"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)

 

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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

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"...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...

"Blue Moves" by ELTON JOHN – Double-Album from October 1976 on Rocket Records featuring Ray Cooper, Davey Johnstone, James Newton-Howard, Kenny Passarelli, Roger Pope and Caleb Quaye - with Guests Randy and Michael Brecker, Barry Rogers and David Sanborn on Horns, Backing Vocals from Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys, Curt Becher (aka Curt Boettcher) of The Millennium, Toni Tennille of The Captain and Tennille, David Crosby and Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and The Hollies and The Cornerstone Institutional Baptist and Southern Californian Choir directed by Rev. James Cleveland with Orchestration from The London Symphony Orchestra and The Martyn Ford Orchestra (Paul Buckmaster conducting) (June 1996 UK Mercury 2CD Reissue - 'Gus Dudgeon' Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

"...Out Of The Blue..."

When I worked as a Rock buyer at Reckless Records in Islington and then the ultra-busy Soho branch in Berwick Street (the shop that’s featured on the cover of the Oasis album "(What's The Story) Morning Glory?") - Elton John's October 1976 double-album splurge "Blue Moves" was a yawn record - the kind of unsellable dog that would sit in the racks alongside so many other copies of the same – us hoping against hope that we might get (maybe) three or four quid for it. In fact, as I recall, we were still turning down copies as non-shifters as late as the early Nineties.

Cut to April 2020 - closing in on 44 years after the album's autumn 1976 release and my how things have changed. Reappraisals take place all the time we know, but "Blue Moves" has been getting one these last four decades with lovelorn fans biting their chapped lips and declaring that its time to shoulder that pistol-whipping holster. We flogged in then Mr. Dwight but we want it back now. Sorry (does indeed) seem to be the hardest word when it comes to this Reg-fest. Some digital history first…

First issued on Rocket Records 822 818-2 in June 1988 as a single CD, that variant had dropped "Shoulder Holster" from Side 2 and "The Wide-Eyed And Laughing" from Side 3 in order to get the double-album to fit onto one CD. That truncated issue was replaced by this - June 1996's 2-Disc Remaster – transferred and worked beautifully by original album Producer GUS DUDGEON as part of The Elton John Remasters Series. There has been other issues since, especially in Japan, namely the 2 x SHM-CD reissue in Mini LP Repro packaging from last year (2019) with a new 'dry' remaster that has left many fans running back to this (sometimes the latest isn't always the best). Let's get to the Boogie Pilgrims...

UK released 3 June 1996 - "Blue Moves" by ELTON JOHN on Mercury 532 467-2 (Barcode 731453246720) is a 2CD Reissue and Remaster of the full 1976 double-album and plays out as follows:

CD1 (41:05 minutes):

1. Your Starter For... [Side 1]

2. Tonight

3. One Horse Town

4. Chameleon

5. Boogie Pilgrim [Side 2]

6. Cage The Songbird (For Edith Piaf)

7. Crazy Water

8. Shoulder Holster

CD2 (43:46 minutes):

1. Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word [Side 3]

2. Out Of The Blue

3. Between Seventeen And Twenty

4. The Wide-Eyed And Laughing

5. Someone's Final Song

6. Where's The Shoorah? [Side 4]

7. If There's A God In Heaven (What's He Waiting For?)

8. Idol

9. Theme For A Non-Existent TV Series

10. Bite Your Lip (Get Up And Dance!)

"Blue Moves" was released as a double-album 22 October 1976 in the UK on Rocket Records ROSP 1 and in the USA on MCA/The Rocket Record Company 2-11004. Produced by GUS DUDGEON - it peaked at No. 3 in the UK and also No. 3 in the USA.

