Neil Young Part One - Heading For The Harvest

Neil Young

Album By Album Career Retrospective

Part 1

– Heading For The Harvest -

1969 / 1972

By Andrew Barclay

'Neil Young' 1968

In Neil Young's songs with Buffalo Springfield, he'd established himself as the member of the group who displayed the most eclecticism within his song writing and styles of music attempted, and it's perhaps this, along with his well-documented struggles with the other band members, that finally saw him move onto his now illustrious solo career. On his self-titled debut album, Young continued to collaborate with composer/arranger Jack Nitzsche, whom he'd recorded the ethereal 'Expecting to Fly' with, on the final Buffalo Springfield album.

Whilst the country flavor that had been present in the Springfield albums was also an ingredient in his first solo effort, there were distinct changes in the work of Neil Young, he was moving forward, both lyrically and musically, and some of his most enduring moments exist on this album. It’s perhaps a little ironic that an artist lauded as one of the best songwriters of his generation chose to start his debut solo album with the slight, instrumental country tinged work out of 'The Emperor of Wyoming'. It was thin, and inconsequential, but at least it did introduce the audience to the general sound that the album would take.

The punchy sounding 'The Loner' was one of the albums best rockers, and although Young still sounded slightly reserved with his vocal delivery, he was clearly enjoying the freedom of having room to explore themes of his own for the first time on record without having to get approval as he had in the setting of Buffalo Springfield. This is perhaps most well-articulated in the final track on the album, the guitar / vocal epic 'The Last Trip to Tulsa'. Frankly completely surreal for the most part, it certainly rivaled anything Bob Dylan had written in the impressionistic stakes.

Elsewhere, tracks like 'Here We Are In The Years', 'What Did You Do To My Life', and 'I’ve Loved Her So Long' although being excellently written, weren't quite as fully realized musically as perhaps Neil Young would have liked. The raw energy that Young would later become synonymous with just wasn't present on this album, but never again would a Neil Young album containing a full band sound as wafer thin as this.

Perhaps the finest achievement on the album, was the slightly spooky sounding 'Old Laughing Lady', complete with female backing singers, sweeping strings and a haunting lead vocal by Young. Mostly considered an ode to those who become addicted to alcohol, the payoff lyric is clever and yet so simple - "he loves his old laughing lady, coz the taste is so sweet, but his laughing lady’s loving aint the kind he can keep''. If his debut album wasn't quite what latter tracks recorded with the Springfield (Broken Arrow and Expecting To Fly) had suggested it might be, it was still a solid release, and one still worth unearthing for a listen some 40 odd years after it was recorded.

'Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere' 1969

Neil Young's second solo album, released just four months after his first, saw him team up with the loose sounding rock band 'Crazy Horse' (or 'The Rockets' as they were known before Young gave them a new name). In interviews, Young enthused that he saw them as his own personal Rolling Stones, and as nice a compliment as that is, Crazy Horse were (and still are) a ramshackle sounding band at best, but somehow, became the perfect marriage to Young’s long, inspired guitar expeditions.

Only two of the albums songs, 'Round Round (It Won't Be Long)' and 'The Losing End (When You're On)' shared the country sound heard on previous releases. For the most part, new territories were being mined. Surprisingly, the riff heavy'Cinnamon Girl' was actually quite tightly played by Crazy Horse, then comprising of Danny Whitten (guitar), Ralph Molina (drums), and Billy Talbot (bass).

Elsewhere, Crazy Horse excelled at the rough and ready rock music that they would continue to produce with Young for years to come, 'Down by the River' and 'Cowgirl in the Sand' contained some soaring guitar work, that saw Young become an unlikely axe hero. Whilst it’s true he didn’t have the licks that the likes of Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton possessed, he had a primitive energy that he seemed to cook up best when playing with Crazy Horse. If at first it came as a bit of a shock, fan's in time warmed to the combination of Neil Young & Crazy Horse, and the album became a moderate hit.

