Entertainment For Lively Minds
Stephen Stills
Posted by Randlepmcmurphy on 20 October 2009 - 11:06pm.
Sometimes you just have to get something out of your system and shout it from the rooftops. Stephen Stills is, and i don't think i'm being controversial here one of the best Singer/ Songwriters of the last fifty years, and as a guitar player he's right up there in the Clapton/ Hendrix camp as far as i'm concerned. Here is one of his finest tunes for your delictation. Ladies and Gentlemen please be upstanding for a living legend.
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Ouch...
What's the opposite of synergy?
Creative
tension.
His first solo album
is stunning,(and it's got Jimi Hendrix on it as well).
and ..
Clapton.
Second solo is a little uneven but first Manassas album is sublime
He "was" great
for about two years (from "CSN" to"Stephen Stills"). Otherwise ... a sharp descent in a snowstorm of ego and coke. At the risk of re-repeating myself, one of his last year's solo shows is still the only gig I've ever walked out on. Absolutely appalling.
I'd say he was great for about five years...
... but then again I just love Buffalo Springfield.
Ditto
on both counts
Mr Young
gets all the plaudits. Mr Nash gets praise for being a decent cove - and after all he is a Brit. Mr Crosby and Mr Stills get regularly derided as buffoons.
Yet Mr Crosby's solo work contains some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard. But that needs a separate thread.
And, Mr Stills produced - apart from the Stones' "Exile" - with Manassas and the self-titled debut LP - the best double album of all time. The follow-up Down the Road is pretty good too. For example "Pensiamento" http://bit.ly/3zREGB
Much of the rest of his solo work is equally wonderful. The first album as mentioned and Stills from 1975. And Just Roll It is simply sublime.
Thom Jurek's comments in All Music Guide are spot on
"The work from those early years is so substantial that his songs remain a watermark for anyone who aspires to be a songwriter"
Here's "Myth of Sisyphus" from Stills - as if to prove the point http://bit.ly/TDUAq
Great recommendations there,
Sheev. David Crosby's 'If I Could Only Remember My Name' is a work of great beauty indeed, truly moving and inspirational. C & N 'Wind On The Water' is a record with some exceptional work on it, and the recent 'Crosby and Nash' has some very good moments as well. David Crosby and Graham Nash are so often unjustly overlooked due to the habitual Stills/Young approbation .
I saw CSN at the RAH earlier this year
Stills' voice is completely gone, although his playing remains strong. It was interesting to see how C&N supported him throughout.
Although Nash was effectively the master of ceremonies it was Crosby that dominated the proceedings with a couple of spectacular set pieces - 'Almost Cut My Hair' tore the place up and 'Guinnivere' was just sublime. He is incredibly underrated a a guitar player too. I don't think one could have predicted ten or twenty years ago that Crosby would still be around much less end up as the dominant force on stage.
I saw C&N
a few years ago at the Festival Hall and they were superb, marred only by the kidology of playing guinnevere, as if they never do, when in fact they always play it, and by all accounts always brilliantly. crosby, having cheated death and being the most famous sperm donor on the planet, is clearly in the most life-affirming stage of his life. nash was clearly happy to be before a home crowd. they really did have the sense of being lucky to have survived, grateful for it and in touch with their audience. there was a lot of love in the room, and almost as much music. never seen stills - maybe he had farther to fall given his stuff from 65 to 75 or so. let's hope he doesn't die on us, eh? then we'll be sorry.
Buffalo Springfield
Are the closest thing North America got to the Beatles in terms of talent. Shame the egos got out of control.
There is a lot to Regret
There is a lot to regret (an emotion I am feeling with more regularity on passing the half century). Regret the ego was too big, the drugs were too attractive and too much money. An old saying (well not that old)is that a cocaine habit is a sign of having too much money. I believe that particularly applies to Stills. His appearance at Glastobury was a mixed blessing, truly superb playing but his appearance was truly shocking. The voice has of course totally gone. No one goes on for ever but this was rather like some form of Dorian Grey.
His recordings are classic and will endure when he is a memory in the sky. I would also refer you to the first Crosby recording which has a haunting beauty.
I should say that recently in Fopp
I spend five of your English pounds on Carry On, the rather huge CSY (and variants thereof) compilation. I kind of wish it was tracklisted chronologically, the decline of quality is pretty blooming marked in some places. Its an awful shame.
I will say though that I personally think that David Crosby's Laughing is the single finest tune I've heard from the whole CSNY axis. Unfortunately I can't get it to post, it may be on spotify.