I love Stills rough but sweet voice especially when he sings in a more natural softer voice like parts of SJBE
With apologies to @O Don Piano.... Plenty of great Neil albums within the periods you mention but a fair few stinkers too, at least to my ears. I don't rate any of his Seventies albums between On The Beach & Comes A Time, particularly highly, for example. As to the live arena, I've seen Neil twice. The first time was a crushing disappointment, and the second was bad enough to vow "never again". He has a reputation as a performer who is either on of off so I may have been unlucky but I wouldn't risk parting with money to see him again. Only seen Stephen live once (as a solo performer) on the tour his Live At Shepherd's Bush album came from. It remains one of the greatest concert experiences of my life.
Neil with Crazy Horse is incredible. One of the greatest live acts of all time. Stills doesn't hold a candle. Again his Springfield work is great but nowhere near Neil in many, many ways. In saying that the Deja Vu 50th anniversary release was really good and Stills dominated that.
Hopefully more 1968 material except the Kooper stuff. I want to know if he was prepping a late '68 solo album.
Don't agree with much of that, as you can imagine. On the evidence of the shows I went to, Neil was a sulky, sloppy and dreary performer whereas Stephen (first half solo, second with band) was simply extraordinary. With the exception of a few songs, I'm not keen on the Springfield work by either of them. I'll bow out of discussing Neil, at least in this thread, by iterating that I do regard my self as a fan of his. He's got dozen or so albums that are essential to my record collection btt there are certainly aspects of his work - right from the Seventies - that don't strike a chord with me. If others like them, that's fab, however I will never buy the argument that he is streets ahead of Stephen, quality-wise. Quite the opposite, at least according to my tastes.
As far as Stephen and Neil go, both are among my all time favorites, and many of their collaborations are among the most memorable. For a very long time I’ve wanted them to play music together again. It could be the two of them on acoustic guitars - anything… The Stills-Young Band - Traces
I may be misremembering, but is there a story behind Stephen switching from Atlantic to Columbia circa 1975? Something involving an incident with Ahmet Ertegren?
It was an issue with each of CSN that Atlantic did not promote their solo work because they wanted CSN or CSNY. By 1975, Stills and Crosby & Nash were signed to other labels. I read something where Stills addressed a rumor that he left Atlantic because Ahmet didn’t attend his wedding, but Stills said it was ridiculous and was glad Ahmet released him from Atlantic. At some point post-Manassas, but pre-CSNY reunion, Stills was working on two projects. There was the “Stolen Stills” project that was supposed to be various unreleased and leftover tracks, including songs where one part became another song (hence the title). Atlantic wasn’t interested in this project. Then somewhere around the same time, early in 1974, parts of “Stolen Stills” started to blend into a new album project, which ultimately became Stills, which was mostly complete before CSNY, but not released until after CSNY flamed out and the CBS deal was worked out. I think the merging of “Stolen Stills” into Stills accounts for some of the varying recording dates and sessions on that album, even though most songs were from the newer sessions. “Black Sheep” was supposed to be on “Stolen Stills”. Instead, it was covered by Joy Fleming.
I would love to have all of the recordings made during the Miami sessions in 1976. It's a kind of Holy Grail for me.
Ah, thank you for the information. I wonder if it would have made any difference in terms of sales if Stephen had stayed with Atlantic? Probably not but we will never know.
I always wondered if Stills' adoption of processing on his acoustics and plugging in vs. miking the guitars might have had something to do with his hearing issues, which he mentions as early as the 70s.
Steve solo... 4+20 So good...peaking vocally, on guitar and songwriting. Joni in silent respectful reverie sitting next to Steve, listening to genius unfold.
Crosby always used to say that Nash wrote the hits, Stills wrote the legendary rock'n'roll, and Crosby wrote the weird ****. I always thought that Stills' arrangements of Nash's songs helped them immeasurably.
From Crosby, Stills & Nash: A Biography by Dave Zimmer: The music of San Jose [Costa Rica], mostly Latin and jazz styles, intrigued Stephen greatly. He frequented a hotel where an ensemble played that featured bassist Pala White and keyboardist Pibe Hine. Stephen recalls, "Pala was a gentle soul and he taught me the underpinnings of Latin music. He taught me positions on the bass and that little anticipated beat, before the downbeat, which influences how I play bass to this day." As Stephen told Anthony Fawcett, in California Rock, California Sound, "Pibe taught me piano. He had the Errol Garner influence, you know, and he taught me how to get a good spread -- from what I first learned when I was eight or nine to playing fifths with my left hand and being able to manipulate octaves."
I think that’s true. Stills made those Nash songs into hits, and he made the Crosby songs conventional enough to be accessible to a larger audience than Crosby was on his own.
I think “Ohio” was an exception, and maybe “Helpless”, depending on much you like that song. Otherwise, the songs he gave CSNY were the ones he seemed to feel didn’t fit anywhere else. However, in the case of Looking Forward, he told CSN to take the songs they wanted from his available current batch.
'ohio' was an anthem. it is the single 3 minute reason that CSNY should be in the rock hall as a band.
Best song they made as a quartet. My favourite version is that on the Journey through the Past Soundtrack:
