stephen stills sucks

and there's something about the voicings used in his songs, even in the CSN stuff, that really rubs me the wrong way. one day i'll get to the bottom of that. for now i'll just leave it at: he sucks.

Go fuck the one you're with.

Sincerely,
an oldies radio casualty

i've always been a bit puzzled as to why david crosby gets slagged by some for the foregoing negative traits, when it's always seemed to me that stills personified them MUCH MORE than crosby ever did. and stills doesn't have a drug habit to blame it all upon ... nor was he ever as good as crosby was (in the byrds).

-- RM (rm...) (webmail), December 25th, 2004 2:00 PM. (link)

I WISH this could be true; unfortunately while driving home the oldies station decided to inflict not one not two but THREE stephen stills songs on me in a row. so apparently people still like him.

meltzer is always way ahead of the curve, man.

frightening words

(Hey Michael, three-letter user names were great until the spammers came along; now every time someone spam-runs (all combinations)@mydomain, I'm one of the first stops.)

It might be the best example of sixties disillusionment put on record.

i like some of stills other solo stuff.

http://www.nrk.no/img/493374.jpeg

I've just spent the last few days listening to "Stephen Stills" and "Stephen Stills 2". Perhaps the lyrical sentiments are tired and cliched, but the music and the performances are pretty damn good. Dude had a lot of southern white-boy soul.

And funny enough, I felt compelled to listen to these albums after I read Shakey. And Stills DEFINITELY was the most loathsome character in the book. I shied away from ever checking him out because I've always detested CSN, and only ever had time for Ohio and Helpless when it came to the CSNY canon.

Interesting

I am totally interested, but I'm a fan of early Still.

"Change Partners" came in while I was shopping in Home Depot a couple weeks back and it sounded great.

that disc does look interesting, thanks for the heads-up.

ok so I picked up 'Stephen Stills II' and "Change Partners" is truly incredible ... C'mon Amateurist

c'mon stormy, it took you this long?!?

Stephen Stills sucks?

Well we wouldn't have had Christina Applegate if he hadn't...

yeah hstencil I am a lame-o, what can I say!! I am always late to the party. Other super later acquisitions include the entire Bonnie Raitt catalog which I have been gorging on recently/

"Change Partners"'s time changes -- verse/chorus-- are pretty and slinky, and this ode to 70s free love is real fine from where i sit

you're not lame - oh wait, you like bonnie raitt, maybe you are lame!

no seriously it had more to do with amateurist than anything. you're still my bro.

ps. kenny williams better make a trade already, amirite?

dude the Sox bullpen is a travesty .. If they end up trading Buehrle, so be it, as far as I care -- Mark deserves better than the bunch of bums they assembled behind him. first five Bonnie Raitt albums are incredible, dude, check them out!!

i can't get behind raitt

i can get behind buehrle as a met tho!!!!!

(never will happen, dr. morbs doth protest too much)

(dude hates lo duca too, i don't get it)

I'm rocking Manassas all the time. Stills put together some great over-amped Springfield/Sanatana/Hendrix type throwdowns. But I like the country-rock side the best.

I'm starting to check out the first couple Raitt albums. She's definitely channeling a post-Springfield California: early Little Feat, Paul Pena, singer-songwriter meets the blues. Cool.

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/510FYuSKkOL._AA240_.jpg

http://www.amazon.com/Super-Session-Bloomfield/dp/B00008QSA5

i mean http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/510FYuSKkOL._AA240_.jpg

Rhino's new Manassas rarities package

I like his demo of "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" - you can really hear his guitar playing and it's pretty amazing.

Isley Brothers version of "Love the One You're With" is killer.

I thought I liked 'Turn Back The Pages' when I heard it once after not hearing it for 25 years. Then I realized I despise the sentiment of the lyric, the music isn't much, and the arrangement is pretty lame. I am so very sorry.

he doesn't suck, but good lord he can be irritating. i was just listening to a Stills-Young Band bootleg and it's sort of amazing how mush mouthed his singing was at that point. Like he didn't feel it necessary to sing his lyrics, just kinda approximate them vaguely. But he's got some good stuff. Like his collab w/ Al Kooper on "Season of the Witch" is pretty sweet. I don't think I've really heard Manassas, but I probably should.

