Neil Young Harvest ( cut from master tapes HQ vinyl LP )

Release date 09-06-2009 (originally released in 1972)

2009 EU reissue stereo LP, presse 140g HQ vinyl LP, expertly mastered from the original analog master tapes, issued as part of the 'Neil Young Archives Official Release Series'. The album includes the classics Heart Of Gold and The Needle And The Damage Done, with vocal contributions from Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, David Crosby & Graham Nash. Presented in a gatefold picture sleeve.

Tracks:
A1     Out On The Weekend
A2     Harvest
A3     A Man Needs A Maid
A4     Heart Of Gold
A5     Are You Ready For The Country

B1     Old Man
B2     There's A World
B3     Alabama
B4     The Needle And The Damage Done
B5     Words (Between The Lines Of Age)

The record joins 1968's Neil Young, 1969's Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, and 1970's After the Gold Rush as part of the initial batch of Young recordings pristinely mastered from the original tapes, pressed on high-quality audiophile-grade LP, and packaged in sleeves that faithfully mirror those of the originals. For Harvest, this means a paper stock that you need to feel to believe.

Neil Young's career-defining fourth solo effort Harvest spawned the folk classics "Heart of Gold" and "Old Man," as well as the affecting "The Needle and the Damage Done," and went on to become the best-selling record of 1972 and one of Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Albums of All-Time. While firmly rooted in old-timey country and traditional music, the record ventures beyond conventional pastures and incorporates stabbing guitar-driven swamp ("Alabama"), hayride jigs ("Are You Ready for the Country?"), and orchestral pop ("There's a World") into its broad sonic swath.

Young's lyrics here are extraordinarily reflective and poignant. He's got love on his mind, and yet his emotions run the gamut. The music is both a release and a meditation, the stripped-down structures and economical playing conspiring to deliver maximum feeling and slow-burn impact that one never forgets. The album features the likes of steel-guitarist Ben Keith, bassist Tim Drummond, pianist/arranger Jack Nitzsche, and drummer Kenny Buttrey, as well as a who's who of background vocalists that includes none other than David Crosby, Graham Nash, Linda Ronstadt, and James Taylor.

Having languished for decades, this bonafide masterpiece has finally received the long-overdue sonic treatment it has needed. Remasted from the original analog tapes by Chris Bellman, overseen by the artist himself, and pressed at Pallas in Germany, Harvest now sounds better than ever. Young has never sounded so close, lifelike, palpable, or three-dimensional on a studio album.