''American Stars 'n Bars'' is the eighth studio album by Canadian-American
folk rock
Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...
songwriter
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...
, released on
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels.
Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Green Day, En ...
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 number 21 on the
''Billboard'' 200 and received a
RIAA
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
gold certification.
Background
Following the release of his album, ''
Zuma'', in November 1975, and a subsequent international spring tour with
Crazy Horse
Crazy Horse ( , ; – September 5, 1877) was a Lakota people, Lakota war leader of the Oglala band. He took up arms against the United States federal government to fight against encroachment by White Americans, White American settlers on Nativ ...
, Young rekindled his partnership with
Stephen Stills. Following the album ''
Long May You Run'', and a promotional tour that Young abandoned, he continued touring with Crazy Horse in the United States, then spent the first half of 1977 off the road. After recording several
country rock
Country rock is a music genre that fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal sty ...
compositions at sessions in April 1977, he assembled additional tracks from a variety of earlier recording dates to make up the second side of the new album.
"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
Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
star Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and activist. She is considered one of the leading music artists behind the country rock genre in the 1970s and the Americana (music), Americana genre ...
. 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).
Writing
"The Old Country Waltz" tells the tale of listening to a live band in a bar while drinking to get over the loss of a loved one. It was previously recorded on piano and harmonica in August 1976 during the '' Hitchhiker'' session.
"Saddle Up the Palomino" features sexually suggestive lyrics and was likely written in 1974 or 1975 during the ''Homegrown'' sessions. A handwritten song list on the Neil Young Archives website from that era includes a song titled "Carmelina". It is credited to Young, bassist Tim Drummond and Louisiana songwriter and friend Bobby Charles who was part of Young's social scene in Malibu in 1975.[Mcdonough, Jimmy. 2003. Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography. New York: Anchor Books.]
"Hold Back the Tears" had previously been recorded in February 1977 as a solo performance with Young playing guitar, keyboards and percussion. This version would see release on '' Chrome Dreams'' in 2023. Its lyrics find Young consoling a friend over the loss of a relationship and counseling that the next love may be just around the corner.
"Bite the Bullet", which also features suggestive lyrics, combines the emerging genres of outlaw country and punk rock
Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...
. It was written in July 1976 in Charlotte, North Carolina during the Stills-Young tour, and made its live debut that month.
"Star of Bethlehem"'s lyrics are about coming to terms with the end of a relationship. The song was originally intended to conclude the shelved album ''Homegrown''. Its lyrics are inspired by Young's breakup with Carrie Snodgress
Caroline Louise Snodgress (October 27, 1945 – April 1, 2004) was an American actress. She is best remembered for her role in the film ''Diary of a Mad Housewife'' (1970), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress, Acad ...
. Young would debut the song on tour with CSNY with an additional verse. In a 1975 Cameron Crowe interview for ''Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'', Young indicated a fondness for the track and an eagerness to release it, singling out the "beautiful harmonies" of Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and activist. She is considered one of the leading music artists behind the country rock genre in the 1970s and the Americana (music), Americana genre ...
.
In " Will to Love", Young tells "the story of a salmon swimming upstream. Laden with my own feelings of love and survival."[Young, Neil. 2012. Waging Heavy Peace. Penguin Publishing Group.] Young has performed the song only once, the night he recorded at his home in front of a roaring fire. "Homegrown", a lighthearted tribute to marijuana, was first recorded as the title track of the unreleased album.
"Like a Hurricane", one of Young's signature songs, recounts a tempestuous romance, as Young described in a 2020 post to his website: "She had so much love he couldn't handle it. She was always a step away but he loved her forever. He just couldn't reach her. But he did, and she never forgot that." In a September 1982 interview, Young said: "I wrote it on an organ, on the string synthesizer. I remember the night I wrote it, I stayed up all night playing it after I wrote it. It always had a feeling to me that it was going to take off. It was never going to be a peaceful little song."[Rock On Interview, BBC Radio 1, September 29, 1982] In his memoir ''Special Deluxe'', Young recalls bar hopping on Skyline Boulevard:
Recording
Side two of the album consists of recordings made in various studios over the previous two years.
