American Stars 'n Bars

''American Stars 'n Bars'' is the eighth studio album by Canadian folk rock songwriter Neil Young with , released on Reprise Records in 1977. Compiled from recording sessions scattered over a 29-month period, it includes " Like a Hurricane", one of Young's best-known songs. It peaked at #21 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and received a RIAA gold certification.

Background

In the summer of 1976, Young rekindled his partnership with Stephen Stills, resulting in a tour that ended abruptly and the album ''Long May You Run''. He then embarked on his second tour of the year with Crazy Horse, but spent the first half of 1977 off the road. His previous album, '' Zuma'', had been issued in November 1975. After recording several country rock compositions at sessions in April 1977, he assembled additional tracks from a variety of earlier recording dates to make up the balance of the new album.

The April 1977 sessions featured Crazy Horse augmented by an ad hoc grouping dubbed "The Bullets": pedal steel guitarist and longtime Young collaborator Ben Keith, violinist Carole Mayedo, and backing vocalists Linda Ronstadt and Nicolette Larson.

Content

"Homegrown" and "Star of Bethlehem" had initially been slated for his album '' Homegrown'', which was shelved at the time. Both of those songs, along with " Like a Hurricane", "Hold Back the Tears", and "Will to Love", had also been slated for the unreleased Young album project, '' Chrome Dreams''. Seven of the nine tracks feature his regular backing band Crazy Horse, and another, "Star of Bethlehem", features country music star Emmylou Harris. Songs from the April 1977 sessions are all in a country-styled vein, while the tracks from the second side are all in their original forms from their respective recording sessions (spanning 1974-1976).

The album cover was designed by actor and Young's close friend Dean Stockwell, who had also written the screenplay that inspired ''After the Gold Rush''. It features Connie Moskos, then the girlfriend of producer David Briggs, drooping with a bottle of Canadian whisky in her hand and an intoxicated Young with his face pressed against the glass floor.

Reception

Initially receiving favorable reviews, the album was described as a "sampler...of Young's various styles", even a "hodgepodge." Paul Nelson, reviewing the album for ''Rolling Stone'' commented about the mixed selection of songs and styles, and praised the "gale-force guitar playing" of "Like a Hurricane":

The album can almost be taken as a sampler, but not a summation, of Young's various styles from ''After the Gold Rush'' and '' Harvest'' (much of the country rock) through '' On the Beach'' (the incredible "Will to Love") to '' Zuma'' ("Like a Hurricane" is a worthy successor to "Cortez the Killer" as a guitar showcase) with a lot of overlap within the songs.

According to William Ruhlmann, in a review for ''Allmusic'',

Neil Young made a point of listing the recording dates of the songs on ''American Stars 'n Bars''; the dates even appeared on the LP labels. They revealed that the songs had been cut at four different sessions dating back to 1974. But even without such documentation, it would have been easy to tell that the album was a stylistic hodgepodge, its first side consisting of country-tinged material featuring steel guitar and fiddle, plus backup vocals from Linda Ronstadt and then-unknown Nicolette Larson, while the four songs on the second side varied from acoustic solo numbers like "Will to Love" to raging rockers such as "Like a Hurricane." "Will to Love" is a particularly spooky and ambitious piece, extending the romantic metaphor of a salmon swimming upstream across seven minutes. The album's centerpiece however, is "Like a Hurricane," one of Young's classic hard rock songs and guitar workouts, and a perpetual concert favorite.

It was finally released on compact disc, as an HDCD, on August 19, 2003, as part of the Neil Young Digital Masterpiece Series along with ''On the Beach'', '' Hawks & Doves'', and '' Re-ac-tor''.

Track listing

''All songs written by Neil Young except as indicated.''

Side one

Performed by Neil Young, Crazy Horse and the Bullets; recorded in April 1977.

Side two

Personnel

* Neil Young – vocals, guitars; harmonica ; glockenspiel, keyboard, piano, vibes, drums
* Frank "Poncho" Sampedro – guitars ; synthesizer ; backing vocals
* Ben Keith – pedal steel guitar ; Dobro, backing vocal
* Carole Mayedo – violin
* Billy Talbot – bass
* Tim Drummond – bass
* Ralph Molina – drums ; backing vocal
* Karl T. Himmel – drums
* Linda Ronstadt, Nicolette Larson – backing vocals
* Emmylou Harris – harmony vocal

Charts

Year End Album Charts

Certifications

References

External links

''American Stars 'n Bars''
at Myspace (streamed copy where licensed)

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Neil Young albums
1977 albums
Albums produced by David Briggs (producer)
Reprise Records albums
Albums produced by Elliot Mazer
Albums produced by Neil Young
Warner Records albums
Crazy Horse (band) albums
Albums recorded at Wally Heider Studios