Zack: Guess what guys! We found a way to shoehorn
more Neil Young in without waiting another 400 albums! Buffalo Springfield was
the band that launched the careers of Stephen Stills and, much more importantly, Neil Young. Buffalo Springfield Again is their second and penultimate album.
And that should catch you up on all the basic facts. Young wrote three of the
10 tracks, but surprisingly only one of them appears below in my favorite
tracks. Why is that? Because he decided to run off and produce two “orchestral
experiments” with one of Phil Spector’s lackeys (Wikipedia describes him as an
associate, so I don’t know if he assisted in producing music or just held
Phil’s guns when not in use…..too soon?). While I found both Expecting to Fly
and Broken Arrow to be interesting and good songs in their own right, they
pretty clearly stood out like a sore thumb when put in the context of an album
of psychedelic folk rock. No, the four songs written by Stills are clearly the
backbone of this album, and it would be disingenuous of me not to give him
credit for shaping what this album is. Buffalo Springfield Again is a solid,
breezy folk album from the 60s. If you like folk and haven’t listened to it
yet, you pretty much have in spirit anyway. Which isn’t to say that it isn’t
good. It’s a fine album, but all the credit for that has to go to Stills’s
writing on Bluebird, Rock & Roll Woman, and Hung Upside Down. That said,
Young’s Mr. Soul was still my favorite song on the whole damn thing.
Favorite Tracks: Mr. Soul; Rock & Roll Woman; Bluebird
Emily: Since one of my classes was cancelled today, I've had the whole morning ahead of me to get some stuff done. Chores, TV catch-up, homework, and Buffalo Springfield were all on the agenda. I got through the first two items, and then decided to combine homework with my blogging pursuits and play Buffalo Springfield Again. I'm only working on background research for an upcoming assignment, so I figured I could easily pay attention to both the album in my ears and the cases on my screen. However, it turns out my multitasking wasn't quite on point today. While I could focus quite well on the myriad Westlaw cases I had to read, Buffalo Springfield kind of went in one ear and out the other. At a few points, I checked iTunes and realized a whole song had passed and I hadn't even realized it. I went back and relistened to those, but I still don't feel like I got a good grasp on the album. It's folk-rock, but a fairly quiet brand of folk-rock. Beyond the excellent Neil Young-penned first track, nothing really stood out and grabbed my attention. Perhaps Buffalo Springfield Again requires me to listen again, but even then I'm not too sure I'll be hooked in.
Favorite Tracks: Mr. Soul; Sad Memory; Everydays
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