how can everyone be suckED into believing this is a five star album at best it's a two star most of the reviewers here must have wax in there ears because this CD SUCKS it's blows more than a leaf blower on a winter morning.. it's has boring guitar work from neil young it has some good lyrics but the music makes me want to go to sleep i'm saying this because i am a huge neil young fan..and people deserve to know it's not a great neil young album and it shouldn't have the status of greatness that everyone says it is..
if you want a great neil young album get ragged glory..
or sleeps with the angels. or rust never sleeps three of neil young classics
don't get this cd if you want to get a great cd buy any of the above...BORING BORING BORING THIS SUX THIS SUX THIS SUX

I had this record via my mom for years before I ever touched it. When I was thirteen there was no way in hell I was listening to an album that had James Taylor and Linda Rondstat on it. STILL probably wouldn't, although maybe have more of an open mind thanks to this record.
I didn't know NEIL YOUNG, I figured if James and Linda sucked, than Neil must suck too, then fate took me to a concert in '96, after aquiring a ticket. I was amazed at how cool this guy was. He rocked so much! I remember coming home that night a rifeling through my records to find this. I put it on my second hand turntable and laid back. In the dark of the room I grooved to this. The first Neil Young album I ever listened to.
Sure, it didn't rock as much as the concert had (this album is basically all acoustic- I didn't know about Crazy Horse yet, which is who he was with that night) but my tastes were about to change. OLD MAN and NEEDLE AND THE DAMAGE DONE never had to grow on me, I dug em right away. HEART OF GOLD and READY FOR THE COUNTRY soon followed, The rest took a little more time to FULLY appreciate but was one of my favorite "bedtime" albums throughout my teens. Now I listen to the words in a whole different light. Being a parent at twenty two and scratching between whats right and whats wrong, I like to just play it really LOUD!
At thirteen I had already obsessively collected everything AEROSMITH, PINK FLOYD and ZEPPELIN... After this night I was ready to go to work on NEIL YOUNG.

Harvest is one of Neil Young's mellower albums, in his pre-"Godfather of Grunge" days, when he seemed to be bordering on country, yet retaining certain elements contained in a rock album. Though primarily famous for containing "Heart of Gold", Neil's only song to hit number one on the billboard charts, Harvest contains many excellent songs, including "Old Man", the second single off the album.

Track One: Out on the Weekend

"Think I'll pack it in and buy a pick-up. Take it down to L.A. Find a place to call my own and try to fix up. Start a brand new day."

A great opener to the album. (4/5)

Track Two: Harvest

The track this album derives its name from. A pleasant tune that is emotional, but not maudlin. The guitar playing in the background really helps create that soft and hazy nostalgic quality of the song. (5/5)

Track Three: Man Needs a Maid

The first of two Jack Nitzsche produced tracks. Nitzsche has a flair for the dramatic, hiring the London Symphony Orchestra to provide background music for Neil (with such a soft voice, you'd think they would see a problem with coupling it with a booming orchestra). Despite Nitzsche trying his best to flaw the track, "Man Needs a Maid" is a slow, emotional song akin to "Harvest", and although there are moments when the orchestra seems a BIT too much, it is overall a good track. (4/5)

Track Four: Heart of Gold

The zenith of this album in the eyes of many. Excellent. (5/5)

Track Five: Are You Ready for the Country?

The first time I heard the intro piano music, I almost immediately skipped ahead to "Old Man". It sounded hokey. After giving the song a chance, though, I found it surprisingly catchy. Repeated listens have led me to the conclusion that "Are You Ready for the Country?" is a decent song, but not great. (3/5)

Track Six: Old Man

"Old man, look at my life. I'm a lot like you were..." My favorite song on this album. First heard it when I saw Wonder Boys (1998) (I'm a fairly recent Young fan, a member of that new generation of Neil listeners), and instantly it's mellow beat appealed to me. Gets a bit loud towards the end (especially if you have your CD player cranked up to better hear Neil's soft voice), but overall, an excellent offering. (5/5)

Track Seven: There's a World

A terrible track. The second by Jack Nitzsche, but this time, he managed to make the song way too schmaltzy even for me. The background orchestra sounds like they're recording the Fantasia soundtrack! The only real lowpoint of this whole CD. (1/5)

Track Eight: Alabama

The guitar riffs of this track are rough, akin to rock moreso than the rest of the album. The lyrics have true meaning, too, even though Neil is Canadian (Come on, Lynyrd Skynrd fans, Alabama was in the news for racial animosity in Birmingham almost every week back when this CD was made!). (5/5)

Track Nine: Needle and the Damage Done

At a slower pace than every other track on the album, and only a little over two minutes. Meaningful, though, considering the lives of those close to Neil that heroin would later destroy. (4/5)

Track Ten: Words (Between the Lines of Age)

This track was a surprise for me, because, so late in the album, I didn't expect a song so absorbing, so well-sung and well-written, not to mention well-played, at the tail-end of the album. And yet, "Words" is a track to rival "Heart of Gold", "Harvest", and "Alabama". A great finish. (5/5)

Overall, Harvest is one of Neil's best early albums, on par with After the Gold Rush. A sure sign of the later auditory gold Neil Young would create. Though it lags in some spots (I'm looking at "There's a World"), Harvest is primarily a solid album. If you're going to start with Neil anywhere, Harvest is a good place, along with After the Gold Rush and Everybody Know's This Is No Where.