What's the deal with Steven Stills? Somehow he must have been quite a Rocker in the old days before he went limpdick with Nash and Crosby. I know that he hung with Steve Marriott and a pile of Cocaine and wrote "Hot'n Nasty". Plus the Stones stayed at his pad during their Westcoast layover on the '69 Tour. He (Stills) sat in with them on pianner for the '69 tour too. So he was friends..
On the CSN albums he is the only one I can tolerate too. He played a pretty good guitar on the Livestuff when he would jam with Neil Young. So,wot's the deal? Wonder if he was buddies with Jagger or Keith.

Stills rules!

Saw him with CSNY a couple of years ago and it was sad to hear him try to sing. Crosby and Nash's voices were as good as ever but Stills was visibly shot. too bad, the harmonies were so good back in the day. I see Crosby touring with Nash, I wonder if Stills has thrown in the towel.

His best stuff was with Neil Young and Richie Furay in the Buffalo Springfield. Pre CSN.

Karl

'Don’t forget, if you’re on your bike, wear white'

KSIE, I agree his work with B.S. was very good but the body of work and the quantity of gems with CSN & CSNY is certainly more impressive in the long run.

Stills has done himself some bodily and/or nerve damage. If you see him up close he has almost that numbed look on his face like a stroke victim, he talks with a thick slur and his eyes are watery and vacant. On the last CSNY tour he played his only new song called "Feed The World And Watch The Peace Grow" or some such hippy clap trap. The song was as bad as the title implies. He could barely sing it yet he tore up on an old R&B number a few songs later. His guitar playing seemed to still be there but his harmonizing was gone. I'm sorry to say part of Stephen looks like it's already left the building.

CSN typically make the summer amphitheater run here in the US and C&N typically tour in the winter. That the duo is working this summer and Stills is not may well bode ill for him.

I hope not but hope springs eternal.

Sad to hear, R. I haven't listen to him the latest decades but liked him a lot in the beginning of the 70's.
His first soloalbums are good, especially the dreamlike double one Manassas (where Bill Wyman is guesting and is one of the composers to one song).

Agree w/KSIE - the 3 Buffalo Springfield albums are imo great 60s American r & r - check "Again" (the 2nd) which is perhaps their best & less dippy than the first CSN...Jack Nitzsche contributes some nifty arrangements on there (Neil's stuff), RIP...

john r Wrote:
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> Agree w/KSIE - the 3 Buffalo Springfield albums
> are imo great 60s American r & r - check
> "Again" (the 2nd) which is perhaps their best
> & less dippy than the first CSN...Jack
> Nitzsche contributes some nifty arrangements on
> there (Neil's stuff), RIP...


Thanks John. Probably ought to call them "great North American r & r", most of the band was Canadian. :-)

Karl

Major CSNY fan here! You guys are right about Stills having lost his voice. It's been totally shot for at least the last five years, but I saw CSN last summer and they rocked harder than I have ever heard them rock without Neil. Interestingly,Stills seems to be trying overcompensate for his lost voice by turning his amps way up. You should have seen all the old farts in the crowd sitting on their fat asses, wondering what happened to their "mellow" evening of acoustic favourites.

I'm not old enough to have seen Springfield, but I really enjoyed seeing Stills and Young jam with each other on the CSNY reunion tours in '00 and '02.

CSN are touring Europe and America this summer. If you're a fan, don't miss them. This could really be all over any day now.

"Then the lights begin to flicker and the sound is getting dim
The voice begins to falter and the crowds are getting thin
But he never seems to notice, he's just got to find another place to play"

This may be OT, but CSN fans should check Crosby's work w/ his 'other' group, CPR - especially the live albums - inspired. Check out the Wiltern theatre cd. Stills had a nice track w/ Hendrix on his solo debut...

In the day Stills could really play. Check out his "Live" album from the mid 70s. His acoustic version of "Cross Roads" is phenominal! He also was a disciple of Hendrix and followed him around learning lead guitar. I think that drink and drugs have dulled his talent a bit though. Pity....

Stephen Stills has a steel septum in his nose because his natural one was eaten away by all the coke he did. The coke also drove him half-crazy. Read "Shakey", the Neil Young bio.

And check the big hunka coke in Neil's nostril in the Band/Scorsese movie "The Last Waltz"

I am of two thoughts on Stills.

First I did get to see CSN&Y in their hayday and listening to him knock off Sweet Judi Blue Eyes was one of my all time favorite live tunes...however it is sad to see his decline.

