An almost perfect Reissue that got Messed up: Buffalo Springfield

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Great Deceiver, Dec 30, 2005.

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  1. Great Deceiver

    Great Deceiver Active Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    New Jersey
    I'm really getting into Buffalo Springfield, a truly great underrated band that most people only know for the song "For What It's Worth"

    Anyway, I started to like them, so I looked up releases to buy from allmusic.com and I noticed 2 big glaring omissions that could have made this release truly great. First all the remastered CDs are HDCD, which is nice for the extra audio resolution. And not only that but the first album is in both Stereo AND Mono! But this is where things start to go wrong. They include the stereo version of the album which drops "Baby Don't Scold Me" and adds "For What It's Worth". The CD totals only around 66 minutes: why couldn't they have added a stereo version of "Baby Don't Scold Me"? It might not have been mixed to stereo, so that can be explained, but not including the mono single version of "For What It's Worth"? They took the time to do Mono/Stereo for everything else, why not this song?

    The problems with first album remaster is just me being ornery, but the boxset is another matter. They duplicate songs, the exact same versions, from the first 3 discs onto the 4th disc. Why? They could have used this for releasing more rarities or including all of Last Time Around.

    I guess the reason I get annoyed with this, is they came so close to doing it right and little oversights like this prevent it from being near perfect
     
  2. Mark

    Mark I Am Gort, Hear Me Roar Staff

    You are right. This has been the complaint about the box since it was released. Ironically, I asked Richie Furay about the box and why it was done the way it was, and why certain things were left out, etc. and his response was, simply, "Neil."
     
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  3. Urban Spaceman

    Urban Spaceman Forum Eulipion

    Yeah - I got the box when it came out and the real shame is why didn't they include the mono version of Buffalo Springfield Again? I dunno - the demos just didn't cut it for me. Why or how Neil Young got the final say-so is just.......frustrating. Furay's response speaks volumes doesn't it? Sheesh!
    ------ Chris
     
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  4. David Powell

    David Powell Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Atlanta, Ga.
    Well, Neil had the wherewithal to do the project with his Redwood Studio complete with HDCD gear and engineer Tim Mulligan. He'd already been working with much of the material for his own, perpetually yet-to-be completed box set.
     
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  5. Larry Geller

    Larry Geller Surround sound lunatic

    Location:
    Bayside, NY
    It WAS mixed to stereo & appeared on 1st stereo pressings of the 1st LP (unlike Burned, which is reprocessed on both versions). I have it on a boot & the mix is signifigantly different than the mono.
     
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  6. Roland Stone

    Roland Stone Offending Member

    Did I read somewhere here that Neil Young has final say over Buffalo Springfield projects, as part of his solo contract with Reprise? The goofy box with omissions and duplications was totally his creation.
     
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  7. rene smalldridge

    rene smalldridge Senior Member

    Location:
    manhattan,kansas
    Yeah the 2 glaring omissions to me are not having the very different(better IMO) mono mix of Buffalo Springfield Again included in the box and also my favorite one-of-a-kind song by Richie-In The Hour Of Not Quite Rain from the final album. Oh well. Neil is Neil.
     
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  8. James Glennon

    James Glennon Senior Member

    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland

    I read where Dewey Martin bitterly remarked that 'Neil had been invited to join the band, left a couple of times, but still ended up owning over 40% of the rights'. Neat!
    JG
     
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  9. Chief

    Chief Over 12,000 Served

    I think Neil is the only one who knows or cares about his back catalog. Stills can't be bothered (based on his own comments, and people who know him). Furay might care, but he wasn't a principle songwriter in Buffalo Springfield, and music isn't his top priority anymore. So why is Neil totally in control?

    1. He cares about the music
    2. He has everything organized and archived
    3. He knows about and can implement the technology he wants
    4. If he doesn't get his way, he'll walk
     
  10. James Glennon

    James Glennon Senior Member

    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland

    My mother (God rest her) used to say... 'Be careful of the quiet ones'.
    JG
     
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  11. rjp

    rjp Senior Member

    Location:
    Ohio
    it's also missing jim messina's wonderful tune "carefree country day" and the 9+minute version of "bluebird".

    both should be on there along with "in the hour of not quite rain". IMO

    renny

    p.s. neil is the boss of the bunch, nash has verified that many times.
     
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  12. Chief

    Chief Over 12,000 Served

    And of course, we know of other Springfield tracks like "Sell Out" that weren't there. The 9 minute "Bluebird" should've been there just for the sake of completion, if for nothing else.
     
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  13. Todd E

    Todd E Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hollywood-adjacent
    Part of loving Neil is having to put up with him.

