Harvest [CD]

Okay, so CDs have been with us getting on for thirty years now. We were told back then that they represented the pinnacle of recorded sound. So, when me and a few million other mugs bought CDs of albums we'd loved to death on vinyl, why was the listening experience so underwhelming? The record labels then realised that they had to be properly remastered using original tapes with a cutting engineer who knew their stuff. Neil Young has constantly frustrated his long standing fanbase by simulataneously whipping the horses and stamping on the brakes - threatening to release stuff then stepping back when some other format (5.1, Blu-Ray) came into view. Anyway, having finally got his finger out, the first batch of Neil Young reissues eventually came out, and, casting cynicism aside, I can honestly state that they are fantastic. I always felt ambivalent about 'Harvest'; on the one hand, it was a massive commercial success internationally, but its success seemed to cause moments of self-doubt, and Young then set about, if not actually sabotaging his career, embarked upon a series of recordings culminating in 'Tonight's the Night' and 'On The Beach' (and when is 'Time Fades Away' gonna make it (Legitimately) to the digital format?), two of the darkest records in the rock genre.

Anyway, I digress. 'Harvest' sounds wonderful in this new, remastered incarnation. The guitars on 'Alabama' are brittle and sharp around the edges, and you can actually hear the room in the recording - and the bits where the instruments leak over into one another. The hit single, 'Heart of Gold' sounds so full and dynamic - you can hear the individual beats on the hi-hat, and the rhythm section - especially the loping bass line - have real depth. Also, the orchestrations - especially on 'A Man Needs A Maid', are amazingly rich and vivid. 'The Needle and The Damage Done' is totally in your face - you have to check that Young's not in the room with you! It's like hearing the record all over again, and in my mind (it's such a fine line), 'Harvest now resides as a total classic - one of Neil Young's (and anyone else's) finest.

"Think I'll jack it in and buy a pickup; Take it down to LA."

So begins one of the half-dozen-or-so greatest albums in the history of rock music - with a prosaic reference to teenage escapism sung over a laid-back country groove. But forty minutes later it's grungy distorted guitars that accompany the more metaphysical verdict:

"It's only words, words, Between the lines of age."

Thus Neil Young sets out his credentials as philosopher and prophet to the hippy generation. He foresees, and in less than three quarters of an hour he foretells, the future history of the children of freedom: Financial independence - lack of responsibility - search for belonging - divorce from reality - alienation - drug dependency - and finally a kind of uneasy reconciliation as experience supplants idealism.

Behind the lyrical journey there is a stylistic journey: from country to grunge via lush orchestration and rock'n'roll, that charts the future history of popular music. No wonder late `90's rockers saw Young as a creative godfather: they saw with hindsight how music had followed the agenda he had first set out a quarter century earlier.

But the most wonderful thing about "Harvest" is that even at it's most harrowingly prophetic, it is still sweet on the ears. Prophesy isn't usually this much fun: listen to Stravinsky or early Dylan or punk or early rap for evidence that in music (as in all areas of life) good medicine often leaves a bad taste. "Harvest" must be one of the most important landmarks in rock to have tasted good at the time and still to taste good nearly three decades on. Most impressively of all (and unlike some of Young's later work), the message still rings true.

I think this record is probably an indispensable part of any modern record collection, but it's not just an important museum piece . . . it's fine music that can be listened to over and over again without ever losing its appeal.

I have just received the four cds from Canada where they were released on 14th July. Each is labelled Neil Young Archives Official Release Series, Discs 1 through 4 being Neil Young, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, After The Gold Rush and Harvest respectively. They are HDCD 24bit 176Khz digital transfers and they sound just great! No extras just the best sound quality so far. If sound quality is important to you, buy them and you won't be disappointed. If you are new to Neil Young buy these and then On The Beach and then..