Neil Young's category has often been "painful-listening," but most of American Stars 'n Bars has the kind of easy-beat accessibility that could readily roll across this summer's Mellow Sounds radio. If nasty Neil sounds a trifle lobotomized compared to his dirges on Zuma and On The Beach, at least the relaxation shows up as gracefulness rather than torpor….

Following the simplistic, Buffalo-Springfieldy "Hey Babe" is this record's tour de force: "Hold Back The Tears." The song is Neil's answer to Karla Bonoff's kind of despair…. The feel is almost Norteño—mournful South Texas honkytonk—and the cut encapsulates the droning passion the whole side partakes of: "Two lyin' fools and four cryin' eyes … crazy love must surely have this pain."

Fred Schruers, "Tame James & Unreal Neil," in Crawdaddy (copyright © 1977 by Crawdaddy Publishing Co., Inc.; all rights reserved; reprinted by permission), August, 1977, p. 66.∗