Stephen Stills - Carry On

David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and Neil Young have all been making music for a very long time.  As a group, Crosby, Stills, Nash [& sometimes Young] had their work documented in a box set in 1991.  David Crosby’s box set [Voyages] came out in 2006, while Graham Nash’s box saw [Reflections] saw the light of day.  Neil Young released the box set to end all box sets [Archives Volume 1, 1963-72] in 2009.  Finally, this year Stephen Stills gets the commemoration treatment.  His set is one disc longer than that over Crosby or Nash [4 discs total], which is a reflection on his higher productivity than the other two.

Graham Nash and Joel Bernstein are the producers, as they were with the Crosby and Nash sets.  Carry On follows the same format as Voyages and Reflections.  The track list is in chronological order [when they were recorded, not when they were released].  The first track is a song called Travelin’, a song the 17-year old Stephen Stills recorded for Voice of America when he lived in Costa Rica. There is one song from the Au Go Go Singers, and ten from Buffalo Springfield.  His most famous Buffalo Springfield songs [For What It’s Worth, Bluebird, Rock ‘N Roll Woman] are included, and they sound fantastic.  It’s in these songs where we first hear Stephen Stills’ incredible abilities as an acoustic guitar player.  He has plenty of opportunities to shine as an electric player as well.  He is a fine electric player, but he also has the distinction of being the only artist to have both Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton play on the same album [Stephen Stills – 1970].  The artist we hear in these four discs is one who has a multitude of influences – blues, folk, gospel, Latin, country and rock.  Stephen Stills is a gifted musician who has an uncanny ability to play many different instruments, and all of them equally well.

There are alternate versions of songs already released [Woodstock, 49 Bye Byes, The Treasure, 4+20, Carry On, etc], and there are 25 songs that had never been released until now.  Carry On provides a very healthy cross-section of Stills’ recorded work.  Other works that have been out-of-print on CD [Allies, Right By You, Stills Alone] also provide some of the material in this box.  Now I finally have copies of Treetop Flyer, War Games, and 50/50.  His early years are well-represented on Carry On, to wit:

-          Buffalo Springfield [1966-68] – Sit Down I Think I Love You, Go and Say Goodbye, For What It’s Worth, Everydays, Pretty Girl Why, Bluebird, Rock ‘N Roll Woman, Special Care, Questions, Uno Mundo, Four Days Gone [demo]

-          Crosby, Stills & Nash [1969] – Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, You Don’t Have To Cry, Helplessly Hoping, 49 Bye Byes [presented in demo form as 49 Reasons]

-          Déjà vu [1970] – Carry On [alt mix], Woodstock [alt mix], 4+20 [alt mix]

-          Stephen Stills [1970] – Love the One You’re With, Do For the Others [live version from 1971]. Church [Part of Someone] (1989 remake), Old Times Good Times [with Jimi Hendrix], Go Back Home [with Eric Clapton], To a Flame, Cherokee, Black Queen

-          Stephen Stills 2 [1971] – Change Partners [remixed], Fishes And Scorpions [with Eric Clapton], Know You Got To Run [1975 live version], Marianne

-          Manassas [1972] – Song of Love, Rock N Roll Crazies/Cuban Bluegrass, Jet Set [Sigh], Colorado, So Begins the Task [1969 demo], It Doesn’t Matter, Johnny’s Garden, The Treasure [1970 version]

Things I Didn’t Know Before I Bought This Set:

1.      David Crosby sang on Buffalo Springfield’s Rock ‘N Roll Woman.  He’s also credited with being the song’s inspiration.

2.      Many of the songs recorded for the Stephen Stills 2 [1971] album were done during the same sessions at those from the Stephen Stills [1970].

3.      Several of the songs from Man Alive! [2005] were recorded many years prior to their release.

Big Disappointment – the No-Name Jam with Jimi Hendrix.  It’s ok, but even Stills himself said that after wading through the jam tapes he did with Hendrix, the actual recordings don’t live up to the hype.

