New (Old) Manassas Disc!!

[imsjry]

A collection of unreleased stuff from the short lived Stephen Stills band Manassas is out! This thing is a wonderful surprise and you can listen to it for one week here:

http://www.spinner.com/new-releases#/37

 

You're welcome!

[LouieB]

There is something sort of humorous about this.....out-takes from an group that I am guessing is still out of print. Their first album was a double, which was probably more than they needed and their second was inferior to their first. Will be interested to hear if this really should have been released at all. Find their old stuff on musty and dusty vinyl. (Edit...I guess it is on CD, although easy enough to find on used LP...)

LouieB

[imsjry]

There is something sort of humorous about this.....out-takes from an group that I am guessing is still out of print. Their first album was a double, which was probably more than they needed and their second was inferior to their first. Will be interested to hear if this really should have been released at all. Find their old stuff on musty and dusty vinyl. (Edit...I guess it is on CD, although easy enough to find on used LP...)

LouieB

 

I only have the double self titled and think it's one of the most under-appreciated albums of all time. These just released 7 tracks all sounded really great to me.

[mountain bed]

For the most part I've always found Steven's output on record to be rather tame when compared to live stuff that I've come across over the years. Manassas is a good example. The double LP is alright...but I taped a show on VHS many years ago on Night Flight that was a German TV show (Beat Club?). That thing SMOKED imo.

[Analogman]

For the most part I've always found Steven's output on record to be rather tame when compared to live stuff that I've come across over the years. Manassas is a good example. The double LP is alright...but I taped a show on VHS many years ago on Night Flight that was a German TV show (Beat Club?). That thing SMOKED imo.

 

I never got into them, but I was watching these videos the other day:

 

Rock And Roll Crazies

The Treasure

[Vacant Horizon]

I never got into them, but I was watching these videos the other day:

 

Rock And Roll Crazies

The Treasure

 

chris hillman looks so cool in these videos.

[LouieB]

Well it is good to see this one off type project still get some attention. There were many such such groups back in that time. (Somehow Chris Hillman managed to get into everyone...)

 

Actually I have agreed to accompany a friend to a "Poco" show tonight. Not sure who is still left, but it could be interesting I donno....

 

LouieB

[mjpuczko]

it's my duty to bring up the black crowes/chris in almost every thread:

the crowes/chris always play great stephen stills covers. it's how i got into his music actually.

[Vacant Horizon]

Well it is good to see this one off type project still get some attention. There were many such such groups back in that time. (Somehow Chris Hillman managed to get into everyone...)

 

Actually I have agreed to accompany a friend to a "Poco" show tonight. Not sure who is still left, but it could be interesting I donno....

 

LouieB

 

 

remember SHF?

 

poco will be fun. rusty young and paul cotton are left. still have nice harmonies. wish some of their old albums would get remastered. i always loved the songs keep on tryin' and indian summer.

[LouieB]

I did not know that.....

 

Also time to revisit Super Session for the nostalgia factor....that and Buffalo Springfield was how I got into Steven Stills (oh yea those and the first CSN album and also him playing on Judy Collins records....)

 

LouieB

[mjpuczko]

i think i have every stephen stills album on vinyl. all purchased for about $.50

[LouieB]

remember SHF?

 

poco will be fun. rusty young and paul cotton are left. still have nice harmonies. wish some of their old albums would get remastered. i always loved the songs keep on tryin' and indian summer.

Yes I have at least one of their albums. Not bad, but not particularly good. You could do an entire radio show just on the groups Chris Hillman was in.

 

Actually I am kind of looking forward to Poco. Didn't seem them back in the day (or at least I can't remember seeing them...) but I always liked their records a whole lot and have a stack of them.

 

LouieB

 

i think i have every stephen stills album on vinyl. all purchased for about $.50

I would guess even now in this time of inflated vinyl prices you could still find them for cheap. His first album was pretty good, but some of the others....not so much. (I also own most of Eric Clapton's solo work at about 50 cents per disk as well.... )

 

LouieB

[mjpuczko]

wow. stills & buddy miles:

stills/miles

[LouieB]

I supppose this is where to report back on Poco....my first time ever in the Cubby Bear and frankly it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. This was a "seated show", since the dance floor was empty except for a few people sitting on the floor and me standing by the side.