The 20-page booklet reproduces the lyrics that came with the original inner sleeves (though not the photos) and new JOHN TOBLER liner notes illuminate the album's place in Elton's huge career. Rockets Records had been launched in 1973 with two albums for Kiki Dee – both with Elton John and Bernie Taupin contributions (some exclusive cuts too, I've reviewed both "Loving And Free" and "I've Got The Music In Me"). GUS DUDGEON puts in a note about the master-tapes and his 20-bit resolution transfers and there is no doubt about the Audio fidelity here – it's superb – real clean and ballsy. For sure "Crazy Water" still feels that tad under-produced in the oomph department - but I suspect it was originally recorded and mastered that way. avng said that, those almost Genesis-sounding acoustic guitars in "The Wide Eyed And Laughing", the Community Choir filling your speakers in the Gospel-tinged "Where's The Shoorah?" and the James Newton-Howard string arrangements in the beautiful but crushing "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word" all sound hugely improved – every track now up for audio grabs.

The album produced three instrumentals - the Caleb Quaye filler that is "Your Starter For..." that opens Side 1 and the Side 4 ditty "Theme For A Non-Existent TV Series" - both clocking in at just under one minute and twenty seconds. I mention this because my poison has always been instrumental door number three - the fantastic band boogie of "Out Of The Blue". Between this and the Brecker Brothers/David Sanborn brass funk of "Boogie Pilgrim" – both have been the reasons why I loved the album. In fact when I made up 'Funky Funky' CD compilations for Shop Play shuffles in Reckless, I'd include both tracks and without fail punters would arrive at the counter while they played demanding to know who the instrumental was by - and then be duly stunned when told it was 'Elton John'. You'd get that look - "I didn't know Elton John was funky!" But alongside the sadder tunes on here like "Tonight" (recorded with The London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road) or "Between Seventeen And Twenty" - old feather-festooned Reg was definitely a serious funky chicken. The single "Crazy Water" had that Stevie Wonder clavinet boogie to it and the third and final 45 off the album, "Bite Your Lip (Get Up And Dance!)" was clearly aimed at the emerging dance floor Disco that was sweeping NYC and the world at the end of 1976 (it was also on a 12" as I recall for DJs).

Finding "Tonight" overdone and just a bit boring (Elton and an Orchestra), I must admit that I start the double with the upbeat "One Horse Town" which features The Martyn Ford Orchestra arranged and conducted by one of Rock's great background heroes – Paul Buckmaster. "Chameleon", "Crazy Water" and "Someone’s Final Song" are all supported by a host of top backing singers including Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys, Curt Becher (aka Curt Boettcher) of The Millennium, Toni Tennille of The Captain and Tennille and a few more into the bargain. The ultra-harmonising duo of David Crosby and Graham Nash (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and The Hollies) show up on two – the Edith Piaf tribute song "Cage The Songbird" and "The Wide Eyed And Laughing" - while Marvin Gaye and Aretha Franklin fans of 1971's "What's Going On" and 1972's "Amazing Grace" will know the name of Rev. James Cleveland who conducts and adds The California Community Choir to "Boogie Pilgrim", "Where's The Shoorah?" and the album's final bopper "Bite Your Lip (Get Up And Dance!)". 

For sure "Blue Moves" is not a masterpiece and you'd be hard-pressed I suspect to get any EJ fan to say it equals "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" from three years back in 1973. 

But I like a bruiser and the good moments on here are great. And old stock or not - this 1996 twofer Mercury CD Remaster is the one to get...

"The Pretender" by JACKSON BROWNE (2004 Asylum CD Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Out Into The Cool Of The Evening Strolls..."

Some records actually scare you - emotionally that is. Back in 1976 and well into 1977 I was 'too' into "The Pretender". I was lonely I suppose and this album hooked into that lonesome pain like no other. Even now I find certain tracks hard to listen to – a downer LP I'd rather avoid in some ways.

And as it's 40th anniversary has come and gone in 2016 with no Deluxe Edition reissue/fanfare from Asylum or WEA (it shifted over two million copies for God's sake) - we're still left with this rather boring looking 80ts type CD reissue in a standard jewel case complete with a gatefold slip of paper for an inlay. Presentation wise – you get a big fat zip. But then you play the plain-looking CD and the Remaster is absolutely astounding.

