Harvest Moon (album)

Last updated
Harvest Moon
Harvest - neil young.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedNovember 2, 1992 [1]
RecordedSeptember 1991 – February 1992
StudioRedwood Digital, Woodside (except "Natural Beauty" at Civic Auditorium, Portland, Oregon
Strings on "Such A Woman" recorded at Sunset Sound, Hollywood, California)
[2]
Genre
Length51:39
Label Reprise
Producer
Neil Young chronology
Arc
(1991)
Harvest Moon
(1992)
Lucky Thirteen
(1993)
Singles from Harvest Moon
  1. "Harvest Moon" / "Old King"
    Released: October 1992
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [3]
Calgary Herald A− [4]
Entertainment Weekly B+ [5]
Los Angeles Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [6]
NME 7/10 [7]
Orlando Sentinel Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [8]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [9]
The Vancouver Sun Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [10]
The Windsor Star B+ [11]

Harvest Moon is the 21st studio album by Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released on November 2, 1992. Many of its backing musicians also appeared on Young's 1972 album Harvest .

Contents

Background

Recovering from a case of tinnitus that had come about after the recording of Ragged Glory (1990) and its subsequent tour (which produced the 1991 albums Weld and Arc ), Young returned to the studio with Ben Keith, picking up the acoustic guitar, piano and banjo that had dominated albums such as Harvest, Comes a Time and Old Ways . 1970s-era analogue equipment was used instead of digital recording to achieve a "warmer" feel, though the album was in fact recorded on Sony PCM 16/44.1 kHz digital.

The album's title and style drew comparisons to Young's 1972 career pinnacle Harvest. Young discussed the idea of making a follow up to Harvest in a 1992 Rolling Stone interview with Alan Light: "People had been asking me to do it for twenty years, and I never could figure out what it was in the first place. It just happened again, whatever it was that happened back then. But only because the songs made me do it." [12]

Writing

Like many of the songs on its predecessor Harvest , the songs are largely inspired by relationships. This time, much of the lyrics reflect the maturer perspective of a long-term partnership. Some of the songs are new compositions, while others revisit material Young had first worked on during the previous decade. He explains in a contemporary interview:

"There's two groups of songs on the record: those that I started a long time ago and were finished in 1991 or '92, and those that were written entirely in other years. For example, "One Of These Days" was written in '85, "Natural Beauty" and "Dreamin' Man" in '89, "Unknown Legend" was '82 and '92. All different periods. I also composed a couple of songs last summer while on vacation with my wife and kids in Evergreen, Colorado. I wrote "War Of Man" and I finished "You And Me," which I started in 1975. There were 17 or 18 possibilities for Harvest Moon. The songs that didn't make the cut are just waiting for something else, I guess." [13]

"Unknown Legend" is a portrait of Young's wife Pegi, whom he met working at a diner in 1974. He began writing the song in the mid-1970s but did not complete the song until fifteen years later. Young remembers in his memoir, Special Deluxe:

"Back in 1974, there was a bar up on Skyline Boulevard, California Highway 35, located on the ridge above the ranch. It was called Alex's, and Pegi was working there. Alex's was the place where 'I used to order just to watch her walk across the floor.' It's funny to see how a song can start out in fact and go completely to fantasy but then still be there, in the moment. "Unknown Legend," as sometimes happens, starts out with a factual reference and just goes off into a world that opens up for me once the music starts. This song was a memory that returned to me when I found its lyrics written on an old newspaper fifteen years after I had written it. Soon the melody and chords came rushing back. When I picked up Hank, my old Martin D-28 that once belonged to Hank Williams, the song flowed as if it had always been there. When I finished it and recorded it for Harvest Moon around 1990, Ben Keith's playing was among the most beautiful I had ever heard." [14]

Photographer and archivist Joel Bernstein helped bring the song back to Young's attention: "Unknown Legend" actually was a song Joel brought me; he kept bringing me the lyrics and saying, 'What is this thing?' I said, It's a song I started back in '82. I don't think I ever finished it.' He kept bringing it back to me, and one day I picked up my guitar and finished it right there. But that doesn't happen very often with me. The real good ones come right away, just in one sitting." [15]

