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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9873 Posts |
 Posted - 26/02/2015 : 14:27:58
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STEPHEN STILLS-Just Roll Tape April 26, 1968
©ALL MUSIC GUIDE
Review by Thom Jurek
Listen & Read on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MdKrN9VKMU&spfreload=10
When listening to this rather remarkable document, it becomes alarmingly clear what the post-Buffalo Springfield Stephen Stills brought to the partnership of Crosby, Stills & Nash. This 13-song set was recorded solo with an acoustic in a recording studio in 1968, preceding by a few months the first CS&N recording (he bribed a recording engineer after a Judy Collins session). According to Stills' brief liner notes, the tape had been lost for nearly 40 years, until the release of this edition. Meaning, of course, that these versions of these songs haven't been widely available on the bootleg circuit, either. The tracks contain early versions of cuts recorded in the trio such as "Suite: Judy Blues Eyes," "Helplessly Hoping," and "Wooden Ships." But these are near the very end of the collection. There are also a number of cuts here that Stills recorded on his solo records such as "Black Queen" from his self-titled debut, "Change Partners" and "Know You Got to Run" from Two Originals, "So Begins the Task" from Manassas, and even a very earlier and much longer version of "Treetop Flyer" with Stills playing dobro. In addition to the better-known material are the haunting "The Doctor Will See You Now," the melancholy yet tender melodrama of "Dreaming of Snakes," and "Judy," a short tune that is, coincidentally and perhaps, a precursor to the "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes." These are demos, unpolished, unfinished, sketches -- albeit most of them fully realized -- of classic material. It's unexplainable as to why some of the unreleased material didn't ultimately make it onto finished records: quality is not the issue. The sound is a little distorted and uneven but the quality is very good considering this tape sat basically neglected for nearly four decades. Sadly, the sheer quality of the material, even in this raw state, also brings into the glaring light of day the fact that Stills is now but a ghost of his former self creatively. His reunion appearances with CS&N and CSN&Y, and latter recordings reveal his songwriting well to be run dry. One has to wonder if he could ever again be so inspired and what it might take. (Many still wonder what inspired Dylan to scale the heights once more after a long period of lackluster recordings.) Nonetheless, Stills' lack of good material in later years doesn't diminish his lasting contribution. The work from those early years is so substantial that his songs remain a watermark for anyone who aspires to be a songwriter.
BBC Review
The West Coast legend unearths some real treasure from the vaults...
Chris Jones 2007
Unearthed after 40 years this recording of songs that were to pepper Stephen StillsÕ subsequent career twists and turns are a revelation. For a generation who now regard Stills and his compadres as coke-dimmed irrelevancies, living on past glories of some mythic West Coast idealism, it shows us how goddam talented this man once was. While the quality may be a trifle ragged in places, these demos could stand tall against most modern so-called acoustic troubadors. After all it was Stills, Young, Crosby and their ilk who started this stuff.
As his first major band, Buffalo Springfield, fell to pieces around him he bribed a session in a studio following a Judy Collins session. Anyone whoÕs heard the Springfield box set will know that StillsÕ demos were always almost as good as the finished article. Featuring Stills alone with an acoustic, he runs through songs which were to appear on the first Crosby Stlls and Nash album (ÒSuite Judy Blue EyesÓ, ÒWooden ShipsÓ and ÒHelplessly HopingÓ) as well as other gems such as ÒChange PartnersÓ, ÒSo Begins The TaskÓ and ÒBlack QueenÓ that appeared on his solo work or with Manassas. Filled with the peculiarly Southern grace that he brought to his lyric writing and delivered in his signature high bluesy tone, he displays the confidence that so often tipped over into misplaced arrogance, but made him such a dynamic group member as well.
His playing is no less beautiful, showing how in those halcyon days his picking was more than a match for bandmates like Neil Young. Of course this is all made the more poignant by the fact that this is from a man who was once famously called ÔOld Steel NoseÕ by Elvis Costello and fell so far from grace. HeÕll never regain this level of inspiration again, but we should be grateful that we have another reason to go back and treasure him as he was at his peak.
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"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music".
-Aldous Huxley |
Edited by - lemonade kid on 26/02/2015 15:05:00 |
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lemonade kid
Old Love
USA
9873 Posts |
Posted - 26/02/2015 : 21:02:17
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JUST ROLL TAPE 1968 (2007)
Just Roll Tape: April 26, 1968 is a Stephen Stills demo album released in 2007. In the sleeve notes to the CD, Stephen Stills recalls that he was present at a Judy Collins session in New York in 1968, and when she finished with studio time remaining, Stills paid the engineer privately to let him record song demos. But Stills left the tapes in the studio and eventually considered them lost.
When the studio was about to close in 1978, musician Joe Colasurdo, who was rehearsing there, was told by the owner that he could take away any tapes he wanted to before they cleared the place out. After seeing Stills' names on several of the boxes, Colasurdo kept them safe until he could find a reel-to-reel machine to play them on. Colasurdo began attempting to get the masters safely back into Stills's hands, an undertaking that took 25 years. In 2003, he was connected to Graham Nash after happening to meet a close friend of his named Dan Curland, who owns the Mystic Disc Record Store. Nash received the tapes, passed them on to Stills, encouraging him to release them.
Stills is the only musician on the album. He sings all the songs and plays acoustic guitar and dobro. "Treetop Flyer" is not from the 1968 sessions.
Note that the April 26, 1968 date cited in the album's title is not correct, as Stills was performing at the Arizona State Fairgrounds in Phoenix, AZ on that date as a member of Buffalo Springfield.
Track listing
"All I Know is What You Tell Me" (Stephen Stills) Ð 1:41
"So Begins the Task" (Stills) Ð 2:26
Later recorded for Manassas
"Change Partners" (Stills) Ð 3:14
Later recorded for Stephen Stills 2
"Know You Got To Run" (Stills) Ð 3:12
Later recorded (and much rearranged) for Stephen Stills 2
Also forms the first part of "Everybody I Love You" on DŽjˆ Vu
"The Doctor Will See You Now" (Stills) Ð 2:38
"Black Queen" (Stills) Ð 3:06
Later recorded for Stephen Stills
"Bumblebee (Do You Need A Place to Hide?)" (Stills) Ð 1:54
Later recorded as "The Love Gangster" on Manassas
"Judy" (Stills) Ð 2:02
"Dreaming of Snakes" (Stills) Ð 1:45
"Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" (Stills) Ð 6:33
Later recorded for Crosby, Stills & Nash
"Helplessly Hoping" (Stills) Ð 2:11
Later recorded for Crosby, Stills & Nash
"Wooden Ships" (Stills, David Crosby, Paul Kantner) Ð 2:26
Later recorded for Crosby, Stills & Nash
"Treetop Flyer" (Stills) Ð 7:04
Later recorded for Stills Alone
Personnel
Stephen Stills - vocals, guitar, dobro, producer
John Haeny - recording engineer
Joe Vitale, Jr. - digital engineer & mixing
Joe Vitale - mixing on track 13
John Hanlon - mixing and digital engineer track 13
Steven Rhodes - assistant engineer
John Nowland - digital transfers
James Austin & Robin Hurley - A&R Supervision
Marc Salata - production manager
Graham Nash - photos
Joe Halbardier & Steve Woolard - project assistance
Elliot Roberts - direction
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"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music".
-Aldous Huxley
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Edited by - lemonade kid on 26/02/2015 21:04:52 |
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STEVE STILLS-Just Roll Tape-so fine 1968 demos
