-
10.0
42329
10.0 |
The Observer
That closing number God Save the Queen ends tellingly with My Country, 'Tis of Thee's line "Let freedom ring!" would suggest the record's release at the jubilee is mere happy coincidence…
Read Review
-
9.0
42493
9.0 |
PopMatters
Equal parts Nick Cave’s Murder Ballads and Bob Dylan’s World Gone Wrong, this is Neil Young’s blissful evocation of a past that nevertheless haunts him, haunts us still. Americana, indeed
Read Review
-
8.8
42546
8.8 |
Paste Magazine
Two worlds collide, then songs long forgotten get a shocking jolt of groove, jab, undulation and—yes—reverb
Read Review
-
8.0
42286
8.0 |
The Irish Times
What they do with these songs, and others such as This Land Is Your Land (with all the rarely heard activist verses), makes this notable
Read Review
-
8.0
42308
8.0 |
Evening Standard
Most surprising is how relevant some of these songs still sound
Read Review
-
7.8
46263
7.8 |
The AU Review
Overall Americana is an entertaining record, which features some great interpretations of old classics
Read Review
-
7.5
42422
7.5 |
A.V. Club
Potent, corrosive, and sometimes frustratingly playful, Americana proves the old adage that great artists can sing the phone book—or just tear the fucker in half
Read Review
-
7.0
42441
7.0 |
Rolling Stone
There's an undeniable WTF factor in hearing these Cub Scout singalong ditties drowned in guitar feedback and off-key yelling. But that's the goofball charm
Read Review
-
7.0
42290
7.0 |
Uncut
The loosest group in rock reunite with Young for this dark, raw and thrilling slice of electric folk
Read Review
-
7.0
43203
7.0 |
Under The Radar
These compositions date as recently as the '50s and as far back as the 1800s, and Young transforms them, recapturing their power for a new age
Read Review
-
7.0
42611
7.0 |
Consequence Of Sound
Americana’s greatest achievement lies in how effortlessly these early American songs become Young’s own
Read Review
-
7.0
42623
7.0 |
Spin
Shakey and the Horse ride again, rumble through a set of folk standards like wild and crazy kids
Read Review
-
7.0
42934
7.0 |
No Ripcord
The sludgy sound and the reunion make for an ambitious album
Read Review
-
6.1
42284
6.1 |
Pitchfork
What you see is what you you get: old-timey tunes subjected to Crazy Horse's desecrating grungy grind. And given the over-familiarity and brevity of the source material, it's a novelty that wears itself out quickly
Read Review
-
6.0
42282
6.0 |
Q
American folk songs excavated - with a bulldozer. Print edition only
-
6.0
42283
6.0 |
The Guardian
It sounds great – there's space between all the instruments, with none of the compression that blights many albums today. It also feels almost impossibly pointless
Read Review
-
6.0
42354
6.0 |
Scotland on Sunday
Ever since he recorded Southern Man 40-odd years ago, the grizzled Canadian rock war horse has never been a favourite south of the Mason-Dixon Line, and his rousing reinvention of Oh Susannah is unlikely to mend those fences
Read Review
-
6.0
42941
6.0 |
Tone Deaf
A weaving history lesson, as taught by one of the great exponents of the art of songwriting, promises interpretations of interest but falls well short of anything great
Read Review
-
6.0
42542
6.0 |
Blurt
Fire up the electric guitars, pound those drums, and swirl in the no-one-but-Neil-Young voice and you have rock versions of classic folks songs
Read Review
-
6.0
42845
6.0 |
Drowned In Sound
Given some of the misgivings many had about this record when the details were first announced, only two serious missteps is pretty good going
Read Review
-
5.0
43105
5.0 |
Rave Magazine
Not everything Young does needs to be a grand statement – lord knows he’s earned the right to that freedom – but Americana is stuck between worlds and doesn’t really belong in either
Read Review
-
5.0
42389
5.0 |
NME
It's nowhere near Johnny Cash/Rick Rubin standards
Read Review
-
4.0
42373
4.0 |
The Arts Desk
Even the novelty of hearing Young singing 'God Save the Queen' doesn't make the tune any more interesting
Read Review
-
4.0
42348
4.0 |
Slant Magazine
Because it inflates rather than modulates, Americana's approach is entirely wrongheaded; a six-minute, guitar solo-scarred version of "Coming Round the Mountain" is about as painfully baffling as it sounds
Read Review
-
4.0
42352
4.0 |
The Scotsman
Fans of Young’s burnished but indulgent guitar style may be able to salvage something from the lumpen, ragged results, recorded with all the finesse of a muddy demo
Read Review
-
4.0
42281
4.0 |
BBC
Although Americana doesn't quite plumb the depths of, say, Everybody's Rockin' or Re-ac-tor, it's almost certainly destined to be regarded as a footnote in his canon
Read Review
-
4.0
42323
4.0 |
The Independent
Though drab and overlong, it has a certain rugged, whiskery charm
Read Review
-
4.0
42327
4.0 |
Independent on Sunday
It is cursory, lumpen and dull
Read Review
-
4.0
42288
4.0 |
Mojo
It's curious that Americana packs songs that don't fit its brief. Print edition only
-
4.0
43467
4.0 |
State
It sounds like it was a lot of fun to make, even if it doesn’t bear repeated listenings. You probably had to be there
Read Review
-
4.0
48906
4.0 |
All Music
Crazy Horse do, as Young asserted they would, make these songs their own, but by doing so, they've made them so nobody else would ever want them
Read Review
-