Americana (Neil Young & Crazy Horse album)

Americana is the 31st studio album by Canadian / American musician Neil Young, released on June 5, 2012.[1] The album was Young's first collaboration with backing band Crazy Horse since their 2003 album, Greendale, and its associated tour.[2]

Americana
Studio album by
Neil Young and Crazy Horse
ReleasedJune 5, 2012
RecordedOctober 10-12 & November 4-5, 2011
GenreRock, hard rock, country rock, folk rock, Americana
Length56:50
LabelReprise
ProducerNeil Young, John Hanlon, Mark Humphreys
Neil Young chronology
A Treasure
(2011)		 Americana
(2012)		 Psychedelic Pill
(2012)
Crazy Horse chronology
Live at the Fillmore East
(2006)		 Americana
(2012)		 Psychedelic Pill
(2012)

Background

American Songwriter quoted Young as saying this about the tone and intent of the album:

Every one of these songs [on Americana] has verses that have been ignored. And those are the key verses, those are the things that make these songs live. They're a little heavy for kindergarteners to be singing. The originals are much darker, there's more protest in them — the other verses in "This Land Is Your Land" are very timely, or in "Clementine," the verses are so dark. Almost every one has to do with people getting killed, with life-or-death struggles. You don't hear much about that; they've been made into something much more light. So I moved them away from that gentler interpretation. With new melodies and arrangements, we could use the folk process to invoke the original meanings for this generation."[3]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
Robert ChristgauA[5]
Entertainment WeeklyA–[6]
The Guardian[7]
NME5/10[8]
The Observer[9]
Pitchfork Media6.1/10[10]
Rolling Stone[11]
Slant Magazine[12]
Spin7/10[13]

Americana received strongly polarized reviews from music critics. It holds an average score of 68 out of 100 at Metacritic, based on 31 reviews.[14] Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune gave the album three-and-a-half out of four stars, writing that "Americana reveals the hard truth inside songs that have been taken for granted."[15] Dan Forte, in Vintage Guitar, said "this may be his best since Rust [Never Sleeps]."[16] Johnny Dee in his review for the magazine Classic Rock remarks how "Young has picked every song apart, reworked melody and lyrics and made them his own", making them better for it.[17]

In a mixed review, Michael Hann of The Guardian found the album "impossibly pointless" and felt that some songs exhibit "sloppiness" and "unnecessary lengths".[7] NME reviewer considers the album "largely comprised of sub-standard covers of folk songs."[8]

Robert Christgau named Americana the best album of 2012 in his year-end list for The Barnes & Noble Review[18], and cited it as one of his top 25 albums of the 2010s decade.[19]

Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Oh Susannah"Stephen Collins Foster; arrangement: Tim Rose5:03
2."Clementine"Traditional; arrangement: Young5:42
3."Tom Dula"Traditional; arrangement: Young8:13
4."Gallows Pole"Traditional; arrangement: Odetta Felious Gordon4:15
5."Get a Job"Richard Lows, Earl Beal, Raymond Edwards, William Horton3:01
6."Travel On"Traditional; arrangement: Paul Clayton, Larry Ehrlich, David Lazar, Tom Six6:47
7."High Flyin' Bird"Billy Edd Wheeler5:30
8."Jesus' Chariot (She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain)"Traditional; arrangement: Young5:38
9."This Land Is Your Land"Woody Guthrie5:26
10."Wayfarin’ Stranger"Traditional; arrangement: Burl Ives3:07
11."God Save the Queen"Thomas Augustine Arne; medley arrangement: Young4:08

Personnel
Crazy Horse
Additional personnel
  • Dan Greco – orchestral cymbals, tambourine
  • Americana Choir – vocals
  • Pegi Young – vocals on "This Land is Your Land"
  • Stephen Stills – vocals on "This Land is Your Land"

