No. 188: Buffalo Spingfield Again

Band: Buffalo Springfield
Album: Buffalo Springfield Again
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: Well, Neil Young and Stephen Stills were in Buffalo Springfield. Um...
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: A mostly forgettable album, I've listened to it several times and can't hum a single tune.
Best song: "Mr. Soul" is really the only great song on this one. "Hung Upside Down" is pretty good, too.
Worst song: It's pleasant, I guess. There aren't any songs that make you want to cover your ears.
Is it awesome?: Nope.

I can't really say much about "Buffalo Springfield Again." It's not really memorable. It's here solely because Neil Young and Stephen Stills were members of Buffalo Springfield. Like CSNY, the harmonies are pleasant and the soft chords make for good AAA. There are some real rockers here, but does anyone listen to Buffalo Springfield for Neil Young? I'd say no.

Music-wise, it sounds an awful lot like CSNY, with the harmonies, plinky guitars and genre-spanning nonsense. The band tries bluegrass guitar stuff on "A Child's Claim to Fame," country balladry on "Expecting to Fly" and psychedelic low key nonsense on "A Child's Claim to Fame." The regular rock is average with "Mr. Soul" and "Hung Upside Down" being the only real good songs on the record. "Broken Arrow" has some nice experiments towards the end, but it's nothing special.

Boomer nostalgia. That's pretty much Stephen Stills in a nutshell.