Disclaimer: Those looking for a brief description of the album will find what their looking for in the "Review Body" section. The section titled "Track Reviews" is meant only for those who want to read detailed descriptions of the songs, and they do not constitute the essence of this review. Lastly and most importantly, this review is not written in the point of view of a Neil Young fan.)

Overall Score: 3/5
Best song: “Scattered”
Worst song: “Baby What You Want Me To Do”

Review Body:

Boring! Sorry to be so bluntly dismissive like that, but how the hell else am I going to describe Neil Young's Broken Arrow? I'm sure that any big fan of this album would tell me that I haven't listened to it enough, and thus I haven't given the album a proper chance to sink in. That could very well be the case. But, alas, I am a mere mortal. Based on the four very close listens that I gave this album, I don't project that I'll become a major fan of it anytime soon. I'm open for it to grow on me, but it seems too much like you'd have to be really into Neil Young to appreciate this. That's not to say this is a terrible record. Just like most of his albums are, it's nothing if it isn't 100 percent respectable.

Crazy Horse is back, they're still very much in grunge-mode. But all of these songs are very slowwwwwwwwwww particularly when Young sings as though he's ready to fall asleep, which makes the songs seem even slower. That's an interesting idea, I suppose; if anyone is going to write an album full of sleepy songs, then it's going to be Neil Young. He sort of sounds like he's falling asleep anyway!

There are some mightily decent moments in here, though, particularly “Scattered” with its sloppy riff and engaging vocal melody. But even then, the pacing is slow and plodding. So I can claim to even get a little bit bored with my favorite song of the album. Whoah boy! Another highlight is the three-minute, bouncy country tune, “Changing Highways.” It's a quite strange, bouncy country-western song. It's hardly fascinating songwriting, but it's also the only 'happy' song in this overall bleak and depressing album. So, I appreciate it!

The album's biggest songs happen to be VERY big, spanning more than seven minutes. So, this gives even the hardiest Neil Young fans to test the limits of their attention spans! The trick to enjoying a song like the seven-minute “Big Time,” which plods along at a never-changing mood, is to allow the groove to hypnotize you. I can't really tell if Young was playing the same thing over and over and over on purpose, or he was just being lazy. (If it was done on purpose, then I guess you can call it a sort of grungified version of Philip Glass!) Unfortunately, I can't claim that it puts me enough in a trance for me to love it, but I can at least appreciate all of the guitar noodling, which Young hardly skimps out on.

The one song where you'll really be put to the test is “Loose Change.” For 10 minutes, it epeats the same freaking groove without end. Does it take you up in its trance, or do you get deathly bored through it? For me, listening to him sing that song is a little bit like listening to a kid song that annoying song from Lambchops that never ends. The good news is that Neil Young is not a child, so you don't have to feel bad for screaming “Shadddddaaaaaaapppp!” directly in his ear! On the other hand, the eight-minute “Slip Away” has a soaring melody that interests me as well as an OK riff. Still, I really wish that it would hypnotize me more. ...I also wish I could swing around on skyscrapers like Spider-Man!

The final track is eight minutes long, and that's the only point in this album that I can't seem to respect very much. It's a live cover of “Baby Do What You Want Me To Do,” and it sounds like it was recorded in the back of a nightclub. You can hear the audience talk, whistle and cheer much more clearly than you can hear Young's voice. I can't be too sure what the point of that was, and I suspect that there wasn't one. It was just something weird (and lazy) to do. Also, like everything else on this album, it is done at an extremely slow-moving pace, which confirms my beliefs that this album is boring.

By now, I think I adequately summed up my assessment that Broken Arrow is dull to my ears, and it will only appeal to hardcore Neil Young types who are fascinated with these slow-moving songs. As a mere casual fan, I can say that this is either one of Young's worst albums or it just went completely over my head. At this point, I can't really tell. Though I suspect the former, since it sounds an awful lot like he was half-assing it. At any rate, I'm somewhat confident that my sentiments toward this album is likely to be shared with any other casual Young fan. So, only listen to Broken Arrow if albums like Ragged Glory, Weld and Mirror Ball didn't drive you mad. And I'm not talking about the highlights of those albums, either.

Track Reviews:

Big Time B
Hi there! Welcome to a new Neil Young album. I hope you like his slowwwwwwwwwwly paced songs, because this is slooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. And it's more than seven minutes long, so you'll be listening to it for awhile. As you'd probably expect, Neil fills it to the brim with all his grungy electric guitar noodles. Cherish those noodles, my son, because those are the best thing that this song has to offer. The melody, while OK, doesn't interest me at all. And the band pretty much just plays this same groove and the same mood the whole time. It would have been nice if they would have let the song evolve a little bit instead of just keeping the same old, boring pace. But whatever. This is Neil. He's old and cranky, so we should let him do whatever he wants. He's not gonna listen to me anyhow........... that is, if it was possible to send this review into the past. (The Internet is an amazing thing, you know, so it could be possible. If you're some sort of genius nerd from 1997, please pass this review onto Neil posthaste.)