 

It was fun to see two old guys play some of the hits along with a couple somewhat younger guys playing too. Along with the hits were some newer tunes including one by Rusty Young and the bass player. Paul Cotton looked particularly old and seemed to be struggling during the last few numbers. In fact it took me a few minutes to realize Rusty Young was actually who he was, but ultimately it was his show, since he played guitar, mandolin, dobro and pedal steel. I think seeing dinosaur bands like this is sort of disorienting, particularly when Young introduced Pickin Up the Pieces as a something they recorded in 1968 and released in 69 which was about the time I was a freshman in college and not yet 20 years old. Yikes. All the oldesters seemed to be having a good time, including me, but in the end it was sort of weird. The encore was a Buffalo Springfield song, which of course was recorded when I was in high school.

 

The merch sold and lots of folks stuck around to have stuff signed. I got to shake Paul Cotton's hand after the show. He looked exhausted. Since I usually see much younger bands than this (except for jazz type shows), I really felt old last night, I mean really old. We used to play Poco's records at parties in college which was pretty much before most people here were born....double yikes...

 

LouieB

[ThisIsNowhere]

That's cool, but I wonder what happened with that Stills album w/Hendrix.

[Analogman]

That's cool, but I wonder what happened with that Stills album w/Hendrix.

 

I have read that it may be on the Stills boxset that is coming out this year (I think).

[Vacant Horizon]

I supppose this is where to report back on Poco....my first time ever in the Cubby Bear and frankly it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. This was a "seated show", since the dance floor was empty except for a few people sitting on the floor and me standing by the side.

 

It was fun to see two old guys play some of the hits along with a couple somewhat younger guys playing too. Along with the hits were some newer tunes including one by Rusty Young and the bass player. Paul Cotton looked particularly old and seemed to be struggling during the last few numbers. In fact it took me a few minutes to realize Rusty Young was actually who he was, but ultimately it was his show, since he played guitar, mandolin, dobro and pedal steel. I think seeing dinosaur bands like this is sort of disorienting, particularly when Young introduced Pickin Up the Pieces as a something they recorded in 1968 and released in 69 which was about the time I was a freshman in college and not yet 20 years old. Yikes. All the oldesters seemed to be having a good time, including me, but in the end it was sort of weird. The encore was a Buffalo Springfield song, which of course was recorded when I was in high school.

 

The merch sold and lots of folks stuck around to have stuff signed. I got to shake Paul Cotton's hand after the show. He looked exhausted. Since I usually see much younger bands than this (except for jazz type shows), I really felt old last night, I mean really old. We used to play Poco's records at parties in college which was pretty much before most people here were born....double yikes...

 

LouieB

 

glad it was fun. i wanted to see them a few times, but tix were pricey. getting old is no big deal, but i have to wonder how long these bands can keep it up. i worry about the 'dinosaurs'. i really wish they focused on recording good music an doing their own festivals in their own towns. residencies as it were.

 

as far as stills goes, i actually liked his album Stills, which was a gathering of outtakes and loose ends. good stuff. unfortunately, he was always shadowed by neil young and of course cocaine. he has a live dvd coming out in october from a recent tour. don't know how that is gonna sound because the dude cannot sing on key any more. not a dig on him, just an objective fact. i am looking forward to the CSN covers album they're doing with ruben. in the studio, stills' voice can be 'corrected'. one of the tracks is uncle johns band by the dead. i wonder what the others will be? i know they made mention of james taylor and joni mitchell. we'll see.

[ThisIsNowhere]

I have read that it may be on the Stills boxset that is coming out this year (I think).

Well if it's coming out this year I guess that isn't too bad, but it'd be kind of cool if he released it as a separate album too. Though I'll probably be getting the boxed set anyway.

[LouieB]

glad it was fun. i wanted to see them a few times, but tix were pricey. getting old is no big deal, but i have to wonder how long these bands can keep it up. i worry about the 'dinosaurs'. i really wish they focused on recording good music an doing their own festivals in their own towns. residencies as it were.

 

 

I guess they keep it up until they drop. Ticket prices for this were high at $25, which is generally more than younger bands charge, for the simple reason that buzz bands get larger crowds, attract a younger harder drinking group, and the club can take out the chairs and cram more people in. Considering they played about 90 minutes with one short encore, this was really a short show, far shorter than most younger bands play. And Paul really seemed to be struggling during the last few numbers to play guitar (he had a fabulous Gretch hollow body..!!) Frankly Rusty should go out on his own with his own band and music. He still seemed to have alot of energy and creativity, but Paul sang some of his great old songs which helped make the show.