Second check out the Concert at Big Sur movie. I lost all respect for him, Nash and Crosby because of a scene where a stoned hippie is dancing between the band and the croud and not harming a thing. Then Crosby and Nash start goating Stills into going over to him and punching him out. He finaly walks over to the guy and starts shoving him while the guy is trying to tell him how wonderfull everything is and then he decks the guy. Real peace, love and understanding. Neil stayed quietly in the background thank goodness.

Wow - I have an old beat up copy of the Big Sur lp (or is it Medicine Ball Caravan? Delaney & Bonnie, Alice Cooper, etc circa '70-71) - never seen the film. But Neil's relationship to CSNY (like the Springfield) is ambivilant & he is despite all that talent hardly a moral guiding light. I have an oral bio of the Springfield that is interesting & revealing about all involved - it was part of a series of oral bios that also included really stomach churning volumes about Sly & the Family Stone (now there's a real Great artist who completely and irrevocably lost his way), and one about Funkadelic (drugs, drugs, & more drugs). Is the Big Sur flick on dvd?

He was great in his day, especially with Buffalo Springfield. When CSN formed, it was called a "supergroup". IMHO, they were good, even brilliant at times, but seldom lived up to "supergroup" hype. Incidentally, Buffalo Springfield opened for the Stones in 1966 at the Hollywood Bowl (as did the McCoys and the Standells!!). They were a great band, with Stills, Neil Young, and Richie Furay.

"Then Crosby and Nash start goating Stills into going over to him and punching him out. "

Bill Graham's Fillmore East production crew referred to them as "The Supremes."

I've met Crosby and Nash as well as what's left of Stills. Nash is a very articulate and polite fellow. Crosby is crazy as a loon. Eating has replaced drugs as his addictive behavior (if that isn't obvious).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2005-05-26 00:07 by R.

Was Crosby thin even during the freebase period??? Supergroups rarely live up to the hype - I still prefer Crosby w/ Byrds (& his solo lp), Stlls/Young w/ the Springfield (to CSNY - Neil's got plenty of good solo stuff, especially the 'party favorites' like Tonight's the Night & Time Fades Away)...then there's Bad Co. compared to Free. Firefall anyone?

"The Pop Star" whom Robert Greenfield refers to in "S.T.P. A Journey Through American With The Rolling Stones", is indeed Stills.

"The wonder of Jimi Hendrix was that he could stand up at all he was so pumped full of drugs." Patsy, Patsy Stone

My wife saw the Buffalo Springfield back in '67.
They played her high school. Back in those days, local bands
(Springfield, Byrds, Love) played high school auditoriums
as well as clubs around LA. Funnny thing is the school
lost money on the gig. Couldn't sell enough tickets.
and this was after Monterey and the second album.

And how's Neil doing? I've heard he was ill recently? Hope he's all right.

This has turned into a very interesting thread. I have learned a lot. My Q was mainly why was Stills hanging out wiht the Stones when he seemd like such a good ole boy. Now I realize he was another hard doper. It's weird how many of those nice hippie guys turned into bad dopers. Look at Crosby. I'm sorry - to me he is everything I despise in white men. He is a.... I try to like his "angelic" voice with the Byrds. But even with them he already appears overblown and fat. I mean "mentally and spiritually" fat. Why on earth would two gay women who can get just about anyone in the world to father their kid and are looking for the Alpha Male choose Crosby??? Boggles the mind. Nash was what all in that band actually set out to be. Polite pretty hippies with high voices. Neil Y was the only one who really saw it all right. He still fights the good fight. Got off that H and trodded on. That is hard.

RnT Wrote:
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> And how's Neil doing? I've heard he was ill
> recently? Hope he's all right.


Neil Young at Work on New Album

James Gregory reports:
As previously reported, rock fans had an unexpected scare in April when the iconic Neil Young was admitted to a New York hospital after suffering a brain aneurysm. A mere five weeks after successful treatment for the affliction, the legend is already back in the studio recording tracks for his next LP of new material-- his first since 2003's divisive concept album Greendale.

Citing an online post from Young's half-sister, Astrid, the NME has reported that the grunge godfather has recently been holding sessions in an undisclosed Nashville studio with veteran musicians Spooner Oldham, Ben Keith, and Carl Himmel. As Astrid says of her brother's return to recording duties: "He's feeling good, has everything under control and is back in the saddle."