Buffalo Springfield's "Last Time Around"

I've got a Question: why on earth hasn't Rhino gotten around to Re-issuing Buffalo Springfield's swan song"The Last Time Around"? This is a Question that keeps DOGGING ME!! Come on, What fan of Buffalo Springfield wouldn't want a copy of the RARE LP!!! Michael Boyce

 

Reissue it? As far as I know the CD is still in print. It's been issued twice on CD so far. First time mastered by Joe Gastwirt, and the second by Tim Mulligan as I recall.

Or, are you talking about a vinyl reissue?

 

Rhino hasn not released any Buffalo Springfield other than the box set. I did not get it as I have the HDCD of the first two albums and Buffalo Springfield Last Time Around is really not that good anyway. The box set would have had to have the unreleased Bluebird with the guitar solo on it. That is only available on the double LP Anthology. Which I have for that song only.

 

Here's the deal with the currently available CD's:

Buffalo Springfield - Elektra/Atco - catalog # 62080- 2
(includes both mono & stereo versions of the album)

Buffalo Springfield Again - Atco - catalog # 33 226-2

Last Time Around - Atco - catalog # 7 90393-2

All of these are mastered by Tim Mulligan, are HDCD encoded, & sound very good, IMO. They are cheap as dirt, about $10 each in retail stores, maybe even a little cheaper online. For about $30, you can have the complete catalog of one of the great 60's bands, in very good sound quality.
Unfortunately, the Rhino box set does not include all of the songs from "Last Time Around". A pity, as there was plenty of room to include them all.

 

For some reason, in Canada I can't find a copy of the first album that has both the mono and the stereo tracks. Or are the mono tracks unlisted?

 

I'd be content with the Last Time Around on Atco. Any further reissue/remasters/re-whatevers have to get approved by Neil, and Last Time Around isn't a Neil album. It was cobbled together by Richie and Jim Messina from old sessions (incredible what they had just lying around!), plus new tunes by Richie and Jim. My understanding is that Neil "allowed" "I Am A Child", which is a complete solo recording IIRC to be on the album.

This is why the album is under-represented on the box set. I think Neil believes there were only two Buffalo Springfield albums. Everything else was just songs that didn't make any album. Its interesting that Neil chose to use the version of "On The Way Home" without horns. He was there for that, but he wasn't there for the horns, thus...

He included "Kind Woman" but my presumption is that he wouldn't dare not include it. Its one of Richie's best songs ever. Neil isn't on it, and its basically almost a Poco song. However, Neil would've taken incredible **** if it were excluded, least of all from Richie!

 

I like On The Way Home better without the horns. Save for the LP version of Four Days Gone I don't really have a problem with non-appearance of all of the Last Time Around tracks.

 

The Atco cd has both versions listed on the back, because they differ slightly. The mono version is from the original release, and the stereo version is the rerelease with For What It's Worth tacked on and Baby Don't Scold Me omitted. The original LP didn't have For What It's Worth.

In other words, the Atco cd lacks the mono version of For What It's Worth.

 

More importantly, it lacks the stereo version of Baby Don't Scold Me (the mono FWIW was issued on the box set - the stereo Baby Don't Scold Me hasn't been on CD, or even LP since the original issue).

I don't care if it was cobbled together or not - Last Time Around is one hell of an album. It seems its reputation unfairly taints it. As much as I like the first album, IMO Last Time Around is far stronger.

 

"Last Time Around" is a very good album, whether it's a bunch of leftovers, or whatever. I do think the first 2 albums are a bit better, but I opted to pick up the 3 CD reissues instead of the box set purely because the box does not feature all of the tracks from "Last Time Around". I may pick up the box in the future for all of the great demos & rarities that I'm sure it contains, but for now, I'm happily enjoying their core output of "Buffalo Springfield", "Buffalo Springfield Again", & "Last Time Around" on CD.

 

What he said.

 

Aside from the rarity of the track, how does it stack up against the mono version? They weren't involved in the stereo mix for the first lp, but did they approve the stereo mixes of "Again" and "Last Time Around", or if Last Time... was cobbled together, does it have stereo and mono tracks on the same lp? I've never heard it before myself, much less seen a copy.