I wanted to like Manassas, but I'm just couldn't get with Stills' use of Latin sounds. Think "Uno Mundo" but for long suites at a time. One of these days maybe I'll see what's great about it.

What a fascinating thread.

Well, teh Latin stuff is only one side of the double album...

Really? I guess I never got that far. I still have the cd, on the hopes that someday I'll put it on and love the one I'm with.

its taking all of my self control not to edit the title to "Steven Stills still sucks". been looking at it and thinking that all day.

ITS MADDENING

steven stills sucks, still

still, stills, steven, sucks

stephen stills sucks still, stephen

http://onlinetalent.com/artist/rock/images/stephen%20stills.jpeg

stills.... you turn me on

this video is comedy gold to me in so many ways
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CboU0iUefv4

lol, I read this as "stephen still sucks" & I was like no wonder we haven't seen that dude around here lately.

http://onlinetalent.com/artist/rock/images/stephen%20stills.jpeg http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/harry_hendersons.jpg

http://www.ugo.com/movies/bizarre-movie-deaths/images/entries/robocop.jpg

http://www.astronerdboy.com/comic-strips/images/toons/ZippyStillLife.jpg

"Isley Brothers version of "Love the One You're With" is killer."

Sure is. I mean, he does suck, but he gave the world that Isleys cover and the peerless anecdote about taking so much coke he believed he'd fought in Nam so he's got that going for him.

I've probably mentioned this on another thread but I know someone who sincerely believes that Stills was the most talented member of CSNY, with Neil coming in third, which just makes my jaw drop.

He was good in Buffalo Springfield, but not that good... 2nd to Neil, though I liked Richie Furay a lot too

and the peerless anecdote about taking so much coke he believed he'd fought in Nam

LOL, yes, I'm glad somebody else remembers that! He seemed like the most sincere and genuine guy of the lot of them in that film about Neil Young's "Living With War" tour, Graham Nash cam across as a bit gilb, and David Crosby came across as David Crosby

"49 Bye-Byes/America's Children" off 4 Way Street is absolutely dreadful. Stills rants, and the content is bad enough (standard late 60s sentiments, pretty much, written in horrid verse). But his "ohhhh yeahhhh" grunts after each line are more appalling: or funny, I guess, because each one makes me laugh at how bad they are. It makes Neil's weird intro to Stills on the song more understandable, like, ok everybody, let's cart out tonight's train wreck for his requisite two songs, before we get back to the good stuff.

oh boy: on "Black Queen" Stills tells a ridic story about how he learned to play this way from "an old black man" that he met as a child in "Lou'siana" (uggh), and then after playing this "country blues" (as he calls it) for a little while, the crowd starts laughing. Stills stops, and growls "one thing the blues ain't, is funny". It's a horrible moment.

there's a few good songs on Manassas like "It Doesn't Matter" but overall it's a typically padded double-album.

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Thursday, September 21, 2006 9:11 AM (4 years ago) Bookmark

wrong wrong RONG. Manassas is good-to-great all the way thru, solid songs touching on country folkie and harder rock. this is Stills MOMENT afaic.

you have to be one twisted motherfucker to enjoy Love the One You're With

I'm gonna break rank here.

I think SS has some awesome shit in his (admittedly spotty) back catalog. All of his stuff from the three Buffalo Springfield albums, like "Rock and Roll Woman", "Questions", and "Bluebird" (the short version will suffice). And has any other song ever captured late-'60s Vietnam-war-era zeitgeist better than "For What It's Worth"?

The original Band of Joy (vocals: Robert Plant, drums: John Bonham) did a great cover of "For What It's Worth" in 1967, which was a cornerstone of their live set.

Some good stuff from his first two solo albums, the early CSN/CSNY material, and Manassas. Didn't Jimi Hendrix play on his first solo LP?

