Posts Tagged ‘Stephen Stills’

CROSBY STILLS and NASH – “ Wooden Ships ”

Posted: February 1, 2016 in MUSIC
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv7FNyckr7w

Jefferson Airplane recorded their own version of the song for their controversial fifth album, “Volunteers”.

When Crosby, Stills & Nash released their eponymous debut album in 1969, there was only one co-write on it (which would be the norm for future albums by the group). That Woodstock-era song, which became a classic both on its own and as part of an album that helped shape the musical tastes of a generation, was “Wooden Ships.”

Written by Stephen Stills, David Crosby, and Crosby’s onetime roommate, Jefferson Airplane/Starship’s Paul Kantner, “Wooden Ships” is generally interpreted as a veiled look at the aftermath of nuclear holocaust. The song was written during a period when the threat of a final nuclear war was uppermost in so many minds, during the ‘60s crisis in Indochina and heightened tensions between the United States and the USSR. Artists like Barry McGuire, with his throaty “Eve of Destruction,” and songwriting satirist Tom Lehrer, with his pretty-damned-funny “We Will All Go Together When We Go,” addressed the same theme. But CSN, with their wonderful harmonies and Stills’ great performance on several instruments, made a thing of beauty from a decidedly less-than-cheery premise.   

Crosby told the website MusicRadar in 2012 that the song is, indeed, about a dismal subject that numerous books and movies had addressed before, and have made millions of dollars from since, from The Time Machine to The Terminator. “I had that set of (chord) changes,” Crosby said. “Stephen added to them … and we all wrote the song. It’s a post-apocalyptic story. The world has gone to hell … The idea was that we were sort of sailing away from that madness. It’s the song that Jackson [Browne] wrote For Everyman in response to. It’s him saying, ‘Hey, we don’t all have a sailboat to sail away in. We have to stay here and fix it for everybody. That’s a fantasy that you’re writing.’” Kantner and his Jefferson Airplane bandmates recorded their own version of the song shortly after CSN’s for their controversial fifth album, Volunteers. JA’s version was awesome in its own right and is actually preferred by many, though it had a darker tone and less musicality than CSN’s.

It’s hard to think of a lyric much more depressing than Horror grips us as we watch you die/ All we can do is echo your anguished cries/ Stare as all human feelings die/ We are leaving, you don’t need us. Well, nearly half a century later, the world is still here, but we still worry about and pontificate about an apocalyptic event as much now as we did then. And we probably will until, well, until it happens. In the meantime, we can keep hoping and praying for a wooden ship for the survivors to sail away in.

Exhibits_Vietnam_Music_WoodenShips

thanks to Rick Moore

NEIL YOUNG and STEPHEN STILLS – ” Live Pantages Theatre, Hollywood ” 25th April 2015

Posted: April 28, 2015 in FESTIVALS, MUSIC
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=127&v=dHCXUWWKEkc

Neil Young and Stephen Stills performed together on Saturday, April 25 at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles.They reunited on the Pantages stage a few miles east of their old stomping grounds Saturday night, delivering a short but powerful set to close out an autism benefit concert that also featured Steve Earle, Shawn Colvin and a raucous guitar auction won by Brad Pitt, whose $23,000 bid trumped that of auctioneer Jack Black and others to land him a Fender Stratocaster signed by all the performers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=17&v=RXl3LTGMe8A

Young, 69, and Stills, 70, played with chemistry and charisma, two Sixties legends who have somehow managed to reinvent themselves again and again, navigating the perils of rock stardom that felled so many of their contemporaries.
“We’ve been through some things together,” Young sang, opening the nine-song set with “Long May You Run,” the 1976 song from the short-lived Stills-Young Band. Young’s high tenor was strong, clear, melodic. Stills had more rasp in his voice, and those notes at the top of his range often proved elusive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDBhjt2yRg4

But when it came to their fretwork, both men were like old gunslingers showing the kids how it’s done — soloing frequently on songs that included their Buffalo Springfield hits “Mr. Soul,” “Bluebird” and “For What It’s Worth.”

Stephen Stills, widely regarded as a virtuoso, played ambitious solos with a deft precision. And yet it was Young, with his simpler runs, who more often hit the sonic peaks — summoning otherworldly growls, demons and shrieks from his battered black Les Paul. Young’s guitar vocabulary may not be extensive, but he’s hard to beat when it comes to playing with power and emotion.

Then there are the songs themselves. The lyrics these men wrote decades ago still have relevance today.

