Buffalo Springfield: Buffalo Springfield Disc 4 of 4 CD Track Listing

A list by checkmate

Buffalo Springfield Buffalo Springfield Disc 4 of 4 (2001)
Released July 17, 2001\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: The plainly named Box Set -- that's the actual title -- contains four CDs by a band that made only three albums in their brief lifetime. It goes without saying that this has a lot of great music, and is an essential purchase for fans of this phenomenal 1960s folk-rock-psychedelic band, containing no less than 36 previously unreleased demos, outtakes, and previously unissued mixes. It's the unreleased stuff that holds the most interest, especially since even on their outtakes, Buffalo Springfield were often superb. Songs like "Neighbor Don't You Worry," "Down Down Down" (which contains seeds of both "Broken Arrow" and the Neil Young solo standout "Country Girl"), "We'll See," and "My Kind of Love" are actually up to the standard of many of the songs that made it onto the official albums. Although acoustic demos of various Young, Stills, and Furay songs are not as strong, they are always at the least pleasant, and often show intriguing, unsuspected sentimental pop and folk leanings. Alternate versions of great songs, such as "Hung Upside Down" and a piano-only "Four Days Gone," are substantially different from the fully arranged familiar versions, yet worthwhile performances in their own right. At the same time, this box -- which, other than the last disc, sequences the material in the chronological order it was recorded -- is not all it could have been. First of all, for some reason, this does not have everything the band ever released. Not only are a few songs from Last Time Around missing (including one of Richie Furay's best moments, "In the Hour of Not Quite Rain"), but the nine-minute version of "Bluebird" (available on the two-LP Buffalo Springfield compilation) and the Neil Young-sung take of "Down to the Wire" (which came out on his Decade collection) are also absent. First-rate songs from Last Time Around, including "On the Way Home," "Pretty Girl Why," and "Four Days Gone," are represented by different demos and remixes, though it would have been easily possible to include the official final versions too. Worst of all, disc four is comprised solely of all the material from the group's brilliant first two albums -- which would not be cause for criticism, except that identical versions of every one of them (except for "Mr. Soul" and "Baby Don't Scold Me") also appear at some point in the course of the preceding three discs. This bizarre repetition is doubly galling both because that space could have been used for remaining Last Time Around absentees, and because other quality unreleased material, both studio and live, is known to exist, and is far more hungrily desired by fans eager to purchase a box set in the first place. Fortunately you can still (almost) complete the Springfield discography by buying Last Time Around itself. The sound is very good, and on the rarities, notably superior to bootlegs (such as the famous Stampede) on which some of the songs have previously surfaced. The 82-page booklet, primarily comprised of vintage clippings, is nice too, even if specific details and anecdotes about the unreleased songs in particular would have been good. As good as it is, though, this could have been one of the greatest rock box sets of all time, if only a saner approach to presenting the band's complete official albums, and more rarities, in one place had been employed. -- Richie Unterberger\n\nAmazon.com's Best of 2001 \nThough they're recognized as a seminal influence on American rock music (variously fostering the careers of Neil Young, Stephen Stills, CSN&Y, Richie Furay, Poco, and even Loggins & Messina), L.A.'s Buffalo Springfield were perpetually star-crossed by personal squabbles and legal travails during their two-year tenure. Even this extensive four-disc overview was delayed for a decade by disagreements among the Springfield alums. Arranged chronologically, the set offers up a wealth of previously unreleased demos by band mainstays Young, Stills, and Furay, mostly spare acoustic performances (a number of which didn't make the final cut on the band's three albums) that challengingly deconstruct the Springfield's savory blend of folk rock, blues, country, and psychedelia. Young's work is a particular revelation; his songs reveal a wizened, often weary mindset that belies the fact he wasn't yet 21 at the time of the band's inception. Disc 4 is devoted to complete, digitally remastered versions of the band's first two albums (the debut in Young and Stills's original, preferred mono mix), which makes for convenient listening, even if it duplicates