MA

Having raised two dogs myself and having been close to several who have since passed on, I have a soft spot for "Old King" myself.

(Should mention, that photo in the YouTube link is actually for a 2022 compilation put together by Rhino. The song itself is a Warner era hit.)

you might like this post I made a few years back:

POLL'd King: Neil Young's HARVEST MOON (1992)

whoops, i meant this one:

songs that sound like other songs

Nice!

He'd been working on similar chord patterns ever since "Flying on the Ground Is Wrong".

...

Those posts are great! Only ILM could find a way to link the Super Mario 3 Giant Land theme and “Swingin’ Party” together. I have no idea what kinda obscure kiddie TV show Imagine That “Balloons” is from but it absolutely nailed those chords.

...

― imperial frfr (Steve Shasta), Thursday, March 20, 2025 9:33 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

I had forgotten you mentioned that song in your old post. "The Old Laughing Lady" is another early variation on the pattern.