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Stephen Stills
"Man Alive!" (2005)
Ain't It Always?/Feed
The People/Heart's Gate/Round The Bend/I Don't Get It/Around Us/Ole Man
Trouble/Different Man/Piece Of Me/Wounded World/Drivin'
Thunder/Acadienne/Spanish Suite
'My
heart is in my song - but my song is blowing in the breeze...'
Fan imagination, including mine, went into
hyperdrive when we heard this album was on its way. Stephen Stills' first solo
album in fourteen years - and his first full length album of new works in
nineteen - was for the CSN cognoscenti, if not the world in general, a major
event. Stills had been so long away (you could fit all eight of his solo albums
in the gap between the last two records) and the last signs we'd heard from him
on CSN/Y albums were generally good, with Stills' contributions the best thing
by a country mile on both 'After The Storm' and 'Lookin' Forward' (albums which
were themselves eleven and five years old by now respectively). At long last,
after a wait that lasted most of his adult days, Stills' homelife was now
stable and secure leading to hopes of a reprise of the loved-up Stills we had
in the Veronique Sanson days of the mid-1970s. What's more 'Captain Manyhands'
should have been the perfect for an early 21st century scene best described as
'eclectic' and we wondered where Stills might go next: folk, blues, rock, pop,
blues or most likely a little bit of everything - in the age of sampling
Stills' playful blending of genres and timeless production style (disco and
1980s pop album aside) suddenly looked like time-travel. When fans heard that
both Nash and Young were heavily involved with the album there was already talk
of 'career high' and 'comeback of the century so far' mooted around even before
we'd heard a note.
So the album itself was something of a shock. It's
not that this album is bad in a way that 'Right By You' often was. Or misguided
as 'Thoroughfare Gap' sometimes could be. Or as unfinished and low budget as
'Stills Alone' turned out. But even so 'Man Alive' felt slightly...lacking. Stills
songs, even the bad ones, generally come in at least three dimensions, often
more. Even if you don't like a song in one style there's probably another one
that sounds completely different to love moments later. Though Stills' most
recent albums had been a little more one-note of late, at least they were
largely good one-notes, returning to acoustic folk ballads or exquisite torch
ballads, the sort of things fans had long been asking for. Even at his worst
it's hard to fault the commitment or passion in Stills' songs. But 'Man Alive'
finds the musician healthy but his muse largely dead. There are no songs here
that weren't better told in past songs and so many of them seemed to tell the
same story: things are rubbish, I hate them. That would be forgivable if Stills
had stretched himself like the days of old, but this album has a curiously
lifeless feel, a soul album of all things but a soul album in a 'glossy backing
with a female choir' kind of soul rather than an Otis Redding emotional soul.
Perhaps because this album had such a long genesis, some of these songs
stretching back decades, this CD also had a curiously 1980s feel about it - the
last decade which most fans would have picked to return to by choice. Usually
Stills albums are full of chances to learn and understand one of the most
guarded yet strangely emotional and honest writers at work - but there's
nothing from 'Man Alive' you particularly want to learn, with this easily the
most guarded of one of the 1960s' most unguarded writers' career.
The exceptions to that are the two acoustic songs,
usually the moments at which Stills opens up the most. But he was at pains to
point out in interviews of the day that these two cover songs that made the
album were pure fiction. Interviewers salivated at the thought that he and
Young trading lines on 'Different Man' meant that the pair were trying to be
adult and putting bygones behind them; Stills just muttered something about
thinking this traditional folk number had a good tune. Similarly critics all
picked the cover of Booker T Jones' 'Ole Man Trouble' as an album highlight,
revelling in how well Stills was able to tap into his heartbroken,
self-destructive number of old - for the singer he admitted it was all
something of a distant memory and simply a song he'd already meant to get round
to one day. The long and short of it is that there's no great confessional
moment on 'Man Alive', no moment when you realise that Stills is singing
directly to us in his desperate attempt to get the truth of what he feels across
and no great revealing moment when it all clicks and no one else could ever
offer us what Stills does so effortlessly. Instead of answering what a 21st
century Stills album or an eclectic Stills album made after a gap might sound
like, 'Man Alive' answers what a settled Stills album sounds like instead. Not
a happy or contented album either (that's 1975's gorgeous 'Stills') but a
Stills album from a quiet era in his life where nothing much seemed to be
happening. That's our loss maybe, but Stills' gain as the one and only great
thing about this album is hearing how 'normal' life has become for someone who
once suffered such agonising rollercoaster highs and lows.
Otherwise this is kinda Stills by numbers: there's
the energetic opening pop number 'Ain't It Always?' that comes off as bland;
the too-bad-to-be-a-charity-single 'Feed The People' which is almost a parody
of CSN's hippie philosophy; the bland acoustic ballad 'Heart's Gate' which is a
whole notch down even from 'Stills Alone'; demented rocker 'Round The Bend'
(the only original song here that stabs at any autobiography, until it becomes
another fictional song about a Vietnam Vet); cod white reggae on 'I Don't Get
It'; cheery pop number 'Around Us'; fragmented blues 'Piece Of Me'; MOR soul
'Wounded World'; a remake of nobody's favourite CSN/Y moment 'Drivin' Thunder';
even flipping Zydecoe on 'Acadienne' and a needlessly ambitious 'Spanish Suite'
that like the album as a whole promises much that never quite arrives. Stills
is so busy ticking boxes about what he thinks people want to hear that he has
no real time to offer up anything of himself on this album. The fragmentary
sessions also means that there's never one 'house band' to get their teeth into
these songs and offer any cohesion. Those that do play sound as if they're
clock-watching or driven through one take too many, a booming bombast of old
friends like Joe Vitale, Mike Finnigan and George 'Chocolate' Perry who all
come from different periods of Stills' career and never quite gel when made to
work together in the same room. Even Stills himself is largely quiet on this
album, his guitar left in the box for half the record and prepared to lead from
behind rather than from the front like the good ole days. Add in a sappy and
dated production, that covers everything with an ugly surface sheen that
screams shoulder pads and slickness and excess and the high expectation that
surrounded this album and you have several reasons why 'Man Alive' might be
Stills' weakest album - maybe the weakest of the CSN catalogue as a whole.
