From this point forward, the band simply disintigrated. Buffalo Springfield's live shows in 1968 were usually notable for who was missing on a given night. Bruce Palmer was busted for possession again, and deported again, necessitating a full-time replacement; Jim Messina was brought in to take his place. In April 1968, most of the band was busted with Eric Clapton for marijuana possession; this proved the last straw, and the band broke up once and for all. Furay and Messina set about compiling an album from leftover material recorded between mid-1967 and early 1968; the resulting album, Last Time Around is a true hodgepodge in every sense of the word.
Last Time Around's twelve songs aren't bad, and some of them are excellent, but in nearly every case, the band is not entirely present. Young is marginalized with 2 1/2 credits, although one is his lovely country/folk tune, "I Am A Child". His collaboration with Furay, "It's So hard To Wait" is another excellent track. Stills gets five songs, although none rank with his best with Buffalo Springfield or CSN; still "Pretty Girl Why" is a nice latin-flavored number, and "Questions" is a good guitar showcase that foreshadows his work with Crosby Stills and Nash. Furay's "Kind Woman", which features only Furay and Messina from the band, is a gorgeous piece of country-rock that foreshadows their next band, Poco. Seldom do odds and sods albums cohere as well as this one did; it rounds out Buffalo Springfield's trio of albums nicely and remains essential in its own way, as the first two do. The album reached #42, the band's best showing on the charts ever.
From this point forward, the band members went their separate ways. Stills' first project was to record the album Super Session with Al Kooper (ex-Blues Project, future Blood Sweat and Tears) and Mike Bloomfield (ex-Butterfield Blues Band, Electric Flag). One side of the album featured Kooper/Stills jams, the other was Kooper/Bloomfield. Crosby, Stills, and Nash, featuring Graham Nash of the Hollies, formed in 1969 and released their debut the same year; their gig at Woodstock was famously their second show together.
Neil Young signed with Reprise in early 1969 and released his acclaimed debut, Neil Young, the same year to modest sales. Despite his fights with Stills, he joined Crosby, Stills, and Nash onstage at Woodstock and was credited as a full member on their next two albums, Deja Vu and 4-Way Street. He has gone on to one of the most vital careers in rock history as a top solo act in the 1970's (including an album/tour as a duo with Stills in 1975), an erratic eccentric in the 1980's, and a hard rock elder statesman in the 90's and 00's. He remains arguably the most "relevant" of remaining 1960's artists.
Furay and Messina, who worked with steel guitarist Rusty Young on "Kind Woman" formed Poco with him, George Grantham on drums, and bassist/singer Randy Meisner (who would soon depart and later become a founding member of the Eagles). Poco released a landmark country-rock debut album Pickin' Up The Pieces in 1969, and enjoyed a long, successful run, although both Messina and Furay would depart fairly early on, Messina in 1970 to form a duo with singer/songwriter Kenny Loggins, with whom he'd release nine albums. Furay left in 1973 to join the short-lived supergroup The Furay Hillman Souther Band, which included ex-Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers guitarist/singer/songwriter Chris Hillman.
Palmer, deported twice during his tenure with the band, was considered as permanent bassist for Crosby Stills and Nash, but Crosby and Nash apparently vetoed the idea. He does play bass on a version of their classic "Helplessly Hoping", which appears on the Crosby, Stills, & Nash box set. He released a solo album in 1971 (featuring old bandmate Rick James), but failed to get a career started and eventually vanished from the music scene entirely. He briefly resurfaced in Neil Young's band in the 1980's, playing bass on Young's Trans in 1982. He later had a Buffalo Springfield tribute band called Buffalo Springfield Revisited which also featured Dewey Martin. He died in 2004 from a heart attack.
Martin attempted to launch a band called New Buffalo Springfield in 1969, but failed to get it off the ground. He managed a solo album, Dewey Martin & Medicine Ball in 1970, and spent some time in bands Pink Slip and Roberts-Meisner Band in the 80's before joining Bruce Palmer's tribute band. He also appeared as a bachelor on The Dating Game in 1977.
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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.)