Stephen Stills Albums (13)
What The Critics Say
Manassas were the first band Stephen Stills involved himself with after the breakup of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. He'd recorded a pair of solo albums, but forming this group with ex- and future Byrd and former Flying Burrito Brother Chris Hillman, pedal steel guitarist Al Perkins, Joe Lala from Blues Image, the CSNY rhythm section of Dallas Taylor and Calvin "Fuzzy" Samuels, and session man Paul Harris turned out to be a dream band, for a time. The unit released two albums on Atlantic: its self-titled debut in 1971 (which is widely regarded as a classic) and a less successful follow-up entitled Down the Road in 1972. Stills' and Rhino's Pieces assemblage of Manassas tracks includes outtakes and unreleased numbers from both recordings. This is the first in a series of retrospective recordings that Stills plans to issue, among them a box set, a live set, and (in association with Experience Hendrix) an album of studio session demos he recorded with Jimi Hendrix, his then guitar teacher (Hendrix appeared on Stills' debut solo effort), as well as a live compilation. This Manassas material is a delightful surprise. Since virtually all of it was recorded and originally mixed for inclusion on one of the two albums by the band, it sounds great. The mastering and remixing processes are nearly flawless. Musically, there is a slew of Stills compositions that must have been tough to leave on the cutting-room floor, including superior Manassas versions of a pair of tracks that ended up on Stephen Stills 2 -- "Word Game" and "Sugar Babe." The track "Like a Fox" includes a smoking backing vocal performance from Bonnie Raitt. There are alternate versions of two songs that ended up on Down the Road: "Lies" (with Joe Walsh on guitar) and "Do You Remember the Americans." The remaining tracks -- including stellar yet fun readings of country, Western swing, and bluegrass classics such as Leon McAuliffe's "Panhandle Rag," a moving demo reading of "Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (And Loud, Loud Music)" by Joe Maphis, and Bill Monroe's "Uncle Pen," as well as the Latin rhumba "Tan Sola y Triste" (written by Stills and Nelson Escola) -- reflect the incredible diversity and musicianship of Manassas. Other stellar numbers include the opening "Witching Hour," Chris Hillman's "Love and Satisfy," and a live version of "High and Dry" that just kills. Hindsight being 20/20, and since most of this music is unreleased, there is a real argument to be made that much of it would have served Down the Road more than what made it onto the final product, even though some was recorded for the Manassas debut. Also, it is worth pointing out that since Stills is a native Floridian and this band came together, rehearsed, and recorded in one of his homes in that state, this is one of the first portraits listeners have of the various musical cultures of Florida making it onto tape as country, blues, swamp pop, and Latin styles all mixed in a rock & roll stew while retaining their original characteristics. This is one of the few cases where a collection from the vaults was completely worthwhile. There is no filler, no half-assed fodder included here. If it is any indication at all, Manassas Pieces bodes well for the retrospective material Stills will issue in the future. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
More coherent than his last effort, Illegal Stills still is mostly filler. Much of it co-written with Donnie Dacus, it finds Stephen Stills trying to recover after too many flops. Includes a curious cover of Neil Young's "The Loner" which Stills apparently always wanted to cover. Young's beats this version hands down. ~ James Chrispell, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
See the racing boat taking off into outer space on the front cover. Flip the jacket over, and see Stephen Stills apparently co-piloting just such a ship, and you'll understand why the title of this album is so right. It's "Right by You" in so many ways, although it does contain a good bluegrass tune "No Hiding Place" and lead guitar by one Jimmy Page on several cuts. Maybe this was where Stills thought of sailing off into the sunset. This album didn't help his career. ~ James Chrispell, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
This is the disc that Stephen Stills fans always hoped he'd make. Stills Alone is just Stephen doing what he does the best, picking and singing in a style all his own. Put this on, and what you have is Stills in your living room playing your very own private concert. From Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talkin" to the Beatles' "In My Life," right on through to Stephen's own compositions, everything here seems to click. Of note is the sensational "Blind Fiddler Medley." From one of the veterans of the rock & roll wars, Stills has put out a spectacular solo effort in the true sense of the word. ~ James Chrispell, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
