Music Arcades: Neil Young: Harvest Moon

I was in Toronto when this came out, for the CSCW '92 conference, but I don't think my Canadian copy is any different from the one I would have got back in the UK.

Like Old Ways, it's an album that felt a little disappointing at the time, but now seems like a welcoming old friend. And I don't think that's just because subsequent albums in the same mould like Silver and Gold were even more of an anti-climax.

It may be my favourite of Neil's 'mellow' albums, except perhaps for Comes a Time.

One of the reasons it's so welcoming is that the opening track — and its opening lines, "She used to work in a diner / Never saw a woman look finer" — just seem to fit so well. As of last October, I've seen what is allegedly the diner in question. Several times, as a matter of fact, since we went up and down that stretch of road several times looking, stalker-like, for the turning to Neil's ranch. It may or may not be on Skyline Boulevard, but I can't be very precise as I wasn't paying close attention; I was just a passenger.

Why the initial disappointment? I think it was just that the idea of doing a Harvest follow-up seemed a little calculated in the wake of Ragged Glory and Freedom. I still had an appetite for something more raw, as we got 20 months later with Sleeps With Angels.