There’s something about Buffalo Springfield. I can’t quite put my finger on it. Their work is shrouded in a haze. That is, it’s hard to look at anything that Stephen Stills or Neil Young did on a sunny day in 1967 without setting it up against what followed. Isn’t it troubling, the idea that sometimes context clouds judgment? A question that springs to mind is: at their best, were Buffalo Springfield anything more than an early hint at the careers that followed? I’d argue yes, but not exactly for reasons that make immediate sense. The best I can do is put two albums side by side: one a success, one that doesn’t quite cut it, and see if that sheds some light on the matter.
Can’t Live With It: Last Time Around (1968)
Whenever the words “contractual obligation” are used in reference to a release, you know there won’t be much spirit to it. So it’s no surprise that Last Time Around isn’t the highlight of the band’s discography. By the time it was being put together, Neil Young was recording his first solo album, Richie Furay was focusing on his Poco project, and Stills was putting Crosby, Stills and Nash together. The result is easy to summarise: is there anything substantially wrong with any of these songs? Not really, to the point that I Am A Child, Kind Woman and Questions went on to have long lives of their own under different guises. It’s just that the whole thing reeks of distraction.
Special Care is an interesting example. The production is raw and tasteful, the tone on that guitar solo is an irresistible mixture of grit and glide. There’s nothing truly wrong with the actual song: it simply sounds unfinished. The lyrics are there, although not quite; the vocals are subdued in intention as well as in the mix. Then we have In The Hours of Not Quite Rain: the lyrics of which came from a winning entry of a contest held by KHJ Radio out of LA. That’s right, it was “send in a poem and win a chance at getting it turned into a song by Buffalo Springfield“. If anything showcases the lack of spirit behind this release, it’s this particular origin story. But even then, the song is almost just about great: it isn’t so much the contest-lyrics but the lavish strings that bring it down.
So it’s a case of last-minute distraction. And pleasant though it may be, it just makes you think about what could have been.
Can’t Live Without It: Buffalo Springfield Again (1967)
If you want a good, reliable adjective for a piece of music or literature that strikes a vein, that is devoid of fat, excess froth, anything but the strictly necessary, then “tight” is right there for you. If something sounds tight, it sounds good.Last Time Around is certainly not tight in any positive way.
But neither is Buffalo Springfield Again. The word that comes to mind is, in fact, “loose”. If there’s anything like a hangout movie, this is a hangout album. But it consistently commands your attention. Why? It’s not exactly clear.
We all know what the main cuts here are: or rather, we all know that Mr. Soul sticks right to the synapses. But therein lies the first mystery: how exactly did Young manage to swing ripping off Satisfaction and making it a great song on its own? And more than that: in an album that features Mr. Soul, why do I still find myself favouring songs like Stills’ Hung Upside Down? Whip out your acoustic guitar and see if that song makes any sense. Try it on Everyday, too.
There’s this fantasy that if a song is good enough, it’ll survive the worst of recordings and the worst of arrangements. I tend to want to believe that. But ultimately, maybe the difference between these two albums shows that arrangements, production and mixing can find ways to hold our interest that take us beyond good songwriting: in fact, elevating beyond measure what is already there.
Or they can truly sink something that had a chance to shine.
So if you ask me: what’s good about Buffalo Springfield Again? The same quality material that doesn’t quite strike a chord in Last Time Around, but handled with care. And could I have done without Broken Arrow? Maybe. But three cheers for Expecting to Fly.
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