much of the previous three discs. There's also a complete absence of live tracks; that's unfortunate, as the band's stage performances have achieved legendary status. Still, this anthology is filled with gratifying surprises, from Young's always revealing work to Stills's roots-conscious craftsmanship (and quirky collaborations like their unreleased Beach Boys-meets-Folkways instrumental "Kahuna Sunset") to Furay's sweet pop tenor. --Jerry McCulley \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nRhino--What Were You Thinking?, August 20, 2001 \nReviewer: robert j conway from Chicago, IL USA \nOK--You've already plodded through 30 "reviews" to get to mine. I'll be brief with my comments. Over 30 years ago Neil Young bragged about the great music that was still in the can, hoping it someday it would be issued. Were you talking about these demos Neil? They range from mediocre to good. Interesting of course, but there is nothing that can compare to the group's first two LPs. PACKAGING/ARTWORK/LINER NOTES: Very disappointing for the price. The individual CD cover inserts are very cheap indeed. The booklet, filled with faux newspaper clippings, is dark, tedius, and disconcerting. Is it copy (six point or smaller in some cases) to be read or is it bleed artwork? My point? It could have been much better. Editorial content, of course, is subjective but I was not impressed--certainly not relevatory, must-read material. Track sequence, as discussed and criticized earlier by other reviewers, is unexplainable. Options that could have been: Chrono-sequence of the first three LPs followed by demos; or chrono-sequence of each LP followed by or preceded by related demos. MUSIC: How can you issue a 4-CD box set and not include all of the group's third LP? Sometimes my goal in buying a box set is to condense my collection of individual CDs. I almost didn't buy this box for that very reason. However, I eventually succumbed to my fetish for box sets, deciding to buy yet another imperfect box collection. I dumped the group's first two LPs/CDs knowing that I would be saddled with their third, in addition to the box set. I tried to squeeze the CD into the box to make a 5-CD set but was unable to pull it off. Quality of the recordings, obviously, is excellent. CLOSING COMMENTS: If you are a fan, you already have the group's three LPs/CDs. Is the high price worth it, especially if you've already popped for the group's expensive, remastered/HDCD first LP/CD, "Buffalo Springfield"? For what's it's worth (sorry but it is way past time to entertain myself), the answer is no...unless you don't mind overpaying. \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nComplete Buffalo Springfield? Depends..., December 14, 2001 \nReviewer: David S. Minjares from Montebello, CA. USA \nIt's quite remarkable how the Buffalo Springfield were able to pump out so many great tracks in less than three years. Most of it was quality songwriting from musicians who took in all of the growing changes around them and presented the times with a fresh perspective and opposed the "assembly line" approach of pop that was beginning to die out. But like all good things with such intense profile & passion, comes recklessness and eventual implosion, only to be left with a break-up that's still desputed and, in spite of the great output, little to show for it financially (at that time).\n\nWe can add the cliche that the Buffalo Springfield were rich in a recorded legacy beyond their three official albums and this box set is only partial to this sentiment. What you will hear is a band taking shape with some of their earliest demos, then taking flight as a band developing their talents in the studio, at first unified, then fragmented. I'm happy to say a good percentage of this is magnificent.\n\nCD1 concentrates on early solo demos (at this point, only Richie Furay, Stephen Stills & Neil Young) and the first Gold Star/Columbia Studio session which would make up their debut. The solo stuff is pretty much hit and miss, with some great moments ("Sad Memory", "Clancy", "Flying On The Ground", etc.) with some pretty forgettable fodder ("I'm Your Kind Of Guy", "Hello, I've Returned"). The rest are the tracks that we come to know and love in beautiful MONO (and there's not one ounce of the horrid stereo mix).\n\nCD2 gets real interesting with the band evolving from a great garage folk-punk band into some seriously crafted pop and rock. With great moments like very raw acetate versions of "Mr. Soul" & "Baby, Don't Scold Me" with stompers like "Kauhuna Sunset" and "Buffalo Stomp" (sounding just like the Jesus & Marychain here), you get some timeless stuff like "Down Down Down", "Pretty Girl Why", "We'll See", "Everydays" and many of the fragments that would make up "Stampede", "Buffalo Springfield Again" and numerous bootlegs. But the show stopper is Stills' beautiful solo demo of "Hung Upside Down", which will seriously give you chills.