Stephen Stills

[ChrisB]

Out of 10 : Buffalo Springfield 7, S.S. 1 : 9, S.S. 2 : 7, Manassas 9, Down the road 5, rest of solo albums, anywhere between 4 and 6. Super talented but believed his own hype. Needed someone to tell him when quality not up to standard. In CSNY documentary, I think it might have been Fuzzy Samuels, but don't quote me, said that for the first part of concert, the acoustic section, they'd have the set list e.g. Neil to do one, David to do one etc, and then when the concert began, Stills would go on and do three or four, whilst the rest just looked at each other, seething.

[robertff]

Springfield albums were a bit inconsistent - weren't they...?





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Lord no, they're awesome.

Listen to Matt here.


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[C]

In CSNY documentary, I think it might have been Fuzzy Samuels, but don't quote me, said that for the first part of concert, the acoustic section, they'd have the set list e.g. Neil to do one, David to do one etc, and then when the concert began, Stills would go on and do three or four, whilst the rest just looked at each other, seething.

Yes his ego (and the drugs) were his downfall




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[soundchaser]

Manassas, is just about the perfect album: one great song after another.

[LMG]

This is a gem, spotlighted by the Uncut CSNY special magazine, from an overall 'meh' album with one of the worst covers in the history of things that have to have covers on them:



From the album:





Laugh It Up

aka

Live It Down

[robertff]

This is a gem, spotlighted by the Uncut CSNY special magazine, from an overall 'meh' album with one of the worst covers in the history of things that have to have covers on them:



From the album:





Laugh It Up

aka

Live It Down

What were they thinking with that cover, absolutely awful! No matter how great the record the cover would have put me off.


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[Matt Wilson]

Yeah, that's a good Stills song. Sometimes one of them could come up with something interesting amongst the dross. Crosby's "Camera" from After the Storm isn't bad either.

[C]

Springfield albums were a bit inconsistent - weren't they...?





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Lord no, they're awesome.

Listen to Matt here.


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Okay, fair points lads.

They are very good albums (even the last) but they don't quite grab me like to CSNY stuff.

Perhaps it's the Furay lad's songs that don't quite hold me.

The first album is Furay-less, in the song writing department, I recall





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[Six String]

No love for Kind Woman?

[C]

No love for Kind Woman?

Perhaps one day Les, my dear friend, we can tempt you to attend a PSL

Springfield are on the list





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[Matt Wilson]

Richie Furay was great in those days. Don't see the issue with his songs at all. To each his own.

[Six String]

His first album and the first Manassas album are clearly his best.

It's horses for courses Les my dear friend

I have always considered Stills 2 to have the edge on the eponymous debut.

I love both but I adore 2 a little bit more

[I am playing the debut now as I type]

I would agree with you re: the two Manassas albums - the first was a tight cohesive coherent band firing on all cylinders the second - the cracks began to show as Stephen's ego started to resurface.

The live album Stephen Stills Live is incredibly robust but I have always been disappointed it is so short. Surely they can find the rest of the concert somewhere....?








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It took me a while to spin Stills 2 as it was not in its proper place and I discovered it today in a pile needing refiling.
I enjoyed it quite a bit. I need to play it more to really get a handle on it. I remember really liking Maryann a lot back when I first heard it upon release, now I don't care for it much. Other tracks stood out in positive ways. I have a version of Change Partners that is similar to the version on 2 except it has Flaco Jimenez playing accordian. It has Stephen on vocals and the backing seems identical except for Flaco's amazing playing. I prefer it over the original by some margin. It's on a compilation a friend loaned me and I don't know the details on how that version evolved. Was Flaco brought in to play on it originally? Did he merely record his part over the original and release it under his name? I'd like to know.

