That all five members were experienced musicians became apparent right from the start; Buffalo Springfield never really went through an awkward developmental phase like most bands; they were ready to record within weeks of their professional debut. Sonny and Cher's management team signed them, and got them a deal with Atco Records.
Atco released their debut album, Buffalo Springfield in late 1966 (a re-issue that replaced "Baby Don't Scold Me" with "For What It's Worth" came out in 1967). The band was allegedly displeased with the record, which they felt failed to capture the energy of their live shows, but that caveat aside, it is a remarkably mature debut; the band sounds older than its tender years, and most of the cuts on the album sounded like instant classics. Another souce of displeasure may have been Neil Young himself, whose voice was deemed too "weird" by record honchoes; three of his songs were given to Furay to sing, leaving Young with only two lead vocals on the record. As a result, Stills dominates the record to a degree; his "For What It's Worth", is a folk rock classic that carried a message that bordered on paranoia and radical lot-casting. His "Sit Down I Think I Love You" is a good British-style psychedelic pop tune featuring his fluid lead guitar plus fuzz guitar from Young. His "Everybody's Wrong" is a Byrds-like psychedelic hard rocker. "Burned" is the first Neil Young classic in his storied career; Furay does Young's "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" right, his gentle "Flying On The Ground Is Wrong" hints at country even as it stays within the basic parameters of British Invasion style pop. The single, "For What It's Worth" hit nationally, peaking at #7. Buffalo Springfield, while a big seller in California, fared less well nationally, reaching #80, a repectable showing for a band that hadn't yet had much national exposure.
![Buffalo Springfield [Concert Poster] (1967)](http://img324.imageshack.us/img324/5397/buffaloposter672mq.jpg)
![Buffalo Springfield [Concert Poster] (1968)](http://img324.imageshack.us/img324/723/buffaloconcert20ec.jpg)
The band's dissatisfaction with how their album and career was being handled, however, led to their sacking the management team and attempting to handle management duties themselves. Work commenced on a follow up album, and problems almost immediately beset the band. Young suffered several epileptic seizures; nontheless he began to assert himself in the band, fashioning himself as its leader, which led to inevitable conflict with Stills. Their ensuing clashes resulted in Young threatening to walk on a number of occasions; on a number of occasions, he did. Another serious blow came during the sessions when Bruce Palmer was busted for marijuana possession and was deported to Canada. Palmer would eventually sneak back across the border in disguise in order to complete the sessions.
Article comments
1 - Nathaniel Winn
It often strikes me that rock music was incestuous; the same few names and faces combining in different ways. It has since exploded in size and become fragmented. Will folks from the future look back and see the same kinds of connections in the current scene, with those unconnected left in the dust?
2 - Springfield
Club Springfield in Stockholm/Sweden.
http://walk.to/springfield
3 - Eric Olsen
another great job uao - that was a huge amount of talent that shockingly actually produced quite a few good songs - thanks!
4 - Lisa McKay
You have transported me back to my formative years, in which Buffalo Springfield (and all that good Kooper/Bloomfield stuff) figured largely. Great post!
5 - godoggo
Is it true that they took their moniker from the nickname of the great western hero Jebediah Springfield?
6 - Susan
What a fun, comprehensive read. I'm still asked to do Bluebird, which was one of my early favorites to play/sing. A few years after Woodstock, Stills also had a group called Manassas. Not sure of the spelling anymore. Anyway, thanks for the great post.
7 - Becky
My brother gave me Buffalo Springfield Again in 1967. I was 12 years old and have loved this music all my life. I just picked up Still's Man Alive CD today (just released) and will be seeing Crosby Stills and Nash in September. As a life-long fan, I salute you for your terrific blog!
8 - uao
Thank you very much everyone. I'm always happy to hear when one of my overviews brings back fond memories for someone; its one of the reasons why I do them.
godoggo-- funny thing is, I really am not sure where they got the name; I tried to find a definitive reference on that but came up empty. I'll look into the Jebediah Springfield connection...
Nathanial-- good question; in some cases of today's music, there is a lot of the same cross-pollinization, although it was probably more common in the 60's; music is much more fragmented now.
I had fun with this one; they were one of the first bands I ever got into, too.
9 - marcelstjohn
Except for one side comment, a thoroughly
enjoyable,well documented history on the
Buff. Spr..
I take issue when you say (arguably) that (Neil
Young) is the most relevant of the 60's
rockers. You've surely forgotten Bobby
Dylan's '97 masterpiece "Time out of
Mind" and his 2001's "Love and Theft"
10 - CSN Fan
Bruce Palmer played bass on Helplessly Hoping? Has the author ever even heard the song? The only instrumentation is Stills playing fingerstyle acoustic guitar and CSN singing 3-part harmony. There is no bass line. I would love to know where this (mis)information came from. It's a shame people don't listen to the music they write about.
As a side note, Stills played all of the bass lines on the CSN album (as well as lead guitar and organ). Of course, you would have to read the liner notes to learn this "rare tidbit".
11 - uao
CSN Fan:
I should have specified more clearly: Palmer plays bass on the version of "Helplessly Hoping" that is in the CSN box set. He also appears on "Horses Through A Rainstorm" from the same collection.
marcelstjohn:
I said "arguably"; Dylan would be worth arguing about too ;-)
12 - Natalie Davis
Ah, the Springfield. Great article, terrific research, fine, fine work. Thanks.
13 - George
nice article. i loved the first and last Springfield albums. somehow skipped the second, but did follow on w/ CSN's first two and saw Manassas in concert which was one of the best bands i've ever seen live.
btw: Neil is great but Dylan is still da man ! ! and don't forget Van Morrison !
14 - crooked spine
From The New Book of Rock Lists, by Dave Marsh & James Bernard (1994)... the origin of the name "Buffalo Springfield":
"From the brand name of a steamroller (not an airplane, as is commonly believed)."
They don't say where they got their information though.
15 - nice latin
Interesting blog, does this site get lots of activity or is it usually slow around here?
16 - uao
Why? Are you trying to decide whether or not to spam it?
(I'm suspicious of any post that begins "Nice blog." All spam-post start that way.)