Stills hasn't recorded another solo project since or indeed anything much
besides his bit-part in spin-off band 'The Rides'. He doesn't sound as if he
has anything much to say anymore, in stark contrast to the old days when Stills
had so much to say fans often couldn't keep up with the rate at which albums
seemed to be released.
However, no album is all bad and that goes doubly
for CSN and there are moments - not whole songs but moments - when it all seems
to be coming together. 'Spanish Suite' is at least eight minutes too long but
the closing rousing finale is really gripping. 'I gave up on you!' spits Stills
after toying with hiding his feelings in Spanish in the past tense for so long,
'It was the hardest thing I ever had to do!' Having been through all those
other songs it wouldn't surprise me if there's an element of Judy Collins or
Rita Coolidge or Veronique Sanson hiding in this song for one last time, a neat
closing of the circle to a lifetime of watching Stills' relationships play out
in song. 'Different Man' is a great song whether Stills means it or not and
while his and Young's harmonies have always been a difficult pill to swallow
without Crosby or Nash in the middle the two old friends and rivals bring out
the best in each other here - would that the Stills-Young set 'Long May You
Run' been half as good as this. 'Wounded World' is a clever idea that turned
into a bad song, reflecting Stills' pain as he's abandoned not by a wife or
mistress but by his teenage daughter going off to university and trying to live
her own life, aware that he has to let her go but hating being apart all the
same. 'Piece Of Me' at least tries to go back to old Stills with its haunted
wounded bluesy feel, even if this is someone whose forgotten what it's like to
have been hurt enough to write a song as deep as he used to. For the most part
Stills sings brightly, far stronger than he ever did on 'Stills Alone' or
'Lookin' Forward' and he seems to be back in better health than he had been for
a while (although admittedly I suspect some of these recordings might date back
a wee while). The one moment that doesn't though, when his raw side slips, is
fabulous and 'Ole Man Trouble' is a quite staggering reminder of just how
deeply Stills used to feel, the old bluesman howling his way through Otis
Redding's right-hand man Booker T Jones' pained howl of a song like a man
possessed, rather than a man alive. Those are the moments that work best on
this album - when Stills isn't simply surviving and waving, but drowning and
while no fan would ever want to put him through the pain and misery of his
younger years, he is one of those writers who writes best when his world is
collapsing and everything is going wrong; on too much of this album he's making
music for the sake of it rather than because he has anything burning to say.
Stills certainly outshines his guests, by and large,
despite their names all mentioned on the sticker that came attached to the
front of the CD (and which comes with some of the strongest superglue known to
man alive or dead) and the 'special appearance' billing in the sleevenotes by
nearly every song, even when the musicians can't be heard. Neil shines on
'Different Man' but barely turns up for the perfunctory solo on 'Round The
Bend' which Stills could have played better himself. Graham Nash's fingerprints
turn up across who swathes of the album but somehow none of them make much
impact: his biggest collaboration is 'Wounded World', the first co-write
between the pair since 'Turn Your Back On Love' back in 1982, but you wouldn't
really know it from the low-mixed harmonies which lack the same sense of scale
and wonder we usually have whenever two or more of CSNY get back together. I
can't even hear him on 'Acadienne' despite the backing vocals credit, while I
wish I couldn't hear him on 'Feed The People' where his cod-reggae lilt booms
out above everyone else and makes a bad song worse. Even jazz legend Herbie
Hancock, who'd have been the perfect instinctive soulful guest for any Stills project
before this one, sounds awful and a little bit lost on the weird chord changes
Stills asks him to play across 'Spanish Suite'. Frankly Stills could have
performed the part a lot better himself. That goes double for the guitar solos
(handed for the most part over to Young), the piano and organ work (handed over
to Mike Finnigan), the bass (George Perry plays very simply, quite unlike his
younger self), the drums (handed over to Joe Vitale on a migraine-inducing day)
and especially the sea of backing vocals that swamp a good half of the album
(featuring Finnigan again, Brooks Hunnicut, daughter Jennifer and seemingly
anyone else within a hundred mile radius of the studio). The only truly magical
musical moments on this album all come from Stills and then are fleeting in the
extreme - the brief fiery solo on opener 'Ain't It Always?', the acoustic
guitar on 'Different Man' and the angry electric guitar snarl on 'Drivin'
Thunder' - the only aspect of this new arrangement that improves on the 1988
original. You'd have though, given the years spent crafting this album with
only Stills always around and given that while his voice has faded down the
years his playing might actually have been getting better, there'd be more
actual Stills across this album. In the words of one of the album's more
repetitive songs I don't get it, get it, get it.
The album's other best moment really is all down to
Stills and is the cover. Stills drew his own self-portrait despite not ever
having been known as much of an artist before and it's perfect, capturing all
of his brashness and shyness in one go (his chin - now surrounded by a goatee -
thrusts forward, his eyebrows connect into a frown and his mouth purses in a
picture of stubbornness, but his eyes are closed and his head is turned as if
in withdrawal). Stills also gives himself a full head of hair, something that
hasn't been seen for real since the start of his music career! The back cover
features another Stills self-portrait, this time of his hands wrapped around a
precious guitar, another great sketch with more life to it than most of the
album to be honest. Given how hands-on Stills has always been about all aspects
of his career it seems odd that he hasn't tried to draw his own front covers
before this. Full marks to the record label Talking Elephant for letting Stills
do this instead of simply forcing him into putting a pretty picture of himself
on the cover or something. The all-white background is a new one for Stills
too, though it reflects the 'snow' picture of his first album (no giraffes this
time around though!)
