It starts out promisingly enough. Side one has some castoffs from the mid-’70s thrown together in a way that fits. “Little Wing” is not the Hendrix tune, but a pretty and light two-chord trifle from the Homegrown era, as was “The Old Homestead”, a spooky saga with great lyrics and scary accompaniment. (It’s even got a guy playing a saw!) While “Thrasher” was supposedly about CSNY, this has a character asking why he rides “that crazy horse”. “Lost In Space” is a cute little experiment, with a non-linear structure, impenetrable words and a Munchkin chorus. “Captain Kennedy” was left over from three different unreleased albums, very reminiscent of “New Mama” but somewhat less personal, and certainly more mysterious. (We wouldn’t find out until after the release of the third Archives box that the last three tracks on side one were all originally part of Oceanside Countryside.)
That’s a nice enough start, but then we get the generic soundalike country on side two. “Stayin’ Power” is the best, and “Coastline” has some charm, but it’s all downhill from here. “Union Man” is funny the first time through but never again, and the flag-waving of “Comin’ Apart At Every Nail” and the title track would turn up again in his Farm Aid phase. If anything, the sequence elevates the quality of side one of Stars ‘N Bars in hindsight.
Even with the crazy solo experiments of the first side, the sum of Hawks & Doves equals less than the parts. And it’s only half an hour long in total to boot. Pointedly, it was out of print for several years—as one of the infamous “Missing 6”—before finally arriving on CD in 2003, overshadowed by On The Beach.
Neil Young Hawks & Doves (1980)—2½
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