"From Hank to Hendrix" uses cultural references to measure time in a relationship. Young recalls the process of writing the song in a contemporary interview: "I wrote the song in my house. I sat down with my 12 string guitar and just started playing and writing all at once. I don't think about it. I just do it. I don't think 'now I'm going to sit down and write a song' and then sit down and try to write a song. I didn't know I was going to write a song when I sat down. I'll pick up my guitar and start playing and then suddenly I am playing a new song. I've learned to realize when I'm writing and then remember what I'm doing." [16]

The genesis of "You and Me" dates from the Harvest era. The chorus was first performed during the intro to "I Am a Child" at a February 1971 solo acoustic concert at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Young explains: "That song was started in 1975, but I never finished it. In 1976, Tim Drummond heard it and said: 'You've got to finish that, man. That's like Harvest stuff, let's do that.' And that kinda freaked me out, I got spooked by it, because it was like someone said what it was before we did it. I don't want to feel like I'm just filling in the numbers." [17]

"Harvest Moon" celebrates a lasting relationship. In a 2021 post to the Neil Young Archives website, Young confirms that the song is about his marriage with Pegi: "Harvest Moon is a song I wrote for Pegi, my wife of many years, who gave me two beautiful children and helped bring up my first child Zeke. She was a dancer and floated around when she was happy."

The song "Old King" memorializes Neil's dog Elvis. [18]

The lyrics to "Natural Beauty" simultaneously celebrate both a woman's beauty and the beauty of nature. The track was recorded live with later overdubs. Young tells NME in a contemporary interview:

"Natural Beauty" is about survival in nature in general and survival of any situation, there's many things in it. The subject of this song is meandering, it's kind of a trip through space. It's like I took a completed album of all kinds of different songs and threw it up in the air and it came crashing down. I took all the pieces and put them back together again. It's a live tape I overdubbed on, added all kinds of acoustic instruments to. Doing Natural Beauty live in Portland and singing it all the way through, I nailed it right there. There was no sense in trying to do a better one. I know I got it when I was doing things with the structure I'd never been able to do again." [19]

Recording

The album was recorded in late September, 1991 at the Redwood Digital studio located in a barn on Young's ranch in Woodside, California. For the album, Young convened the group of musicians that had backed him on the previous albums Harvest and Comes a Time . The group, dubbed the Stray Gators, includes pedal steel guitarist Ben Keith, bassist Tim Drummond, drummer Kenny Buttrey and pianist Spooner Oldham, as well as vocalists Nicolette Larson, Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor. Young's half-sister Astrid Young also sings on the album. Jack Nitzsche arranged an 18 piece string section for the track "Such a Woman". For the album, Young sought to re-create an echoed sound that he had achieved at Sunset Sound while recording "I Believe in You" and "Oh, Lonesome Me" for After the Gold Rush . [20]

Promotion

In 1992, Young toured North America playing a solo acoustic set featuring songs from the album as well as from his back catalogue. A compilation of performances from the tour was released on the 2009 Dreamin' Man live album, containing solo renditions of each of the Harvest Moon tracks in a different order. Young would also record a set for MTV Unplugged , which was released as an album in 1993.

Reception

Music website Classic Rock Review named Harvest Moon its album of the year for 1992. [21] It earned the 1994 Juno Award for album of the year. Matthew Greenwald of AllMusic described the melody of the title track as "positively gorgeous". [22] The album continued Young's commercial and critical resurgence following Freedom and Ragged Glory , eventually outselling both of those records. The song "Harvest Moon" topped the AARP's list of "16 Songs Everyone Over 50 Should Own."

Track listing

All tracks written by Neil Young.