There isn't really an album theme - another sign of
how many years the songs for this project cover - but if there is there's one then
it's of feeling helpless. 'Your ship of life never goes where you steer it'
sighs Stills on 'Wounded World', a line that rather sums up this album of
passive-aggressiveness. This might explain why Stills is so hands-off for most
of this album, frustrated that he can't make headway and get life how he wants
even after this many years - though never in any big outpouring of emotion type
way. 'Ain't It Always' is one long moan about how hard it is to stay in love
and how easy it is to fall out of it, 'Feed The People' is one long moan about
how some people always have too much while others go without even the basic
necessities of life, 'I Don't Get It' is one long moan wondering why a loved
one is 'so uptight', 'Wounded World' is one long moan about why hurting and
suffering is an inevitable part of life and 'Ole Man Trouble' is the father of
all moans. You get the picture: this could so easily have been an all-blues
album or an outpouring of confessional grief a la 'Stephen Stills II'. Only
instead of his heart being an open secret, leaving him gifted and robbed all at
once, Stills is looking at the world in a more general sense. It's all of us
and the world in general that's at fault not just Stills and even the two songs
that seem to infer that come from cover versions. We're all robbed and never
quite gifted enough to put things right, which is true enough but kinda
obvious: we all know the world's messed up for somebody who doesn't deserve it
(unless you're a millionaire Conservative/Republican and if you are what are
you doing reading a CSN review at this site of all places?) but there's no
aching fire to put that right anymore, just a general description. In
retrospect the most telling song is the most low-key, the quiet blues hidden
away as track nine that's so short you barely notice it. 'You all want a piece
of me!' nags Stills before pleading 'Can I be excused?' That open secret seems
a curse not a blessing here and Stills does his best to ignore it - but in
doing so he comes up with his most generic, pointless, wasted album along the
way.
Overall, then, there isn't much reason to own 'Man
Alive'. There is that improved voice I guess, a far better pair of Stills-Young
duels than we ever got on CSNY albums or the S-Y LP, a rousing emotional minute
to an epic that lasts eleven, the pretty but pretty understated 'Heart's Gate'
and one haunting blues cover version that fits Stills to a (Booker) T. But
there's little in the way of invention or imagination and it's sad to say that
the biggest gap between albums by far in Stills' catalogue still comes out
sounding as if it needed a lot more time and effort spent on it. This is a man
alive, but not a man thriving, at least creatively and Stills sounds a little
lost here, not heartbroken enough to reach his A-game like he did in his glory
years between 1967-1972 or even his sense of deja vu in 1990-1994 yet not happy
enough either to reach his other high of 1975, his one great year of stability.
This is instead Stills wishing we would all go away and leave him in peace but
somehow not quite able to shut the door to the studio for good either, going
through the motions and waiting for inspiration that never quite strikes
instead. Maybe he's not such a 'different man' after all, but sadly without
'fear and anger' having 'power' he doesn't sound quite what to do with his new
way of looking at the wounded world either. Please say the otherwise fabulous
Stills canon doesn't end here - there's clearly another great album in there
somewhere...
Most Stills albums start with something magical.
This one starts with a thud. 'Ain't It Always' is as subtle as paint-stripper
and as charming as The Spice Girls. The song starts with the repetitive clunky
chorus, which is a bad move as it has Mike Finnigan at his most Mike Finnigan-ish
and features a curious clipped riff that has no room to breathe, not to mention
Joe Vitale drumming that sounds like a fistfight. Like much of this album,
though, there's a layer of promise waiting underneath all that. The verses are
actually quite inventive when we finally get to them, like every other Stills
song that's come before it but at high speed. Stills' narrator meets a girl, he
falls for her (presumably in 'an accident of faith'), worries that its going
too well and he's bound to lose her somewhere down the line - and by worrying
that's what happens and she leaves him. 'How much it hurts, she left you flat -
ain't it always?' is his agonised, painful cry. An analysis of self-destructive
tendencies we'd been waiting for across several decades, its perhaps fitting
that this great idea should be lost behind such an ugly sounding song. Age
hasn't mellowed Stills' responses to love as he howls 'falling - it's a trap!',
which together with his much more with-it than usual voice suggests that this
song dates back at least to the dark times of the early 1990s rather than the
time around the date of recording when Stills had finally found stability and
happiness. Certainly his riveting but all too brief guitar solo suggests he was
at the time of recording going through some kind of hell and it may well be the
best ten seconds on the record - edgy, dark, paranoid, stubborn and hopeful all
at once. However it's gone so soon and then we're back with that ugly
mock-soulful organ riff, choppy guitar chords and boom boom boom drums. I've
got a headache....
'Feed The People' is worse. A world peace song
performed with a Caribbean lilt, its heart is in the right place in calling for
more love around the world, but its head is completely wrong with the most
arrogant and needlessly patronising lyrics in the CSN canon and its sound is
the single most 1980s sound I've heard outside the 1980s. Once again there are
some bright spots, just to tease us with how well this song could have gone.
When performed live by CSNY on their 'Freedom Of Speech' tour the opening
flurry of a capella harmonies was a thrilling moment (even if it still sounds
rather dead here played by an anonymous studio band of backing singers, plus
Nash) and the middle eight is a far better song, adding a touch of danger and
mystery. I quite like the line about 'turning swords to plough-sheds' too, which
says a lot in few words, while the dig at politicians trading in guns when they
ought to be trading for food to keep their people safe is exactly what CSN
ought to be doing with their old age. Otherwise, though, this sounds like a
tourist from a rich country wondering why we have to have poor in poor
countries, something that even Stills realises has maybe gone a tad far so he quickly backtracks with the
line 'I mean no disrespect!' It's a bit late for that though: the music alone
is patronising - the sort of twinkly 'gee isn't it hot?' reggae type number
that's played without guts and is deeply unusual for Stills who usually grasps
different styles from world cultures much quicker than this. Note how much
worse his voice has suddenly got too - while the sleevenotes don't mention when
this was recorded I'd bet my Crosby-Nash tour programme the backing track is an
unfinished 1980s baby that Stills overdubbed sometime around the album's
release in 2005.
