Harvest Time

Harvest Time takes up the whole first side of Pharoah. At Sanders's request the guitarist Tisziji Muñoz set up a two-chord vamp in C minor and played the theme first, Steve Neil joined on bass, and Sanders's wife Bedria, who had never seen a harmonium before the session, held the drone; there is no drum kit, only Lawrence Killian's percussion and chimes. Sanders states the theme softly, returns with more force, and later drops to near-whispers with the mouthpiece audible. Bedria named it because it was recorded in September, her favorite time of year. The estate describes it as an ecstatic mantra of universal love and a love letter to her.

Sanders felt the studio lacked the right equipment and disowned it. The 2023 box set added two live versions from his August 1977 European tour, at Antwerp and Willisau, with a quartet including Clifford Jarvis. The hypersongs web holds two uploads of the same 1976 studio take: the 2023 remaster and an older copy of the original LP.