Audio Production
  • Produced by Neil Young and John Hanlon with Mark Humphreys
  • Recorded and Mixed by John Hanlon
  • Engineered by John Hanlon with John Hausmann and Jeff Pinn
  • Recorded at Audio Casa Blanca
  • Mixed at Redwood Digital’s Analog Mixing Room
  • Digital Mastering to 24-bit/192 kHz by Tim Mulligan at Redwood Digital. Analog to Digital Transfers by John Nowland at His Master’s Wheels
  • Choir recorded at East West Studios, L.A.
  • East West Engineers assisting John Hanlon and John Hausmann: Jeremy Miller, Ben O'Neill
  • Choir Director: Darrell Brown
  • Choir Arrangements: Neil Young and Darrell Brown
  • Copiest: Lennie Moore
  • Choir Conductor: Tim Davis
  • Choir: Zander Ayeroff, Lydia Bachman, Emmeline Lehmann Boddicker, Vilem Lehmann Boddicker, Joshua Britt, Mariah Britt, Willa Griffin, Nicholas Harper, Ryan Lisack, Rowen Merrill, Zoe Merrill, Megan Muchow, Nolan Muchow, Rennon O'Neal, Daniel O'Brien, Kiana Scott
  • Direction: Elliot Roberts for Lookout Management

Blu-ray Production
  • Original concept by: Gary Burden
  • Directed by: Bernard Shakey
  • Produced by: Will Mitchell
  • Executive Producer: Elliot Rabinowitz
  • Post Production at Upstream Multimedia
  • Art Direction: Toshi Onuki
  • Editors: Mark Faulkner, Will Mitchell, Atticus Culver-Rease

Americana Choir video

  • Produced and Directed by Shakey Pictures
  • Camera: Benjamin Johnson
  • Editor: Mark Faulkner
  • Americana film research: Gary Burden, Cameron Kunz, Will Mitchell, Sarah Yee
  • Blu-ray authoring, programming at MX San Francisco, CA

Charts

Weekly charts
Chart (2012) Peak
position
Canadian Albums Chart[20] 2
U.S. Billboard 200 4
U.S. Billboard Top Rock Albums 1

Year-end charts
Chart (2012) Position
Canadian Albums Chart 42[21]
US Billboard 200 182[21]
US Rock Albums Chart 52[21]

References
  1. Andy Greene (19 March 2012). "Neil Young And Crazy Horse to Release New Album 'Americana' on June 5th". Rollingstone.com. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
  2. Tomas Franta (23 January 2012). "Neil Young se na novém albu znovu spojí s Crazy Horse". Rockandpop.cz. Archived from the original on 2013-01-09. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
  3. "Great Quotations: Neil Young". Great Quotations: Neil Young. American Songwriter. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  4. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Americana – Review". Allmusic. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
  5. Christgau, Robert. "Neil Young With Crazy Horse/Rhett Miller". Expert Witness. Archived from the original on 23 June 2012. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
  6. Anderson, Kyle (June 15, 2012). "Americana review - Neil Young & Crazy Horse Review". Entertainment Weekly. No. 1211. New York. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  7. Michael Hann (31 May 2012). "Neil Young: Americana - review". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  8. Howard, Tom (June 1, 2012). "Neil Young & Crazy Horse - 'Americana'". NME. London. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  9. Woodcraft, Molloy (June 2, 2012). "Neil Young and Crazy Horse: Americana – review". The Observer. London. The New Review section, p. 30. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  10. Berman, Stuart (June 1, 2012). "Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Americana". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  11. Rob Sheffield (2012-07-05). "Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Americana, Reprise". Rollingstone.com. Retrieved 2012-07-19.
  12. Cataldo, Jesse (June 3, 2012). "Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Americana". Slant Magazine. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  13. Bevan, David (June 7, 2012). "Neil Young & Crazy Horse, 'Americana' (Reprise)". Spin. New York. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  14. "Americana by Neil Young & Crazy Horse Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  15. Kot, Michael. "Album review: Neil Young and Crazy Horse, 'Americana'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
  16. Forte, Dan (September 2012). "Rev. of Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Americana". Vintage Guitar. p. 120.
  17. Dee, Johnny (July 2012). "Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Americana". Classic Rock. No. 172. p. 100.
  18. Christgau, Robert (January 14, 2013). "The Dean's List 2012". The Barnes & Noble Review. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  19. Christgau, Robert (December 20, 2019). "Dean's List: The 2010s". Robert Christgau: And It Don't Stop. Archived from the original on December 20, 2019. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
  20. Canoe inc. (2012-06-20). "CANOE - JAM! Rush: Rush's 'Angels' flies up the charts". Jam.canoe.ca. Archived from the original on 2012-12-08. Retrieved 2015-06-04.
  21. "Listings". Archived from the original on March 13, 2013. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
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