"Stephen Stills" by STEPHEN STILLS - November 1970 US and UK Debut Solo Album [ex Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young] on Atlantic Records featuring guests David Crosby, Graham Nash, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Booker T. Jones of Booker T. and The MG’s, Sidney George, Dallas Taylor and Calvin Samuels later with Manassas, Percussionist Jeff Whittaker of Akido, Drummers John Barbata of Jefferson Airplane, Conrad Isedor of One and later with Hummingbird and Ringo Starr of The Beatles (credited as Richie on Two Songs) - Plus Singers John Sebastian of The Lovin’ Spoonful, Mama Cass Elliott of The Mamas and The Papas, Rita Coolidge, Priscilla Jones, Claudia Lennear, Shirley Matthews, Cyrus Faryar and Henry Ditz both of The Modern Folk Quartet with String Arrangements on Two Songs by Arif Mardin (October 1995 UK Atlantic Records CD Reissue and Remaster – Joe Gastwirt Remasters)

 

<iframe sandbox="allow-popups allow-scripts allow-modals allow-forms allow-same-origin" style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B000002J6H&asins=B000002J6H&linkId=3e16111deb07f583436ee88d323ba32c&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>
 

This Review And Many More Like It 

Available In my Kindle e-Book (June 2022 Version)

 

LOOKING AFTER NO. 1 

Volume 2 of 2 - M to Z...

 

Your All-Genres Guide To

Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters 
For Music from 1956 to 1986

Over 1,760 E-Pages of In-Depth Information
240 Reviews From The Discs Themselves

No Cut and Paste Crap...

<iframe sandbox="allow-popups allow-scripts allow-modals allow-forms allow-same-origin" style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B0B2BFFB62&asins=B0B2BFFB62&linkId=24792af4460cdf9fa1bbb2629c6b9aa5&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>

 

"...Old Times Good Times..."

 

"Now children, could it be a dream?" Stephen Stills sang on the bigger than valleys "Church (Part Of Someone)" – a chorus of four backing singers adding cathedral-like hugeness to the power of the song. Looking back 52 years now – it certainly felt like a dream.

 

Having blazed his singer-songwriter-guitarist way through three Buffalo Springfield albums and set the Harmony Vocals world on its West Coast head with two more absolute studio corkers from the super-group Crosby, Stills Nash & Young – Stephen Stills and his debut solo album was always going to be anticipated with a capitol ant. That preposterously talented foursome seemed incapable of doing any wrong in those first two years of the Seventies – we would have to wait for drugs and in-house warring to bring that on.

 

US released 16 November 1970 on Atlantic Records (27 November 1970 in the UK) - "Stephen Stills" also featured the stunning lead off 45-single "Love The One You're With". Backed everywhere by Side 2's "To A Flame", his radio-friendly message of universal cuddle-ship helped the parent LP hit No. 3 in the USA and a surprisingly modest No. 30 in the UK. 

 

Also released November 1970, the US 45's flip-side had Ringo Starr of The Beatles on Drums (masquerading in the credits as Richie) with String Arrangements co-charted by the legendary Arif Mardin (the UK single on Atlantic 2091 046 wasn't issued until January 1971 as a 45 where it climbed to No. 37 - the US single had hit No. 14).

 

Impressive guest names and contributions also included Jimi Hendrix (just before his sad passing later that year – the LP is dedicated to him) and Eric Clapton on Guitars, his fellow muckers in CSNY David Crosby from the Byrds and Graham Nash from The Hollies, Keyboardist Booker T. Jones of Booker T. and The MG's, Flutist and Saxophonist Sydney George with an un-credited Memphis Horns, Dallas Taylor and Calvin "Fuzzy" Samuels later with Stills in his supergroup Manassas, Percussionist Jeff Whittaker of Akido, Drummers John Barbata of Jefferson Airplane, Conrad Isedor of One and later with Hummingbird as well as the already mentioned Ringo Starr of The Beatles Drumming on Two Tracks ("To A Flame" and the other is "We Are Not Helpless"). The Backing Vocals list was just as impressive too - John Sebastian of The Lovin' Spoonful, Mama Cass Elliott of The Mamas and The Papas, Rita Coolidge, Priscilla Jones, Claudia Lennear (of "Brown Sugar" lyrical fame), English Vocalists Judith Powell, Liza Strike, Larry Steel and Tony Wilson with Americans Cyrus Faryar and Henry Ditz both of The Modern Folk Quartet. Throw in String Arrangements on two songs with Arif Mardin ("To A Flame" and the second is "Church (Part Of Someone)") and you have to say - what a cast...