"Star of Bethlehem" was recorded in December, 1974 at Quadrafonic Sound Studios during sessions for ''Homegrown''. According to a post on the Neil Young Archives website, Ben Keith and Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and activist. She is considered one of the leading music artists behind the country rock genre in the 1970s and the Americana (music), Americana genre ...
would overdub the background vocals for the track at Harris' L.A. home.
"Homegrown" and "Like a Hurricane" were recorded in November 1975 with Crazy Horse at Young's ranch during rehearsals for a short tour of Northern California, his first with the reconstituted band with guitarist Poncho Sampedro. The group recorded "Hurricane" at Young's ranch shortly after Young wrote the song and the take on the album is the initial run-through. Young wrote in ''Waging Heavy Peace'':
Young had recently undergone vocal surgery and was unable to record a live vocal. Vocals were overdubbed in January 1976 at Village Recorders in Los Angeles. He explained in ''Special Deluxe'':
"Will to Love" was recorded in April 1976, at Young's home in front of a roaring fire, the only time he has performed the song. He would later mix the recording and add overdubs during a full moon session at Indigo Ranch in Malibu, as recounted in ''Waging Heavy Peace'': "Sitting on the floor late at night, I recorded in front of the fireplace with the cassette on the hearth, three feet from the fire, and you can hear the crackling and hissing of the fire as I played my old Martin guitar and sang."[Young, Neil. 2012. Waging Heavy Peace. Penguin Publishing Group.] Young mixed the track and added overdubs at Indigo Ranch Recording studio eight months later with his producer David Briggs: "I had asked David to get me a lot of instruments, including drums, an electric bass, a vibraphone, some of my old amps including my Magnatone with the stereo vibrato, and a few other things. I told David that I simply wanted to play back the cassette through the Magnatone with vibrato so it would sound like I was underwater at times during the song, when I was taking the point of view of the salmon."[Young, Neil. 2012. Waging Heavy Peace. Penguin Publishing Group.]
Finally, Young and Briggs mixed the song that same night, and played back the results to Young's great satisfaction: "Somewhere in the middle of that night, we did a mix. That was the perfect way to work. Get it all at once... The sound was cascading over me and all around me, and I was swimming in it. Our work was done. That memory is one of my favorite moments and is the perfect example of a great life with my friend David, who guided me and assisted me in every trip I decided to take through the world of music."[Young, Neil. 2012. Waging Heavy Peace. Penguin Publishing Group.]
The songs on side one were recorded in a single day at Young's ranch on April 4, 1977. 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
Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is an American singer who has performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin music.
Ronstadt has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three A ...
and Nicolette Larson
Nicolette Larson (July 17, 1952 – December 16, 1997) was an American singer. She is best known for her work in the late 1970s with Neil Young and her 1978 hit single of Young's " Lotta Love", which hit No. 1 on the Hot Adult Contemporary ...
. Young had previously recorded with Ronstadt on ''Harvest
Harvesting is the process of collecting plants, animals, or fish (as well as fungi) as food, especially the process of gathering mature crops, and "the harvest" also refers to the collected crops. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulses fo ...
''. Young recruited Larson after reaching out to other singers and several had recommended her. The three met at Young's Malibu home where he introduced the two singers to twenty of his songs he had available to record. Larson tells Cameron Crowe in December 1978: "I didn't know much about Neil Young, but we went over and sat by the fireplace and Neil ran down all the songs he had just written, about twenty of them. We sang harmonies with him and he was jazzed."[Cameron Crowe. Rolling Stone #280: Nicolette Larson. December 14, 1978. Retrieved from "The Uncool - the Official Site for Everything Cameron Crowe." Accessed November 30, 2023. https://www.theuncool.com/journalism/rs280-nicolette-larson/.] Sessions were held at the white house on Young's ranch. The musicians were under the impression that they were rehearsing while the takes used on the album were being recorded. Recalls Larson: "We worked out the songs in a room of his house. And just when we had the songs down, Neil said, 'Thanks a lot...we've got the album.' He was recording all the rehearsals secretly in another room."
Album cover
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
''After the Gold Rush'' is the third studio album by the Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released in September 1970 on Reprise Records. It is one of four high-profile solo albums released by the members of folk rock group Crosby, Still ...
''. It features Connie Moskos, then the girlfriend of producer David Briggs, drooping with a bottle of Canadian whisky
Canadian whisky is a type of whisky produced in Canada. Most Canadian whiskies are Blended whiskey, blended multi-grain liquors containing a large percentage of corn spirits and are typically lighter and smoother than other whisky styles. in her hand and an intoxicated Young with his face pressed against the glass floor.
Release
''American Stars 'n' Bars'' was released May 1977. It was released after the compilation ''Decade
A decade (from , , ) is a period of 10 years. Decades may describe any 10-year period, such as those of a person's life, or refer to specific groupings of calendar years.
Usage
Any period of ten years is a "decade". For example, the statement ...
'' had already been compiled. Young and producer David Briggs decided that the compilation should be delayed so that " Like a Hurricane" could appear on its own album, not just on a three-record set. Briggs and Young called manager Elliot Roberts to adjust the release dates with the record company accordingly. Briggs would relate the decision in a contemporary radio interview:
Reception
The album receiving favorable reviews. Writing in ''Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'', Paul Nelson noted the mixed selection of songs and styles and praised the "gale-force guitar playing" on "Like a Hurricane". He concluded that 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
Harvesting is the process of collecting plants, animals, or fish (as well as fungi) as food, especially the process of gathering mature crops, and "the harvest" also refers to the collected crops. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulses fo ...
'' (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". In a review for AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
, William Ruhlmann found the album to be "a stylistic hodgepodge, its first side consisting of country-tinged material" while the second side ranged from "acoustic solo numbers... to raging rockers". Describing "Will to Love" as "a particularly spooky and ambitious piece", he said that " healbum'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
Personnel
*Neil Young
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...
– guitar, vocals
* Frank "Poncho" Sampedro – guitar
* Billy Talbot – bass
* Ralph Molina – drums
* Ben Keith – pedal steel guitar
*Carole Mayedo – violin
*Linda Ronstadt
Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is an American singer who has performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin music.
Ronstadt has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three A ...
– backing vocals
*Nicolette Larson
Nicolette Larson (July 17, 1952 – December 16, 1997) was an American singer. She is best known for her work in the late 1970s with Neil Young and her 1978 hit single of Young's " Lotta Love", which hit No. 1 on the Hot Adult Contemporary ...
– backing vocals
"Star of Bethlehem"
*Neil Young – guitar, vocals, harmonica
*Ben Keith – dobro, vocals
* Tim Drummond – bass
*Karl T. Himmel – drums
*Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and activist. She is considered one of the leading music artists behind the country rock genre in the 1970s and the Americana (music), Americana genre ...
– vocals
"Will to Love"
*Neil Young – guitar, vocals, organ, piano, vibraphone, drums
"Like a Hurricane" (credited to Neil Young and Crazy Horse)
*Neil Young – guitar, vocals
*Frank "Poncho" Sampedro – Stringman, vocals
*Billy Talbot – bass
*Ralph Molina – drums, vocals
"Homegrown" (credited to Neil Young and Crazy Horse)
*Neil Young – guitar, vocals
*Frank "Poncho" Sampedro – guitar, vocals
*Billy Talbot – bass
*Ralph Molina – drums, vocals
*Neil Young, David Briggs, Tim Mulligan, Elliot Mazer – production
* Dean Stockwell – cover art
* Elliot Roberts – direction
Charts
Year End Album Charts
Certifications
References
External links
''American Stars 'n Bars''
at Myspace
Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...
(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
Albums recorded at the Village (studio)