\n\nBut when it gets to CD3, that's when all begins to fall apart. With the remainder of the "Again" tracks, it's all solo ambitions from there. Some great Young demos ("Old Laughing Lady", "Round And Round And Round"), wonderful tracks like "On The Way Home" (alternate mix), "Iam A Child" and "Kind Woman" (to name a few). Unfortunately, it also paints a picture of Stills rather self-indulgent side with some great tracks ("Uno Mundo" and the excellent solo demo of "Four Days Gone") with some duds ("Special Care" and "Questions"). An interesting early version of Furay's "What A Day" is featured, sung by Stills, who does great throughout two-thirds of it then messes up the ending. Yeah, even great talents flub sometimes.\n\nCD4: Debut in MONO and "Again" in stereo. Nice addition.\n\nThe booklet is pretty much a newspaper cuttings and scotch tape deal, which has a nice punk rock feel about it (and you can almost smell the garage fumes along with the age), but is kind of redundant if you want straight-ahead reading material. the essays, recording information and show interinerary are also cool, but an overall sense of order you will not get.\n\nThe omissions?\n\n"Carefree Country Day" is a Messina track and a big dud. Not missed here.\n\n"In the Hour Of Not Quite Rain". A BIG mistake in omitting this. One of the great Gothic Rock anthems and a major departure in sound. \n\n"Four Days Gone (jazz version)". In spite of Young's objections to Messina's handling, it would have been nice to compare the demo and released versions. And both are equally good. \n\n"Buffalo Springfield Again" LP MONO version. I had the pleasure to hear a rare copy of this years ago. Great mix. I know the MONO version of the debut is king, but this one is amazing.\n\n"Bluebird (long version)". People will differ with this one. Some think it's magnificent and hate the banjo part of the shorter mix. Others will think it's a half-baked studio jam that is only to be listened to once (I go with the latter.).\n\nLIVE TRACKS. The liners go on about the awesome powers of the Springfield in person. Why didn't we get any examples? Could this be another box set. Damn, I hope so.\n\nYeah, I'm pretty critical with this gathering. It's obvious that all five surviving members do not see eye to eye on the selection. I know that's there's much more that Neil has to be hiding somewhere in his archives and, even under his meticulous supervision, it raises more questions & speculations.\n\nBut in the end, is it all worth it? Oh, yes it is. It may not be the most polished and strictly sticks to the chronology, but the music speaks for itself. It's a shame that this wasn't a band that gave it more of a chance. \n\nCD Now Review (July 6, 2001)\nThis Los Angeles quintet is largely known for two things: One is its hit single, "For What It's Worth" (although many people think of it as "Stop, Hey, What's That Sound?"), which took an amused, somewhat cynical look at the Sunset Strip "riots"; the other is the future careers of its three songwriters -- Neil Young, Stephen Stills, and Richie Furay (later of Poco). \nIts short career -- which lasted from April 1966 through May 1968 -- produced three LPs, the last assembled (like some of the Beatles' later albums) from work individual members had done without some others playing on the tracks, and issued three months after the breakup. But its influence was vast, both on other California groups and on the nascent country-rock movement (though that style hardly encompassed all of what the Springfield played). \n\nNeophytes are probably better off buying the three original albums separately (Buffalo Springfield Again is their best), because this four-CD set, compiled with the input of the band members, is aimed at fanatic collectors. But between the combined audiences of Springfield devotees and fans of the three stars, there will certainly be considerable interest in this generically named collection, for it offers an abundance of previously unreleased material. Previously unheard songs are obviously of special interest, but demos of familiar tunes (sometimes of material not released until solo albums) are also often quite fascinating. \n\nBut the degree to which this package is aimed at hardcore fans is shown by the number of songs heard not just twice, but three times: demos, the original mixes of the first two albums, and remixes of the same albums (the third LP is given short shrift; several of its songs are utterly omitted). And yet, surprisingly, the alternate version of "Bluebird" that ends with a long rock jam -- the