After that the good moments became few and far between, but there are some. His voice, never great to begin with, has deteriorated badly over the years. Still, doesn't suck IMO.

Used to hang out here:

http://images.channeladvisor.com/Sell/SSProfiles/12000635/Images/111/081227989149.jpg

Lived in Manassas and went to High School not far from there.

Hated Manassas. Ambivalent about Stills.

More stories from Shakey, please. Thank you.

buy the book, you won't regret it

"Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" is enough for me, but he also wrote a bunch of good-to-great songs with Buffalo Springfield. He's not Neil Young, but neither is he David Clayton-Thomas (or someone truly annoying from that era).

The Dean has some insights here:

Stephen Stills 2 [Atlantic, 1971]
Stills has always come on as the ultimate rich hippie--arrogant, self-pitying, sexist, shallow. Unfortunately, he's never quite fulfilled this artistic potential, but now he's approaching his true level. Flashes of brilliant ease remain--the single, "Marianne," is very nice, especially if you don't listen too hard to the lyrics--but there's also a lot of stuff on order of an all-male chorus with jazzy horns singing "It's disgusting" in perfect tuneful unison, and straight, I swear. Keep it up, SS--it'll be a pleasure to watch you fail. C

Weird I bought manssas yesterday on vinyl and I'm loving it. Works as a double, but could be edited down to one classic. That said stills would have picked the wrong songs so I'm glad for the sprawl.

On second listen this is p awesome. This blues stuff sucks but lots of nice country rock and folky stuff. Chris hillman is all over this

yeah i dig that 1st manassas record a whole bunch. the one that came after is a little generic but i'm hesitant to call it bad. worth a buck or so if you come across it.

I don't think Stills gets enough credit. Suite Judy is such a great song

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/StillsStephen1983.jpg

Joe Maphis rolling over in grave.

Larry Collins looking askance.

Oh that is a horrible photo

Jacket is such a poor choice for rocking

Cool guitar though

Stephen Stills Sucks

I keep getting reminded of the existence of this, and kept forgetting to do the same for the people of ilx...no more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMxHcSz-64s

I had a dream last night that I was witnessing a Stephen Stills retrospective journey through time. I blame ILM

did Don 'n' Glenn like CSN(Y)?

DON: The first CSN album really set laid the blueprint for the whole Los Angeles scene of the late '60s and early '70s. The call it the "Mellow Mafia" now, but that trivializes the power these guys had, these men who could be romantic, idealistic, and political right at the top of the charts, both on their own and in their solo work. Those amazing albums spent alot of time on the turntable at the Eagles' nest and you can believe we were taking notes.

GLENN: The track we identified with most was "Love The One Your With", because you could walk into any joint in LA, and think, "I've loved that chick her over there, and the one in the corner, and I'll be with that one by the pinball machine tonight!"

DON: Well, yeah.

A couple other tales start shortly after this: Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young: C/D, S/D

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/this_brian_eno_stephen_stills_mashup_will_flush_your_mind_down_the_toilet

I been jamming Super Session a lot lately

"Harvey's tune" is a jam.

I really dislike Stephen Stills, but I recently picked up the first Manassas album and even I have to admit that it's pretty damn good.

he wrote "judy blue eyes", "helplessly hoping", "carry on", "dark star", and "southern cross". therefore, he rules.

NB: AS A SONGWRITER NOT A PERSON

The 12 minute Bluebird is quite jawdropping.
But I thought he was a twat in the Big Sur movie which has coloured the way I've seen him since.

I've got a great Manassas gig on my walkman. Not sure where from. Also great 19 minute Down By The River by CSNY from Balboa Park I think.

Brimstead OTM. Stills and Young also one of the great guitar duos, especially when one of them reins it in enough to play second banana - e.g. "Ohio," "Long May You Run," virtually the entirety of the first Buffalo Springfield album.

"stephen stills still sucks" is a good tongue twister.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=74FvxjiIIfo

No NFL fan will forget 1975 when O.J. Simpson led the AFC in rushing while Stephen Stills paced the NFC. pic.twitter.com/f5cAnvJsMm

— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) May 2, 2022

Stills-Young version of "Separate Ways" on the NYA vol. 2 is a great dirge take.

