How Neil Young grew to resent ‘Harvest’, his “finest record”
Neil Young never concerned himself with making grandiose musical statements.
If people like his music, that would be great, but he didn’t make music thinking about them half the time. It was always about trying to push himself musically in whatever direction he felt was right, but there is a lot of raw beauty that he was able to capture even when he was throwing a couple of his favourite tunes together.
But looking at the career trajectory of Young, it’s not like he was trying to play the game of the music industry all that much. He liked the idea of toying with the system every now and again, and if there was any suit that walked into one of his album sessions complaining that there wasn’t a hit on the record, they were more than likely going to get an album like Everybody’s Rockin’ rather than another retread of what he did on After the Gold Rush.
Then again, Young did know what made a great rock and roll song. He had been the edge behind Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, but even when he got into his quieter moments, many of his fans were more interested in him saying something from the heart rather than making a simple pop song. But right after After the Gold Rush tore up the charts, Young found himself in the middle of the pop world without realising it.
He had always been a rootsy singer-songwriter, but by the early 1970s, that had become one of the most dominant forces in pop music. Everyone was now paying attention to what everyone from James Taylor to Carole King was going to be putting out, so when Young made Harvest, he found himself in the right place at the right time when working with the biggest musicians of the era.
Having Taylor play a bit of guitar on the record didn’t hurt, and having Linda Ronstadt on backing vocals was always going to elevate a song, but Young only needed his own voice when making hits like ‘Heart of Gold’. Every note seemed absolutely perfect, and the raw performance aspect made the whole thing feel much more organic than the carefully constructed pop tunes on the charts. It was a perfect moment in time, but it wasn’t one that Young felt interested in repeating, either.
While he could admit that Harvest was among his best records, Young felt that was exactly why it didn’t work in his mind, saying, “Everybody said that Harvest was a trip. To me, I’d happened to do a really mellow record that was really open ’cause that’s where my life was at the time. But that was only me for a couple of months. If I’d stayed there, I don’t know where I’d be right now – if I’d just stayed real mellow. I’m just not that way any more. I think Harvest was probably the finest record that I’ve made. But that’s really a restricting adjective for me. It’s really fine.”
Any other artist would have kept riding that musical train forever, but Young’s willingness to move in other directions is what makes him so fascinating. There can be a handful of tunes on his later records that hearken back to Harvest, but everything from Trans to Freedom to Silver and Gold is a good reminder of what makes his approach to music much more refreshing than any other artist.
Are there going to be duds? Absolutely, but what artist doesn’t have a few records that don’t resonate with the public? Everyone is bound to have peaks and valleys in their career, but it’s much more interesting to watch Young strike out with a record that’s quirky than listen to someone who doesn’t seem to care anymore.