Misguided, misappropriated and mismatched, this song is one of
Stills' bigger career mistakes.
Thankfully the album gets better from hereon in. The
biggest crime of 'Heart's Gate', for instance, is that it's not very memorable.
This 'Stills Alone' style acoustic song also suffers badly from Stills' now
croaky slurred voice and his acoustic playing is perfunctory rather than
spectacular as it so usually is. However the younger Stills would have made a
pretty decent song out of 'Heart's Gate', which ponders some nicely
philosophical thoughts similar to 'Move Around'. Debating love for the
umpteenth time, Stills wonders why each relationship always feels so different
and why none of his friends have the same story about how they met. Love comes
in many shapes and forms Stills says and 'none of us gets to choose', whilst it
'pays attention to trust in divine intervention', but no matter how sure you
are that a relationship is meant to be nobody is immune to heartbreak. Stills
is alone again, trying to count his blessings - there's a gorgeous sunset
before him (is he back in CSNY's old haunt of Hawaii?) and 'the air feels like
velvet', but it's all to no avail because he has no one to share the picture
with. The second half of the song - was this an older one abandoned and revived
and finished off for the album? - has Stills suddenly cutting to being with his
soulmate. He was wrong to worry about being nervous and plucking up the courage
to ask her out because she said a big fat 'yes' and instead he's kicking
himself for not doing this sooner and letting his nerves get in his way.
Sweetly Stills reflects on his younger self's worry with confusion and laughter
- was he really that messed up? He knows what security is now, the couple have
'had a few years, worked out our fears' and had 'lots of laughter and tears and
growing'. For all the struggles they've been through, though, Stills knows this
time that this was the love that was meant to be and the one pre-destined to be
waiting for him on Earth at the 'heart's gate' and not any of the Judy Collins,
Veronique Sansons or Rita Coolidges he used to chase. Anyone whose followed
Stills' career with any interest across his difficult younger years is allowed
to let out an 'ahhhhhhh' at this point on what's easily the album's most sophisticated
and impressive lyric. I just wish Stills had spent more time on the melody
instead of apparently singing the first thing that came into his mind as
without it this song gets somewhat lost amongst the noisier songs jostling for
your attention on this album. I bet this song would sound pretty great with CSN
harmonies too, just a little extra hint.
'Round The Bend' is another of those songs that
matches a fine lyric with a melody so generic it was pushing up daises when the
blues was young. Stills writes a semi-autobiographical piece about his young
Buffalo Springfield days. 'I was too young for where I'd been, trying to regain
my innocence' spits Stills, struggling to cope with a difficult childhood as an
adult who didn't have any role-models to help him act like one. The making of
him is meeting an 'enigma...hard as Canadian ice' who can surely only be Neil,
who urges Stills to calm down and care about living longer with the tip of the
hat that his songs are 'classy', exactly the faith Stills needed at the time.
Invited out to New York Stills sighs 'I couldn't find him so I headed West',
cutting the story short with the lines 'well you know the rest!' (I was
wondering how he was going to rhyme the line 'spotted a hearse with Ontario
license plates!') Stills opens up further, adding that when the Buffalo
Springfield finally hit the stage they found 'magic places' but were driven
apart by 'hangers-on with four different faces' and once again his heart was
too open and vulnerable to last the course. Throughout the song there's also a
clever refrain at the end of each verse that great things are coming 'round the
bend', that a band are about to meet in a traffic jam 'round the bend' and that
finally, despite all that early promise, the Springfield drove each other
'round the bend!' This is a clever lyric, much more true to life and
affectionate than Neil's surprisingly schmaltzy take on the saga (released as
the song 'Buffalo Springfield Again' on 2000's 'Silver and Gold' CD), but it
would have been better still had the music and arrangement been powerful enough
to show why the members of this band were once talked about so often or held in
such high esteem. It doesn't help either that Stills is guilty of fictionalising
his past a little - he never did lose a friend in Vietnam and the 'real' story
was that after a drug low one day he started having imaginary flashbacks of
service over there (which Stills believed until someone pointed out that a show
of the Springfield existed for the date he said he was over there). An intense
experience all the same though, so it's a shame that the music for this one is
same old, same old and enough to drive you round the bend!
'I Don't Get It!' is another very 1980s style
recording, sounding like a long lost outtake from 'Live It Up!' with its synth Vitale
drums and Finnigan keyboards. Why revive it now? I don't get it, get it, get it
as the chorus runs, not that you can really follow the lyrics too well given
that Stills sounds as if he hasn't put his teeth in and is drowned out by a
choir of four female backing singers. Which is a shame because, again, the
lyrics are better rather than the decidedly average mix of soul and reggae on
the melody and the noisy backing would suggest. 'Maybe it's me' sighs Stills
before spending a whole song wondering why his latest love has suddenly become
distant from him and is pulling away without warning. 'We usually have so much
fun, but now you up and change and run' complains Stills as he tries to read
what his lover is trying to tell him and gets confused, finding the script 'too
hard to swallow'. Stills ends the song deciding that this is surely about
something bigger than just him but he's still cross his lover won't let him
into her heart to help her - 'I know you're hurting, but I gotta sit here and
watch you suffer!' he explodes. Sadly what should be a major revelation, on a
par with the adulting of 'As I Come Of Age', becomes just another cue for a
twee organ riff and more of those deeply insincere backing vocals. Had Stills
recorded this when he was younger and with stronger vocals (preferably before
the 1980s trappings came along) then this could have been a pretty nice number
- but like so much of this album the potential is wasted under too many
mistakes.