“For What It’s Worth,” a Stills song inspired by the Sunset Strip riots of 1966, might just as well have been written following the protests in Ferguson, Mo.

What a field day for the heat,
A thousand people … in the street,
Singing songs and carrying signs

The evening ended with all performers joining the stage to perform “Rockin’ in the Free World,” Young’s song that served as a bitter commentary on former President George H.W. Bush’s 1989 inaugural address and its “thousand points of light.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DSMZXDv7ck

Neil Young and Stephen Stills Light Up The Blues setlist:
1. Long May You Run (acoustic guitar)
2. Human Highway acoustic guitar)
3. I Don’t Know (acoustic guitar) [new Young song]
4. Virtual Here & Now (electric guitar) [new Stills song]
5. Don’t Want Lies (electric guitar)
6. For What It’s Worth (electric guitar)
7. Bluebird (electric guitar)
8. Mr. Soul (electric guitar)
9. Rockin’ In The Free World (electric guitar)

The pair reunited for a nine-song set as part of the third annual Light Up The Blues benefit concert in aid of autism. Neil and Stephen perform this classic tune as part of the Light Up the Blues – Autism Speaks benefit on April 25, 2015. Shot in HD from the balcony DFC with my Samsung WB250F, and authored by yours truly with 24-bit audio from my Sony PCM-M10(AT853 mics). The event was hosted by Stills and his wife Kristen, and also featured sets from Steve Earle and Shawn Colvin.
Light Up The Blues Benefit for Autism Speaks. This is the events 3rd year raising funds and awareness for autism.

STEPHEN STILLS MANASSAS – ” Manassas ” Released 12th April 1972

Posted: April 13, 2015 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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In 1972, Stephen Stills formed a new band called ‘Manassas’ and on April 12th they released their debut double LP of the same name. A sprawling masterpiece, akin to the Beatles‘ White Album, the Stones‘ Exile on Main St., or Wilco‘s Being There in its makeup, if not its sound. Rock, folk, blues, country, Latin, and bluegrass have all been styles touched on in Stephen Stills‘ career, and the skilled, energetic musicians he had gathered in Manassas played them all on this album. What could have been a disorganized mess in other hands, though, here all gelled together and formed a cohesive musical statement. The songs are thematically grouped: part one (side one on the original vinyl release) is titled “The Raven,” and is a composite of rock and Latin sounds that the group would often perform in full live. “The Wilderness” mainly centers on country and bluegrass (Chris Hillman‘s and Al Perkins‘ talents coming to the forefront), with the track “So Begins the Task” later covered by Stills‘ old flame Judy Collins. Part three, “Consider” is largely folk and folk-rock. “Johnny’s Garden,” reportedly for the caretaker at Stills‘ English manor house and not for John Lennon as is often thought, is a particular highlight. Two other notables from the “Consider” section are “It Doesn’t Matter” (later redone with different lyrics by the song’s uncredited co-writer Rick Roberts on the first Firefall album) and “Move Around,” which features some of the first synthesizer used in a rock context. The closing section, titled “Rock & Roll Is Here to Stay,” is a rock and blues set with one of the landmarks of Manassas‘ short life, the epic “The Treasure.” A sort of Zen-like meditation on love and “oneness,” enlivened by the band’s most inspired recorded playing it evolves into a bluesy groove washed in Stills‘ fierce electric slide playing.

The delineation lines of the four themed song groupings aren’t cut in stone, though, and one of the strengths of the album is that there is a lot of overlap in styles throughout. The CD reissue’s remastered sound is excellent, though missed is the foldout poster and handwritten lyrics from the original vinyl release. Unfortunately, the album has been somewhat overlooked over the years, even though Stephen Stills considers it some of the best work he has done. 

“It Doesn’t Matter” was released as a single and Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones plays bass on and co-authored “The Love Gangster” and is reported to have said that he would have left the Stones to join Manassas.

Manassas marked a critical comeback for Stills, reviewers calling it a “sprawling masterpiece.

The album debuted on the Billboard Top LP’s chart for the week ending April 29th, 1972 . Stephen Stills’ album shared the Top 10 with an album by David Crosby and Graham Nash (Graham Nash David Crosby) and an album by Neil Young (Harvest), and.with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Stephen Stills, Chris Hillman, Chris Hillman and Dallas Taylor. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuphMxyPWeA

This was recorded for Beat-Club (not for the often misquoted MusikLaden, which replaced Beat-Club on December 13, 1972). The show was broadcast on March 25, 1972 (referred to as Episode #1.77). Any corrections are most welcome.The broadcast seems to showcase Side A of the forthcoming double album release (April 12, 1972) almost in its entirety and track-by-track.

