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Classic Album Review: Stephen Stills 2 (1971)
Both of the Stephen Stills solo albums, released in 1970 and 1971, received mixed reviews, with the most critical being John Mendelsohn's assessment that it was a work by an artist who was "a solid second-rate artist who so many lower-middlebrows insist on believing is actually first-rate." (The source is Wikipedia but I do remember that review when it first ran in the Rolling Stone).
Another prominent critic of that era, Robert Christgau gave it a C in his now legendary Consumers Guide. Still, all this was balanced out by rave reviews in the English music press and other publications.
One problem was that Crosby, Stills & Nash (and Young) had previously come out with two undisputed classics, and it was inevitable that critics would hold the solo albums of Crosby, Nash, and Stills to that standard. Stills' first solo album was recorded during group tours and had the feel of a sketchbook full of great ideas that were executed to varying degrees of success. The disc does feature his most successful single, "Love The One Your With."
The second work is the result of ample studio time and has a more polished feel. If memory serves, some of the criticism centered on cuts that seemed inferior to the CSN&Y songs and the use of horns on some cuts. The songs with horns, which sound fine now, shouldn't have been a surprise. Bands like Blood, Sweat & Tears, Chicago, Electric Flag, Cold Blood, and many others had made horns part of the sonic palette of rock, and it was natural to want to experiment with that sound.
The closing cut, "Bluebird Revisited," opens slowly with horns, like the Al Kooper era Blood, Sweat & Tears album, and goes into an uptempo section that adds conga to the rhythm section. It received a mixed reaction at the time, but it was one of the blueprints for Stills' later Manassas group and foreshadowed the pleasant summer sound of the 1977 CSN album and its first single, "Dark Star."
Although Robert Christgau gave it a C grade, he also made a statement later on (in another review) that could apply to this solo work: that a person's feelings towards an album can be influenced by one or two cuts that stand out or really connect.
In my case, I bought this album when I was 17, and what drew me to it were the singles "Marianne" and "Change Partners," with the cool guitar riffing in "Nothin' To Do But Today." The rest of the album is admittedly uneven, but today, I consider it more consistent and listenable than the first solo LP. As with Bluebird Revisited, many of the arrangements feel like a forerunner of the later period CSN sound. Though David Crosby and Graham Nash were an essential part of the vocal sound, Stills was the music director for the band sound, having played many of the instruments in their first record.
The other horn-suffused cut, "Ecology Song," could divide his fanbase, as it's jarringly different and sounds like it could have come off a Chicago or Blood, Sweat & Tears album. I'm not sure it works, but you can check it out on YT or a music streaming site and make up your mind about it.
The early 70s criticism that many of the lyrics were minor works can be dismissed as the view of a much smaller group of gatekeepers when music magazines were the primary way people found out about music (besides radio). The album sold well, and in today's environment, where anyone who wants to be a pundit has access to do so, the view would probably be overwhelmingly positive. In my case, I've always appreciated good lyrics but prefer to hear the words as sound. If the words sing well, that's much better than it being a heavy-duty message to the people, man.
I noted the guitar work in Nothin' To Do But Today." In his time, he was sometimes underrated, though his work had the hallmark of a great guitarist, which was that you always recognized when Stills' was playing. In particular, his acoustic guitar work was especially unique.
As one of the members of Manassas once said, Stills turned the acoustic guitar into a rock instrument, which was true even in his Buffalo Springfield days. On their classic "Bluebird," his acoustic work and chording sounded as powerful as the electric guitars. I don't know if anyone else ever picked an acoustic so hard. You can hear his pick really digging into the strings.
It's historically significant to note that the critical opinion in 1971 was mixed. Still, those negative reviews also were expressed in the context of the music scene at the time and a small group of opinion makers. Much of that context either no longer exists, might be right in some cases, or is plain wrong. It wasn't a time when one could go online and hear a whole album; the first description came if and when a publication covered it.
In 2023, only the music remains, and it's stood the test of time. It's still in print, and many of the cuts are on my iPod, music app, and playlists. I liked the album then and enjoy it now.
Al Handa
Feb. 2024
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