Neil Young - Harvest｜Vinyl Monday

24 and there’s so much more.
Welcome (or welcome back) to Vinyl Monday! I’m Abby and is my weekly series where I chat about classic albums in my collection that I love. To help ring in my “Neil Young year” I’m covering Harvest (released 1972.) Subscribe for more Vinyl Monday and vintage fashion!

Keep in touch:
Pinterest: @abigaildevoeonig

Timestamps:

intro/announcement!! – 0:00
Harvest – 1:34
track listing/release – 12:15
my thoughts – 15:41
thanks for watching! – 27:51

Music:

#vinyl #vinylcommunity #neilyoung

[michaelshiflett]

That was the best assessment of this album I’ve ever come across. Once again, you put other music “journalists” to shame!

[dboy]

Hi Abby... I am 69 years old now and was so fortunate to have my mother buy it for me in 1972 when it first came out. I was almost 18 then. We listened deeply to the album and the lyrics trying to understand them. What a wonderful time and what a great mom I had!!
You do a great job with your video presentations!! Long may you run young lady!! Thank you!! D-boy

[jltrem]

Abby's choice of top reminds me on the "On The Beach" design.

[nickwarren]

Seriously one of the best songwriters ever. Neil is the man

[alanclayton]

My fav Neil Young album is Goldrush which was immediately satisfying from the get-go feeling unified in a way that Harvest didn't achieve for me. Harvest offers challenges and is the work of an original, masterful, songwriter and takes musical chances. Which should we applaud the most? Important to say I think Old Man is one of the greatest songs.
A beautiful episode of Vinyl Monday, again, where we go deep, very deep, in the company of someone who has lived, is currently living, the music. It kind of makes me feel my listening has been shallow but I don't mind, I'm corrigible: it's one of the reasons I find this channel so compelling.

[erikhoyer]

The depth of insight that you bring to albums (both old and new) impresses the hell out of this fan who has been around listening to music for twice as long.

[ronny-]

Neil Young is one of my musical heroes. I love his acoustic albums but mostly his Rock albums with Crazy Horse. I love his sensitivity to express his feelings, the way he sees the world, how he addresses his concerns, or simply how he describes the nature and madness of life today in his lyrics.

[JFoster]

My favorite song of all time is "Heart Of Gold". This song has been a big part of my life since 1972. I was 12. It's even more important to me now. Still searching for that Heart Of Gold. I love this whole album. Thanks Abigail for covering this one! Great job as always.

[frugalseverin]

One result of this album was spurring Bob Dylan to start writing songs again. When he heard 'Old Man' on the radio he thought that should have been him singing that song. His last album was the eclectic "New Morning" in 1970. He was going through a dry spell in writing that would end in 1974 with "Planet Waves".

[michaelfloyd]

I loved how personal you made "Needle and the Damaged Done." It is my favorite Neil Young album like Blood on the Tracks is my favorite Bob Dylan.

[alexvc]

My stepdad was the biggest Neil fan. All of Neil's music reminds me of him. Miss him like crazy.

[daviecanning]

One of my first albums back in the day. Still very listenable 50 years on. Tragic story about Danny Whitten. Of course he wrote the classic " I Don't Want To Talk About It".

[paulduggan]

Another deep and insightful journey through the past. A classic album needs a vinyl Monday episode to complete it. I’m starting to think of Vinyl Mondays as a classic album hall of fame and love the anticipation of what will be next under the spotlight.

Neil Young stands as one of the great commentators of our times; politics, war, racism, social decline (“nose-to-the stone people, put the business back on track”), terrorism, little or nothing escapes the watchful glare of this song writing genius. Whether facing the uncomfortable aspects that plague our society (“I watch the needle take another man”) or weaving an emotional tapestry to deftly frame the more comfortable though seemingly inarticulate observations such as the romance found scattered along Americas lost and endless desolate highways, love (“I used to order just to watch her float across the floor“) and other familiar emotions recognisable to all but framed in a way that only a master craftsman can translate into music and words.

Harvest is certainly not wanting for company as a seminal album in a catalogue of works that defies any notion of limits that lesser artists might face when having to deal with the moving on from and onward progression in the wake of just a single career defining masterwork.

Finding an equal that can match this man’s ability to score a soundtrack to our lives, times and social complexities is no easy task. But I’m sure that you will stumble across something for next week even if it means leaving your very blood across many a track in your continuing mining of the sounds we so cherish with an obsession justified by our passion to celebrate these artisans who curate our days with such majestic aplomb.

[usquebaugh]

Leaving a comment during the last hour of this Vinyl Monday. Coincidentally, my latest order of vinyl from go-to indie store arrived this morning at 8:35am. Included was Rose City Band's latest Garden Party, Death Cab For Cutie's Asphalt Meadows acoustic version (loved the studio version last year), Miles Davis' Turnaround (RSD)...AND serendipitously (wait for it), the latest Chris Bellman repress of Neil Young's AAA Harvest!...the same day as you vinyl Monday!! I've had an OG Canadian pressing for quite a while, but about a week ago my local had in it back in stock and I pulled the trigger (I've done the same new/old thing for Joni's Blue and CSNY's Déja Vu).

This is an all-time favorite. I also have a fantastic memory of driving south into the U.S. one summer in the early 90s with my best friend, and the orchestral part of A Man Needs a Maid came on as we were driving through Franconia Notch, NH. It was so over-the-top dramatic that we both looked at each other and burst out laughing. Top 5 life / music memory for me.

I was out the door early today (after my delivery) and could not consume your video as I often do (day of). I look forward to your breakdown of Harvest over coffee in the morning!

EDIT: Finally sat down to absorb this entire episode. I really enjoyed your take on it and it had the effect of causing me to revisit some the Harvest lyrics. For a self proclaimed amateur musicologist, I was also surprisingly unaware of the Area Code 615 collective, so I learned that tidbit as well. Have a great week!

[garybelenke]

Abby, you've won me over - "your peers are as shallow as a kiddie pool." Great!!!

[murdockreviews]

Fantastic review (again). Don't let young adulthood make you lonely, Abby. 😉
There is a streak of melancholia and darkness running through Harvest, but I'd argue it's topped by 'Tonight's the Night'.

[DivineSinners]

Happy Birthday, Abby. I always enjoy your Vinyl Mondays. Neil Young's 1970's albums are among the greatest rock albums ever record for sure.

[Pablo]

Fantastic album, I love it. You do great work Abby.

[kristofftaylovoski]

Earth tones and orange, yes, you nailed it.

[MisterTMH]

The first live concert I ever saw was Neil Young and Crazy Horse/ International Harvesters in Melbourne Australia in 1985. I still love Neil Young.