'Around Us' is the pop song none of Stills' fans
were asking for. Though similar to 'Only Waiting For You', this song about
finally being with your soulmate (good old Kristen again) is far inferior and
just sounds like so many other twee pop songs, performed with yet more
insincerity by the backing singers who rather take the song over from an
actually pretty decent Stills lead (do these singers get trained to sound as
uncommitted as possible?) The lyrics about being 'one heart beating' and Stills
spending his time 'thinking of you' and other people being 'curious, probably
jealous' may be some of the most one-dimensional Stills has ever written. Which
is a shame because, this time, it's the melody that's worth a second listen
with a nicely urgent five-note guitar riff and a kind of gentle relaxed sway
that's unusual for the generally more uptight Stills (though the solo is so way
out of Stills' usual zone its one of his weakest, bare and lifeless). The best
part of the song is the middle eight which suddenly turns rhythmical and
stomping, like soul suddenly switching in Motown, as Stills suddenly gets a
fright that things are going too well and he pleads 'don't let them come
between us baby!' However for once this is a Stills song happier to bask in the
sunshine than spend its time with its head in the stormclouds and this at least
makes for a change. You just wish Stills had kept this song to himself instead
of inviting a faux soul band and a million backing singers in to chirp so unnecessarily
beside him.
At last 'Ole Man Trouble' sounds like the 'real'
Stills, even if it is in fact one of the album's covers and first appeared on a
Joel Scott Hill record (goodness knows why author Booker T didn't keep it for
one of the MG's albums and curse the fact he hadn't written it in fellow AAA
member Otis Redding's lifetime because he'd have been perfect for it!) Stills
probably learnt it thanks to two co-writers: Chris Etheridge, big friend of
Manassas man Chris Hillman and an ex Flying Burrito Brother or drummer Johnny
Barbata who'd once played with CSNY on their 1970 tour (before joining
Jefferson Airplane). The song suits Stills to a tee and for once the strict
upright backing contrasted with his own emotional maelstrom on the vocal is
exactly what this album should be doing. Still starts off sad - there's a
shadow that keeps following him around and making him sad and he can't shake it
off no matter how much he tries. Little bit by little bit, though, parts of the
'old' Stills start peeking through as he realises just how angry and bitter he
feels as yet another relationship dies a death prematurely. 'You know I worked
hard for you!' he intones to 'Mr Charlie' (rockstar slang for cocaine) and
moans at how much money and comfort he'd have by now if he hadn't wasted it
all, finding his pockets emptied along with his mind. Calling out to God (a
first on a Stills song) the guitarist pleads for 'somewhere to rest my lonely
head' and dreams of a quick death to free him from his endless cycle of misery.
In a couplet that could have been written by Stills himself, he also sighs that
he's put too much of his life and heart into sings and now that no one seems to
be singing them it feels like it's all been for nothing, his life and his worth
'blowing in the breeze'. The song reaches a mega-peak about two-thirds in as
Mike Finnigan finally understands a Stills arrangement and pulses his way up
the keys as Vitale gets noisy and Stills gets desperate, his wild wordless
blues wailings lost in a sea of backing singers singing alongside him. Not the
greatest thing Stills has ever done by any means, but for this album this
recording is a quiet triumph and is easily the most committed Stills sounds
across the whole album, a classy version of a classy song.
Almost as strong is the cover of traditional song
'Different Man'. Stephen and Neil sing it between them, bouncing lines and
guitar lines off each other (that's clearly Stills taking charge on the right
and Young playing catch-up on the left) and while this pair never sounded
naturally singing together without a cushion of harmonies they still bring out
the best in each other. The tune is a good one, Stills adding some very
characteristic blues touches on the guitar parts while the arrangement is
impressively bare and fragile to get the message across. And that message is
basically 'As I Come Of Age' yet again, as Stills vows that he's getting
younger in his old age and more contented now that 'pain and anger got no power
over me'. You still doubt that statement, such is the quiver of pain in his
voice at times, but it's good to hear Stills at least singing other people's
words about moving on and trying to be a better person. The song doesn't shy
away from despair though. The opening verse has the narrator digging a hole and
jumping right in it, the second being loyal 'to a fault' to similarly loyal
friends but finding that even so 'there ain't too much good we've done'.
Clearly this CSNY-style message is crying out for CSNY style harmonies (a shame
that Nash, underused on the rest of the album, isn't on this track - one he
could really get his teeth into) and it's odd to hear a second Stills cover in
a row reaching out to God (and asking for 'forgiveness' as a 'sinner'), but
fans of the Stills-Young feud/competition/rivalry/friendship will find much to
enjoy here as two old friends sing an old song about old ways before embracing
the fact that they are now 'different men' and can find it inside themselves to
put the past behind them. And so it has proved - while the C/N axis has been in
trouble lately, the S/Y one still seems pretty healthy these days.