Manassas was a fairly short-lived project, but a highly creative one. The double album was in a sense a concept album of different genres from which the band could quite easily and most skilfully draw upon.

The core members of Manassas were:

Stephen Stills: vocals, keyboards & guitar (CSNY, ex-Buffalo Springfield)
Chris Hillman: vocals, mandolin & guitar (ex-Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers)
Al Perkins: steel guitar & guitar (ex-Gram Parsons and Flying Burrito Brothers)
Calvin “Fuzzy” Samuels: bass, backing vocals (ex-CSNY and John Sebastian)
Paul Harris: keyboards (played with John Sebastian during 1968-71)
Dallas Taylor: drums (ex-Clear Light, CSNY and John Sebastian)
Joe Lala: percussion, backing vocals (ex-Blues Image and Pacific Gas & Electric)

CROSBY STILLS NASH – ” The Acoustic Concert ” San Francisco 1991

Posted: March 6, 2015 in MUSIC
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjbq6K2ziDQ

Crosby, Stills & Nash’s The Acoustic Concert is mastered with a loud and full sound. Videotaped at a 1991 show in San Francisco that was done as a memorial to the group’s friend, Bill Graham, there is more here than meets the eye — indeed, what initially meets the eye is most unpromising, the decidedly overweight presence of David Crosby and Stephen Stills,  Graham Nash’s metabolism won’t let him gain weight. But as it turns out the group vocal prowess is still very much intact, because they harmonize magnificently far better, in fact, than they generally did at Woodstock, and despite its being credited as The Acoustic Concert, that doesn’t stop Stephen Stills from picking up an electric guitar to add a little appropriate wattage to “Deja Vu,” “Just a Song Before I Go,” and more. Graham Nash, whose guitar was seldom ever even plugged in when he was in the Hollies, gets to play a little acoustic guitar on “Marrakesh Express,” in the midst of a superb lead vocal performance. “To the Last Whale” is presented visually as more of a conceptual video than anything else here, in its opening, before the camera returns to the stage for the song’s second half (featuring Nash on grand piano). Neil Young, though absent, gets a song dedicated to him in “Try to Find Me.” When Stephen Stills takes center stage for his spot, he delivers a loud, crunchy rendition of “For What It’s Worth” that’s more a deconstruction of the song than a performance — much more successful are the resurrections of “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” (to which he tacks on an extended acoustic guitar coda that incorporates elements of “Carry On,” and a high-speed solo in which he sounds like he’s playing 16th notes) and other early songs by the trio. The cameras are constantly in motion and the editing keeps the eye moving and occupied, and the show was more than good enough to occupy the ear as well, especially with the audio quality as good as it is here.

STEPHEN STILLS and MANASSAS – ” ABC TV Live in Concert 16th April 1973 ( Audio only )

Posted: December 21, 2014 in MUSIC
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Manassas was an American Rock band formed by Stephen Stills in 1971. Predominantly a vehicle for Stills’ artistic vision, the band released two albums during its active tenure, 1972’s Manassas and 1973’s Down the Road. The band dissolved in October 1973. The band’s first album simply titled Manassas,was  a double-album sporting a cover photo from the shoot in Virginia, released in May 1972. The album was well received, and Manassas globally toured behind it for most of 1972, including television appearances on ABC-TV’s In Concert in the United States and Beat-Club in West Germany

01 Carry on 00:00
02 Know You Gotta Run 03:58
03 Word Game 09:56
04 Remember The Americans 13:34
05 So you want to be a rock ‘n roll star 15:54
06 Go Back Home 18:42
07 Pensamiento 23:33
08 49 reasons ~ 25:40
09 For What It’s Worth 32:19
10 Find The Cost of Freedom 35:16

STEPHEN STILLS and MANASSAS – ” Live at the Beat Club ” March 25th 1972

Posted: December 20, 2014 in MUSIC
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuphMxyPWeA#t=26

I think this was recorded for Beat-Club (not for the MusikLaden, which replaced Beat-Club on December 13th, 1972). The show was broadcast on March 25, 1972 (referred to as Episode #1.77)