The only mastering credit on the inlay for CD is GREG LADANYI who mixed some of the album back in the day and it doesn't advise a date or what was used. Fans will know that revered audio engineer Steve Hoffman remastered the LP for his DCC Compact Classics audiophile label in 1993 (DCC Compact Classics GZS-1047 - Barcode 010963104721) and I can't help but think that that CD variant is what has been used here (without saying so). I'm open to correction on this of course - but what can't be argued away is that you get gorgeous audio on what looks like the most boring of CD reissues ever. Anyway - here are the bright baby blues...

UK released 19 July 2004 - "The Pretender" by JACKSON BROWNE on Asylum 8122-78912-2 (Barcode 081227891220) is a straightforward CD transfer of the 1976 Asylum Records 8-track LP and plays out as follows (35:25 minutes):

1. The Fuse [Side 1]

2. Your Bright Baby Blues

3. LInda Paloma

4. Here Come Those Tears Again

5. The Only Child [Side 2]

6. Daddy's Tune

7. Sleep's Dark And Silent

8. The Pretender

Tracks 1 to 8 are his fourth studio album "The Pretender" - released November 1976 in the Asylum 7E-1079 and in the UK on Asylum K 53048. Produced by JON LANDAU - it peaked at No. 5 in the USA and No. 23 in the UK.

Musicians:

JACKSON BROWNE - Lead Vocals on all plus Acoustic Guitar on Track 2

FRED TACKETT (of Little Feat) - Guitars on Tracks 4, 5, 6 (Left Chanel), 7 and 8

DAVID LINDLEY - Slide Guitar on Tracks 1 and 6 with Violin on Track 5

LOWELL GEORGE (of Little Feat) - Slide Guitar and Harmony Vocals on Track 2

JOHN HALL (of Orleans) - Guitar Solo on Track 4

ALBERT LEE (of Heads, Hands & Feet) - Guitar on Track 5

WADDY WATCHELL - Guitar (Right Chanel) on Track 6

ROBERT GUTIERREZ - Guitaron, Violin and Backing Vocals on Track 2

LUIS F. DAMIAN - Vijuella, Guitar and backing Vocals on Track 2

CRAIG DOERGE - Keyboards on Tracks 1, 6, 7 and 8

BILL PAYNE (of Little Feat) - Keyboards on Tracks 2, 4 and 5

ROY BITTAN (of Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band) - Piano on Track 2

MIKE UTLEY - Organ on Track 4

ARTHUR GERST - Harp and Backing Vocals on Track 2

JIM HORN (Arranger), CHUCK FINLEY, DICK HYDE and QUITMAN DENNIT - Horns on Track 6

LELAND SKLAR - Bass on Tracks 1, 6, 7 and 8

CHUCK RAINEY - Bass on Tracks 2 and 5

BOB GLAUB - Bass on Track 4

RUSS KUNKEL - Drums on Track 1

JIM GORDON - Drums on Tracks 2 and 4

JEFF PORCARO (of Toto) - Drums on Tracks 5, 6, 7 and 8

GARY COLEMAN - Percussion on Track 5

BONNIE RAITT and ROSEMARY BUTLER - Harmony Vocals on Track 4

DON HENLEY (of Eagles) and J.D. SOUTHER - Harmony Vocals on Track 5

DAVID CROSBY and GRAHAM NASH (of The Byrds, The Hollies, CSNY) - Harmony Vocals on Track 8

DAVID CAMPBELL – Arranged Strings on Track 8

Although it doesn't directly mention the event that shaped the music - the album was recorded amidst horrible personal circumstances (his wife Phyllis had taken her own life in March 1976) and you can feel that bleakness seep out through the darkness of the lyrics. The LP's artwork displayed the range of emotions a heart feels. As he crosses a street in his clean white teeshirt - Browne looks like someone planted him there from another world - an outsider striding amidst pedestrians who don't seem to notice what's going on inside him. You flip the cover over and a naked child of three is giggling on a beach - playing in the sand and the sunset light as the tide goes out. It shows that there is also joy amidst the pain - hope - a continuance no matter what.