'Piece Of Me' suggests that Stills hasn't changed
entirely however. A muted, acoustic piece of blues puffing, this song is the
most sorry-for-itself in the Stills canon. In a reflection of his defensive
interviews around the time of this album, Stills turns on his critics for
thinking they know him and wanting 'a piece of me' without ever giving anything
back (erm...hi Stephen! You know I love you really, right?...) and has rarely
sounded sadder as this recording almost slinks its way across the speakers with
a weary shrug. Stills likes mysteries and wants to preserve his and equates
understanding his songs to staring at the wild blue yonder from afar, which is
fair enough, but Stills always makes his insights so interesting it's hard to
look away. Once again on this album the lyric is far stronger than the album. Stills
comes out 'the shadows', cries down a 'wishing well' and waits for a sign -
only to be given what people think he needs rather than what he actually does
(no clue to what that might be, though). '#It's a hunger' he complains, though
whether he means his need to write about himself or our need to speculate on it
is ambiguous, while the last verse is a cop-out, Stills trying to dazzle us
with how remarkable his 'guitar-phone' is (whatever that might be!), hoping
that it will distract us from deeper questions. Me, though, I'm not fooled -
there's a very dark and angry song in here that returns to the dilemma of 'Open
Secret' with its cry of 'somebody tell me have I been gifted or robbed?' For
now Stills feels robbed, but it's that gift of being open that allows him to
write songs like this one. Perhaps the best original on the album, although
sadly that's not saying much - you still wish this sad bluesy track would get a
move on or throw a middle eight in there for variety's sake, while Stills seems
to be struggling with a basic harmonica part his younger self would have
knocked out in minutes without thinking.
'Wounded World' returns to 'Feed The People's
bombast as it studies a modern-day life that seems to be blooming miserable (an
unusual song, actually, for the immediate pre-credit crunch days when things
were relatively settled 9/11 aside). Stills sings in the first person but later
revealed he and Nash wrote it together on a CSN tour-bus after finding that
they both had children leaving home and would be returning to an emptier nest
one things were over. The first 'family' Stills song since 'To Mama From
Christopher And The Old Man', however, is an odd response and more like Cat
Stevens' song of warning 'Wild World' than a 'good luck' message. 'Like a ship
at sea, your life goes where you steer it' sings Stills in the closest he gets
to being kind, although even this line is clearly nonsense - did Stills really
steer any of those courses he set sail for in his youth? I think not! Stills,
with Nash's support, tells his youngster (Jennifer? She'd be the closest in
age) that sometimes he'll 'hurt', feel like 'giving up' and might be abandoned
and feel 'all alone' (plus weirdly that 'you used you like a drug'). At least
there's some belated cheer near the end when Stills praises his offspring for
managing to stay so upbeat and innocent in a 'cynical' age, something dad
considers a 'miracle', but this only makes him worry more: he sees so much of
himself in her/him and he knows how badly he took to life alone when he left
home to become a singer before he was ready. Sadly what comes over most from
this ugly song isn't parental worry or pride but one of fear and paranoia -
this isn't a world that's black and white, it's just black and Stills (plus
Nash) sounds as if they're manipulating their children to stay at home for selfish
reasons. That's a little unfair, as is the fact that this father-daughter/son
time is unbalanced by first Nash's less than fitting harmony vocal and then
another whole great choir again. The melody, too, doesn't do much except chug
along. One thing the blues ain't is pretty I suppose (well, that and funny) but
it's a shame this song couldn't have had just a little dash more colour or I'm
in danger of never leaving my door again.
You all know 'Drivin' Thunder' if you're a fan
enough to be reading an obscure review of an obscure album on an obscure site in
an obscure corner of the internet, but in case you don't its the song about
cars that added way too much heavy metal to the CSNY reunion album 'American
Dream'. Though its actually more in Crosby's taste (see the similar 'Drive My
Car' from 1989's 'Oh Yes I Can!'), it was Young who re-arranged the song for
the album and got a co-credit for his troubles though in truth he didn't do
much except 'simplify' it, as only Neil can. Here's Stills' go at his own song,
possibly one recorded before the CSNY one if the 1980s stylistics are anything
to go by, but with the Young co-credit reinstated. Sorry to say the 1988
version was superior and even that was pretty weak. This is a dumb song by
Stills' standards, revelling in going fast and hanging out with a crowd without
much care for the danger and with the inevitable result that at the last corner
Stills manages to 'wingshot and win this race' from the expected leader. This
version lacks the dangerous guitar riff of the 1988 version and swaps it for an
irritating single note squeal that keeps interrupting the action after every
line or so, while the less-than-vital Vitale drums aren't so much thunder as
lightning, jumping about nosily at random so that you're never quite sure where
anything will land. Only a Stills guitar solo, played solo and less
aggressively than the 1988 take, offers any real excitement. There is, by the
way, still a good song to be had here if only Stills would re-arrange it a
third way, adding more doubt to the outcome and making a dangerous sport sound
a little less safe. Heard like this, though, it's a car crash and not worthy of
the Stills name.
'Acadienne' though is easily the album's weakest
song. In his time Stills has paid tribute to just about every branch of
Northern/Southern/Latin America there is but here he slips in one more with a
tribute to the 'Acadians', the French settlers who came to Nova Scotia and
surrounding Canadian areas and were wiped out when the English arrived and accused
them of helping the French. In recent years DNA tracing and more open-ness about
different cultures (till Trump got into power anyway) has led to more and more
Americans and Canadians embracing this aspect of their family tree and people
have begun digging up their traditional music. Stills, of course, just has to
have a go and the Cajun-style should be right down his alley (think Buddy
Holly's 'Brown-Eyed Handsome Man' which kicked off a mini-craze for the style
in the late 1950s). Unfortunately the closest any of his band can find to
'real' 'Acadian' music is an accordion, which Mike Finnigan plays in the same
noisy way he does his organ, while the rest of the band carry on as normal and
pretend they're having a hootenanny. The result was never going to work in a
zillion years played like that but falls even flatter than expected, with
nobody paying attention or caring enough to go the extra mile needed to make
this song swing. As for the lyrics, goodness knows what's going on - one minute
we're mixing with 'Spanish grass and Cyprus leaves', the next we're driving
with Stills in his Cadillac, the next we're running wild with 'gators and
snakes' and then somehow we're meant to sympathise with a 'father' who has
'wanderlust' and recalls the times before he started a family and grew roots. 'The
life you get is the life I want' concludes Stills, but whether that's as the privileged
rock-star who never gets to make any music for fun anymore, the family man who
never gets to go interesting places or the locals who don't want to spend their
days wrestling with crocodiles all their lives is never explained. Perhaps everyone
in this song is jealous of each other and that's what this song is all about?