 

But even in May 2022 – its journey to digital has been a surprisingly singular affair – this 1995 digital remaster of the whole record stands alone. Subsequent packages have thrown up some updates - four newly remastered tracks on the February 2013 "Carry On" 4CD Book Set with a rare Mono single version of "Love The One You're With" (December 1970, Atlantic 45-2778, A-side) and a short Previously Unreleased March 1970 jam with Jimi Hendrix. There must be outtakes too. So it won't take fans spinach tins to work out that this cracking solo album start is long overdue for a 2CD Deluxe Edition that wraps up the lot. But until then – let's deal with what we do have. To the newish old times good times...

 

UK released October 1995 - "Stephen Stills" by STEPHEN STILLS on Atlantic 7567-82809-2 (Barcode 075678280924) is a straightforward CD Reissue and Digital Remaster of his 1970 Debut Solo Album that plays out as follows (39:03 minutes): 

1. Love The One You're With [Side 1]

2. Do For The Others 

3. Church (Part Of Someone)

4. Old Times Good Times 

5. Go Back Home 

6. Sit Yourself Down [Side 2]

7. To A Flame 

8. Black Queen 

9. Cherokee 

10. We Are Not Helpless

Tracks 1 to 10 are his debut solo album "Stephen Stills" - released 16 November 1970 in the USA on Atlantic SD 7202 and 27 November 1970 in the UK on Atlantic 24001 004. Produced by STEPHEN STILLS and BILL HAVERSON - it peaked at No. 3 in the USA and No. 30 in the UK. 

Players: 

STEPHEN STILLS - Lead Vocals, Guitars, Organ, Piano, Steel Drum & Percussion

(Track 9 "Black Queen" recorded Live featuring only Stills on Guitar)

JIMI HENDRIX - Lead Guitar on Track 4 

ERIC CLAPTON - Second Lead Guitar on Track 5

BOOKER T. JONES - Organ on Track 9

SIDNEY GEORGE - Flute and Alto Saxophone on Track 9

CALVIN "Fuzzy" SAMUELS - Bass 

CONRAD ISEDOR - Drums on Tracks 3 and 4

JOHN BARBATA - Drums on Tracks 5 and 6

DALLAS TAYLOR - Drums on Tracks 5 and 9 

RINGO STARR (credited as Richie) - Drums on Tracks 7 and 10

JEFF WHITTAKER - Congas on Tracks 1 and 4

ARIF MARDIN - Co-Arrangement (with Stills) of Strings on Tracks 3 and 7

THE MEMPHIS HORNS - Uncredited on Track 9

 

Vocalists:

RITA COOLIDGE, PRISCILLA JONES, JOHN SEBASTIAN, DAVID CROSBY and GRAHAM NASH - Backing Vocals on Track 1

JUDITH POWELL, LIZA STRIKE, LARRY STEELE and TONY WILSON - Backing Vocals as "The Chorus" on Track 3

RITA COOLIDGE, PRISCILLA JONES, CLAUDIA LENNEAR, JOHN SEBASTIAN, MAMA CASS ELLIOTT with DAVID CROSBY and GRAHAM NASH - Backing Vocals on Tracks 5 and 6

RITA COOLIDGE, PRISCILLA JONES, CLAUDIA LENNEAR, JOHN SEBASTIAN, MAMA CASS ELLIOTT, DAVID CROSBY, GRAHAM NASH, SHIRLEY MATTHEWS, BOOKER T. JONES with CYRUS FARYAR and HENRY DILTZ - Backing Vocals on Track 10 

The gatefold slip of paper that acts as an inlay gives you the track-by-track musician credits and that silly Charles John Quatro poem on the rear, but nothing else - no annotation - no history - no extras - just the bit that tells us the transfer is a JOE GASTWIRT Remaster done from original tapes at Ocean View Digital. Giving your CD some welly, you will get muscle out of this - but when I play it against my "Carry On" tracks - the improvement is noticeable. To the tunes...