Isley Brothers version of "Love the One You're With" is killer.

― Garnet Memes (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, September 23, 2009 12:30 AM (twelve years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Was just coming here to post this because I'm working for the afternoon on a bar patio and this is on the P.A. It totally justifies the existence of the song, which needs justifying.

I despise the song but I like it when the Isley Brothers and Aretha Franklin (her Fillmore album) cover it.

I f-ing hate CS&N, but I like quite a bit of what each of them did before they formed that group, specially Stills.

He's had his moments. I've always been partial to "Dark Star."

^

I also like “southern cross” though it’s cheesy af

"Southern Cross" is a great song to sing with your drunk friends.

those are both great songs

"Southern Cross" has been a periodic earworm for me ever since it first came out. I don't know why, but out of nowhere I'll get stuck in my head, "I have been arou-ow-ow-ow-nd the world ..."

C&N have good choons.

They couldn't ruin it even with "Looking for that woman-girl."

4 + 20 blaze it

is CSNY the biggest classic rock band whose members are all still alive? Sabbath?

Buckingham-Nicks Fleetwood Mac, but there's an asterisk.

On that tip, so does Sabbath (Dio).

All the Grand Funk guys are still around, iirc.

Does U2 count?

There are better and old bands who are all still alive, but I picked out U2 because of their album/ticket sales and IIRC their pre-Achtung Baby hits were staples of Chicago classic rock radio.

*older

I'd like to add Roxy Music but the late Graham Simpson was a founding member - he left after one album and I don't think they ever had a bassist who was considered a permanent/official member after that.

I think I determined on some other thread that all the original members of Manfred Mann, formed 60 years ago, are still around.

Anyway, I'll never be a Stills lover, but the first Manassas album is probably the best "solo" record by any of C, S or N.

For a project, I had to digitize the 9 minute version of "Bluebird", which is essentially the original song with an appended live version tacked onto it.. and there's a part at the end of the song where Stills starts "primally" grunting in a "sexual" way. It's every cliche about everything bad about "classic"/60s rock rolled up into one moment.. bad faux primal grunts. Thank you Stephen.
― donut christ (donut), Saturday, December 25, 2004 1:49 PM

i must hear this legendarily awful performance.

Heh heh...I only ever heard that extended "Bluebird" one time, on a college radio station. The deejays did an extended comic routine about the greatness of college radio & how no other stations would allow you, the listener, the privilege of hearing Steven Stills grunting.
― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Saturday, December 25, 2004 3:23 PM

MUST HEAR

i'm only about a minute in. description accurate so far.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gJMj8tWDbs

Yeah but the 9 min Bulebird is good
Had it on cassette back in the day

Has some sick acoustic licks

3:25 grunting begins. typical hippy freakout yelp.

4:23 after a very stoned fuzzbox solo, HOOAAHs have begun. somewhat off beat. charming.

5:50 vamping. grunts very tame and minimal so far.

6:15 "SANG IT CHILDUNN, YESSSSING!!!"

7:30 the jammy parts in this are really good! and that's what it's mostly been so far!

8:00 chorus comes back in.

8:28 wow, so the best part is almost at the very end and is totally acapella. nice.

well it wasn't as plentiful as i was anticipating, but it completely exceeded my expectations in grossing me out.

(next therapy session—
t: so what's on yr mind?
me: O_O have you ever heard of the band buffalo springfield?)

nah, it wasn't really that bad.☺

but yeah, nobody ever needs to hear a recording of someone else making that sound.

I think you guys are over emphasizing the vocals
The musics the thing, lyrics maybe

If anyone wants to know what makes Nash worthwhile, you need to hear the later Hollies tracks that he wrote and sang (not so much their singles).

young
nash
crosby
.

.

.

.

.

stills =(

If anyone wants to know what makes Nash worthwhile, you need to hear the later Hollies tracks that he wrote and sang (not so much their singles).