In 1972, with an already embarrassingly rich resume Stephen Stills career with Buffalo Springfield, Super Session, CSN&Y, Stephen Stills’ finest hour was still to come. Along with ex-Byrd/Burrito Chris Hillman, Stills co-founded Manassas and issued a 2LP set that was called “a sprawling masterpiece” . Manassas was barely 6 months old when they convened at the film studios of Germany’s Radio Bremen to record this excellent 35+ minute live performance for the TV show, Beat Club. Released on DVD in 2000 and reportedly, the only visual documentation of the band, Manassas, with no audience, expertly fusing Stills’ musical passions (blues rock, Latin & country) into a distinctively potent blend. Note this set’s suite of songs, beginning with “Song Of Love” and running uninterrupted through to “Jet Set (Sigh).” Instead of concluding the run as originally recorded on the LP (with “Anyway”), Stills throws the band a live curve ball (you can actually see and hear the momentary confusion at the 20:45 mark) and, in front of the rolling cameras, kicks off an extended jam instead (at 22:00). The DVD is worth owning just to see Stills’ short-lived Manassas in performance mode, something most of us never got the opportunity to experience. Find the DVD at Amazon,

manassas
Manassas was a fairly short-lived project, but a highly creative one. The double album was in a sense a concept album of different genres from which the band could quite easily and most skilfully draw upon.
The core members of Manassas were:
Stephen Stills: vocals, keyboards & guitar (CSNY, ex-Buffalo Springfield)
Chris Hillman: vocals, mandolin & guitar (ex-Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers)
Al Perkins: steel guitar & guitar (ex-Gram Parsons and Flying Burrito Brothers)
Calvin “Fuzzy” Samuels: bass, backing vocals (ex-CSNY and John Sebastian)
Paul Harris: keyboards (played with John Sebastian during 1968-71)
Dallas Taylor: drums (ex-Clear Light, CSNY and John Sebastian)
Joe Lala: percussion, backing vocals (ex-Blues Image and Pacific Gas & Electric)

STEPHEN STILLS – ” Stephen Stills ” Released November 16th 1970,

Posted: November 17, 2014 in MUSIC
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stephen stills

On Nov. 16, 1970, Stephen Stills released his first solo Album, simply titled “Stephen Stills”. It consists of songs written by Stills and is one of four high-profile albums released by each member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in the wake of their 1970 chart-topping album Déjà Vu.

The album features an array of well-known artists. Backing vocalists included David Crosby, Graham Nash, John Sebastion with Eric Clapton, “Mama” Cass Elliot, , Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and Jimi Hendrix. with also Rita Coolidge and CSNY drummers Dallas Taylor and Johnny Barbata. It provided Stills with the hit single “Love The One You’re With.” Stills followed this up with Stephen Stills 2, which featured “Change Partners.” Even though the song was written before CSN formed, Nash saw it as a metaphor for the many relationships in CSNY. 

CROSBY STILLS NASH and YOUNG Live Box Set 1974

Posted: May 22, 2014 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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csny1

Due to be released on the 8th July a 3CD/DVD set from the bands 1974 reunion tour produced by Bill Graham,there will also be a 16 track single CD, The four members reunited for an American Arena and Stadium Tour with a further one show at Wembley stadium in London, contain 40 songs and in an order that replicates the shows running order, starting with an Electric set an acoustic set sometimes with drums and bass and sometimes not then the Kick Ass electric finale. and a DVD with 8 songs plus a 188 page booklet, there will also be a coffee table box set. there were 30 shows performances some lasting up to a period of Four hours. Graham Nash took the responsibility of sorting out the tracks but every song and every minute of each show was listened too for the best quality or best performance and then had to be authorised by each band member. The DVD has eight tracks recorded at the Capital Centre in Landover and Wembley Stadium, Neil Young was writing songs furiously at the time and would often try out the new material playing some songs only a handful of times, some rarities “Love Art blues”,”Pushed It Over The Edge”,”Don’t Be Denied” and a song called “Goodbye Dick”.

csny74

For Whats it Worth –

Posted: April 11, 2014 in MUSIC
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For Whats it Worth -

48 years ago today a band stepped onto the stage to play at the Troubadour on Santa Monica Blvd. The band took their name from a Steamroller parked up outside the house where two of the members were staying, Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Richie Furay, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin.

CROSBY STILLS NASH & YOUNG – ” 4 Way Street ” released 43 years ago today

Posted: April 6, 2014 in MUSIC
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4 way street

The third album and the first live album, taken from shows at the Fillmore East in NYC, the Forum in L.A and the Chicago Auditorium, it contained music already available on their studio albums either as the band or on solo albums, Tensions were running high on this tour with constant dressing room disputes and fighting becoming legendary, fact the band did not record together for another six years in 1977, they received positive reviews, Rolling Stone saying it was their best album to date.

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