Stephen Stills peaked early. There were the Au Go Go Singers and The Continentals, but his first successful band was Buffalo Springfield. What talent was joined together for that little group of rock’n’rollers! Wacko guitarist-songwriter-humanitarian-toy-train-magnate Neil Young! Richie Furay of the country pure vocals and dreamy ballads. Bassist[s] Bruce Palmer and Jimmy Messina. And the inimitable Dewey Martin on drums. Aah! Buffalo Springfield. But this album doesn’t have any Springfield stuff on it. Later, Stephen joined up with David Crosby and Graham Nash for some airy harmonies and light rock in Crosby, Stills and Nash. None of that here either. CSN took on a needed edge when they added Y. That’s Neil Young. But still, the hardest rocking song they ever did was written by Joni Mitchell! And it’s not here. Stills recorded a couple of solo albums for Atlantic, in which he had Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton as guests . . . nope, not here! And then there was the crackerjack superband Manassas, whose first album was a rock’n’roll odyssey that still thrills today.
Turnin’ Back the Pages looks at a very specific era in Stills’ oeuvre. Subtitled “The Columbia Recordings 1975-1978,” this is a compilation of the best from three albums Stills made for Columbia in that four year period.
In 1975 CSN was on sabbatical. Crosby and Nash were working on their second album together (Wind on the Water), Neil Young was riding high with Tonight’s the Night and Zuma, and Stephen Stills released Stills. He hooked up with a young guitarist Donnie Dacus (who would join Chicago in ’78), who would share vocal duties and help with some songwriting. Seven tracks from Stills make it to Turnin’ Back the Pages. “As I Come of Age” was recorded in London in 1971, and features Ringo Starr on drums with background vocals by Crosby, Stills and Nash. It’s an anthemic look at life. Dacus plays the lead guitar. Stills is such a potent guitarist, one wonders why he would assign those duties to someone else, but on this track he’s at the piano.
“In the Way” is one of Stills’s Latin rock forays. He is quite good at this: set up a riff, fill up the background with congas and percussion, and cook away. There are several tunes that fit into this format included on Turnin’ Back the Pages: “Buyin’ Time” and “Closer To You” (both from ’76’s Illegal Stills) display the different tempos and influences that Stills uses from Cuban music. This, long before Ry Cooder went to Havana. Stills wrote most of his own songs, but managed to cover some choice tunes as well. He does two Neil Young classics, “New Mama” and “The Loner.” He puts his own spin on both of them. Stills was a perfectionist, not happy to copy a song when he could put his own stamp on it. He claims these Young songs with his own arrangements. He invents blues riffs and builds from there, laying Young’s familiar melodies over the new musical backing. “The Loner” is also filled with Stills’ guitar parts. His cover of Gregg Allman’s “Midnight Rider” uses a similar approach, albeit at a stately tempo; and on Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away” (from 1978’s Thoroughfare Gap) the original Bo Diddley beat is mixed with the Cuban influence to create a “Stillsian” vibe.
I remember when these albums were released. I bought all of them on vinyl, listened to them once or twice, and then moved on to something else. Thirty years has added some distance and changed my expectations. I fully expected that I would respond similarly to this compilation, but the distance has allowed me to hear this music with new ears. Stills’s perfectionism, his juxtaposition of rock with Latin beats, his rich harmonies and his fiery guitar playing make me sit up and take notice. There are some fine things happening on these tracks. The addition of session guitarist extraordinaire Danny Kortchmar on the Thoroughfare Gap selections heats things up. Twenty solid tracks from an era I had all but written off. There are two bonus tracks from Supersession, an album put together by Al Kooper in 1968. When Mike Bloomfield couldn’t make a session, Kooper brought in Stephen Stills and the two of them recorded “You Don’t Love Me,” and “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry” (and a version of “Season of the Witch” not included here). These are standard jams, with some nice moments, that make a good conclusion to a surprisingly appealing collection.
(Raven, 2004)