'After the Gold Rush' 1970

15 months passed between 'Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere' and 'After the Gold Rush', but Young hadn’t been idle, he joined the super group, Crosby, Stills Nash & Young and they released the smash hit album 'DeJa Vu'.

This newly found fame brought many new fans to the Neil Young camp, and he intended to show off his song writing skills on his new album. In a time when there was lots of competition for the crown formerly held by Bob Dylan, as most relevant song writer of the generation, Neil Young's 'After The Gold Rush' lay a strong claim.

The albums title track contained the strongest lyrics, although as ever with Young, they were off kilter and seemed to be talking about things the writer didn't quite understand himself ;

"Well, I dreamed I saw the silver space ships flying, In the yellow haze of the sun, There were children crying, and colors flying, all around the chosen ones''......

Elsewhere, the songs were most straight forward, love songs, albeit it with the slight misogynistic slant that Young seemed to hint at in his work. 'When You Dance You Can Really Love' and 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart' were radio friendly accounts of love and love lost, but delivered with more edge and danger than heard on albums by the likes of James Taylor or Jim Croce.

'Don’t Let It Bring you Down' was a highlight, with swirling rhythm and psychedelic lyrics that Jimi Hendrix himself would have been pleased with;

''Don't let it bring you down, It's only castles burning, find someone who’s turning, and you will come around'' sings Young with more confidence than heard on previous albums. 'Southern Man' continued the political themes explored on the track Young Penned on the Crosby Stills Nash & Young track 'Ohio', and found favor amongst those looking for a new political messiah within the counter culture to worship. The album sold well, and Neil Young was a household name in America, and was gaining ground in Europe too. His next album would see him catapulted to the status of fully fledged worldwide music icon.

'Harvest' 1972

By the time 'Harvest' emerged in 1972, there had been quite a bit of activity for Young. For one, he had injured his back acutely, and required a back brace. The injury caused him a lot of pain, and as a result he was on lots of medication during the recording of 'Harvest'. The 'Crosby Stills Nash and Young' band had split up, and the scene was set for Neil Young to make a return to his solo career.

A month before the album came out, the teaser single 'Heart of Gold' was released and to avid reviews from both the public and the critics. Bob Dylan said “I heard it on the radio and I thought, that’s me, it sounds like me, if it sounds like me it might as well be me”. Whilst it’s true that 'Heart of Gold' plays heavily on the classic guitar, harmonica song-writer blueprint, the song itself isn’t very Dylan-esque if the truth be told. For one, it’s extremely upbeat in comparison to the majority of Dylan’s cannon, a fact born out in the huge radio play the single got.

The single brought with it heavy expectations for the 'Harvest' album, and Neil Young did not disappoint. Whilst the album is most definitely rooted in country musically ('Harvest', 'Are You Ready for the Country') it does take the odd excursion into more experimental pastures. On 'A Man Needs A Maid', Young is backed by the London Symphony Orchestra to marvelous effect. The trick is repeated on 'There’s A World' and the magic doesn’t seem to rekindle here.

Aside from these lighter moments, Young does employ the tactics used on his album with Crazy Horse in the guitar work out of 'Words'. This wasn’t Crazy Horse though; it was a group that Young christened ‘The Stray Gators’. It’s perhaps a little too meandering but does start out quite well.

Along with the 'Heart Of Gold' single, the other highlight here is 'Old Man', a track with lyrics dealing with one generation speaking to another, and musically, it’s not only one of this albums better moments, but actually one of Young finer career moments.

'The Needle and the Damage Done', a song about heroin addiction was a poignant one, and lives on as one of Young’s most emotive and enduring songs. 'Harvest' was a success, artistically and commercially, and never again would Young veer so close to what he called ‘the middle of the road’.

  • Request a Music Review

    Are you in a band? Want to have a review written? Contact Andrew Barclay at musicreviews@coolmanchester.com
  • User Settings

  • Recent photos

    A Waving DogAn Army Truck
    A Clown CarA Big Cannon
    Another Brass BandThe Wheelies
  • Who's Online?

    • Guest Users: 241

Amazon Gift Cards