 

I wish I could say that getting old is no big deal. As long as you still have some stamina, yea, it isn't.

 

LouieB

[Analogman]

Well if it's coming out this year I guess that isn't too bad, but it'd be kind of cool if he released it as a separate album too. Though I'll probably be getting the boxed set anyway.

 

I have a feeling that Experience Hendrix Inc. will want a piece of the action.

[Analogman]

Speaking of Poco, I found this on the Lefsetz Letter today:

 

That’s the problem, we baby boomers lived through the sixties and seventies. And today’s generation, our brethren purveying pabulum, want us to forget this golden age. An alternative take of "Gimmie Shelter" came over my iPod and I got goosebumps. I remembered hearing it for the first time in my buddy’s bedroom and being transfixed. Hate to tell you, nothing Wilco’s ever done is close.

 

Get pissed off.

 

But as good as Wilco might be, bands of that caliber never made it in years past. Wilco was Poco. A good band that had fans, but not superstars. I’m waiting for superstars to return.

[Analogman]

Stills article by way of Billboard.com

 

Stephen Stills says this year's pair of fall archival releases are part of a master plan that will eventually lead to a full-scale box set of potentially mammoth proportions.

 

"I want to break up the periods of my career and not make one of those big humongous things that nobody can afford," Stills tells Billboard.com. In September he released "Pieces," a collection of outtakes from his short-lived band Manassas, and on Oct. 27 he'll put out "Live at Shepherd's Bush," a CD/CVD set from his 2008 solo tour.

 

"Part of this is creative, and part of it is business sense and sheer economics, understanding my market and how difficult the business is and avoiding the temptation to be grandiose about it," Stills explains. "Let's just do it in pieces, and then we'll put the whole thing together and put it on Blu-ray and that can be the big deal."

 

Stills is currently plotting out a number of other archival projects, including a Manassas box set. He's also been working with the Jimi Hendrix family's Experience Hendrix company on a tape recordings the two guitarists made together, which Stills claims "doesn't have as much as people think is on there." There are two mostly finished tracks, though, "Old Times Good Times" and another with only a working title, which Stills says might be part of a Hendrix sessions disc for which he's also overdubbed some new bass parts on recordings Hendrix made with Johnny Winter.

 

New music also looms, however. Stills continues to work with David Crosby, Graham Nash and producer Rick Rubin on a covers album; during concerts this year the trio has performed the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday," James Taylor's "Close Your Eyes," the Allman Brothers Band's "Midnight Rider," Bob Dylan's "Girl From the North Country" and the Grateful Dead's "Uncle John's Band," but Stills says the timetable for finishing the album is open.

 

"Road tripping all these songs has been really helpful," he says, "but the worst thing we could do is rush it. We learn a few songs and then go cut those and see if we can get them as natural as possible. If we can't get the sound right...in three, four, five, six takes, anything beyond that and you're just not going to have any feel."

 

Meanwhile, Stills adds that he's "gonna write another album," a follow-up to 2005's "Man Alive!" "I'm finally feeling some songs and some things to say," he says. "I want to work with my quartet and get it down to where there's lots of air and get pretty live performances and not all over-the-top layered parts and doubled vocals." Stills hopes to road-test some of the solo material as well before hitting the studio.

[LouieB]

Speaking of Poco, I found this on the Lefsetz Letter today:

 

That quote is absurd and I like Poco.

 

Stills article by way of Billboard.com

I don't know that a Mannasas box set is really in order....just find the old LPs...that is enough.

 

LouieB

[Analogman]

That quote is absurd and I like Poco.

 

I don't know that a Mannasas box set is really in order....just find the old LPs...that is enough.

 

LouieB

 

I agree with a lot of what Lefsetz writes, but sometimes he is just screwy.

 

I think that may be all Stills and company have left - vault releases. I don't think they are signed with a record company. And I can't believe they are reduced to jumping on the covers album bandwagon. They should hurry, because I think the popularity of such releases is fading fast. Although, Barbra Streisand just had some success with a jazz standards album, so maybe I am wrong.

[LouieB]

let's be honest...do you really want to hear these guys write new material? Doing covers (or standards) is what most older artists do. It continues to be a cash cow for Rod Stewart. Streisand doesn't really count since she has only been a singer anyway and doing standards would be natural for her.

 

LouieB