Buffalo Springfield Again CD

Live Recording

Buffalo Springfield: Steve Stills (vocals, guitar, piano, organ); Richie Furay, Neil Young (vocals, guitar); Bruce Palmer (bass); Dewey Martin (drums).
Additional personnel: Charlie Chin (banjo); James Burton (dobro); Don Randi (piano); Jack Nitzsche (electric piano); Jim Fielder, Bobby West (bass).
Producers include: Richie Furay, Steve Stills, Neil Young, Ahmet Ertegun.
Engineers include: Bruce Botnick, Jim Messina, William Brittan.
All tracks have been digitally remastered using HDCD technology.
Personnel: Neil Young (vocals, guitar, harmonica); Stephen Stills (vocals, guitar, piano, organ, keyboards); Richie Furay (vocals, guitar); James Burton (guitar, dobro); Charlie Chin (banjo); Don Randi (piano); Jack Nitzsche (electric piano, keyboards); Dewey Martin (drums).
Liner Note Author: Buffalo Springfield.
Illustrator: Eve Babitz.
Unknown Contributor Role: David Crosby.
Due in part to personnel problems which saw Bruce Palmer and Neil Young in and out of the group, Buffalo Springfield's second album did not have as unified an approach as their debut. Yet it doesn't suffer for that in the least -- indeed, the group continued to make major strides in both their songwriting and arranging, and this record stands as their greatest triumph. Stephen Stills' "Bluebird" and "Rock & Roll Woman" were masterful folk-rockers that should have been big hits (although they did manage to become small ones); his lesser-known contributions "Hung Upside Down" and the jazz-flavored "Everydays" were also first-rate. Young contributed the Rolling Stones-derived "Mr. Soul," as well as the brilliant "Expecting to Fly" and "Broken Arrow," both of which employed lush psychedelic textures and brooding, surrealistic lyrics that stretched rock conventions to their breaking point. Richie Furay (who had not written any of the songs on the debut) takes tentative songwriting steps with three compositions, although only "A Child's Claim to Fame," with its memorable dobro hooks by James Burton, meets the standards of the material by Stills and Young; the cut also anticipates the country-rock direction of Furay's post-Springfield band, Poco. Although a slightly uneven record that did not feature the entire band on several cuts, the high points were so high and plentiful that its classic status cannot be denied. ~ Richie Unterberger
In retrospect, it's hard to believe that Buffalo Springfield could not only top their debut album, but that they'd do it within a year. AGAIN clearly states the band's case as a rootsy American Beatles to rival folk-rock kings the Byrds.
Singer-songwriters Steve Stills and Neil Young were firing on all cylinders, Young moving easily from sharp-tongued acid rock ("Mr. Soul") to complex, artsong-like ballads (the epic "Broken Arrow"). Stills could shift on a dime as well, offering the hypnotic, jazzy waltz "Everydays" right alongside the celebratory "Rock & Roll Woman" and the RUBBER SOUL-influenced "Bluebird." Richie Furay gamely navigated the choppy seas between these two giants and penned some beautiful, ahead-of-its-time country-rock along the way.

Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.136) - Ranked #188 in Rolling Stone's "The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time"