Neil Young Zuma released

Zuma Neil Young

Released: November 10, 1975 Peak: 25 US, 44 UK, 69 CN, 44 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 0.50 US, 0.06 UK, 1.50 world (includes US + UK), 2.45 EAS Genre: classic rock

Tracks: Don’t Cry No Tears [2:34] Danger Bird [6:54] Pardon My Heart [3:49] Lookin’ for a Love [3:17] (single, 1975) Barstool Blues [3:02] Stupid Girl [3:13] (single, 1976) Drive Back [3:32] Cortez the Killer [7:29] Through My Sails [2:41] All songs written by Neil Young. Total Running Time: 36:34 The Players: Neil Young (vocals, guitar, piano) Fran Sampedro (rhythm guitar) Billy Talbot (bass) Ralph Molina (drums)

Rating: 4.548 out of 5.00 (average of 23 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album Online music critic Joe S. Harrington says, “This is Neil’s best album,” JSH adding that it features “his most bone-twisting guitar playing and singing.” JSH “There’s very little that’s laidback about Zuma with its song-after-song about bummer-after-bummer… and the slow bluesy stomp that makes up its apocalo-cryptic texture.” JSH It “is more or less a continuation” JSH of the “theme of junkie desolation” JSH on Tonight’s the Night “with an even heavier dose of guitar raunch.” JSH Interestingly, AllMusic.com’s William Ruhlmann asserts that “Young returned to his commercial strengths with Zuma” AM after “having apparently exorcised his demons by releasing the cathartic Tonight’s the Night.” AM These “were some of the most melodic, pop-oriented tunes Young had crafted in years, though they were played with an electric-guitar-drenched rock intensity.” AM “The overall theme concerned romantic conflict.” AM The album marks the return of Young’s backing band Crazy Horse, with Frank Sampedro replacing the late Danny Whitten. “Young had abandoned the ragged, first-take approach of his previous three albums, but Crazy Horse would never be a polished act, and the music had a lively sound well-suited to the songs.” AM The album also saw a mini-CSNY reunion with Through My Sails, which came from the supergroup’s attempt to record a follow-up to Déjà Vu. Pardon My Heart is “an acoustic song that would have fit on Harvest, his most popular album.” AM It “is truly transcendent and not a bit dull.” JSH It is an example of his “lyrics that lamented lost love and sometimes longed for a return.” AM However, “in such catchy songs as Don’t Cry No Tears and Lookin’ for a Love [the message] was to move on to the next relationship.” AM “Stupid Girl is Neil at his meanest, at least since ‘Ambulance Blues.’ And in Barstool Blues, a track that may well be his best, his voice cracks in the same frequency as his guitar.” JSH “But the album’s standout track (apparently the only holdover from an early intention to present songs with historical subjects) was the seven-and-a-half-minute epic Cortez the Killer, a commentary on the Spanish conqueror of Latin America that served as a platform for Young’s most extensive guitar soloing since his work on Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.” AM

Resources/References: AM AllMusic.com review by William Ruhlmann JSH Blastitude (2003). “A Loaded Proposition: Joe S. Harrington Picks the All-Time Top 100 Or…Who Pulled the Trigger?” by Joe S. Harrington Related DMDB Pages: First posted 4/8/2008; last updated 9/8/2026.