Artist: Neil Young

Transformation, 2009-12-20
The remaster brings this up almost to the quality of the original vinyl. If you have the old CD and like it even a little bit - don't hesitate. Just buy this.

Artist: Neil Young

When Neil Young seems about to zig, he zags. Two years after 1990's loud Ragged Glory, he retreats to an old world of steel guitars, gentle folk melodies, and pristine country choruses. (That's Linda Ronstadt, who helped make 1972's Harvest a hit album, singing backup on the follow-up.) Young name-drops Hank Williams, Jimi Hendrix, and his old dog, King, in rich reminiscences about the musical ride he and his fans have shared since the late '60s. The album, as Young sings in "One of These Days," is "a long letter to all the good friends I've known." --Steve Knopper
DON'T BE MISLED...., 2009-07-25
....by the 'live' in parentheses by the title. This is NOT a 'live' album - although some tracks were recorded live (per se) in the studio.

Artist: Neil Young

Stripped down and naked, 2010-03-07
Not Neil, obviously, but the songs themsleves. Harvest Moon was a good album but always seemed a little polished (certainly to theis reviewer who is in the Crazy Horse camp when it comes to NY music).
These versions are more raw and reminiscent of Neil's later acoustic sets (e.g. 2008 first set) allowing the lyrics to come to the fore.

Whether this release will gain Neil any new fans I don't know but most older ones will be very happy with it. I have now played this several times and am not bored by it in the slightest.

New material for 2010 perhaps?

Artist: New Young Pony Club

A deeper more accomplished sound, 2010-03-11
Having got bored with Fantastic Playroom rather fast due to it's repetitiveness although keeping Ice Cream and The Get Go on my playlist, I took a chance and bought this on the release date... what a pleasant surprise! As a previous reviewer has said the tracks are significantly different from each other to prevent boredom setting in and the sound is much deeper. Most tracks hold their own, the only dud being 'Stone', other than that a reflective vibe with some uplifting pop moments. It's also a grower - the best albums always are!

Artist: Neil Young

"....Keeps Me Searching...", 2009-08-14
As we all know, Neil Young has famously resisted the remastered reissue of his huge catalogue on CD because of what he feels is the format's less than stellar representation of analogue tapes' 'original sound' - and almost a full 20 years after 1989's first issue of Harvest on a dullard CD - it looks like the guy is having the last laugh - because this meticulously prepared tape transfer is GLORIOUS. It really is.

First to the details - Harvest was released in February 1972 on Reprise Records MS 2032 in the USA and K 54005 in the UK (it went to Number 1 in both countries and many others around the world). This 2009 NYA OSR remaster (Neil Young Archives - Original Release Series) is Disc 4 of 4 and carries the HDCD code on the label and rear inlay (High Density Compact Disc). Until now, 2004's "Greatest Hits" set (which offered us three Harvest tracks remastered into HDCD sound quality) was the only real indication of just how good the album 'could' sound. And outside of the DVD Audio release (which few people have), this is the first time the 'entire' album has been given a sonic upgrade. The Audio Tape Restoration and Analog-To-HDCD Digital Transfer of the Original Master Tapes was carried out by JOHN NOWLAND (24-Bit 176 KHZ) with the Editing and Mastering done by TIM MULLIGAN - and they've done a stunning job.

The inlay faithfully reproduces the foldout lyric sheet in the same earthy textured paper that the matching album cover had (a sort of first for recycling way back then) and the print isn't cramped either - it's very readable. In fact the booklet in "Harvest" is probably the most aesthetically pleasing of all 4 releases.

And as these are the first four albums in a long reissue campaign - to identify them from the old CDs, the upper part of the outer spine has his new NYA OSR logo at the top and an 'issue' number beneath - D1, D2, D3, D4...and on upwards of course.

However, the big and obvious disappointment is the complete lack of musical extras or any new info in the booklet; they're in "The Archives Vol.1 1963-1972" box set that's still sitting in shop windows at varying extortionate prices. Still - at mid price - this remaster of "Harvest" is great value for money and with this hugely upgraded sound - it makes you focus on the music as is and not anything else.

Some have complained that the sound is a little underwhelming after all the hype that has preceded these releases - I don't think that at all. The danger in remastering would be the cranking of everything, ultra-treble the lot - but I'm hearing ALL the instruments on this carefully prepared transfer - especially the bass and drums which now have a clarity that is so sweet rather than flashy. The sound is very subtle - there's no brashness, very little hiss and when the muscle of the remaster does kick in - like the strings of the London Symphony Orchestra on "A Man Needs A Maid" and "There's A World" - it's really BEAUTIFUL. The music is just 'there' in your speakers all of a sudden.

