(1972) Stills - Manassas  


Wikipedia:
Manassas is the 1972 debut double album by Stephen Stills' new band of the same name, released April 1972. It was a critical comeback for Stills, and continued his commercial success by being certified Gold only a month after being released and peaking at number 4 on the US charts. The album was recorded at Criteria Studio B late 1971, where Stills used his clout to keep the studio and engineers Ron and Howard Albert available around the clock. The band all stayed in a rented house about 30 minutes away from the studio, in Coconut Grove. This allowed Stills to record the album around the clock, waking up band members in the early hours of the morning when an idea struck. Stills would also record in mammoth sessions often going on for days, until Chris Hillman and Stills got into a fight, after which they started to record at regular hours. Al Perkins and Dallas Taylor had a rule where they would not perform any more than seven takes for a single track, so often Stills would stay in the studio editing after having released the band at 4 or 5 am.[5] The band then flew to Stills' house in London in January 1972 to finish recording and mixing the album and to rehearse for an upcoming tour starting in March 1972. It was here that Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones played bass on and co-authored "The Love Gangster" and is reported to have said that he would have left the Stones to join Manassas. At one point Stills put in an unbroken 106 hour stint in the studio, and engineer Ron Albert said he had just gotten to bed after a marathon session lasting 84 hours when the phone rang with Stills summoning him back to the studio with the words: "I know you're tired, but there's this idea I've got for this song that I want to get on tape before I forget it..." Another time, working to Stills' manic schedule, the band cut eight tracks in two days with no sleep. The album was split into four thematic sides. Side 1 - The Raven, is a composite of rock and Latin sounds that the group would often perform in full live exactly as recorded. Side 2 - The Wilderness mainly centers on country and bluegrass. Side 3 - Consider is largely folk and folk-rock, and contains the song "Johnny's Garden", reportedly for the caretaker at Stills' English manor house bought from Ringo Starr. This includes Stills at his most experimental including using a Moog Synthesiser on "Move Around". The closing section, titled "Rock & Roll Is Here to Stay", is a rock and blues set. "What to Do" and "Right Now" are Stills take on the CSNY split and his relationship with Graham Nash. Manassas marked a critical comeback for Stills, with Allmusic calling it a "sprawling masterpiece" and Rolling Stone saying it was "reassuring to know that Stills has some good music still inside him. Most of it has a substantial, honest sound found on too few records these days. All the sounds you hear come from the seven group members". Chris Hillman was singled out as an "importance in the success of Manassas and in the comeback of Stills, he can't be over-stressed. He's a masterful musician whether he's playing bass, guitar, or mandolin, and his boyishly pure, uncolored voice can carry a lot of emotional weight.". However, Robert Christgau rated the album C+ and in a mixed review stated "Yes, Steve has gotten it together a little, even deigning to cooperate with real musicians in a real band, and yes, some of this four-sided set echoes in your head after you play it a lot. The only problem is you're never sure where the echoes come from". In positive reviews, Record World called it "music of the highest order", Cash Box said it will "convince you of Stills' worth", and Billboard said it "offers loads of class material". In a June 1972 review for The San Diego Door, Cameron Crowe said "Manassas always remains admirable if not exciting. The musicianship is generally excellent with the only pitfall being that the droning Stills' vocal pervades all but one of the LP's sixteen cuts". He also stated the "lyrics represent a low-point in Stills' lyricist career". Chris Welch for Melody Maker said "The blues, soul, rock and country music are all the influences. They play them like the Grateful Dead, with a sincerity and ability that one does not always detect in the work of those exclusively involved in the original idiom". Andrew Weiner for Creem said "Stills, perhaps the most maligned superstar in recent rock history, has finally - and against all the odds - got it on. And Stills has written too many good songs here even to try count them". Stills has stated the album did not receive the recognition it deserved due to Atlantic Records and Ahmet Ertegun (head of Atlantic Records) wanting him back in the "goldmine" that was Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Stills has stated that as soon as the album shipped gold, Ertegun pulled the record, and people could not find it in stores. Due to the critics' dislike of Stills at the time for being too arrogant, he was passed up for the May 11, 1972 cover of Rolling Stone for David Cassidy, as fictionally shown in the Martin Scorsese produced TV series Vinyl. The album was certified Gold on May 30, 1972, just over a month after being released. The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. It was voted number 735 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000).





Track Listing:
Side 1: The Raven
1.Song Of Love  3:28
2.Rock & Roll Crazies / Cuban Bluegrass  3:34
3.Jet Set (Sigh)  4:25
4.Anyway  3:21
5.Both Of Us (Bound To Lose)  3:00

Side 2: The Wilderness
1.Fallen Eagle  2:05
2.Jesus Gave Love Away For Free  3:00
3.Colorado 2:53
4.So Begins The Task  4:00
5.Hide It So Deep  2:46
6.Don't Look At My Shadow 2:31

Side 3: Consider
1.It Doesn't Matter  2:30
2.Johnny's Garden 2:46
3.Bound To Fall  1:54
4.How Far  2:52
5.Move Around  4:17
6.The Love Gangster  2:52

Side 4: Rock & Roll Is Here to Stay
1.What To Do  4:44
2.Right Now  3:00
3.The Treasure (Take One)  8:09
4.Blues Man  4:05


Media Report:
Genre: folk rock, country rock
Country: USA
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits