American Stars 'n Bars

American Stars 'n Bars is the eighth studio album by Canadian folk rock songwriter Neil Young, 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.[2]

American Stars 'n Bars
Studio album by
Neil Young and Crazy Horse
ReleasedMay 27, 1977 (1977-05-27)[1]
RecordedDecember 13, 1974-April 4, 1977
StudioQuadrafonic, Nashville; Broken Arrow Ranch, Redwood City, California; Indigo Recording Studio, Malibu
Genre
Length37:54
LabelReprise, Warner Bros.
ProducerNeil Young, David Briggs, Tim Mulligan
Elliot Mazer "Star of Bethlehem"
Neil Young and Crazy Horse chronology
Long May You Run
(1976)		 American Stars 'n Bars
(1977)		 Decade
(1977)
Singles from American Stars 'n Bars
  1. "Hey Babe"
    Released: 1977
  2. "Like a Hurricane"
    Released: 1977

Background

Following the release of his album, Zuma, in November 1975, and a subsequent international spring tour with Crazy Horse, 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.[3] 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 second side 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.[4][5] 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
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Christgau's Record GuideB+[7]
Pitchfork Media(8.3/10)[8]

Initially receiving favorable reviews, the album was described as a "sampler...of Young's various styles",[9] even a "hodgepodge."[5] 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.[9]

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.[6]

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 tracks are written by Neil Young except "Saddle Up the Palomino" written with Tim Drummond and Bobby Charles. All songs recorded at Broken Arrow Ranch except for "Star of Bethlehem" recorded at Quadrafonic Sound Studios in Nashville.

Side one
No.TitleRecording dateLength
1."The Old Country Waltz"April 4, 19772:58
2."Saddle Up the Palomino"April 4, 19773:00
3."Hey Babe"April 4, 19773:35
4."Hold Back the Tears"April 4, 19774:18
5."Bite the Bullet"April 4, 19773:30
Side two
No.TitleRecording dateLength
1."Star of Bethlehem"December 13, 19742:42
2."Will to Love"April 25, 19767:11
3."Like a Hurricane"November 29, 19758:20
4."Homegrown"November 19, 19752:20

Personnel

Side one (credited to Neil Young, Crazy Horse and the Bullets)

Side two

"Star of Bethlehem"

  • Neil Young – guitar, vocals, harmonica
  • Ben Keith – dobro, vocals
  • Tim Drummond – bass
  • Karl T. Himmel – drums
  • Emmylou Harris – 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 – Stringman, vocals
  • Billy Talbot – bass
  • Ralph Molina – drums, vocals

Charts
Chart performance for American Stars 'n Bar
Chart (1977) Peak

position

Australia (Kent Music Report)[10] 21
US Billboard Top LPs & Tape[11] 21
UK Album Charts[12] 17
Canadian RPM 100 Albums[13] 16
Finnish Album Charts[14] 30
French Album Charts[15] 4
Japanese Album Charts[16] 63
Swedish Album Charts[17] 16
Norwegian VG-lista Albums[18] 5
New Zealand Album Charts[19] 35
Dutch MegaCharts Albums[19] 5
US Cash Box Top 100 Albums[20] 16
US Record World Album Chart[21] 33

Year End Album Charts

Chart (1977) Rank
Canada Album Charts[22] 96

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[23] Silver 60,000^
United States (RIAA)[24] Gold 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. "Neil Young Discography". Archived from the original on 2016-06-08. Retrieved 2016-10-18.
  2. "Gold & Platinum - RIAA". Riaa.com. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  3. "Sugar Mountain". Sugarmtn.org. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  4. Williamson, Nigel (2003). Journey Through the Past: The Stories Behind the Classic Songs of Neil Young. Hal Leonard. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-87930-741-7.
  5. Schinder, Scott; Andy Schwartz (2008). Icons of Rock. Greenwood. p. 469. ISBN 978-0-313-33847-2.
  6. Ruhlmann, William. Neil Young: American Stars 'n Bars > Review at AllMusic. Retrieved January 12, 2007.
  7. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: Y". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 23, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  8. Mitchum, Rob (September 30, 2003). "Neil Young: On the Beach/American Stars 'n Bars/Hawks & Doves/Re-ac-tor". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  9. Nelson, Paul (August 11, 1977). "Neil Young: American Stars 'N' Bars > Review". Rolling Stone. No. 245. Retrieved January 12, 2007.
  10. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 295. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  11. "Stephen Stills". Billboard. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  12. "STEPHEN STILLS | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  13. Canada, Library and Archives (2013-04-16). "The RPM story". www.bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  14. Sisältää hitin: Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1961.
  15. "InfoDisc : Les Albums (Interprètes, Classements, Ventes, Certifications, Les Tops, Les N° 1...)". www.infodisc.fr. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
  16. "クロスビー,スティルス,ナッシュ&ヤングの売上ランキング". ORICON NEWS. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  17. "swedishcharts.com - Swedish Charts Portal". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
  18. "norwegiancharts.com - Norwegian charts portal". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  19. Hung, Steffen. "The Stills-Young Band - Long May You Run". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  20. "CASH BOX MAGAZINE: Music and coin machine magazine 1942 to 1996". worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  21. "RECORD WORLD MAGAZINE: 1942 to 1982". worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  22. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". 2014-04-05. Archived from the original on 2014-04-05. Retrieved 2021-04-10.
  23. "British album certifications – Neil Young – American Stars 'N' Bars". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  24. "American album certifications – Neil Young – American Stars 'N' Bars". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
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