Stephen... Stills...
Overall Album Score: 8.1 out of 10 Our favorite hippie from Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash records his first solo album, and it's ... um ... Quite good! Unfortunately, Stephen Stills is just an average songwriter, and he's neither better nor worse than he had always been. Well, consider that good news! It's safe to say that Stills seemed excited to be writing his first album. He does everything that a great album should do. He opens the album with the upbeat and joyous "Love the One You're With" that gets us right in the mood to listen to a great album. He ends it with the soulful, thunderous and conclusive "We Are Not Helpless" that gives us the vibe that we can now go forth into the world with our lives now changed, because we just listened to this great album. In the middle, we have everything from rock to blues to folk, and some memorable experiences including Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix guest spots. All the ingredients might be right, but the only thing preventing Stephen Stills from being a great album is, well, it just doesn't have great songs! Don't get me wrong --- they're alright. I certainly like a fair deal of them. The song that Clapton is on is very entertaining. But no matter how much you want to deny it, Stills just isn't a great songwriter. Most of his melodies are bland! His efforts to give them orchestration certainly don't go unnoticed --- songs like "Church (Part of Someone)" and "To a Flame," for example, have nice homely arrangements. But what's a well-orchestrated song without an endurable melody? So that's the story of Stephen Stills. He's boringly predictable, but he has his moments. Overall Score: 8.1 out of 10 (This is a perfectly nice album and I enjoyed listening to it. It's fairly middle-of-the-road, but I guess that means this album is for the ordinary folk.) Average Song Score: 8.3 (Likeable and homely... Nothing wrong with that...) Album Tilt: 8.0 (...or is there? This is a decent album to sit through, but I wouldn't want to do it too often.) Artist Rating: 8.0 (He's not very innovative...) Track Reviews Love the One You're With 9.5/10 This song is really freaking great. I think that's all I need to say. ... OK, I'll elaborate. This is quite a joyous little song that he came up with. Everything sounds perfectly organic --- like he assembled a nice group of musicians over to the country to have a folky sing-a-long in the middle of the country. He's playing around furiously with his acoustic guitar spouting off some lyrics, and a happy gospel choir joins into sing the chorus. It's a little bit cheesy, but it absolutely works, and it's a lot of fun to hear. The melody works just fine --- it's a tad bland, but then again this is Stephen Stills! Do For the Others 8/10 I listen to this song, and I would really like it to do something interesting. And then I remember that this is Stephen Stills. (OK, I'm going to quit picking on him. We're good buds, right, Stevie??) Frankly this one's a little bit boring to me. Stills bland melody writing turns in a fairly monotonous song although I certainly find this a decent song to sit back and soak up... It's tasteful---it's just not too interesting. Church (Part of Someone) 7/10 I kind of like Stephen Stills' brand of gospel music, but it helps if he had a nice melody to deal with. I think he listened a bit too much to Joe Crocker and then wrote a song like his but forgot to write a melody. He's incorporating some thick instrumentation in here, but it's as aimless as the melody. Old Times Good Times 8/10 He's rocking out a bit more, and I like hearing that. Musically speaking the song isn't that interesting. Historically speaking it's interesting only because it features Jimi Hendrix on guitar. Also, there's Booker T. Jones on organ. The beginning of the track is more melody and groove related --- and frankly none of that is catchy. The end focuses on some jamming, and it's OK. I'm neither impressed nor disgusted! Go Back Home 9.5/10 And here's Eric Clapton! I like listening to his licks a lot better than Hendrix's, but that statement doesn't reflect on either of their solo careers. This is a much better song in general anyway. The groove is absolutely snappy, and --- that guitar noodling is a real treat. I don't even listen to what Stills is singing; my attention is 100 percent on the guitar. In fact, I don't even think there's an actual melody here. It's just a cool bass groove, drum beat, guitar --- um --- yeah, that's it. Everything kind of culminates at the very end, and there's some mighty guitar playing. Yeah... This track is a lot of fun. A real treat!! Sit Yourself Down 7.5/10 I get a little bit put-off, because this track sounds so bland, but then I remember that this is Stephen Stills! (...I backed away from my promise, it seems.) This has the same feeling as the opening track except it's not nearly as compelling. The melody just might have well been not written at all --- and that chord progression is as plain as mayonnaise on white bread. The gospel singers come in, and that's worth something. If he was trying to create another "happy in the country" vibe, he had the right sound but the wrong spirit this time. To a Flame 8.5/10 This might be a real classic if the melody were a little catchier. But the real highlight here is the full-scale orchestra Stills is incorporating here. It's kind of like what he was attempting to do with "Church," but it worked much nicer. There's a real brief moment in here where it really sounds magical though... Nicely done, hippie man! Black Queen 8/10 Yeesh. OK. This song seems to feature a lot of heavy and involved guitar licks and Stills is singing in this absolutely gruff voice. I know he's not kidding, but I can't help but giggle, anyway. The vocal performance is absolutely ridiculous. This sounds like he just sat down and decided to do whatever came to his mind --- almost as if he wasn't really paying attention to what his vocals were doing. Well if his concentration was solely on that guitar playing, then it was worth it. It certainly is impressive. Cherokee 7.5/10 Wow. Here's a rather normal, mid-tempoed song without much a melody, but hear some of the instruments he's using: a flute and a guitar played very much like a sitar. Stephen Stills probably still wishes the '60s weren't over! The orchestration is the best aspect of this track, and that's saying enough. But I wish he would write a nice melody... We Are Not Helpless 9/10 Stills at least gives his album a wonderful ending! It has that 'conclusive' feeling, so I know the album's coming to an end. Of course, that's probably what Stills had in mind when he wrote this. (Ah, he was undoubtedly excited to be recording his first solo album!) Finally, the melody is quite nice. Again, he feels the need to "rock out" at the end, but he's not as good at that as he thinks he is. It's OK though. Flip your lid about this review here. |
All reviews are copyrighted by Michael Lawrence. He likes to annoy drivers by going the speed limit.