No.TitleLength
1."Unknown Legend"4:32
2."From Hank to Hendrix"5:12
3."You and Me"3:45
4."Harvest Moon"5:03
5."War of Man"5:41
6."One of These Days"4:55
7."Such a Woman"4:36
8."Old King"2:57
9."Dreamin' Man"4:36
10."Natural Beauty" (recorded live at The Civic Auditorium, Portland, Oregon, January 23, 1992)10:22

Personnel

The Stray Gators

Additional personnel

Additional roles

Charts

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA) [36] Gold35,000^
Canada (Music Canada) [37] 5× Platinum500,000^
United Kingdom (BPI) [38] Gold100,000^
United States (RIAA) [39] 2× Platinum2,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Covers

Jazz singer Cassandra Wilson recorded a rendition of "Harvest Moon" for her 1995 album New Moon Daughter

American folk band the Brothers Comatose, featuring AJ Lee & Blue Summit, recorded a cover of "Harvest Moon" in 2022.

American singers Ann Wilson and Alison Krauss recorded a cover of "War of Man" for Wilson's 2007 album Hope & Glory .

Los Angeles electronic production duo Poolside recorded a cover of "Harvest Moon" for their 2012 album Pacific Standard Time

American folk duo Shovels & Rope recorded "Unknown Legend" with Shakey Graves in 2015.

Los Angeles indie rock band Lord Huron recorded a cover of "Harvest Moon" in 2018 for a Spotify Singles session.

Jazz guitarist Bill Frisell recorded a version of "One of These Days" on his 1997 album Nashville .

Tunde Adebimpe, the lead singer of TV on The Radio, performs an a cappella version of Unknown Legend in the Jonathan Demme film Rachel Getting Married . [40]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Harvest</i> (Neil Young album) 1972 studio album by Neil Young

Harvest is the fourth studio album by Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released on February 1, 1972, by Reprise Records, catalogue number MS 2032. It featured the London Symphony Orchestra on two tracks and vocals by guests David Crosby, Graham Nash, Linda Ronstadt, Stephen Stills, and James Taylor. It topped the Billboard 200 album chart for two weeks, and spawned two hit singles, "Old Man", which peaked at No. 31 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and "Heart of Gold", which reached No. 1. It was the best-selling album of 1972 in the United States.

<i>Greendale</i> (album) 2003 studio album by Neil Young and Crazy Horse

Greendale is the 27th studio album by Neil Young. Young and Crazy Horse's Greendale is a 10-song musical novel set in a fictional California seaside town of the same name. Based on the saga of the Green family, Greendale combines numerous themes on corruption, observation of the passing of time, environmentalism and mass media consolidation.

<i>Hawks & Doves</i> 1980 studio album by Neil Young

Hawks & Doves is the eleventh studio album by Canadian-American musician Neil Young. It was released on October 29, 1980, through Reprise Records. It was produced by Young along with Tim Mulligan and Elliot Mazer. The first side of the album consists of previously unreleased folk-centric material recorded from 1974 through 1977, while the second side features heavily country-styled songs recorded specifically for the album in July 1980.

<i>Silver & Gold</i> (Neil Young album) 2000 studio album by Neil Young

Silver & Gold is the 25th studio album by Canadian/American musician Neil Young, released on April 25, 2000. Like the previous albums Comes a Time and Harvest Moon and the subsequent Prairie Wind, it largely features acoustic performances with a backing band of Nashville musicians with a long history of collaboration with Young.

<i>Prairie Wind</i> 2005 studio album by Neil Young

Prairie Wind is the 28th studio album by Canadian / American musician Neil Young, released on September 27, 2005.

<i>Unplugged</i> (Neil Young album) 1993 live album by Neil Young

Unplugged is a live album by Canadian-American singer-songwriter Neil Young, released on June 15, 1993, on Reprise. Recorded on February 7, 1993, the album is an installment of the MTV series, Unplugged. The performance was also released on VHS.

<i>Old Ways</i> 1985 studio album by Neil Young

Old Ways is the 15th studio album by Canadian-American musician and singer-songwriter Neil Young, released on August 12, 1985, on Geffen Records.

