Hawks & Doves [Enhanced, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered]

Neil Young | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 19, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Reprise Records
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• ASIN: B00009P1O3
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #56,075 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

2003 remastered reissue of 1980 album. This controversial acoustic album initially peaked at #30. Nine tracks. Reprise.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Peaceful Young, October 30, 2003

By 

Thomas Magnum (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Hawks & Doves (Audio CD)

1980's Hawks & Doves is one of Neil Young's most underrated albums. The follow-up release to Rust Never Sleeps, the album moves away from the power chords to an acoustic base. The album clocks in at less than a half an hour with most of the nine songs at under three minutes. The original album was broken up into two sides, the first side acoustic and the second side with a full country band. "The Old Homestead" is a rambling track with some of the most mysterious lyrics of Mr. Young's career. It's tough to get a sense of where he's going with the song, but it is intriguing none-the-less. "Lost In Space" is the a truly bizarre track complete with vocals from the marine munchkins. "Captain Kennedy" is a the stand-out track on the album. A dark and foreboding song about a young soldier heading to war. While he's on the water approaching shore he remembers his father who was shamed in battle by having the wooden schooner he captained blown up by the Germans. As he's done remembering his father he hopes his fates are different when reaches the shore and he hopes he can kill good. The song is one of Mr. Young's all-time best. The songs with the country band are filled with fiddles and hooting and hollering like a real hoe-down. "Union Man" is funny and the best of the bunch. Hawks & Doves was generally spurned by critics and the public, but it is a fine example of how Neil Young marches to the beat of his own drummer and isn't afraid to follow wherever his muse takes him.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Comes a time for this one, too., June 21, 2004

By 

Don Schmittdiel "running_man" (Clinton Twp., MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hawks & Doves (Audio CD)

This is a much-overlooked Neil Young classic. Released two years after his triumphant 'Rust Never Sleeps' trilogy of album, film and 'Live Rust' anthology, 'Hawks and Doves' returned to the pre-'Rust Never Sleeps' sounds of 'Comes a Time'. Although the CD closes with a number titled 'Hawks and Doves', it is clear that the title is also an apt description of the aural content of the complete work.

Originally released on vinyl in 1980, side one is the 'Doves' side. It features some lovely acoustic music, especially tracks one and three. 'Little Wing' (not the Jimi Hendrix composition) and 'Lost In Space' occupy a light, airy, stream-of-consciousness perch that few artists ascend to. The longest track on the disc, 'The Old Homestead', is actually a mid-1970's Neil composition. It runs almost eight minutes in length, and contains a great deal of difficult-to-make-sense-of imagery, such as "Just then the sound of hoofbeats was heard, and the sky was darkened by a prehistoric bird, who flew between the unfulfilled moon, and the naked rider to a telephone booth". Like abstract art, you could spend more than a few hours drawing meaning from this one. The closer on side one is 'Captain Kennedy'. I'm not anything near to being an expert in musical structure, but this song sure sounds like a knock-off of The Blind Fiddler, a traditional folk tune used by Stephen Stills on his 1991 'Stills Alone' CD. It's a fine melody and Neil's lyrics are interesting, but I wonder how conscious the similarity is.

While side one sticks with the soft acoustics of Neil's voice and guitar, side two is a country-rock patriotic party... the 'Hawks' side. Interestingly, this album accompanied one of the most desperate times in our nation's history in terms of self-confidence and economic prosperity. Neil gives the nation all it needs with optimistic, upbeat songs such as 'Stayin' Power' ("We got stayin' power, you and I, stayin' power through thick and thin"), 'Coastline' ("we don't back down from no trouble"), 'Union Man' ("I'm proud to be a union man"), 'Comin' Apart at Every Nail' ("Oh this country sure looks good to me"), and 'Hawks and Doves' ("Ready to go, willing to stay and pay, U.S.A., U.S.A."). It's one great album side, with Neil churning and turning up the electric guitar another notch with each song, and the fiddle that just says "down home America" will fetch a smile to your face as it explodes in each song.

