Neil Young - Harvest Moon [Gatefold, Etched] (2LP) Vinyl

Harvest Moon is the twenty-first studio album by Neil Young, released on 2 November 1992 by Reprise Records. Conceived as a companion piece to his 1972 landmark Harvest, it brought back many of the same backing musicians and became one of the most warmly received records of his later career, winning Album of the Year at the 1994 Juno Awards.

The Album

Young came to the sessions while recovering from tinnitus brought on by the Ragged Glory record and its tour, and put the electric guitar aside in favour of acoustic guitar, piano and banjo. The album was recorded in late September 1991 at Redwood Digital, a studio housed in a barn on his ranch in Woodside, California. Period analogue equipment from the 1970s was used to chase a warmer sound, although the desk itself was a Sony PCM 16 bit, 44.1kHz digital unit.

For the record Young reconvened the Stray Gators, the group that had backed him on Harvest and Comes a Time: Ben Keith on pedal steel guitar, Tim Drummond on bass, Kenny Buttrey on drums and Spooner Oldham on piano. Nicolette Larson, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor and Astrid Young contribute backing vocals, and Jack Nitzsche arranged an eighteen piece string section for "Such a Woman". Young and Ben Keith produced.

The songs were gathered from across a decade of writing rather than a single burst. "One of These Days" dates from 1985, "Natural Beauty" and "Dreamin' Man" from 1989, and "Unknown Legend", a portrait of Young's wife Pegi, was begun in 1982 and finished ten years later. "Old King" memorialises Young's dog Elvis, and "Natural Beauty" was captured live in Portland with acoustic overdubs added afterwards.

This Pressing

This is the Reprise Records double vinyl reissue, catalogue number 9362-49107-8, released on 24 November 2017 and mastered from the original 16 bit, 44.1kHz digital source. The ten tracks are cut across three playing sides; the fourth side is single sided and carries an etching of the album cover artwork rather than music. The set is issued in a gatefold jacket with heavyweight white paper inner sleeves and a printed lyric insert, and is manufactured in the EU.

Track Listing

Side One
1. Unknown Legend
2. From Hank to Hendrix
3. You and Me
4. Harvest Moon

Side Two
1. War of Man
2. One of These Days
3. Such a Woman

Side Three
1. Old King
2. Dreamin' Man
3. Natural Beauty

Side Four
Etched artwork, no audio