In the mid-’70s, Neil Young couldn’t decide what to release, He’d record a full album, plan its release and at the last minute – shelve it in favor of something totally different (which is what happened in 1975 with the aborted Homegrown, which then gave way to the “Tonights The Night” album. These were years of hard drinking, hard living and, apparently, hard decisions. In late 1976, he made another hard decision.
While hanging out with Cameron Crowe, who was with Neil writing a Rolling Stone magazine special, Young abruptly changed his mind about “Decade” , a three-LP retrospective of his career, which also included some new material. Some 300,000 copies of the compilation were being pressed when Young began to have second thoughts. Record label head honchos were meeting with Neil at a tour stop to discuss delaying – but not ditching “Decade”.
“What if I just save Decade for a year, then put out a new album? ,The new stuff sounds so good – I’ve got this song called ‘Hurricane’ that just soars – I think I’d feel better releasing something new. It’s not time to look back yet.”
Neil played Warner Bros. President Mo Ostin and Executive Vice President Ed Rosenblatt the album he wanted to put out first: something he was calling American Stars ’n Bars. “One side is about American folk heroes and the other is about getting loose in bars,” Young revealed. Ostin and Rosenblatt granted the singer-guitarist’s wish to first focus on a new LP of original material.
But the material that the guys from Warner Bros. heard wasn’t exactly what ended up on the final version of American Stars ’n Bars recorded between December 13th 1974 to April 4th 1977. In the run-up to releasing the album in the spring of 1977, Young changed course yet again, removing songs such as “Powderfinger,” “Captain Kennedy” and “Sedan Delivery” from the record.
In place of those tunes, he quickly recorded a batch of new songs with Crazy Horse in April at his ranch in La Honda, California. Young was in a country mood at the time, which showed on twangy, shuffling songs like “Hey Babe” and “Saddle Up the Palomino.” Adding some extra country flavor was Ben Keith with his pedal steel, as well as backing vocalists including Linda Ronstadt and Nicolette Larson. Ronstadt would later recall being tricked into delivering a more rustic performance.
“Neil and his band were in an old barn and it was set up like a live gig with a P.A. and vocal monitors,” she recalled, When the day was over, Ronstadt commented on how good the songs sounded and that she looked forward to recording them. “Neil took us out back of the barn and there was a remote recording truck that unbeknownst to us had been recording us all day. And Neil said we were done.”
But the five songs that came from those sessions only made up Side One of American Stars ’N Bars. For the second half of the album, Young decided to release some songs that had been kicking around a while. “Star of Bethlehem” featuring vocals from Emmy Lou Harris originated from the Harvest days, this was set for Homegrown, then Chrome Dreams, both of which went unreleased. “Homegrown,” obviously, dated from its namesake LP, while “Hold Back the Tears” (on Side One) and “Will to Love” could have seen release on Chrome Dreams. The same goes for the song Young mentioned as the impetus for releasing American Stars ’n Bars: In the first place the momentus “Like a Hurricane.” Songs from the April 1977 sessions are all in a country-styled vein.
This most epic of Neil Young’s recorded works had its origins in the summer of ’75, when the musician was recovering from throat surgery and couldn’t talk or sing. According to Jimmy McDonough’s biography, Shakey, the song’s key line was inspired by an attractive woman that Neil saw when he was drinking with his buddies: “You are like a hurricane / There’s calm in your eye.”
“As was our habit between bars, we had stopped at Skeggs Point scenic lookout on Skyline Boulevard up on the mountain to do a few lines of coke,” Young said , “I wrote ‘Hurricane’ right there. … Then when I got home, I played the chords on this old Univox Stringman mounted in an old ornate pump-organ body set up in the living room. I played that damn thing through the night. I finished the melody in five minutes, but I was so jacked I couldn’t stop playing.”
“Like a Hurricane” turned into a swirling, “Runaway”-referencing epic when Young recorded the song with Crazy Horse in November ’75. He took a different approach to another very long song, “Will to Love,” in which Young imagines himself as a salmon swimming upstream. The seven-minute track is a home recording of Neil playing acoustic guitar in front of his fireplace (which you can occasionally hear crackling). It’s a dreamy, meandering song – with overdubbed vibes and drums from also by Neil – which Young has never performed, because he doesn’t recall the intricacies of the vocal melodies. It remains a divisive song among fans and critics, although Young has said it “might be one of the best records I ever made.”
With its country-rock first side and its hodgepodge second side, American Stars ’n Bars came out on May 27th, 1977 – becoming Young’s eighth full-length studio LP. Actor – and Young pal – Dean Stockwell created the album cover, referencing the “Bars” portion of the record It features Connie Moskos, 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 of the tavern, seemingly on the verge of passing out. Compiled from recording sessions scattered over a 29-month period, it includes “Like a Hurricane,” one of Neil Young’s best-known songs
Fans seemed to like it about as much as any of Neil’s post-Harvest releases as the LP made a respectable showing on the charts in many countries, going silver in the U.K. and gold in the U.S. (just like the last three albums). Reviewers were kind, if restrained, in their appreciation of American Stars ’n Bars, mostly focusing on the power of “Like a Hurricane.” And when Decade finally appeared in the fall of 1977, “Like a Hurricane” joined the tracklist.
Side One,
“The Old Country Waltz” (recorded April 1977)
“Saddle Up the Palomino” (recorded April 1977
“Hey Babe” (recorded April 1977)
“Hold Back the Tears” (recorded April 1977)
“Bite the Bullet” (recorded April 1977)
Side Two
“Star of Bethlehem” (recorded November 1974)
“Will to Love” (recorded May 1976)
“Like a Hurricane“ (recorded November 1975)
“Homegrown” (recorded November 1975)
Band
- Neil Young — vocals, guitars; harmonica on “Star of Bethlehem”; glockenspiel, keyboard, piano, vibes, drums on “Will to Love”
- Frank “Poncho” Sampedro — guitars all tracks except “Star of Bethlehem” and “Will to Love”; organ on “Like A Hurricane”; backing vocals on “Like A Hurricane” and “Homegrown”
- Ben Keith — pedal steel guitar on “The Old Country Waltz,” “Saddle Up the Palomino,” “Hey Babe,” “Hold Back the Tears,” and “Bite the Bullet”; Dobro, backing vocal on “Star of Bethlehem”
- Carole Mayedo — violin on “The Old Country Waltz,” “Saddle Up the Palomino,” “Hey Babe,” “Hold Back the Tears,” and “Bite the Bullet”
- Billy Talbot — bass all tracks except “Star of Bethlehem” and “Will to Love”
- Tim Drummond — bass on “Star of Bethlehem”
- Ralph Molina — drums all tracks except “Star of Bethlehem” and “Will to Love”; backing vocal on “Like A Hurricane” and “Homegrown”
- Karl T. Himmel — drums on “Star of Bethlehem”
- Linda Ronstadt, Nicolette Larson — backing vocals on “The Old Country Waltz,” “Saddle Up the Palomino,” “Hey Babe,” “Hold Back the Tears,” and “Bite the Bullet”
- Emmylou Harris — harmony vocal on “Star of Bethlehem”
Thanks to Ultimateclassicrock.
