The two most anticipated albums of Christmas 1970 were George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass” and Stephen Stills’ solo debut. Harrison’s triple album made the bigger splash, and means even less than Stills’ debut today. As for Stephen’s record… You couldn’t go anywhere without hearing “Love The One You’re With,” his album was the dorm room soundtrack for months.
But now no one ever mentions it.
Neil Young is lionized and Stephen Stills is criticized. But once upon a time, Stills was the bigger act. And when you go back and listen to this debut, you scratch your head, why isn’t it in the same canon as the unforgotten classics of that era, albums from Zeppelin to the aforementioned Mr. Young?
It’s not like Stills was hiding in a hole. He wrote and sang Buffalo Springfield’s biggest hit, “For What It’s Worth,” and he was truly the glue that held Crosby, Stills & Nash’s debut together. Sure, “Marrakesh Express” was the radio hit, but the act built its reputation on “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes.” And it was Stills’ composition, “Carry On,” that both opened and carried the follow-up, “Deja Vu.” Today people only want to talk about Neil Young’s “Helpless” and the cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock,” but when you dropped the needle on “Carry On” you had an auditory experience that truly blew your mind, akin to listening to “Gimmie Shelter” the previous fall. If you haven’t heard “Carry On” emerge from the speakers of a first class stereo, you haven’t lived. It was like an orchestra was playing inside your speakers, with angels singing along, you had to listen to it again and again and again.
And then the band broke up. And everybody went solo.
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The Lost BroadcastsDVD - £9.99
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