Here are some songs I really like:

So Lonely
I've Got a Way Of My Own
Oriental Sadness
Stop Right There
Maker
Away Away Away
Postcard
Butterfly
Wings

It's not necessarily going to convince anyone who thinks of Nash as a lightweight, but his melodic sensibilities and voice make more sense to me in the context of UK psychedelic "Ye Olde Toffee Shoppe" pop than laidback West Coast rock.

Anyway, I'll never be a Stills lover, but the first Manassas album is probably the best "solo" record by any of C, S or N.

actually the first Manassass record (surprisingly
solid) and the one right after it, Down the Road (mostly forgettable and I sold it long ago), are really the only two “solo” Stills records I’ve heard from stem to stern iirc

*i felt like a lot of IICORMN wasn’t that innaresting

self-titled and 2 are pretty dreadful.

i still like manassass though. eerie and eclectic.

The second Nash solo LP, Wild Tales, is recommended to Neil fans, as Nash is backed by the Time Fades Away band (minus Jack Nietzsche).

co-sign that. just played songs for beginners and wild tales because of this thread. really love those. very introspective, earnest stuff. "grave concern" is a jam.

those cd box sets that graham nash compiled for each csn member are pretty cool

He made Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, he's never going to hell

Yeah Suite gets overlooked due to ubiquity I guess but it’s dope af

If anyone wants to know what makes Nash worthwhile, you need to hear the later Hollies tracks that he wrote and sang (not so much their singles).

Like what
― calstars, Wednesday, May 18, 2022 6:19 PM

got curious myself because i only knew the real big ones ("king midas" and "bus stop" basically) and the whole album butterfly is about as solid as it gets for britpop of the time. i would say it's closer to what the kinks were doing on albums like face to face or something else than anything else i'm familiar with. hint of buffalo springfield spice in that you really can sense who was the leader on each song, even though they have joint writing credit (suppose you could say the same for the beatles in the end, obvs). his songs with csn(y) seem like a pretty logical progression in hindsight. hollies' harmonies are also super good. not a new opinion, i know. but i've never really heard this stuff in depth before. "RECOMMENDED IF YOU LIKE . . ." kind of deal. it's quite nice.☺

(also i didn't know what i was doing and played the back-to-back mono->stereo version. stereo version doesn't really work on headphones. "try it" is good fun though. most of the songs are still great, regardless of mix.)

oh yeah, sorry to up this for the reason of not shit talking sexy stevie. you sensual thumb puppet, with a heart of pure cocaine.♥

I like how in Shakey, Stills often comes across as the Daffy Duck to Neil's Bugs Bunny.

I'm not familiar with who-does-what in the Hollies, but besides a long run of excellent singles (stretching beyond Nash's time in the group), I really enjoy Evolution as well - an under-appreciated gem from the Summer of Love.

The stereo/mono/etc. mixes with their back catalog is kind of a mess, thanks to both frequent re-issues of the '90s-era remixes and the fact that the Hollies camp refuses to allow any licensee to remaster the mono mixes - they're all forced to use the shitty sounding digital masters that were heavily processed with NoNoise. I prefer mono but I'm hoping someone out there digitally transfers good copies of the original vinyl.

is Manassas kind of a weird forgtten gem of a project?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ01tkS8nhU

i still like manassass though. eerie and eclectic.

― Let's disco dance, Hammurabi! (Austin), Wednesday, May 18, 2022 7:24 PM

besides buffalo springfield, it's the best thing he ever did.

hehe, cool! just getting into it

Ha, I was listening to a streaming radio station recently and this kinda swampy, kinda funky, early 70s rock banger came on and it totally turned by head cuz I certainly hadn't heard it before, couldn't quite place the singer thought he was def familiar and it was of course Manassas and I was like "goddammit I have to listen to the whole record now don't I?"

me too

am very much enjoying this thread. also very much missing scott seward at times like this.

Stephen Stills aboard his boat "Manassas" docked in Gold Beach, Oregon in 1977. pic.twitter.com/T9esBbMfNB

— JoyToKnow (@JoyToKnow1) October 13, 2018

I have my ship
And all her flags are a-flying
She is all that I have left
And music MANASSAS is her name!