sort of thing that a set such as this seems like an ideal home for -- is not included. \n\nDocumentation is extensive and a pleasure to behold, from the group history and comprehensive list of concerts to the abundance of press items from the group's short but much-praised existence. Despite some possible quibbles with the project's construction and some of the choices made, this is a quartet of discs that it's hard to imagine any fan being willing to forego. -- Steve Holtje, CDNOW Senior Editor\n\nHalf.com Album Notes\nBOX SET includes the albums BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD, BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD AGAIN as well as demos, remixes and previously unreleased tracks.\n\nAll tracks have been digitally remastered.\n\nMojo (01/01/2002)\nRanked #1 in Mojo's Best [10] Box Sets & Compilations of 2001.\n\nMojo (7/01, pp.116-7) - ...Gives us twice as much Springfield music as we'd ever had - in illuminating form...all but taking you there, to their short heaven that was 1966 and '67. Love it for all it's worth.\n\nRolling Stone (7/19/01, p.49) - 3 stars out of 5 - ...The group contributed as much to rock&roll as its famous divorces [Crosby, Stills and Nash, Poco, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Loggins and Messina, et al.]. This long overdue 4-disc box chronicles and illuminates that contribution....an overabundance of talent...\n\nQ Magazine (8/01, p.147) - 4 stars out of 5 - ...You hear the magic unfold....File it next to The Beatles' Anthology series, and luxuriate in exactly how mind-boggling an era the '60s was.\n\nRolling Stone Review (4 Stars)\nBuffalo Springfield are that rarest of beasts: an influential 1960s band whose recorded legacy hasn't been recycled into dust. Classic-rock radio stations don't dig much deeper than their one bona fide hit, "For What It's Worth," preferring instead to play the songs of the band's splintered progeny: Crosby, Stills and Nash, Poco, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Loggins and Messina, et al. But though the Springfield lasted little more than two years and struggled to release three albums, the group contributed as much to rock & roll as its famous divorces. This long-overdue four-disc box chronicles and illuminates that contribution.\nThe first three discs follow the group's recordings chronologically. Buffalo Springfield (1966) introduced a tightly drilled quintet whose music proposed the country-rock hyphen well before Dylan, the Byrds or the Flying Burrito Brothers. The songwriting was divided between second guitarist Stephen Stills ("Sit Down I Think I Love You") and lead guitarist Neil Young ("Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing"), and favored the voice of rhythm guitarist Richie Furay, often in tandem with Stills as an updated Everly Brothers. Unfortunately, inept production eliminated the subtlety and power from their debut; superb bass player Bruce Palmer was especially victimized. There was more energy and balance to Young's "Mr. Soul" and Stills' "Rock & Roll Woman" from Buffalo Springfield Again (1967), but the rest of the picture was becoming irreparably fragmented, with three individual writer-singers overseeing their own material and Stills challenging Young on lead guitar. The album's pinnacle, Young's haunting art-song collaboration with Jack Nitzsche on "Expecting to Fly," featured no other band members. The band burned up the track so fast before hitting the wall that Last Time Around (1968) had to be pieced together for posthumous release.\n\nSadly, few tapes have surfaced to document the ferocity of the band's stage performances. Box Set collects the few developed songs that didn't make the albums (though they've rightly nixed the clumsy nine-minute "Bluebird" that leaked out some years back). The thirty-seven unreleased tracks include alternate takes and mixes, sometimes superior solo demos (Stills' "Four Days Gone," Furay's "Sad Memory"), instrumentals (Young's twisty "Falcon Lake [Ash on the Floor]"), and songs we would encounter later in their careers ("Round and Round and Round" and "Old Laughing Lady" from Young). The set's only real flaw is the redundant Disc Four, which reprises the first two albums. Buffalo Springfield were a great American band done in by their overabundance of talent. They went from being an inspired idea straight to a cherished memory without letting themselves, or us, linger too long over the magic they made in between. Now is our chance. -- BEN EDMONDS (RS 873 - July 19, 2001)
This rock cd contains 23 tracks and runs 70min 47sec.
Freedb: 3e109517
Buy: from Amazon.com

Categories

Latest lists

Buffalo Springfield: Buffalo Springfield Disc 4 of 4 CD Track Listing

Category

Tags

cyList

Legal