A rather poor attempt of Stephen Stills' to adapt to the disco/dance craze. Includes lame covers of Buddy Holly ("Not Fade Away") and Gregg Allman ("Midnight Rider") along with the semi-hit title track. ~ James Chrispell, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Long May You Run is not a Neil Young solo album. It is credited to "The Stills-Young Band," which is to say, Stephen Stills and his band with Young added, and the two divide up the songwriting and lead vocals, five for Young, four for Stills. The pairing, though it proved short-lived and had, in fact, ended before this album was released, must have seemed commercially logical. Like Young, Stills had seen his record sales decline after a successful period following the 1970 breakup of CSNY. So had erstwhile partners David Crosby and Graham Nash, but they had returned to Top Ten, gold-selling status in the fall of 1975 with their Wind on the Water duo album. Why couldn't Stills and Young do the same thing? Maybe they could have (and, actually, this was the first gold album for either in two years) if they had made a better record together. Young's songs were pleasant newly written throwaways with the exception of the title track, a trunk song he had written as a tribute to an old car. Stills' compositions seemed more seriously intended, but still were not substantial. The playing, largely handled by the professional sessionman types in Stills' band, was far smoother than what one was accustomed to in a Young album. The result was a listenable record, but not a compelling one, and thus well below Young's usual standard and Stills' best. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Talk about understatement -- there's Stephen Stills on the cover, acoustic guitar in hand, promising a personal singer/songwriter-type statement. And there is some of that -- even a lot of that personal music-making -- on Stephen Stills, but it's all couched in astonishingly bold musical terms. Stephen Stills is top-heavy with 1970 sensibilities, to be sure, from the dedication to the memory of Jimi Hendrix to the now piggish-seeming message of "Love the One You're With." Yet, listening to this album three decades on, it's still a jaw-dropping experience, the musical equal to Crosby, Stills & Nash or Déjà Vu, and only a shade less important than either of them. The mix of folk, blues (acoustic and electric), hard rock, and gospel is seamless, and the musicianship and the singing are all so there, in your face, that it just burns your brain (in the nicest, most benevolent possible way) even decades later. Recorded amid the breakup of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Stills' first solo album was his effort to put together his own sound and, not surprisingly, it's similar to a lot of stuff on the group's two albums. But it's also infinitely more personal, as well as harder and bluesier in many key spots; yet, it's every bit as soft and as lyrical as the group in other spots, and all laced with a degree of yearning and urgency that far outstrips virtually anything he did with the group. "Love the One You're With," which started life as a phrase that Stills borrowed from Billy Preston at a party, is the song from this album that everybody knows, but it's actually one of the lesser cuts here -- not much more than a riff and an upbeat lyric and mood, albeit all of it infectious. "Do for the Others," by contrast, is one of the prettiest and most moving pieces of music that Stills has ever been associated with, and "Church (Part of Someone)" showed him moving toward gospel and R&B (and good at it, too); and then there's "Old Times Good Times," musically as good a rock song as Stills has ever recorded (even if it borrows a bit from "Pre-Road Downs"), and featuring Jimi Hendrix on lead guitar. "Go Back Home" (which has Eric Clapton on guitar) is fine a piece of bluesy hard rock, while "Sit Yourself Down" features superb singing by Stills and a six-person backing chorus (that includes Cass Elliot, Graham Nash, and David Crosby) around a great tune. "To a Flame" is downright ethereal, while the live "Black Queen" is a superb piece of acoustic blues. All of this is presented by Stills in the best singing voice of his career up to that point, bolder, more outgoing, and more powerful (a result of his contact with Doris Troy) than anything in his previous output. He also plays lots of instruments (à la Crosby, Stills & Nash, which is another reason it sounds so similar to the group in certain ways), though a bit more organ than guitar, thanks to the presence of Hendrix and Clapton on two cuts. If the album has a flaw, it's the finale, "We Are Not Helpless," which slightly overstays its welcome. But hey, this was still the late '60s, and excess was the rule, not the exception, and it's such modest excess. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
This live record features Stephen Stills with a great voice that may be a bit weary but is, perhaps, even more emotional and personal. Separated into an acoustic side and an electric side, Stills triumphs during both sets. The electric side is highlighted by the tight "Wooden Ships," while the acoustic side shines with "Change Partners" and a frenetic version of "Crossroads." ~ Zachary Curd, All Music Guide