Just checking his wiki, learned a his pearl:

He sold out MSG the day before George Harrison organised the Concert For Bangladesh, and Stills donated his stage, sound, lighting system and production manager but was upset when Harrison "neglected to invite him to perform, mention his name, or say thank you". Stills then spent the show drunk in Ringo Starr's dressing room, "barking at everyone". Stills's Madison Square Garden show was professionally recorded and filmed but has never been released, although a filmed recording of "Go Back Home" was played in early 1972 on the Old Grey Whistle Test, and two acoustic tracks were released on Stills 2013 box set Carry On.

lol

I dunno, I'd probably be a little annoyed, too

THat first Manassas lp is pretty great as were live sets I have heard from the time. & CSNY had some great guitar burn live too.
I think I need to get his solo lp and the set of demoes from between Buffalo Springfield and CSN.

Somehow “stills barking at everyone” is very easy to imagine, backstage, maybe sitting on a fold out metal chair, whiskey in hand

Also like to imagine “stills banking at everyone” where he’s still barking but also giving advice on credit default swaps and fx rates

The fact that he was married to Veronique Sanson blows my mind somewhat.

xp Yeah, I'd be annoyed too. Donating all that is no small thing, the least George could've done is say thank you. But getting drunk and yelling at everyone wasn't the way to handle it.

pssh
It’s the perfect way to handle it

otm

Stephen Stills did not like Punk Rock. Foreigner get a pass though. pic.twitter.com/dilG3ehFP8

— Bobby Lee (@BobbyLeeBoogie) December 9, 2022

johnny "rotten" is right

Is that real?

i sure hope so.

Dirty, Loud, and Tasteful: the Stephen Stills Story
by Stephen Stills

"FIRST QUESTION: IS THIS A GUY OR A CHICK?"

"sir this is a wienerschnitzel"

Do you think he was slapping random things all offbeat when he said "That groove my man Mick is laying down"

johnny "rotten" is right

xpost LOL!

From FB:

"I keep bass strings on my bass for two years at a time. I play bass so hard that I really thump it so, when I get a new string, I buy some barbecue sauce and sit and rub it in. This is because it's got to get a little funky, rusty, and greasy in there so it will start to respond. And that's something you can't build on a machine." Stephen Stills

it rubs the BBQ sauce on its skin

so gross!

Does he say what brand of BBQ sauce he uses? I need to know if thicker sauce = thicker bass

Anything left over from what the strings he slathers on his ribs.

it's actually really common practice not to change bass strings, they are really "zingy" when they are new (talking roundwounds not flatwounds) that can be overly aggressive and unpleasant esp for certain kinds of music.

the god of bass, James Jamerson, never changed strings unless one broke. Plenty of Nashville guys and reggae guys too. It really does help get that deader thump sound. I've even read about some old Southern down home trick of rubbing bacon fat on bass strings.

I personally only change them every year or two years when I take my bass into the shop for a setup and adjustment, I just have the shop put new ones on but I'm sure I've gone longer than that before.

one time recently when I saw Shellac somebody asked Bob Weston how often he changes his bass strings and he said "every other show", so he must really like that zing

they are a very zingy band

but yeah that makes sense, Bob's sound is totally new strings

Didn't Jaco do something similar using fried chicken grease or something?

I do question the authenticity of that blindfold test posted above. Did people use the phrase "killing it" back then? I'd go look for the source of the interview but I'm too lazy

Anything left over from what the strings he slathers on his ribs.

And just to be clear, literally his own torso.

Ahem. Bass Players Who Never Change(d) Their Strings

Tired: Bass Players Who Never Change(d) Their Strings

Wired: Bass Players Who Never Change(d) Their Sauce

okay, he's a creep and i hate him and animal fat on the strings is a thing sure buuuut... actual bbq sauce and literal rusty strings? lolwhat!? is he okay?

the sauce is that extra mojo you need

okay, right. i like how dumble amps sound. i "get it man."

but the rust? (thinking emoji)

Rust Never Something Something