Buffalo Springfield Again

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Buffalo Springfield

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The Byrds gave us chiming guitars and then, with the addition of Gram Parsons, a pure Country sound that was better than 90% of what Nashville was then cranking out. Buffalo Springfield gave us a rock 'n' roll band that grew from the folk circuit, from Stills, who brought Country and the oldest, most traditional folk, from the South, meeting with Furay, who brought a mild Country sensibility. Richie had met Neil Young, who had been part of the Canadian folk scene, briefly in New York. The Country roots origin of Buffalo Springfield were completed with Dewey Martin, who'd played with The Dillards. Along with Neil's friend Bruce Palmer, this quintet was a rock band simply trying to make the best music, which meant it must avoid teeny bop pop and Tin Pan Alley cliches, musically and lyrically, and that had them reworking Country and folk sources with a rock 'n' roll heart and attitude.

This is the best Buffalo Springfield album, and its importance merits 5 stars. My down ranking to 4 stars is because this should be a remastered version with at least one added cut: the 9 minute jam version of 'Bluebird' that apparently is not available anywhere today. Yes, all things considered, I prefer the 4 minute, originally released version and rank it a Classic, but the 9 minute version is perhaps more important to rock history, for it was an indispensable source for especially Southern rock bands as they forged long, jamming epics such as 'Free Bird' and 'High Tides and Green Grass.'

Beyond that, this album is loaded. In addition to 'Bluebird,' 'Mr. Soul' is an all-time Classic, and 'Broken Arrow, 'Rock 'N' Roll Woman,' and 'Expecting to Fly' are all brilliant. Richie's 'A Child's Claim to Fame' is nearly as good. No song is a throwawy.

But I can't be satisfied until I get the 9 minute 'Bluebird' on CD.

Assembling a suitable Buffalo Springfield collection is a perplexing task. If you're really down n' dirty into the band, I suppose the 4 disc box set is the way to go. If not quite that dedicated, but an appreciator of all the band members diverse styles, you could go with a comprehensive purchase of the three albums the band released over their approximate two year lifespan. But if you're a cherry-picker like myself, in my particular case looking to collect Stephen Stills early work, and as much of Neil Young's contributions to the band as can tag along, the choices become more difficult.

My own solution has been to purchase the 'Best of Buffalo Springfield - Retrospective' collection, which features two Stills' contributions to the 'BS Again' album, 'Bluebird' and 'Rock and Roll Woman', and four of Stills selections from the BS debut LP. I also purchased the bands swan song, 'Last Time Around' to pick up 5 more Stills numbers, in particular the classic 'Questions'. By acquiring these two discs I'm only missing two important Stills recordings, 'Pay the Price' from the debut LP, and 'Hung Upside Down' from 'BS Again'. In the process, I also acquired all of the pertinent Neil Young recordings with BS. Honestly, it's not worth it to me to wade through the rest of the fodder in order to hear those two songs.

'BS Again' is often heralded as the best of the Buffalo Springfield's 3 albums, but whatever distinction one is making between these releases doesn't amount to much. All three of the bands principle composers, Stills, Young, and Richie Furay, were only beginning to hone their talents, so the catalog is uneven throughout. The fact that none of these albums established the band is instructive, as is the fact that only one of their songs ('For What It's Worth')- which had to be grafted onto their first LP - ever cracked the Top 40. In my opinion, 'Last Time Around' is the best, and the debut LP comes in second.

There are only 4 songs on 'BS Again' that do it for me... 3 of Stills offerings, 'Bluebird', 'Rock and Roll Woman', and 'Hung Upside Down', and the Neil Young steamroller 'Mr. Soul'. The remainder, including Stills' 'Everydays' and Young's experimental endeavors 'Expecting To Fly' and 'Broken Arrow' pale in comparison to both artists later work, and only serve to illustrate why the band floundered.

If you're a Richie Furay fan, it may make sense to collect the three individual albums, as only one of his songs made it onto the 'Retrospective' collection. If you're budgeting your resources however, and not everything the Springfield did was essential to you, some serious tinkerin' is in order.