The one word that comes to my mind when I hear the name "Buffalo Springfield" is frustration. This is a band that should have gone to a higher level of greatness, but I suspect ego got in the way of the direction to go upwards. Still, they left three albums that are very good, but this compilation of those three records are the best introduction to the Buffalo Springfield world.
The beauty of the band was the perfect set-up or relationship between the dueling lead guitars of Steve Stills and Neil Young, and Richie Furay's superb vocals and rhythm guitar. With the soul/Stax drumming of Dewey Martin, and who I suspect is the real star of the group, Bruce Palmer on bass. Part of the sadness I feel is that this is a band that lost an opportunity of making a permanent presence on the stage. What I have seen from one clip of them playing live on TV, is incredible. The tension between the players reminds me of the original set-up of Television with Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd. All play guitars, but at times it seems that they were having a communication between themselves, and us listeners were allowed to listen in. The fact that Stills/Young tried to do something with the Springfield, and then with the terrible CSNY, and then the Stills/Young album/tour, well, I guess they tried. The fact is these were two different type of musicians/songwriters, and I think they genuinely needed each other, to make their work more consistent and robust. I'm not a fan of solo Neil or solo Stills, but when they combine their talents in Buffalo Springfield, it was magnificent. The sad thing is that there is no film footage of them on stage, and worse, no live recordings. Just hearing the extended version of Stills' "Bluebird" is fantastic. One of the great guitar rave-ups in recorded history!
The band playing together was equal, but again, I think their recordings are a hit and miss. The first album, produced by Greene and Stone, miss the intensity of the songs and their performance. Still, "Mr. Soul" and "For What's it's Worth" are amazing records. The other secret weapon is Richie Furay, who is an incredible singer. Both in harmony and lead vocals. And there should have been a full-use of the genius Jack Nitzsche, for instance, he should have arranged the entire works of Buffalo Springfield, not only on the Neil stuff but all the other material as well. After the first album, it became a situation where each band member produced his composition and so forth. So in a sense, you have a series of solo recordings within the Buffalo Springfield landscape.
Buffalo Springfield was a super band, but due to its character, it burned itself out before doing something incredible. This double compilation album is pretty great. Still, I feel that there was more work to be done. The story is not over yet.
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