Nice Surprises:

High Flyin’ Bird – Stills recorded this song with the Au Go Go Singers in 1964.  Neil Young & Crazy Horse covered it on Americana.

The Lee Shore [Unreleased demo, 1969] – This demo was of a David Crosby song [later released on 4-Way Street, 1971].  In Stephen Stills’ case, his demos are more intricate than finished songs from others.  Here he played acoustic and electric guitars, electric piano, organ, and percussion.  At this time Stills was practically a one-man band. 

So Begins the Task [Unreleased demo, July 1969] – This demo sounds better than the version that was eventually released on Manassas [1972].

Church [Part of Someone] – This was originally a piano/gospel tune on his debut solo album from 1970.  In the late 1980s he remade it as an electric guitar blues, but he kept the gospel choir.

Special Care [Buffalo Springfield - Last Time Around, 1968] – “Captain Manyhands” is born here.  Stills played all the instruments except the drums, and he could have played them too.  This is foreshadowing of things to come on the Crosby, Stills & Nash debut.

War Games [Allies, 1983] – There were two studio songs from an otherwise forgettable live album.  War Games was written by Stills for the early 1980s movie of the same name.  I always liked the tune, and finally it’s available on CD.

Ole Man Trouble [CSNY live, 2002 – previously unreleased] – I knew when CSNY toured in 2002 that they recorded some of the dates.  Finally I have proof.

Glaring omissions:

Wooden Ships – From the debut Crosby, Stills & Nash album.  How could this one be left out?  Here is “Captain Manyhands” in full flight, playing lead guitar, organ, bass, and singing.  It’s as much a Stills’ song as it is David Crosby’s.  It’s on Stills’ collection of demos Just Roll Tape. Why not here?

Nothing to Do But Today [Stephen Stills 2, 1971] – Stills’ second solo album wasn’t as good as the first, but this was one of the better songs from that collection.  What a shame Graham Nash chose to omit it.  This is Stephen Stills at his most funky.

Run From Tears [CSN, 1977] – After recording three “merely ok” albums for Columbia and Long May You Run with Neil Young, Stills reunited with Crosby and Nash in 1977 to record their first album as a trio since their 1969 debut.  Stills was going through a divorce with Veronique Sanson, so as a true artist he suffered for his art.  Run From Tears is on par with Dark Star, and he gets to show off his electric guitar chops.

Only Waiting For You [After the Storm, 1994] – This is a piano-driven uptempo song from CSN’s last album with Atlantic.  This one, Find a Dream and Camera are each very fine songs from that album, but Graham Nash chose Panama. 

Dark Star [CSN, 1977] and Turn Your Back On Love [Daylight Again, 1982] studio versions – Graham Nash chose to include live versions from Allies instead of the superior studio versions.  The live playing was fine, the sound not so much.

Not So Surprising – The best material from Stills career are in the first two discs.  His creative light burned brightest between 1966 and 1972.  He had some good moments thereafter [CSN – 1977, Daylight Again – 1982, Stills Alone – 1991, After the Storm – 1994], but even the most prolific of songwriters has to slow done sometime, and for Stephen Stills that sometime came after 1972.  He did some very good work on these albums, but his time of true greatness came before.  There are no songs from Illegal Stills [1975], one CSNY outtake of a song that later appeared on the Stills-Young Band’s Long May You Run [Black Coral], and two songs from Thoroughfare Gap [1978].

I’ve read some reviews of Carry On on the Internet.  One such review asked this question [but didn’t give an answer] – would it be better for those who are new to Stephen Stills’ work to buy this set, or should they get the original albums first?  For me that is an easy answer.  Get the originals first.  If you’re really curious about how the alternate takes sound, then seek out Carry On.  This is not a good entry point for Stephen Stills.  Carry On is for completists only, but it’s well worth having.