Loose by Design: Neil Young’s “American Stars ‘n Bars” Still Rides on Its Best Tracks

Neil Young’s “American Stars ‘n Bars” arrives in 1977 as a mixture, not a plan. The nine tracks come from different sessions, and it shows. Young is not chasing one sound here — he offers many at once, plain country music beside a guitar piece that runs past eight minutes.

Side One: Early Tracks

The record opens on “The Old Country Waltz,” a plain, steady tune that sets the mood. “Saddle Up the Palomino” follows and earns its place — loose, amusing, well played. “Hey Babe” and “Hold Back the Tears” keep to the same manner without much surprise. “Bite the Bullet” closes out the run with more force but little that stays with the listener.

Side Two: The Turn

“Star of Bethlehem” is a quiet high point, a piece from earlier sessions that fits here better than expected. “Will to Love,” at 7:11, is a strange, wandering piece — part plain recording, part studio experiment — and it works because Young commits to the strange mood instead of cutting it down.

Then comes “Like a Hurricane.” At 8:21 it’s the longest track on the album, and it’s the reason people still speak of this record. The guitar playing is loud, layered, and full of force — Rolling Stone’s Paul Nelson called it playing of great and fierce power, and that judgment holds true. It’s the moment the record finally comes together.

“Homegrown” ends things on a short, plain note — 2:22, no fuss, a fitting close after the noise before it.

What the Songs Add Up To

Paul Nelson wrote that the album can almost be taken as a broad view, but not a final statement, of Young’s various styles. That is the clearest way to put it. Its first side is made up mostly of country songs, while its second side turns toward longer, freer playing. The change between sides bears this out.

Here is how the two sides compare:

The distance between the two sides tells the whole story of this record.

The Verdict

This is not a single, settled album. It is a group of strong ideas that never quite agree to work together. But when it succeeds — “Like a Hurricane,” “Will to Love,” “Star of Bethlehem” — it succeeds well enough to carry the weaker parts. “Saddle Up the Palomino” and “Homegrown” round it out with quieter wins.

Judged as a whole, “American Stars ‘n Bars” is loose by design and mixed in quality, but its best three or four tracks are essential Neil Young. That is enough to make it worth owning despite its rough joints.

1977 albums · album review · classic rock · country rock · Neil Young