Neil Young 1966-1975

[CRAZY-HORSE]

BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD "buffalo springfield again..." 1967. #44 US

the second long player release in less than twelve months.
writing duties were shared between Stills,Young and this time Furay chips in with three tracks.
this time around, Neil Young insists that he sings on his compositions but the company suits decide to try "mr.soul" with vocals by Stills and Furay, but neither can match the way Young does it.
Stills now resents Young getting his own way and Furay songs being recorded as he thought this was his band, Young now has confidence to question Stills' decisions and the heat gets turned up. In fighting between the pair has Young quitting,coming back,quitting and returning once again....two massive egos fighting for control. disagreements on tour lead to NY refusing to take the stage on some dates and flying back to California several times.
on some tracks Stills and Young refuse to play with eachother, thus they bring in their mates to do the others parts.
that aside, the album is just as good if not better than the debut set, again, theres an amalgamation of folk,rock,blues,country and jazz in the songs. the songwriting has improved greatly as each tries to outdo the other.
just prior to recording the album Young and several friends were arrested by LA police, young insists that this is because they wore their hair long,during the arrest Young was beaten by the police and spent a couple of weeks in hospital, it was during this time in hospital he wrote "mr.soul" and "expecting to fly"...the former being his finest composition with the Springfields IMO.
with the seeds set by the distractions described above the end was nigh for the band,it is however essential listening just like the debut album.

i love this album

tracks:

1. mr.soul***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVH-5v-BhHM audio vocals by Neil Young
2. a childs claim to fame***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_BRz3NmEiM audio
3. everydays**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_NKLt5YY1M audio
4. expecting to fly** #98US
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TIg16XS8S0 audio vocals by Neil Young
5. bluebird*** #58US
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UyooPeFbkQ audio
6. hung upside down**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whFfTjazEDk audio
7. sad memory**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMcwEX0FV-c audio
8. good time boy**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3miEJRvOIEY audio
9. rock 'n' roll woman*** #44 US
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_9HccmgKUg live
10.broken arrow***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXrjHZnTEKE audio vocals by Neil Young

3s=5
2s=5
1s=0

rating: 2.5