[ChrisB]

Live It Down

Cumberland, Salami and Naem. We know our sausages in Widnes

[C]

I have a version of Change Partners that is similar to the version on 2 except it has Flaco Jimenez playing accordian. It has Stephen on vocals and the backing seems identical except for Flaco's amazing playing. I prefer it over the original by some margin. It's on a compilation a friend loaned me and I don't know the details on how that version evolved. Was Flaco brought in to play on it originally? Did he merely record his part over the original and release it under his name? I'd like to know.

Interesting Les - I don't know


First time of listening:



Includes:

Guitar: Al Perkins
Background Vocals: Dwight Yoakam
Background Vocals: Emmylou Harris
Accordion: Flaco Jimenez
Bass Guitar: Leland Sklar
Acoustic Guitar: Stephen Stills





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[C]

These days, Leland looks like a member of ZZ Top

Bless him








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[`]

Live It Down

Cumberland, Salami and Naem. We know our sausages in Widnes

Can you imagine how many drugs must have been consumed in coming up with that beaut? The guy who designed it was also responsible for the abortion of a cover that was CSN's next album, Allies (Alkies would probably have been a better title)

Seem to recall reading somewhere that the sausages (they look like Saveloys to me) were supposed to be symbolic of the foursome themselves, with the broken one apparently meant to be NY. Bet that fucking showed him.

There is a Stills solo album from around this time with an equally bad cover - a poorly air-brushed image of a rocket/missile powering up into the stratosphere as what was left of our Stephen's career swirled down around the U-bend

[C]

There is a Stills solo album from around this time with an equally bad cover - a poorly air-brushed image of a rocket/missile powering up into the stratosphere as what was left of our Stephen's career swirled down around the U-bend

Agreed



Far from his finest effort





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[ChrisB]

Live It Down

Cumberland, Salami and Naem. We know our sausages in Widnes

Can you imagine how many drugs must have been consumed in coming up with that beaut? The guy who designed it was also responsible for the abortion of a cover that was CSN's next album, Allies (Allies would probably have been a better title)

Seem to recall reading somewhere that the sausages (they look like Saveloys to me) were supposed to be symbolic of the foursome themselves, with the broken one apparently meant to be NY. Bet that fucking showed him.

There is a Stills solo album from around this time with an equally bad cover - a poorly air-brushed image of a rocket/missile powering up into the stratosphere as what was left of our Stephen's career swirled down around the U-bend

Ok, replace salami with saveloys and we still have CSN

[Six String]

I have a version of Change Partners that is similar to the version on 2 except it has Flaco Jimenez playing accordian. It has Stephen on vocals and the backing seems identical except for Flaco's amazing playing. I prefer it over the original by some margin. It's on a compilation a friend loaned me and I don't know the details on how that version evolved. Was Flaco brought in to play on it originally? Did he merely record his part over the original and release it under his name? I'd like to know.

Interesting Les - I don't know


First time of listening:



Includes:

Guitar: Al Perkins
Background Vocals: Dwight Yoakam
Background Vocals: Emmylou Harris
Accordion: Flaco Jimenez
Bass Guitar: Leland Sklar
Acoustic Guitar: Stephen Stills





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Ha! I didn't know who was on the track and to my ears it sounded really similar to the original except for Flaco. I didn't even notice Emmylou's voice which normally stands out to my ears so I need to relisten with this info and retune my ears. Thanks for that.

[`]

On a sad side note, Crosby is not having a great time of it of late. Earlier this week he announced he was probably going to lose his home as his income from touring was now non-existent as a result of CoVid. Then a couple of days back, Beckett the 21-year old surrogate son he fathered with/for Melissa Etheridge died as a result of opioid addiction. DC was quoted as saying he doubted if any of his former CSNY compares would "reach out". Seems a bit sad considering how close they all used to be and that the death of a child is the worst thing that can happen to a parent.

While it's hard to feel any pity for Crosby's dire financial straits - he basically pissed away the megabucks he's made these last 50-odd years on drugs - you'd have to have a heart of stone not to feel for him about his son.