 

Seconded!

 

I'd say Baby Don't Scold Me is probably one of the best stereo mixes on the first album. My general opinion with mono vs. stereo for that album is despite what Stills and Young say, the mono mix really isn't any better than the stereo. For the most part, the recording sucks, regardless of the mix. I do like the mono mix of Flying on the Ground is Wrong, though - there's some cool reverb not on the stereo.

If Last Time Around was issued in mono I've never heard or seen it.

 

Thirded...triplicated...whatever the word is for I agree, and am the third person to say so

 

I can't agree... I never liked "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" until I heard it in mono - I literally sat up and was like "oh my god - this is a great song!".

"Sit Down I Think I Love You" seems better too... the guitars are more present, they blend better... those were the two songs that I had already known in stereo. I think my problem with the stereo mix stems from how wide it is... kinda distracting.

 

To each their own. To me the mono mixes were entirely underwhelming. Still are.

 

I prefer the mono version of the debut album too. There are some fairly severe tuning problems with the guitars on some songs, and at least they don't stick out quite so bad when they're all blended together.

 

I feel the same way. I always liked the first record in stereo, but the mono caught me by surprise; some tracks, like the aforementioned Clancy, knocked me out, like I was just discovering them.

Which is why I'm bummed they didn't put the mono FWIW on the cd. Come to think of it, I'd like to hear that stereo BDSM as well. Those are on the box, right?

 

The mono FWIW is on the box but the stereo BDSM has never been on CD.

 

Well, I guess that's the thing. Other than the aforementioned Flying on the Ground is Wrong, the main difference seems to be separation, or lack thereof. The *overall* balance seems to be pretty much the same.

And like I said earlier, the stereo Baby Don't Scold me has *only* been issued on the original stereo LP to my knowledge, which was taken out of print very quickly. I still don't have a copy, just a fairly decent dub from somebody. The mono/stereo twofer of the first album really made no sense - why issue one version of the album in mono and the other in stereo? Would it have killed them to add two more tracks?

 

I played the heck out of this record when it came out. Maybe it helped that I didn't know what was going on in the band at the time (which was basically that the band was over). To me it was (and still is) just a bunch of great songs. My vinyl is totally beat, though. Time to get the CD...

 

Here's what Neil had to say about this album:

It was such a disgraceful mess that I can't bear to listen to it again. The mixes are incredibly awful, a very disturbing point.

Problem was, Neil wasn't around to help finish the album As the box set proves, he held back some pretty good stuff, Old Laughing Lady and Whatever Happened to Saturday Night to name a couple.

I agree w/Chris M--the Box set tracks are sufficient for me too. Never cared much for The Hour of Not Quite Rain or Carefree Country Day. The piano demo of Four Days Gone on the box is a must hear IMHO, very well done and totally different from the standard version. Also like On the Way Home w/o the horns and maudlin strings--makes that great bass playing by Bruce easier to hear.

 

I like the fact that you can pick out what the guitars are doing better on the box set mix of "On The Way Home", but I more intensely dislike how it seems to drag for me without the overdubs.

One thing I always wondered was why Neil let Richie sing that song. Yes, I know it probably suites his voice better, but I thought Neil was confident enough by that point to sing all his own stuff. This is assuming Neil hadn't left before Richie did the vocal.

BTW #1 - Has anybody else thought it was kind of weird for Neil to leave "..Clancy..." and "On The Way Home" off of 'Decade' only because Richie sang them. On one hand I can understand it, but isn't "...Clancy..." one of Neil's most important/personal songs? Why would he have not at least used his kinda crappy demo from Elektra?

BTW #2 - Am I the only one who thinks it strange that "Down To The Wire" didn't at least get dug out for 'Last Time Around' or one of the Springfield's 2 greatest hits releases?

Lastly, is it just me, or is that song sung way better by Stills as heard on the box set, than by Neil's version on 'Decade'?

 

I agree. I like the Stills sung version much better than the version with the Neil vocal on Decade. The sound quality of the Stills version is much better for some reason. It would have been nice if they included both versions on the box though.