I suspect for many fans, rehearing this album and the other 3 will be like revisiting old friends and finding something new - thrilling to them once again. I'm onto "After The Gold Rush" as I write - it's impressive stuff - it really is - beautiful reproduction too.

The gold sticker on the jewel case of each of these issues states - "Because Sound Matters" - and although it took him a few decades, on the strength of this reissue, I think Rock's great curmudgeon was right to wait to get it right...which in many respects is the ultimate nod to his fans.

Highly recommended.

PS: I've reviewed "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" and "After The Gold Rush" also - just as good soundwise

Artist: Will Young

Will Young - excellent!, 2010-02-05
Another excellent collection of songs from this talented performer.
A perfect encapsulation of the varied styles of this man's amazing voice.

Artist: Neil Young

My first Neil Young venture, 2009-11-26
Despite some of the reviews about this album, I think that it is a good introduction to Neil Young and would recommend this as a starter for anyone who has yet to buy any of his work.

Artist: Young Money

Artist: Crosby Stills Nash and Young

Crosby, Stills and Nash were already a "supergroup" before Neil Young, previously of Buffalo Springfield, joined them for this album. Indisputably one of the key albums of the immediate post-Woodstock era, Déjà vu does at times however sound a bit of a period piece. Ranging in emotion from the almost cutesy "Teach Your Children" and "Our House" to the moody, dark guitar sounds of "Almost Cut My Hair" and their version of Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock", it is nevertheless an important document of the time. Young, who would go on to release the excellent After The Gold Rush later in the same year, provides the best moments with "Helpless" and the "Country Girl" medley. --Tim Perry
The American 'Revolver', 2010-02-04
This is the 'One'.
The 'one' that opened my eyes to music beyond the Beatles and the(excellent)British 60's Pop of The Small Faces, The Kinks and The Move, and introduced me to what was going on across the Big Pond. I'm not saying it's better than the British Bands that I was already familiar, just different....and opened up a whole new world of Sounds. It introduced the world of country blues (Stills' 4+20), the country flavour of Nash's 'Teach your Children' courtesy of Jerry Garcia's excellent pedal steel guitar playing. The jazzy inflections of Crosby's 'Deja vu' and Young's heart-rending 'Helpless'.
Its hard for me to be review this album objectively, as just a collection of tunes, without my appreciation of this album being influenced by all the new sounds it lead me to discover and love, and probably determine my musical tastes over the subsequent 40 years. Starting with Jefferson Airplane, The Band, Moby Grape, The Byrds, Love, of the late 60's through to Green on Red (80's), and Giant Sand/Howe Gelb of the present day.
Every song on this album is a cracker. Many criticise it as being 'disjointed' and that it was the product of 4 solo artists in disharmony (on a personal level)rather than the collective works a band. True, it covers a range of styles to each individual members taste, but all with that indisputable CSN&Y flavour and vocal harmonies yet to be bettered. Forty years on I think this album stands the test of time. Like the Beatles 'Revolver' it introduced a new style and set a new benchmark against which all others could be measured. Buy this and the 4 first CSN&Y solo albums, put the CD/IPOD on shuffle, sit back and enjoy.

Artist: Neil Young

Proclaiming his intentions with "Are You Ready for the Country?", Young detoured briefly to the Nashville mainstream. On this 1972 album, even the singer's acquired-taste voice comes across smooth and beautiful--the smash "Heart of Gold", with steel guitars and Linda Ronstadt's backup vocals, is by far Young's most commercial-sounding song. His usual dissonant touches, like the otherworldly guitar in "Out on the Weekend", are less spooky in this new context. The last two tracks, the deceptively gentle "The Needle and the Damage Done" and the hypnotic rocker "Words (Between the Lines of Age)", predict "Tonight's the Night", Young's haunted 1975 classic. --Steve Knopper
neil youngs best ever album?, 2009-11-17
ask anyone which is neil youngs best ever album and youll probably get the reply 'after the gold rush' but that album is actually a close second to this one 'harvest'
a monumental album packed with diversity and hugely influential for its time, its the benchmark for all of youngs efforts since.
from the massive orchestral delivery of 'a man needs a maid' to the thought provoking 'needle and the damage done (surely the greatest anti drugs song ever written) this album still shines like a beacon even after all these years.