Just Roll Tape, Stills 1, Stills 2,Manassas, Down The Road, Stills & Still Alone - IMO are, in some instances better, and definitely equal to the very best of Neil's work. As I mentioned upstream, when Neil strikes gold he is incredible. However as @CrawdaddySim1 mentioned, Stills has a natural ability to combine many styles in his music including latin rhythms, country, blues, and rock. He is just a better all round musician than Neil. Neil does acoustic Neil or electric Neil - and does both extremely well. However when Neil goes into any other style it becomes a caricature of that style - its incredibly forced - just look at the Geffen years.
The "problem" is, as a solo artist, Stills' discography is fairly tiny, especially compared to Neil. Super Session (1968) Stills is featured on side two as a guitarist only. Stephen Stills (1970) Stephen Stills 2 (1971) Manassas (1972) nominally a band, this is essentially Stills backed by Manassas similar to Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band or Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Down the Road (1973) the second Manassas album. Stills (1975) Illegal Stills (1976) Long May You Run (1976) a Neil Young/Stephen Stills album. Thoroughfare Gap (1978) Right by You (1984) Stills Alone (1991) Man Alive (2005) Everybody Knows (2017) a Judy Collins/Stephen Stills album. That's thirteen "solo" albums in fifty years. Neil was basically releasing an album a year for most of his career so there's a lot more Neil albums than Stephen albums. For me, Stephen, up to about 1973, was pretty much on par, or better than, Neil. After that he got much more hit or miss but, at his best, was still comparable to Neil. It's just that there are so many more Neil songs/albums than Stephen songs/albums. I wouldn't compare them to his very best but Stills Alone and Man Alive are late career highlights and arguably on par with the albums Neil was releasing around the same time. If you are curious about Stephen I would very much recommend the Carry On box set. It leans heavily on the sixties/seventies but it gives you a broad look at his career and does a good job of picking out the highlights from his weaker albums.
Does anyone have any opinions about the two albums Stephen did with the Rides? The presence of Kenny Wayne Shepherd makes me hesitant to listen to them. I don't especially dislike Shepherd but I'd be much more interested in hearing just Stephen on guitar.
Had that good bluesy voice, doesn't get enough credit for his guitar playing. Saw CSN several years ago but the voices aren't there anymore, particularly his. Also they played so much solo Crosby, Nash that it was dull.
I'll be dead honest. I am not a fan of KWS's vocal style and I personally don't find his voice suits some of the blues covers he does. I don't particularly enjoy his songs on the first album, although the cover of Seek & Destroy (The Stoogies)is pretty decent. However he actually comes into himself on the second album and I enjoy his overall performance on that one a lot more. The Stills songs are phenomenal by the way and anyone who writes off late period Stills would do well to give them a listen.
Here are the details : " Date : 7/19/1969 & 11/8/1969 Session : Stephen Stills Home, Studio City & Wally Heider Studios, San Francisco Musicians : Stephen Stills : vocal, guitar, bass, organ Neil Young : organ David Crosby : vocal, guitar Graham Nash : vocal Dallas Taylor : drums Greg Reeves : bass Bill Halverson : engineer "
the first manassass album and the first stills album are held in high regard by most classic rock fans
I wonder when the "Roll The Tape" session really was. Can't be pre Springfield. Must be that Summer of '68. The last thing he'd want is Judy's blues eyes published by Springalo (5 member split), Cotillion (Atlantic), leftover Greene & Stone publishing deals Ten-East. As Neil showed in his early Springfield publishing statement after the splits "I've been buffalo'd" in the box set booklet.
Seems like late August or early Sept ‘68 based on some research in another thread on this site. Not sure about Treetop Flyer though. Would love to know that date. I wish they would repress this as I neglected to pick it up when it first came out.
Neil Young was not a stupid man and the invite to join CSN was a great opportunity to get his name out there. His first two albums, including the classic Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, were non-starters on the charts until he joined them. But he did add value and most importantly he brought “Ohio” to CSNY and that was icing on the cake for a band that was truly on top of the (US) world in summer 1970. But the band imploded by the end of summer 1970. Neil didn’t leave an intact CSN. They *all* splintered. They all blew it. And the die was cast: for fans, radio, press and the industry, it was CSNY that were “the American Beatles”. Anything less than that was considered not optimal. Same goes for the amount of money they could earn. Two of the most asked questions in the 1970s were 1) Will the Beatles ever get back together? and 2) Will CSNY ever get back together? CSN should’ve have thought through the possible consequences of asking someone like Neil to join them. Or - the four of them should’ve checked the egos and drugs aside and further capitalized on their mid 1970 momentum.
The only one of Stephen's albums that's weaker than the best of Neil's is Thoroughfare Gap, and even that's decent, I reckon. Both have made a a bunch of stellar recordings but only Neil has put out material I've actively sought to get rid of.
I have one of them. Stephen's stuff is tremendous. I mean if you want to compare Neil hasn't produced songs of that quality for decades. Kenny Wayne I find generic filler. So, half a great album, Can't Get Enough.
When did this turn into a Stephen Stills versus Neil Young thread? Why is it so important to you to let everyone know that you prefer Stills’ worst albums over Neil’s best albums? I get that that’s your MO, but I think we get your point now.
The moment Neil fans started to rave about how much of a lesser performer Stephen has been. This is a Stephen Stills appreciation - rather than opinions - thread but people keep coming in telling us how much they think one of his contemporaries is better. While they do that, I will quite happily state my opposing view. Quite frankly, I don't give a tinker's curse whether you are bored with me doing so, but while others diss somebody that I regard as one of America's premier musical talents, on their own appreciation thread, I will continue to argue the opposite. Feel free to ignore my contributions in any way you see fit.
If nothing else, get them for the Stills songs. “Don’t Want Lies”, “Virtual World”, and “Only Teardrops Fall” are among the best Stills of the past 30 years, and he plays great throughout.
Neil played them like a fiddle and became huge. I do appreciate Stephen's Springfield and CSNY material.
Neil's discography is on a different planet. Neil didn't miss from 69-79 and then from 89-95. Was unstoppable. I appreciate their collaborations and Stephen's musicianship is arguably better than Neil's although that's not hard to beat. Stills was never able to command an audience like Neil and up to this day is a festival/arena headline act with enough credibility with the masses and critics to last 10 lifetimes. I respect you guys and your liking for Stills solo discs but not for me.