Broken Arrow is the twenty-fourth studio album by Canadian-American musician Neil Young, and his eighth with Crazy Horse, released in 1996.
Background and recording The sessions for the album were held at Young's ranch in Northern California in the spring of 1996. The sessions were Young's first without producer David Briggs, who had died of lung cancer the previous year. The group struggled to record a new album without the guidance and leadership of Briggs. For inspiration, they booked a series of gigs at local clubs prior to the sessions. The final track is a live version of a Jimmy Reed song that was recorded on an audience microphone at one such small "secret" gig in California, giving it a bootleg feel. The first three songs are in the form of long, structured jams. In Shakey, Young describes the album as "vulnerable and unfinished. I wanted to get one under my belt without David."Mcdonough, Jimmy. 2003. Shakey: Neil Young's Biography. New York: Anchor Books.
Songs "Changing Highways" dates from 1974, and was first recorded by the group that year at Chess Records in Chicago. The session had been their first as a reconstituted group with Poncho Sampedro. The idea of recording the song in 1996 came from Sampedro, who wanted to make another attempt at the song after feeling like he had not taken the first attempt seriously enough. In a 2021 interview, he remembered meeting Young and jamming with the other musicians in the band without realizing they were rehearsing for a session the following day, and then reintroducing the song to Young two decades later:
Young's association with "Baby What You Want Me to Do" dates from his earliest days singing in a music group, The Squires, as a teenager. He remembers his early fondness for Jimmy Reed in his memoir, Super Deluxe:
Release A bonus track, "Interstate", was included on the vinyl record release of the album and the CD single of "Big Time", and is an outtake from the 1990 Ragged Glory sessions. Although he would make Looking Forward with Crosby, Stills & Nash released in 1999, this record would be the last studio album by Neil Young for four years and the last in a string of rock albums broken only by Harvest Moon.
Track listing All tracks by Neil Young, except where noted.
Personnel Neil Young – vocals, guitars, piano, harmonica, production, mixing
Crazy Horse Ralph Molina – drums, percussion, backing vocals Frank "Poncho" Sampedro – electric guitar, backing vocals Billy Talbot – bass guitar, tambourine, backing vocals
Additional roles Gary Burden, Jesse Burden – art direction & design Jenice Heo – computer design Larry Cragg – photography Elliot Roberts – direction Greg Archilla – recording (1–7), mixing John Hausmann – recording assistance (1–7) Tim Mulligan – recording (8)
Charts + Chart performance for Broken Arrow Chart (1996) Peakposition
Notes
References