Thrifty Tunes 10.31.09: Buffalo Springfield - Again
Posted by Paul Hollingsworth on 10.31.2009
Neil Young has seemingly been around forever. His first band, however, might rank as his best. This week's Thrifty Tunes gives a fresh spin to Buffalo Springfield's second album, Again
The average band has a shelf life of about five years. While some hang on longer, most do so with, at best, mixed results. (I'm looking at you, Rolling Stones, U2, etc.) Even The Beatles, with their omnipresent influence on everything music only recorded together for eight short years. Some bands are doomed to short careers from the start, whether from the infamous 'musical differences', egos, drugs, record company tinkering, or any number of things. Occasionally a band seems to recognize this unwritten law of short life spans and does remarkable, ground breaking things in a very short time frame. One of the most prolific of these bands, which managed to coexist for just 25 months, is Buffalo Springfield.
The band had a minor hit in the early part of 1967, which has since gone on to be one of the standards of 60's compilations everywhere, with "For What It's Worth", which everyone knows by the opening lines, "There's something happenin' here/What it is ain't exactly clear." The band quickly convened back in the studio to record a follow up album, and amid much inner turmoil, ego clashes and heaps of weed, released Again in November of 1967.
The turmoil and ego clashes were mainly between guitarist/singer Neil Young and guitarist/singer Steven Stills. Both wrote the majority of songs on the first album, although Stills wrote the hit , "For What It's Worth." (Although Young did have "Burned" to his credit on the first album.) I believe that bands thrive and create good, sometimes even great, music when they are fighting and arguing over creative direction like a gaggle of high school cheerleaders. (Singers and guitarists are the usual suspects for this sort of in-fighting, while the drummer mostly stands to one side, trying to light a joint.) If everyone in the band is facing in the same direction, the songs can become one dimensional. Chaos and conflict often lead to more interesting spaces in all art, but especially in group enterprises like music.
"Mr. Soul" opens the album with a bang, thanks to some nice guitar work by Young although Stills took no part in the recording. (Which was common for most of the songs on the album. Young's songs are almost Young with studio musicians and Stills' songs likewise. Richie Furay, the band's other guitarist, works on most of the tracks.) Young has one of the most distinct voices in music, but his guitar work, I feel, is criminally underrated. He's never flashy, never tries to overshadow the song, but his solos and rhythm parts always fill the songs with just the right amount of movement and pace.
Furay's first track on the album is the country-tinged "A Child's Claim To Fame", which sounds allot like early Byrds or the more mellow songs of CSN&Y. Still's first track on the album, "Everydays", aside from an interesting experiment with distorted guitar feedback, is a mostly forgettable song. "Expecting To Fly", Young's best tune on the album, may be the band's finest moment. It doesn't sound like anything else the band ever recorded. It's full of strings and a nice harmony of Young and Furay's voices. "Bluebird", Stills' standout track on the album, leaves the country-folk styling's for a more straight-edge rock approach (for the majority of the song anyway) and is very much a kissing cousin to "For What It's Worth." It's also one of the few songs on the album where the entire band played together on the same track, and you get the feeling, even if they hated and distrusted each other, they had undeniable musical chemistry.
"Hung Upside Down" kicks off side two with a punch, as Stills showcases his incredible voice and also continues to experiment with various forms of guitar feedback. (Sonic Youth were, no doubt, exposed to this album at some time.) Bass player Bruce Palmer, who was replaced not long after by Jim Messina, also shines with a very understated, but full sounding bass line which gives the song a strong backbone from which Stills' guitar never quite separates. "Good Time Boy", a Furay song, is an almost-soul song, complete with horns and an almost Wilson Pickett like delivery. For a band that is considered one of the originators of folk-rock music, the band drew from a wide range of influences and songs such as this and Stills' "Rock and Roll Woman" defy easy categorization.
Complete Track Listing: (1967 release on ATCO Records)
Side One:
1. Mr. Soul
2. Child's Claim To Fame
3. Everydays
4. Expecting To Fly
5. Bluebird
Side Two:
1. Hung Upside Down
2. Sad Memory
3. Good Time Boy
4. Rock & Roll Woman
5. Broken Arrow
Buffalo Springfield had a brief but memorable career together. Young and Stills would eventually go on to form the more long-lived and successful Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, as well as long solo careers. Messina would later team with a pre-"Dangerzone" Kenny Loggins to form AM Gold heavyweights Loggins & Messina, Furay became a preacher and drummer Dewey Martin played with, among others, Elvis Presley. In their short two years together, the band recorded some great tunes, and laid the groundwork for legions of similar folk-rock bands to build on, even if some of their songs are not folk-y at all.
