“Broken Arrow” runs eight tracks and 47 minutes, and it wants to feel loose, live, unpolished — a band playing in a room, not chasing a single. Neil Young made it with Crazy Horse in 1996, not long after producer David Briggs died, and the record leans hard on long jams and guitar interplay instead of tight songcraft. That choice is the whole story here, for better and worse.
Track by Track
“Big Time” opens the album at 7:27 and sets the tone right away: a slow-burning riff, plenty of room for the guitars to stretch, and a groove that doesn’t hurry anywhere. It’s one of the record’s strongest cuts, patient rather than aimless.
“Loose Change” follows at 9:49, the longest track here, and it drifts more than it builds. “Slip Away,” at 8:36, pulls things back into focus — a moody, spacious song that earns its length, with Young’s guitar doing the emotional work the lyrics leave open.
“Changing Highways” is a quick turn at 2:23, barely a sketch next to what surrounds it. “Scattered (Let’s Think About Livin’)” runs 4:14 and feels like a breather, pleasant but minor.
“This Town” at 3:01 is short, direct, and one of the record’s best songs — a clear melody amid all the sprawl. “Music Arcade” follows at 4:01, quiet and stripped down, just Young and an acoustic guitar, and it lands as one of the album’s most affecting moments.
The record closes with “Baby What You Want Me to Do,” an 8:09 cover that turns into a loose, extended jam to send the album out. It’s shaggy by design, and it works as a closing statement even if it doesn’t resolve anything.
The Jam Problem
The trouble with “Broken Arrow” isn’t a lack of good songs — “Big Time,” “Slip Away,” “This Town,” “Music Arcade,” and “Baby What You Want Me to Do” all hold up. The trouble is what surrounds them. Tracks like “Loose Change” stretch past the point where the interplay says anything new, and the album never quite decides whether it’s a set of songs or a document of a band jamming through grief.
That tension is the whole point for some listeners and the whole flaw for others. AllMusic put it plainly:
There are some fine songs buried amid the long jams, but the album is directionless
No Depression went further, calling it a record that “lacks any real center of gravity.” Robert Christgau took a different angle, noting it “isn’t lost enough” and comparing it unfavorably to the “weird sense of quest” on “On the Beach.”
All three complaints point at the same thing: “Broken Arrow” doesn’t commit to a shape. It’s raw on purpose, loose on purpose, and that rawness reads as tribute — a band leaning into noise and space after losing someone who helped define their sound. But tribute isn’t the same as a great album, and the record’s best moments keep getting swallowed by its slowest ones.
Verdict
“Broken Arrow” has real songs worth returning to — “Big Time,” “Slip Away,” “This Town,” “Music Arcade,” “Baby What You Want Me to Do” — and none of them deserve the meandering company they keep. The album never finds the discipline to match its ambition, and the jams that were meant to feel raw and alive too often just feel unfinished. This is a record for people who already love Crazy Horse’s noise; it’s not the place to start with Neil Young.
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- Big Time7:27
- Loose Change9:49
- Slip Away8:36
- Changing Highways2:23
- Scattered (Let's Think About Livin')4:14
- This Town3:01
- Music Arcade4:01
- Baby What You Want Me to Do8:09