Musically Jackson Browne's fourth studio album was a very class affair. And as you can see from the extensive list provided above - the session players were the best. You get most of Little Feat, members of Toto, The Eagles, David Crosby and Graham Nash of CSNY, John Hall of Orleans, Albert Lee of Heads, Hands & Feet and Roy Bittan of Springsteen's E-Street Band – as well as his how own core players - David Lindley and Craig Doerge. Harmony Vocalists feature Don Henley, Bonnie Raitt, Rosemary Butler and J.D. Souther. An embarrassment of riches really.

It opens with David Lindley providing sweeping slide guitar notes for "The Fuse" as lyrics about 'years in the wilderness' slowly turn into a positive romp towards the end of the song - 'the walls come tumbling down'. And just as it’s fading - Lindley does those brilliant harmonics on his guitar - Craig Doerge providing a gorgeous counter on the piano. But for me "Your Bright Baby Blues" represents the album's first moment of true greatness. A lethal combo of musicians contribute to the "...I can't seem to get away from me..." hurt in the words - Chuck Rainey on Bass, Billy Payne of Little Feat on Organ with Roy Bittan of The E-Street Band and especially Lowell George whose guitar slide solo is the very epitome of brevity and impact combined. I've always hated the cod Mariachi rhythms of "Linda Paloma" though I know others love it. Asylum used it as the B-side to the Side 1 finisher "Here Come Those Tears Again" - an American No. 23 hit single in February 1977 on Asylum E-45379.

Side 2 offers up a stunning run of four. A song to his son of three (who'd just lost his mum) - "The Only Child" is both sad and beautiful and lyrically deep. He warns his boy that the world may make him hard and wild but to let the disappointments pass and remember to be kind. And one day he may meet that Soul that sees into his own (Henley and Souther nail those harmony vocals). "Daddy's Tune" is a 'so hard to talk to you' paternal plea that oddly starts to rock out towards its awkward end. Way better is the beautiful and intensely sad "Sleep's Dark And Silent Gate" - a short homage to missed chances - a song filled with longing for simple love - lying awake at night. Those final string notes will crush you. And it ends with the epic title track - that piano as clear as a bell. Asylum edited the album cut of 5:50 down to 4:47 minutes and with "Daddy's Tune" on the flip-side - Asylum E-45399 was rewarded with a lowly No. 58 placing in May 1977. The guy goes to work - comes home from work - goes out - gets wasted - staggers home - gets up in the morning - only to do it all over again. "...Ah the lovers as they run through the night...while the ships bearing their dreams sail out of sight..." – how many of us felt that in dead-end jobs...

Sure it’s depressing in places and too dark at times to deliberately inflict on yourself - but forty years after its release - Jackson Browne's "The Pretender" still has the power to floor me. And something that powerful and moving will always draw me back. And it sounds great too...

"Songs For Beginners" by GRAHAM NASH (October 2008 Rhino CD and DVD AUDIO 2-Disc Set) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With 300+ Others Is Available In My

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"…I Watched You Go Through Changes That No Man Should Face Alone…"

With Stephen Stills and David Crosby having produced absolute storming debut albums in November 1970 and March 1971, Graham Nash's quietly lovely opener didn't disappoint either. In fact in the early Seventies - it seemed like everything the combined and individual talents of CSYN did was magical.

This October 2008 2-Disc DELUXE EDITION of "Songs For Beginners" by GRAHAM NASH on Rhino/Atlantic 8122-79949-3 (Barcode 081227994938) celebrates his June 1971 debut album with a Remastered Stereo Remix of the stand alone first disc - while the second disc is a 5.1 DVD Audio Mix. You need a DVD player to hear the second disc that contains a DVD Interview about his Photography featuring a Gallery of Stills, Photo-Backed Lyrics & Web Links.