It would have been nice to have had a clue though. Really this is just an
excuse to mess around in a new style, but it's not one that suits Stills (who
in years gone by suited everything) or Nash, who sounds even less suitable here
than on 'Wounded World'.
'Spanish Suite' tries hard to be an ambitious
closing finale to the record. A little too hard to be honest - like a lot of
other foreign-language ten minute AAA suites (such as Cat Stevens' 'Foreigner')
it's an exercise that seems to be more about breaking the listener and their
patience than truly adding to what we know about the author. There is, at
least, some superb moments of pure Stills in here as yet again he looks back on
a relationship that went wrong and tries to force himself to break away. We've
seen on here in the past how the 'real' Stills is often buried on his
foreign-language Spanish and French songs, rightly guessing that most of his
fans won't understand or be willing to go the extra mile to work out what he's
saying so he can be truly honest and open with us. Here, though, he offers us
the English translation as soon as he's sung the Spanish as if to draw our
attention to it. The lyrics are clearly heartfelt though, more so than most of
this album and quite painful and real even if - as I suspect - the subject of
them dates back to at least Rita Coolidge (maybe with bits of Judy Collins in
there too given that this lengthy formless poem resembles 'Suite: Judy Blue
Eyes' more than anything else in his canon). 'Goodbye and good luck' his once
loved one sings from her pedestal, 'I am not interested - your love is worth
nothing'. Stills is crushed but obstinate enough to try again anyway, figuring
that love is meant to be a 'trial' where some win and some lose, only to lose
again. Finally Stills 'gets' it, that there is 'no more me and you' and wonders
how long it will take him to forget her - forever? In the two minutes of this
song that stop sleepwalking and suddenly matter this fragmentary song suddenly
grows into a full band performance. 'I gave up on you' Stills snaps, over and
over, a sentence he never thought he'd ever hear himself say. This is, after
all, a lover who promised to do anything and go anywhere for his loved ones and
meant it too and Stills is still in shock unable to believe he's saying it. But
for once it's not a lover walking out on him, he's giving up on her ;finished
with the chase' and he's in shock, spinning the sentences out over and over
past their natural breaking point in a flurry of words as if, even now, he's
adamant that he needs to get everything right and expresses just how hard this
decision was to make. 'I have nothing left to lose, even though I know you'll
never really face yourself or put your trust in someone else that's just the
same as asking all of us to turn away and just give up on you'. That, as they
say, is a sentence! Unfortunately it's not the end of the song, as it should
be, but the excuse for five minutes of some of the worst jamming session
noodling on record (a decidedly
non-super session if you will). Jazz pianist Herbie Hancock takes over but his
jazzy chords are a world away from Stills' style and he doesn't seem to have
been given much direction except to make a lot of noise and Stills' much more
interesting flamenco style guitar doesn't get much of a look in alongside. To
be honest it's all quite boring and no substitute for the 'doo doo doo' ending
to 'Suite: Judy'. The song chills and you half-expect a verse reprise to stamp
the song's authority back in the peak of the chorus, but no - this song just
drifts away which is disappointing after that adrenalin rush. The middle, then,
is great and back to the ambition and themes of old - but it's a great two
minute song sitting at the heart of an eleven minute track you won't be able to
stomach too many times unless you really like weak jazz or really really really
like Stills' 'latin' songs (of which this is, sadly, the weakest).
Not that I'm giving up on Stills or anything. The
middle of this CD is pretty decent and had this album been made for the
LP-length days when a few of the weaker songs from the beginning and end had
been kicked out it would have been just about up to standard. But even with a
few moments that catch the ear, the good moments are rather swamped by
everything this album gets wrong - every bland song (the melodies being a
particular disappointment across this record for someone of Stills' standards),
every repetitive 1980s arrangement and every lifeless performance just sucks
the life out of this record before it's even had a chance to get going. This
isn't the sound of a 'man alive' - well not up to the standards that a Stills
album is generally so amazingly, remarkably, full-bloodedly alive. Instead this
is another 'marking time' album like 'Stills Alone', albeit one made over a
longer period of time and with more actual songs on it this time. There's an
inside-sleeve picture that goes with this album that's obviously meant to be
clever and cool, Stills playing his guitar in a Hawaiian shirt (Stills that is,
not the guitar - his neck's not that big!) on a fast-speed camera that's all
blurry. Instead of looking energetic and powerful, though, it just looks like
an old man waving his arms around for a bit for no reason. That's the problem
with this album, which spends too long concentrating on the daft speedboats of
'Right By You' and trying to make Stills look trendy instead of concentrating
on what this album does get right - the wiser, cooler head, the occasional
heartfelt autobiographical lyric the younger Stills wasn't yet grown enough to
be writing and the passionate delivery on the pair of cover songs. This album
tries so hard in so many ways, while in others it doesn't try anywhere near
enough, being by far the lowest moment in Stills' solo canon. That said,
though, I'd like to hear any other career lowpoints with the power of the
performance heard on 'Ole Man Trouble' 'Different Man', the lyrics of 'Heart's
Gate' 'Round The Bend' or 'Piece Of Me' or the sudden moment everything works
in the middle of 'Spanish Suite'. Giving up on you? Hardly - this album still
has enough to gets fans excited about for a future Stills album being as great
as we know it can be as long as Stills ditches the production, bandmates and
bland melodies.
