Neil Young - Harvest and many more

As I write this I am listening to the Neil Young album Harvest for what is most likely what now numbers into the hundreds of times. The album which was considered the commercial peak of his success is a great album. A list of tracks is not necessary but certainly Lonely Boy, Heart of Gold, and Old Man are a good place to start. This past weekend we watched Neil who now is 64 appear on both the Haiti benefit and on Conan's last show on The Tonight Show. In the last 10 years Neil has put out more albums than any artist of his stature, as if he is racing against time. I have not purchased most of them and with radio now an unfriendly place to him I have not heard much of it either. I am sure all of it is music well worth hearing.

From his early albums Neil Young, Everyone Knows This is Nowhere and After the Goldrush I have come to treasure all Neil albums. Each one that I hear new is like going the excitement of a new album when we went to the store. Only this music when heard 30 years later is still timeless and to me as an 44 year old man current. The other evening an obscure early track titled I've Loved Her So Long came up on Random on the Ipod. It was like a bullet over the bow. An artist such as Neil has more great songs you have never heard than any contemporary artist.

My son tells me that he can tell if I am will like an artist, be they classic rock or contemporary, if they play a harmonica. It is a true fact. I do not think it is the harmonica, although I do love the sound, but certainly Bruce, Dylan, Petty and Neil do indeed all play the harmonica. Maybe it is the harmonica.

Today with a few minutes I looked on Amazon's MP# store to see what Neil albums I might have missed. With Neil there are some albums that are obscure because they are not as accessible, and some albums that are a little more obscure because they were not accessible to the " right people" at the time of their release. I have found a few of these from the mid seventies when Neil rejected the stardom of the Harvest era and has he said " drove into a ditch because you meet more interesting people there." Tonights the Night, On the Beach and more are albums I will be exploring soon.

If you do not like Neil Young, much like if you do not appreciate Dylan nothing I can say would make you appreciate it. However, if you have enjoyed some Neil in the past, explore much more. It is some of the best music ever made. Like perhaps no other artist this side of Dylan Neil has moved all over the map in the rock/country I refuse to be classified one way musical spectrum. It has been a ride well worth riding shotgun in.


Rating: Harvest 8.5