<i>Road Rock Vol. 1</i> 2000 live album by Neil Young

Road Rock Vol. 1: Friends & Relatives is a live album released in 2000 by Canadian / American musician Neil Young. The "friends and relatives" include Ben Keith, Chrissie Hynde, Duck Dunn, Young's then wife, Pegi, and his sister, Astrid. The album features an unreleased song, "Fool for Your Love", which dates from Young's This Note's for You period, and a Bob Dylan cover, "All Along the Watchtower".

<i>Broken Arrow</i> (album) 1996 studio album by Neil Young with Crazy Horse

Broken Arrow is the 24th studio album by Canadian-American musician Neil Young, and his 8th with Crazy Horse, released in 1996.

<i>Homegrown</i> (Neil Young album) 2020 studio album by Neil Young

Homegrown is the 42nd studio album by Canadian-American Neil Young. It was released on June 19, 2020, by Reprise Records. The album consists of material recorded between June 1974 and January 1975. The album was recorded after the release of On the Beach and before the sessions for Zuma. Like those two albums, much of the material was inspired by Young's relationship with actress Carrie Snodgress, which was deteriorating in 1974. The album was compiled and prepared for release in 1975. Instead, Tonight's the Night was released, and Homegrown remained unreleased for 45 years. It was finally set for release as part of Record Store Day 2020, amid Neil Young's ongoing Archives campaign. Its release was again delayed by Record Store Day's postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, before finally seeing release on June 19.

<i>Neil Young: Heart of Gold</i> 2006 American film

Neil Young: Heart of Gold is a 2006 American documentary/concert film by Jonathan Demme, featuring the Canadian/American singer and songwriter Neil Young. It documents Young's premiere of his songs from his album Prairie Wind at Ryman Auditorium.

<i>Living with War</i> 2006 studio album by Neil Young

Living With War is the 29th studio album by Canadian / American musician Neil Young, released on May 2, 2006. The album's lyrics, titles, and conceptual style are highly critical of the policies of the George W. Bush administration; the CTV website described it as "a musical critique of U.S. President George W. Bush and his conduct of the war in Iraq". The record was written and recorded over nine days in March and April 2006.

<i>Chrome Dreams II</i> 2007 studio album by Neil Young

Chrome Dreams II is the 30th studio album by Canadian-American musician Neil Young. The album was released on October 23, 2007 as a double LP and as a single CD. The album name references Chrome Dreams, a legendary Neil Young album from 1977 that had originally been scheduled for release but was shelved in favor of American Stars 'N Bars.

<i>Dreamin Man Live 92</i> 2009 live album by Neil Young

Dreamin' Man Live '92 is a live album by the Canadian / American musician Neil Young, released on December 8, 2009. It features live, solo acoustic performances of all ten songs from Harvest Moon, recorded on tour in 1992. The album is volume twelve in Young's Archives Performance Series and the fifth to be released. It was originally slated for release on November 2, 2009, but was delayed for over a month; a vinyl release followed on March 30, 2010.

<i>Fly Me to the Moon... The Great American Songbook Volume V</i> 2010 studio album by Rod Stewart

Fly Me to the Moon... The Great American Songbook Volume V is the fifth title in Rod Stewart's series of covers of pop standards, released on 19 October 2010, and his 26th studio album overall. It has sold 363,000 copies as of October 2012.

<i>A Treasure</i> 2011 live album by Neil Young

A Treasure is a live album by Canadian / American musician Neil Young, released on June 14, 2011, featuring performances from his 1984–1985 U.S. tour with the International Harvesters. The album is volume nine in Young's Archives Performance Series and the sixth to be released.

<i>Americana</i> (Neil Young & Crazy Horse album) 2012 studio album by Neil Young and Crazy Horse

Americana is the 33rd studio album by Canadian / American musician Neil Young, released on June 5, 2012. The album was Young's first collaboration with backing band Crazy Horse since their 2003 album, Greendale, and its associated tour.

