Let Us Now Praise Buffalo Springfield.

[dbt]

(L-R in the pic above: Stephen Stills, Bruce Palmer, Richie Furay, Dewey Martin and Neil Young) Brought to you by the producers of Sonny and Cher, but I'm willing to overlook that part.

I was all of 16 when I first heard Mr. Soul on the Seeburg 100-O-Matic jukebox (12-inch speaker and a mono tube amp) at Norwood's Freez-King in Friendship, Arkansas (population 150 at the time) in the fall of 1967. It tore my head off nearly as bad as Grace Slick had done that summer with Somebody To Love. Young's spastic electric guitar part was so neatly offset by Stills's dainty acoustic work that it gave me a headache like an ice cream cone in August!

Yeah, I had heard For What It's Worth about 682 times by then on KAAY, The Mighty 1090, out of Little Rock on my Channel Master 10-Transistor radio (thank you, Martha Jane)--and they had even played Bluebird a few times, but I was woefully, joyously unprepared to undergo the sonic lobotomy of Mr. Soul!

We was all set to run off a quick quarter mile between my cousin Marvin's '56 Chevy and Nookie Tucker's '58 Ford pickup (with the low-speed rear end that tended to make it come off the line nearly sideways) when I rolled my quarter down the coin slot for Mr. Soul. Neil Young's opening riffs will forever be intertwined with the sound and smell of burning rubber thanks to that outlaw drag race.
Hell, I barely had time to take up my starter's position between the vehicles before the song kicked in!

It was all over from then on.

:loveya:
dbt
(Pissed off to this very day that Buffalo Springfield broke up...)

[DBoon]

1. Rock and Roll will never die

I remember the long "bootleg" version of Bluebird being played on FM, until it was released officially on their double album compilation.

What an amazing collection of talent!

[Atlas Mugged]

2. I just upgraded my CD collection...

... a couple of weeks ago with the entire works of Buffalo Springfield. Hearing 'Rock & Roll Woman' on the radio triggered it. Shortly after, I got all the early Neil Young CDs. Actually, I'm glad I waited so long to replace the vinyl versions, since I spent an entire day caught in the sway of it all.

[Dogmudgeon]

3. Mister Soul

It must have been a ground-breaking song at one point, but after hearing 10,000 weak imitations, it just sounds kind of generic to me now.

To get a sense of Neil Young's magnificence, you have to find the tracks of his that weren't copied. It's still hard to out-do Flying On The Ground Is Wrong, especially when paired in the mix with Sugar Mountain.

--bkl

[dbt]

5. That's what I'm talkin about!

10,000 weak imitations--and nobody can touch the Springfield to this day, although Rush got REAL CLOSE.

:smoke:
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[Liberal_Andy]

4. Here's to Bruce, rock's most under-rated bass player.

Remember his work w/ Neil's Trans concert in Berlin?

:toast: Bruce, I hardly knew ya!

[dbt]

7. Ah, yes!

Then there's Cait O'Riordan with The Pogues...

:loveya:
dbt

[woofless]

6. Nice writin' dbt!

Rock On.

[charlyvi]

8. There's something happening here....

and what it is ain't exactly clear.

[mitchum]

9. My favorite is "Bluebird"...

which is really weird since I generally can't stand Stephen Stills. But that song is a masterpiece.

[dbt]

11. Thank you, mitchum!

The "long version" with the old-time frailing banjo part (see Retrospective ) was what convinced me that there should be no boundaries at all when it comes to music.

:smoke:
dbt

[SoCalDem]

10. I saw them live in 1968 at KU

I don't remember much of it.. There was a LOT of booze flowing.. Everyone said I had a good time though :)..But I'm not sure I believe them either.. They were drunk too :)

[On the Road]

12. I Have a Special Weak Spot for "Kind Woman"

something about the longing and the slide guitar.

Rock really lost something when it abandoned it's counry roots. Steve Stills was in touch with them.

[dbt]

13. So was Richie Furay!

Wasn't "Kind Woman" his song? Then, of course, there's Poco and an entire Course 101 in steel guitar!

:hi:
dbt

[On the Road]

14. Oops -- You are Absolutely Correct

Richie Furay is credited as the writer. And I assume those are his vocals. Listening to it right now.

I don't know what happened to country rock as a whole. Seems like everyone in those days from James Taylor to the Loving Spoonful to the Youngbloods had country influences. It used to be a joke that a million bands claimed to have "a unique mix of rock, folk, country, and blues." Nowdays they have to go way back to Johnny Cash to get crossover music.

[The empressof all]

15. Won't you love me .....tonight

The look in your eyes......


I have always loved Kind Woman---and to this day it is among the tops on my list of Rock and Roll Love Songs.

I followed Richie F. through --Souther, Hillman and Furay.

I think he's a Fundegelical now. Somethings just don't change for the best.