"Songs For Beginners" was released in June 1971 on Atlantic SD 7204 in the USA and Atlantic 2401 011 in the UK. The album featured many famous guests (one is uncredited), so here's a detailed breakdown (33:47 minutes):

1. Military Madness 

[DAVE MASON of Traffic on Guitar with RITA COOLIDGE on Backing Vocals]

2. Better Days 

[NEIL YOUNG (credited as Joe Yankee) on Piano, SEEMON POSTHUMA of THE FOOL on Clarinet, RITA COOLIDGE on Backing Vocals with DALLAS TAYLOR of CSYN and MANASSAS on Drums]

3. Wounded Bird 

[GN all instruments and voices]

4. I Used To Be A King 

[NEIL YOUNG (credited as Joe Yankee) on Piano, JERRY GARCIA on Steel Guitar with PHIL LESH on Bass (both of THE GRATEFUL DEAD) and DAVID CROSBY on Electric Guitar]

5. Be Yourself 

[RITA COOLIDGE on Piano, Electric Piano and Backing Vocals]

6. Simple Man 

[DAVID LINDLEY on Fiddle, DORIAN RUDNYTSKY of THE NEW YORK ROCK & ROLL ENSEMBLE on Cello with RITA COOLIDGE on backing Vocals]

7. Man In The Mirror 

[NEIL YOUNG [credited as Joe Yankee] on Piano, JERRY GARCIA of THE GRATEFUL DEAD on Steel Guitar, CHRIS ETHERIDGE of THE FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS on Bass]

8. There's Only One 

[RITA COOLIDGE on Piano & Backing Vocals, CHRIS ETHERIDGE on Bass, BOBBY KEYS on Saxophone with VANETTA FIELDS, SHIRLEY MATTHEWS, CLYDIE KING & DOROTHY MORRISON on Backing Vocals (The Blackberries)]

9. Sleep Song 

[DAVE MASON on Guitar with RITA COOLIDGE on Backing Vocals]

10. Chicago 

[DORIAN RUDNYTSKY on Cello]

11. We Can Change The World 

[RITA COOLIDGE, VANETTA FIELDS...DOROTHY MORRISON on Backing Vocals]

The 20-page booklet has an essay on the album and its star-studded background by noted writer DAVID FRICKE - it features Session Photos, Lyrics, Detailed recording and reissue credits - and even a picture of the master tapes.

But for fans the big news is the SOUND. The CD album has been Stereo Remixed & Remastered and the quality isn't just good - it's fabulous - BREATHTAKING.  "Better Days" has a very quiet Piano and Vocal Intro - it's spotlessly clean - and when the band kicks in - it's an absolute wow! The mastering is credited to DOUG SAX and SANGWOOK NAM at The Mastering Lab, Ojai - and they should both be Grammy nominated for it. "Days" is followed by the Acoustic and Vocal-only of "Wounded Bird" (a song for Stephen Stills and Judy Collins and their troubled relationship) and it's a lovely as it gets - BEAUTIFULLY restored. The delicately aching Cello work of Dorian Rudnytsky combines with Rita Coolidge's Backing Vocals on "Simple Man" to genuinely touching effect, while Jerry Garcia's Steel Guitar on "Man In the Mirror" adds a lot from an instrument you wouldn't expect from him. And on three tracks there's Neil Young - plinking away - putting in genuinely superb Piano work (he was credited as Joe Yankee for legal reasons). 

I find the 2nd disc, however, problematic. I don't have a DVD AUDIO player and 99% of the planet doesn't either - it's a dead format. Disc 2 features the entire album in Advanced Resolution 5.1 Surround Sound, Dolby Digital & DTS - wonderful stuff guys - if I could play it! But the really disappointing part is the complete lack of anything new - no outtakes, no demos - not even a live recording. However - and although it's completely unrelated to the album - things improve on the DVD part of the disc - it contains an interview with Nash about his lifetime obsession with black and white photography - and its fascinating - a lovely man, intelligent, sensitive - and you suspect a real peacekeeper among huge egos that often got out of hand. Then there's the gallery of images (he explains many of them in the interview) - I won't spoil it too much for those who are going to buy this except to say that there are captured moments on here of Joni, Neil, Stills and especially his lifetime pal David Crosby that will reduce some people to tears.

To sum up - a beautifully realized first disc - with a slightly odd and unrepresentative 2nd. Still - for fans of the album - this is a no brainer - the gorgeous remaster means you simply have to own it...

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