Tag: Stephen Stills

Posted in Album Reviews

Buffalo Springfield – Buffalo Springfield Again (1967)

Posted on by Michael

One year after releasing their debut album, Buffalo Springfield released Buffalo Springfield Again in October 1967. The group was a songwriting embarrassment of riches with Neil Young, Stephen Stills, and Richie Furay all contributing songs. Furay’s credits include the folk rock sounds, and possible dig at Young, on “A Child’s Claim to Fame” and later, the horn driven soul of “Good Time Boy”, sung by drummer Dewey Martin.

Stills highlights include the great guitar riffing and harmonies with Furay on “Bluebird”. “Rock & Roll Woman” features expert bass playing by Bruce Palmer and the buzzing guitar of “Hung Upside Down”. Two Young songs bookend the sophomore album.  “Mr. Soul” is a gritty rock song with the wordplay of Bob Dylan but set to a harder beat.  “Broken Arrow” is like a Californian version of Sgt Pepper on an atmospheric track with dreamy lyrics that collide with sound collages and closes with what sounds like a heartbeat.

In between is the excellent “Expecting to Fly” that adds strings to the background with Young singing, “I tried so hard to stand/As I stumbled and fell to the ground… Babe, now you know I tried”.  This album by an astonishing group of musicians stands tall among the very best albums released in 1967.

9/10

Posted in Album Reviews

Joni Mitchell – Song To A Seagull (1968)

Posted on by Michael

By the time Joni Mitchell’s debut album came out in March of 1968, her songs had already been recorded by the likes of Judy Collins, Dave Van Ronk, and Fairport Convention. Produced by David Crosby, Song To A Seagull is mostly Joni with just her acoustic guitar. The albums starts with a highlight in “I Had a King” that looks back at the breakdown of her marriage to Chuck Mitchell, “I can’t go back there anymore/You know my keys won’t fit the door”.

The album is broken up into two sides, the first being “I Came to the City” and the second side being, “Out of the City and Down to the Seaside”.  On the first side, “Michael From the Mountains” can barely contain Mitchell hitting the high notes and “Night In The City” has swooping vocals in the chorus with the added bass playing of Stephen Stills to help uplift the tune.

The second side is mostly made up of pleasant folk songs with the ambitious lyrics of “The Dawntreader” being a standout and later concludes with the heavier “Cactus Tree” that sees the guitar get strummed a little bit harder.  Noted as not being the best recorded album, Mitchell would later take over the producer chair as her songs and career start to take off.

7/10

Posted in Album Reviews

Buffalo Springfield – Buffalo Springfield (1967)

Posted on by Michael

Buffalo Springfield formed in 1966 when Canadian Neil Young teamed up with American Stephen Stills in Los Angeles to form the new group. The band then then released their self titled debut later that same year.  First single, “Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing”,  is one of Young’s songs sung by guitarist Richie Furay. The song is a melancholy track with a mournful harmonica about Young’s then stalled career – “who’s putting sponge in the bells I once rung?”  Chiming guitars opens “Flying On The Ground Is Wrong” on another emotional song about losing friends while doing drugs, “I’m sorry to let you down/But you’re from my side of town/And I miss you”. Young shows his versatility at a young age when he takes over vocals on the grittier second single, “Burned”.

Many tracks are in the style of the burgeoning country or folk rock scenes that the band was helping to create.  “Go and Say Goodbye” has that sound but there is also a tinge of a British influence on the Stills written song about a friend breaking up with a girlfriend. It also shows on the pop rock of “Sit Down I Think I Love You” where Stills sings the 60s ode to love that “I get high just being around you”. Elsewhere, the dueling guitars of “Everybody’s Wrong” is terrific.

The album was originally released in December of 1966 but was later reconfigured and re-released in March 1967 after the Stills written “For What It’s Worth” became a top ten hit in the US.  The protest song written during LA riots of young people gathering late into the night has become a mainstay in popular culture when recreating scenes of the 60s counter culture. The song is recognizable right from the first chord with Stills perfect, deep delivery and a chorus that turns it into an anthem.  The self titled Buffalo Springfield album is a mid 60s classic.

9/10