A Now Complete List Of CSN/Y and Solo Articles Available To Read At Alan’s Album Archives:
'Crosby, Stills and Nash' (1969) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-29-crosby-stills-and-nash-1969.html
'Deja Vu' (CSNY) (1970) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-34-crosby-stills-nash-and-young.html
‘Stephen Stills’ (1970) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/stephen-stills-1970.html
'If Only I Could Remember My Name' (Crosby) (1971) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-45-david-crosby-if-only-i-could.html
'Songs For Beginners' (Nash) (1971) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-46-graham-nash-songs-for.html
'Stephen Stills II' (1971) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-48-stephen-stills-ii-1971.html
‘Graham Nash, David
Crosby’ (1972) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/graham-nash-david-crosby-1972.html
'Stephen Stills-Manassas' (1972)http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-51-stephen-stillsmanassas-1972.html
'Wild Tales' (Nash) (1973) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/news-views-and-music-issue-75-graham.html
'Stephen Stills-Manassas' (1972)http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-51-stephen-stillsmanassas-1972.html
'Wild Tales' (Nash) (1973) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/news-views-and-music-issue-75-graham.html
'Down The Road' (Stephen
Stills/Manassas) (1973) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/stephen-stillsmanassas-down-by-road-1973.html
'Stills' (1975) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/review-65-stephen-stills-stills-1975.html
'Wind On The Water' (Crosby-Nash) (1975) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-67-crosby-nash-wind-on-water.html
'Stills' (1975) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/review-65-stephen-stills-stills-1975.html
'Wind On The Water' (Crosby-Nash) (1975) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-67-crosby-nash-wind-on-water.html
'Illegal Stills' (Stills)
(1976)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/stephen-stills-illegal-stills-1976.html
'Whistling Down The Wire'
(Crosby-Nash) (1976)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/david-crosby-graham-nash-whistling-down.html
'Long May You Run' (Stills-Young) (1976) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-33-stills.html
'CSN' (1977) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-70-crosby-stills-and-nash-csn.html
'Long May You Run' (Stills-Young) (1976) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-33-stills.html
'CSN' (1977) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-70-crosby-stills-and-nash-csn.html
'Thoroughfare Gap'
(Stills) (1978) http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/stephen-stills-thoroughfare-gap-1978.html
'Earth and Sky' (Nash)
(1980)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/graham-nash-earth-and-sky-1980.html
'Daylight Again' (CSN) (1982) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/news-views-and-music-issue-131-crosby.html
'Daylight Again' (CSN) (1982) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/news-views-and-music-issue-131-crosby.html
'Right By You' (Stills)
(1984) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/stephen-stills-right-by-you-1984.html
'Innocent Eyes' (Nash)
(1986)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2017/01/graham-nash-innocent-eyes-1986.html
'American Dream' (CSNY)
(1988) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/crosby-stills-nash-and-young-american.html
'Oh Yes I Can!' (Crosby)
(1989)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2016/07/david-crosby-oh-yes-i-can-1989.html
'Live It Up!' (CSN) (1989) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-viedws-and-music-issue-104-crosby.html
'Live It Up!' (CSN) (1989) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-viedws-and-music-issue-104-crosby.html
'Stephen Stills Alone'
(1991)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.nl/2016/09/stephen-stills-alone-1991.html
'A Thousand Roads'
(Crosby) (1993) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2017/02/david-crosby-thousand-roads-1993.html
‘After The Storm’ (CSN)
(1994) https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/the-final-review-crosby-stills-and-nash.html
'CPR' (Crosby Band) (1998)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/cpr-david-crosby-band-1998.html
'Looking Forward' (1999) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/crosby-stills-nash-and-young-looking.html
‘So Like Gravity (CPR,
2001)
https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/cpr-just-like-gravity-2001.html
‘Songs For Survivors’ (2002) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/graham-nash-songs-for-survivors-2002.html
‘Songs For Survivors’ (2002) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/graham-nash-songs-for-survivors-2002.html
'Crosby*Nash' (2004) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/news-views-and-music-issue-21-crosby.html
‘Man Alive’ (S) (2005) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/stephen-stills-man-alive-2005.html
'Deja Vu Live' (CD) (2008) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/08/news-views-and-music-issue-1-crosby.html
'Deja Vu Live' (DVD) (2008) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008_09_21_archive.html
'Reflections' (Graham Nash Box Set) (2009) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/news-views-and-music-issue-22-graham.html
'Demos' (CSN) (2009) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-41-crosby.html
'Manassas: Pieces' (2010) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/news-views-and-music-issue-52-manassas.html
‘Carry On’ (Stephen Stills Box Set) (2013) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/stephen-stills-carry-on-box-set-2013.html
'Croz' (Crosby) (2014) http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/david-crosby-croz-2014album-review.html
'CSNY 74' (Recorded 1974 Released 2014)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/crosby-stills-nash-and-young-csny-74.html
'This Path Tonight' (Nash) (2016) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/graham-nash-this-path-tonight-2016.html
'Lighthouse' (Crosby)
(2016) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/david-crosby-lighthouse-2016.html
‘Sky Trails’ (Crosby)
(2017) https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/david-crosby-sky-trails-2017.html
‘Here
If You Listen’ (Crosby) https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2018/10/david-crosby-and-friends-here-if-you.html
The Best Unreleased CSNY
Recordings http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/csny-best-unreleased-tracks-news-views.html
Surviving TV Appearances (1969-2009) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/csny-surviving-tv-appearances-1969-09.html
Non-Album Recordings (1962-2009)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/crosby-stills-nash-and-sometimes-young_6.html
Live/Compilation/Rarities Albums Part One
(1964-1980)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/crosby-stills-nash-and-sometimes-young.html
Live/Compilations/Rarities
Albums Part Two (1982-2012)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/crosby-stills-nash-and-sometimes-young_20.html
Essay: The Superest Of
Super Groups?
https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/csny-essay-superest-of-super-groups.html
Five Landmark Concerts and
Three Key Cover Versions
https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/csny-five-landmark-concerts-and-three.html