Loose Change B
I wonder if there's a Neil Young fan out there who would send me an e-mail telling me exactly what they like about listening to the same groove play for 10 minutes in a song that never changes its overall mood. Neil Young comes along with a lot of noodles and changes the texture around slightly, but all in all, this is the same old pounding riff that gets repeated over and over and over... I know, he is well known for doing this, but this time, this riff is a bit dumb. So, it doesn't quite get me in that hypnotic state that songs like this need to get me in. Give Young all the credit you want for his guitar noodles. They're good, of course. A little bit Philip-Glass-esque at times, which I don't object to. Again, a more interesting riff would have helped matters.

Slip Away A-
This one actually seems to do something. There's something that I like about the groove this time, and how Neil's vocals seem to soar nicely over it. Again, I'm gonna complain about it taking forever and never doing anything to alter the mood thus making it more listenable to my ears... But I guess I'm just repeating myself. This time, however, I'm able to get into the hypnotic state that they were going for, and thus I am more prone to thinking that Neil's noodles are quite excellent.

Changing Highways B
Sort of weird and likable. By far the most “exciting” song of the album. But the only thing he did to achieve that was to give it a bouncy country-western rhythm. It was probably a good idea that he kept this under two minutes, because I think this would end up driving me maaaaaaaaaaad! It's quite a strange little song, though. I can't claim that the melody is that great or anything. It's still pretty depressing despite the “upbeat” rhythm.

Scattered A-
Again, a relatively short running length helps keep this one manageable, and Young actually finds an interesting riff to give us. Still, it's a bit slow moving for my taste, and all that guitar gets a bit cumbersome to me. (Obviously, electric guitar fans are going to think pretty highly of this.) At the same time, despite it all, it engages my interest fairly well throughout. Young's vocal melody is pretty good even though it feels like he was falling asleep. ...Man, he probably was. Quick! Someone give him some Jolt Cola!

This Town B
Kinda good... kinda not... Man, I can't stress this enough. These songs are slooooooooooooowwwwwwwww! At least he doesn't drag this one for 8 billion minutes. It was looking to be a double album there for awhile! Sometimes slow songs are fine, but this one just trudges along, never really doing anything interesting. The melody is fine, but hardly enough. And, I don't even get much out of that brief electric guitar solo. So, take that!

Music Arcade C+
I dunno... Neil is bringing out an acoustic guitar and practically whispering the lyrics. I guess I'm supposed to sit forward in my chair and believe that he is saying something terribly profound. ...But that strategy doesn't work on me. The lyrics are OK, but hardly the deal-maker. I just get bored to death of all this strumming and singing a strictly so-so melody. I know, I'm being rough, probably. But I'm borrrrrrrred!

Baby What You Want Me To Do C
I can't be sure what prompted him to bring in an eight-minute R&B song that sounds like it was recorded badly in a nightclub. You can make up some noble explanation for this if you want to, but to me, it seems awfully tacked-on. You can hardly hear Neil Young's vocals at all, but I don't really want to, because they're playing so slowwwwwwww. I can still pick out his guitar solos, which are grungy and wonderful of course, so at least this has that going for it. But altogether, this is just one whopping huge snoozefest.

Concluding Remarks:

Neil Young is getting boring in his old age. This is better than Dead Man, but only because it has drums.

Read more Neil Young reviews by Starcollector!

Neil Young (1969) | Everybody Knows This is Nowhere (1969) | After the Gold Rush (1970) | Harvest (1972) | On the Beach (1974) | Tonight's the Night (1975) | Zuma (1975) | American Stars 'N Bars (1977) | Comes a Time (1978) | Rust Never Sleeps (1979) | Live Rust (1979) | Hawks & Doves (1980) | Re-ac-tor (1981) | Trans (1982) | Everybody's Rockin' (1983) | Old Ways (1985) | Landing On Water (1986) | Life (1987) | This Note's For You (1988) | Freedom (1989) | Ragged Glory (1990) | Weld (1991) | Arc (1991) | Harvest Moon (1992) | Unplugged (1993) | Sleeps With Angels (1994) | Mirror Ball (1995) | Dead Man (1996) | Broken Arrow (1996) | Year of the Horse (1997) | Silver & Gold (2000) | Rock Road Vol. 1 (2000) | Are You Passionate? (2002) | Greendale (2003) | Prairie Wind (2005) | Living With War (2006) | Chrome Dreams II (2007) | Fork in the Road (2009) | Le Noise (2010)

Recommended: No