<i>Psychedelic Pill</i> 2012 studio album by Neil Young and Crazy Horse

Psychedelic Pill is the 34th studio album by Canadian / American musician Neil Young, released on October 30, 2012. It is the second collaboration between Young and Crazy Horse released in 2012 and their first original work together since the Greendale album and tour in 2003 and 2004. The album was streamed on Young's website on October 24, 2012, and leaked onto the Internet the same day.

"From Hank to Hendrix" is a song written by Neil Young that was first released on his 1992 album Harvest Moon. Young has frequently included it in live sets and it has been included on a number of live and compilation albums.

"Unknown Legend" is a song written by Neil Young that was first released on his 1992 album Harvest Moon. Although it was only released as a promotional single, it reached #38 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

References

  1. "Neil Young: Harvest Moon". neilyoung.com. Neil Young. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  2. Harvest Moon (album) at Discogs
  3. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (1992-10-27). "Harvest Moon - Neil Young | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic . Retrieved 2015-06-02.
  4. Tremblay, Mark (1992-11-01). "Recent Releases". Calgary Herald .
  5. Browne, David (1992-11-13). "Harvest Moon". Entertainment Weekly .
  6. Hilburn, Robert (1992-10-25). "Young Tries a Little Tenderness". Los Angeles Times .
  7. Sutherland, Steve (1992-10-31). "Long Play". NME . p. 32. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
  8. Gettelman, Parry (1992-11-13). "Neil Young". Orlando Sentinel .
  9. Kot, Greg (1992-11-26). "Neil Young Harvest Moon Album Review". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on 2015-05-24. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
  10. Mackie, John (1992-12-05). "Rock/Pop: Fleeting glory". The Vancouver Sun .
  11. Shaw, Ted (1992-11-14). "Record Review". The Windsor Star .
  12. Forever Young: Neil Young proves life in rock & roll can begin again at fortysomething. Alan Light, Rolling Stone 1992.
  13. Gary Graff. Guitar World. June 1993.
  14. Young, Neil. 2015. Special Deluxe. New York, New York: Plume, An Imprint Of Penguin Random House Llc.
  15. Gary Graff. Guitar World. June 1993.
  16. press conference, October 21, 1992, Milan
  17. Forever Young: Neil Young proves life in rock & roll can begin again at fortysomething. Alan Light, Rolling Stone 1992.
  18. comments to the audience. June 25, 1992. Holmdel, New Jersey.
  19. Neil Young Returns. NME. November, 1992
  20. Mcdonough, Jimmy. 2003. Shakey: Neil Young's Biography. New York: Anchor Books.
  21. "Classic Rock Review of Harvest Moon by Neil Young". 25 June 2012. Retrieved June 25, 2012.
  22. "Harvest Moon Neil Young". AllMusic . Retrieved March 5, 2012.
  23. "Australiancharts.com – Neil Young – Harvest Moon". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  24. "Austriancharts.at – Neil Young – Harvest Moon" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  25. "Top RPM Albums: Issue 1730". RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  26. "Dutchcharts.nl – Neil Young – Harvest Moon" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  27. https://suomenlistalevyt.blogspot.com/2015/08/x-y.html [ bare URL ]
  28. "Offiziellecharts.de – Neil Young – Harvest Moon" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  29. "Charts.nz – Neil Young – Harvest Moon". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
  30. "Norwegiancharts.com – Neil Young – Harvest Moon". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
  31. "Swedishcharts.com – Neil Young – Harvest Moon". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  32. "Swisscharts.com – Neil Young – Harvest Moon". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  33. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  34. "Neil Young Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  35. "Top Selling Albums of 1993 — The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Recorded Music New Zealand . Retrieved November 3, 2021.
  36. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2001 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association . Retrieved October 28, 2020.
  37. "Canadian album certifications – Neil Young – Harvest Moon". Music Canada . Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  38. "British album certifications – Neil Young – Harvest Moon". British Phonographic Industry . Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  39. "American album certifications – Neil Young – Harvest Moon". Recording Industry Association of America . Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  40. "'Rachel Getting Married': Wedding Movie Bliss". NPR.org. Retrieved 2020-01-23.