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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
Released	June 5, 2012
Recorded	October 10–12 & November 4–5, 2011
Genre	Rock hard rock country rock folk rock Americana
Length	56:50
Label	Reprise
Producer	Neil 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
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
Robert Christgau	A[5]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[6]
The Guardian	[7]
NME	5/10[8]
The Observer	[9]
Pitchfork	6.1/10[10]
Rolling Stone	[11]
Slant Magazine	[12]
Spin	7/10[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

Personnel

• Neil Young – vocals, guitar

Crazy Horse

• Billy Talbot – bass, vocals
• Ralph Molina – drums, vocals
• Frank "Poncho" Sampedro – guitar, vocals

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: Gary Burden
• Director: Bernard Shakey
• Producer: 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
Australian Albums (ARIA)[20]	34
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[21]	14
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[22]	7
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[23]	23
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[24]	2
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[25]	17
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[26]	15
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[27]	19
French Albums (SNEP)[28]	27
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[29]	12
Irish Albums (IRMA)[30]	4
Italian Albums (FIMI)[31]	32
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[32]	26
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[33]	11
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[34]	14
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[35]	11
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[36]	17
UK Albums (OCC)[37]	16
US Billboard 200[38]	4
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[39]	1

Year-end charts

Chart (2012)	Position
Canadian Albums Chart[40]	42
US Billboard 200[40]	182
US Rock Albums Chart[40]	52

References

External links

• Americana at AnyDecentMusic?

На других языках

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- [en] Americana (Neil Young & Crazy Horse album)

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[es] Americana (álbum de Neil Young)

Americana es el trigesimocuarto álbum de estudio del músico canadiense Neil Young, grabado con la banda Crazy Horse y publicado por Reprise Records el 5 de junio de 2012.[5]

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[ru] Americana (альбом Нила Янга и Crazy Horse)

Americana — тридцать третий студийный альбом канадского автора-исполнителя Нила Янга (девятый совместно с Crazy Horse), изданный в 2012 году. Первый новый альбом Янга и Crazy Horse после Greendale 2003 года.[1]

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