The Prolific Stephen Stills...

It’s not remarked on enough that in the first half of the 1970s, one of the most prolific musicians producing great music was the magical Steve Stills. In the first six years of that amazing decade he recorded two CSNY albums, six solo albums, two Manassas albums and all of them were excellent. He also toured with all of these bands and was on a real creative peak. Deja Vu was a record for the ages. The subsequent live album is an important document.

The first Manassas album is widely hailed as an important, eclectic album, reaching #4 in USA and #30 in UK. His first solo release featured all manner of guest musicians, including Hendrix. For me, the live album from late 1975 is special. Recorded with a crack band including the reclusive, but magical Donnie Dacus on guitar. One side is acoustic, the other electric. A ripping version of Wooden Ships turns it into a big rock jam. On the other hand, Word Game is a powerful acoustic number. It needed to be a double in reality.
A reunion with Neil Young on Long May You Run ended this creative period. By now, Stills was a veritable star. The six or seven years had placed him as one of rock’s greatest talents. If you’re looking for a theme of music to play, you can do worse than play everything from Buffalo Springfield through to the record made with Neil Young.
He’s in all our record collections and we take him for granted, but it really was a very special time.

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