Hillary O'Brien deserves special mention for providing exquisite backing vocals on side two of the vinyl version of this album. She plays the Nicolette Larson role from 'Comes a Time' for this memorable set. Also of note is Levon Helm's drums on 'The Old Homestead'.

I'm rating this a four primarily due to the severely limited length of the album. It comes in at under thirty minutes, and eight minutes are devoted to the weakest track on the album. 'Little Wing', 'Stayin' Power', and 'Union Man' barely crack two minutes, so this one is over before you know it. The songs are vintage though, and the liner notes include the lyrics.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Provocative, underrated, and FINALLY RELEASED!!!!, September 18, 2003

By 

ewomack "ewomack" (MN USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Hawks & Doves (Audio CD)

It's wonderful that these Neil Young albums are reappearing after years in the vaults. My turntable fizzled more than 10 years ago, and so it has been at least that long since I've heard "Hawks & Doves". Similar to "On the Beach", it's a little disorientating experiencing these albums on CD. LP sides had this way of creating separate worlds and shocking transitions weren't quite so shocking when you had to flip the vinyl disk. This lp worked great on vinyl (and it works great on CD, too): the first 4 songs (the more mellow acoustic numbers) were labeled the "Hawk Side" and the harder songs were on the "Dove Side" (I may have those reversed, it's been a long time). So, conceptually the CD loses out a bit, because the two "sides" run smack into one another. Regardless, it's great to have this album back.

The first 4 songs, as mentioned, are acoustic and tend towards mellow Neil. A long harmonica blast that sucks you in opens the album and releases you into the acoustic setting of "Little Wing". The mood doesn't change (except for some interesting mood swings during "Lost in Space") until "Staying Power". Then the electric set and the rock drums come out. From this point on the album is filled with the sort of sloppy danceable country rock that Neil Young is famous for. The songs are not among his absolute best, but Neil Young fans will likely revel in the mood. In a way this album is really two separate albums fused together, which is why it worked slightly better on two-sided vinyl (but don't even try to take away my CD copy!!!!).

"Hawks & Doves" is a great song musically. The lyrics, and the question of how to interpret them, have probably kept this song obscure. It's often taken to be a celebration of Reaganism or Republicanism, but it can easily be read other ways. The opening lines "Ain't getting old, ain't younger though / Just getting used to the lay of the land / I ain't tongue tied, just don't got nothin' to say / I'm proud to be livin' in the USA". It's hard to nail down a definite interpretation of this: is the song supposed to be sung by a character who isn't very insightful? It's possible. Other lines make it harder to know what's going on: "The big wind blows, so the tall grass bends / But for you don't push too hard my friend". This reads more like a metaphor for "don't rock the boat". Also, the chorus reads: "Ready to go, willin' to stay and pay / USA / USA / So my sweet love can dance another free day / USA / USA". Is she dancing alone? Is the "main character" dead or gone? Did he "stay and pay" so now his wife is alone? There's a lot of ways to read this stuff. Lastly, the line "If you hate us, you just don't know what you're sayin'" could very well be tongue in cheek. Neil Young has done tongue in cheek before, so why not here? Regardless of how you read the lyrics, it's still a great and underrated Neil Young song. Put it on and dance.

This album also stands as a sort of companion piece to "Time Fades Away" (when is THAT ONE COMING OUT!!!?!? THAT'S ONE OF HIS BEST!!!) in that both "Hawks And Doves" and "Time Fades Away" were idiosyncratic albums that followed big successes ("Rust Never Sleeps" and "Harvest", respectively). It's one of the reasons Neil Young is an interesting entertainer: you can't always predict what will come next, and success for Neil has never been in excess. It's underrated and less popular albums like "Hawks And Doves" and "Time Fades Away" (RELEASE IT!!) that have kept Neil going for so long.