Personnel: Neil Young (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars); Frank Sampredo (acoustic & electric guitars, synthesizer); Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Nicolette Larson (background vocals). Ben Keith (steel guitar, dobro, background vocals); Carole Mayedo (violin); Billy Talbot (bass, background vocals); Tim Drummond (bass); Ralph Molina (drums, background vocals); Karl T. Himmel (drums).

Producers: Neil Young, David Briggs, Tim Mulligan, Elliot Mazer.

All tracks have been digitally remastered using HDCD technology.

Remastered Japanese edition.

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 the 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." Side one consisted of more lightweight compositions, while side two had more ambitious ones, with "Will to Love," for example, extending the romantic metaphor of a salmon swimming upstream across seven minutes. The album's saving grace was "Like a Hurricane," one of Young's classic hard rock songs and guitar workouts, and a perennial concert favorite. ~ William Ruhlmann

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 the 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." Just as apparent was the album's unevenness: side one consisted of lightweight compositions, while side two had more ambitious ones, with "Will to Love," for example, extending the romantic metaphor of a salmon swimming upstream across seven minutes. The album's saving grace was "Like a Hurricane," one of Young's classic hard rock songs and guitar workouts, and a perennial concert favorite. Without it, American Stars 'n Bars would have been one of Young's least memorable albums, and since it turned up the following year on the compilation Decade, the LP was rendered inessential. ~ William Ruhlmann

Released right after the career albums TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT and ZUMA and right before the big-selling COMES A TIME and RUST NEVER SLEEPS, this country-rocky 1977 album is often forgotten. But it introduced the sensational "Like A Hurricane," which has remained a staple of Young's concerts, and such quirky favorites as "Homegrown," an ode to marijuana, and "Old Country Waltz," which is exactly what it says it is. As Neil Young's legendary 1970s albums go, it might be a bit of a tossed-off affair, but most country-rockers can only dream of making one album this good.

Spin (12/03, p.125) - "...It's got 'Like a Hurricane,' one of rock's great guitar-wank epics..."

Q (4/02, p.142) - "...Weirdly sex-obsessed country tracks, taped at rehearsals without telling fellow vocalist Linda Ronstadt..."

Musician (5/94, p.68) - "...AMERICAN STARS 'N' BARS (1977) found Young and Crazy Horse cranking out their most primitive garage rock with a honky-tonk edge..."