Harvest Moon (1992)

Harvest Moon (1992)

1991 is the year punk allegedly ‘broke,’ as sarcastically suggested by the title of a 1993 film documenting Sonic Youth’s European tour with Dinosaur Jr, Mudhoney, and Nirvana. Only a character as confident as Neil Young would show his appreciation for being honored by the stalwarts of the burgeoning alternative rock scene by releasing the most grown-up album of his career. The commercial sound of Harvest Moon risked potentially alienating his new grungie fans the way he’d been alienating boomers, hippies, and, well, everyone else, for years. Of course, it was not Neil’s intention to vex his new street team with an accessible, middle-aged sounding record; the truth is decidedly more mundane: after decades of skull-rattling live performances, Neil was finally having hearing trouble. In my anniversary piece on the album last year, I describe Harvest Moon as the ‘mellow, ethereal’ antidote to the previous year’s Ragged Glory. Though comparisons to Harvest are facile, Harvest Moon does share many of the laid back qualities of that classic album, but where the former is understated, even rudimentary, the latter is spectral and lush, and would provide a formula for several future Neil Young albums. And why not? Harvest Moon is a rarity: a platinum, top twenty, Grammy-nominated album that stands the test of time.