    Kinda like a marriage...
     
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  14. Adam9

    Adam9 Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй.

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Although I'm a big Springfield fan, I haven't got the box yet for the above reasons. However, I can see why the long "Bluebird" isn't on there. I have it on the 2-LP anthology and while it may be neat to hear once, Stills' coda sounds somewhat stilted and embarrassing to my ears. All of the songs on "Last Time Around" should be on the set rather than the duplications that exist, even though they're not all wonderful.
    As for the first album reissue and "Baby Don't Scold Me" available only in mono, I can see why a fan would be upset at not including the stereo mix in the reissue. On the other hand I'm happy to have the far superior mono mix of the first album available on CD. The mono "Clancy has a poignancy that I missed first time around in stereo. "Burned" is way more powerful in mono than in the fake stereo version. The whole album sounds much more powerful in its mono incarnation.
     
  15. quentincollins

    quentincollins Forum Word Nerd

    Location:
    Liverpool
    Regarding the mono mix of "For What It's Worth," you're not missing much. It's on the box set, and it was a major disappointment once I finally heard it. It sounds exactly like a fold down of the stereo mix. Unless there are two mono versions and the one on the box isn't the correct single mix, you can pretty much acheive the same results by folding down the stereo mix.
     
  16. Urban Spaceman

    Urban Spaceman Forum Eulipion

    I guess he is the only one left of the original band in the position to actually take control and do something. And he does care enough about the music and sound quality, but I guess it's just so obvious that he's the one in charge. That's what blows my mind. The guy who kept quitting the group is the one to end up with final sayso of the group's output. Bizarre!
    ----- Chris
     
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  17. Raunchnroll

    Raunchnroll Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    I agree, but knew it wasn't going to happen - I think both Stephen Stills and Neil have said before they don't like that version.
     
  18. Chief

    Chief Over 12,000 Served

    If Neil didn't do it, I doubt anyone else would. Neil seemed to have a love/hate thing with the Buffalo Springfield, but he landed ultimately on 'love'. Besides having hearing problems, Stills really has no interest in his old stuff. If it were left to Stills, there would be no Buffalo Springfield Box Set, no CSN Box Set, and no pending CSN remasters with bonus material (Nash takes care of that). And its too bad because by most accounts, there is a lot of quality Stills material in the vaults.
     
  19. Raunchnroll

    Raunchnroll Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Frankly, I think you're missing out here in a big way by not having the box set. For all its supposed problems (and I'd call them relatively minor) the superb demos & outtakes are well worth it. I was able to put together a pair of comps: one CD with all 15 of Neils outake/demos (along with most of the finished tracks on the albums) and another comp with just the Stills & Furay outtake/demos. In their own realm they make for some wonderful listening.
     
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  20. Chief

    Chief Over 12,000 Served

    Seriously, any BS fan that passes on the Box Set is really missing out. The band takes on "Down Down Down", "Falcon Lake", "What A Day", and "Neighbor Don't You Worry" are worth the price alone.
     
  21. ronbow

    ronbow Senior Member

    Location:
    St. Louis MO
    Agree that the Box Set is NOT to be missed by any fan. The fact that NY capriciously blew the opportunity for the PERFECT box set and missed by a hair - yes, as agregious and contrary as NY's handful of omissions were (mono Again, stereo BS, 4(?) missing LTA tracks) - the set is a real joy to hear, with some 30+ unreleased tracks, many of which capture the true essence of the group.

    BTW, I always thought the sequencing would have been improved by putting all the acoustic demos together, as an unplugged type disc, and grouping the more produced & arranged tracks together.

    They were good. really good. and the box set captures it. It is one of the best pop / rock boxed set retrospectives out there.
     
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  22. Shakey

    Shakey New Member

    Location:
    Chicago, Illinois
    So let me see if I got this straight. Some are bothered that the one who owns 40% does 100% of the work, dishing out $$$ to those no longer involved and this all over one song.

    It's All One Song!
     
  23. jonathan

    jonathan Senior Member

    Location:
    NY
    It's hard to think of a bigger rip-off than this.
     
  24. Raunchnroll

    Raunchnroll Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    aahh...so I take it you haven't been to college yet.......
     
  25. Chief

    Chief Over 12,000 Served

    You mean aside from Greatest Hits sets with one new or unreleased song?

    Seriously, I think I can speak for the Stills hardcore here and say that the duplication was a minor complaint at best. We got new Buffalo Springfield songs for the first time in 30-some years, and they were first rate. And any new Stills is like water in the desert. I bought the Box Set ONLY for the unreleased stuff. I already have the original albums on vinyl and remastered cd.
     
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