 

Apparently inspired by a casual comment Apple Artist Billy Preston made at a London party about a particularly pretty girl - "Love The One You're With" has that almost Steve Winwood and The Spencer Davis Group magic about it that just doesn't diminish with the years. What a fantastic winner "Love The One..." is and as you can see from the Backing Vocalists list provided above - contains some seriously stellar names. Stills also plays Steel Drum on it ably aided by future Manassas hand Calvin "Fuzzy Samuels on Bass and Jamaican Percussionist Jeff Whittaker on Congas - Whittaker would join the Africa-Beats group Akida in 1972 (Mercury Records) and later hooked up with Peter Green's Katmandu band. 

Stills plays everything on the highly produced "Do For The Others" - the acoustic guitars and his vocals swirling around your room - lyrics singing of lies and betrayal and borrowing light from others just to survive the emotional trauma (the audio is gorgeous). We then enter the heavy-on-the-piano-and-organ-melodrama of "Church (Part Of Someone)" - the foursome backing vocalists sounding like a choir of twenty. Just short of two-minutes in, Arif Mardin's string arrangements (co-written with Stills) kick in with gorgeous effect lifting the song into an epic sweep. For those who want more, there's a very pretty Previously Unreleased Live Version of "Do For The Others" on the 4CD "Carry On" Book Set (Track 19 on Disc 2) that features duet acoustic guitars only between Stills and Steve Fromholz recorded at Madison Square Gardens in July 1971.

 

Probably the single greatest disappointment for me about the album is the appearance of Jimi Hendrix on Lead Guitar which should have been a cause for knicker-wetting excitement – but turns out to be one long barely audible aimless solo that is hardly genius or Rock God – Stills and his Organ playing far out-playing everything else that is going on. Way better is the other big axe man – Eric Clapton on the slyly Rock-Funky groove attained in "Go Back Home" – a near six-minute sexy beast that plays out Side 1 on a high. 

 

Side 2 opens with the superb "Sit Yourself Down" – a very I-gotta-quit-this-running theme where our Stephanie needs to take some time out – it's the kind of tune that could easily have made "Déjà vu" released earlier in March of 1970. Always dismissed as a 5 or 6-star rating flipside to its more illustrious A ("Love The One You're With"), I like "To A Flame" a lot. It features Stills, Ringo Starr on Drums and String Arrangements from Arif Mardin and bears returning to (there is also a Previously Unreleased Mix of "To A Flame" on the "Carry On" 4CD set). Very cleverly segues into the huge slide Acoustic Guitar Blues jaunt of "Black Queen" - Stills grunting along to the notes much like Rory Gallagher used to do when he blew everyone away. 

 

We then go into the slightly out-of-kilter Lounge-Soul-Jazz arena of "Cherokee" with Booker T. Jones of Booker T. and The MG's giving it some organ alongside the Flute and Alto Saxophone soling of Sydney George - Stills playing a highly effective Coral Sitar (the "Carry On" Box Set also confirms that Sydney George is joined with The Memphis Horns too). It's so out of step with the feel of all the other songs on the album - I can't help thinking that it would have made a killer Non-LP B-side to "Love The One You're With" and should have been replaced with something else like say the gorgeous outtake "My Love Is A Gentle Thing" for instance (on both the "Pieces" compilation from 2009 and the 2013 "Carry On" Book Set). And just as you were getting into the flow, "Stephen Stills" the LP finishes with a jagged immediate segue into "We Are Not Helpless" - a similar big subjects vibe to "Church (Part Of Someone)" and featuring that massive backing chorus.  

 

Stephen Stills" is a good-to-great debut album that just slightly misses the mark - but it's one that fans love and have loved for over 50-years. But as I said earlier, this 1995 Digitally Remastered 'that'll do' CD variant may sound wicked, but is surely due for a major boo-ya upgrade. We are not helpless Steve; we are just waiting...