MUSIC HISTORY: Buffalo Springfield (Book Review)

MUSIC HISTORY:

JAZZ / ROCK / BLUES / ETC.

Reviews, News, Commentaries

and Music Biographies by Randy

INDEX

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

For what it's worth: the only book on the fractured history of Buffalo Springfield.

Book Review

(1997)

For What It's Worth: The Story Of Buffalo Springfield

By John Einarson and Richie Furay

Published by Quarry Press, Canada

(ISBN: 1-55082-184-9)

Something finally has happened here – the biography of one of the most influential, yet unsuccessful bands in rock 'n' roll is finally seeing the light of day. John Einarson has written one of the best band biographies I've read in a long time, and anyone who's a fan of Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Neil Young, Poco, or rock 'n' roll and sixties pop culture in general needs to go out and get it.

Rock books specifically seem to suffer from a larger portion of bad writing, rampant inaccuracies, distorted perspectives, and personal opinions in place of facts, far more than other literary genres. But John Einarson, with the help of Springfield band member Richie Furay, has crafted an organized, accurately detailed account of this legendary band, that deftly avoids all of those pitfalls.

Richie Furay's own personal insights put you in the coffee houses of New York City -- in the middle of the early sixties folk scene -- and later in the developing folk rock scene in California, where he joins up with brilliantly talented singer/songwriter/guitarist Stephen Stills, who puts together a band that forever influences the history of rock and roll: guitarist/singer Furay, Canadian singer/songwriter/guitarist Neil Young, and fellow Canadians Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin (on bass and drums, respectively).

They brought together an unusual assortment of styles (folk, blues, R&B, Latin and country) in a way that made them unique pioneers even during the explosively dynamic musical development of the nineteen-sixties. The book takes you into the studio, where the band recorded such rock classics as Stills' "Bluebird," "Rock 'n' Roll Woman," and one of rock's first songs of protest, "For What It's Worth." The many details involving the recording of Neil Young's "Mr. Soul," "Broken Arrow," and "Expecting To Fly" are a great treat to discover, as are the many “lost” lyrics and unreleased songs that Einarson lets us in on.

For such a complicated story the book is a surprisingly easy read, engaging from page to page and chapter to chapter. The book covers the personal histories and influences of each band member prior to their involvement in the group, the band's famous meeting and formation on the Sunset Strip in April of 1966, the recording of the band's three albums, and their premature demise in 1968, in addition to a brief synopsis of the careers that followed in the wake of the breakup.

Through it all, you are drawn into their lives and made to feel like you're there to see it for yourself. The turbulent relationship between Stills and Young as well as many other parts of the story are told from multiple perspectives, leaving what was really happening open to interpretation, as history must sometimes be.

Bruce Palmer's recollections on any given event challenge those of Neil Young, but instead of taking sides or merely telling half the story, Einarson shows all the angles, thereby setting up the relationship between all the characters, which is sometimes filled with excitement, and other times fraught with frustration. This was a band destined for fame and fortune. They were expecting to fly, and it never came to fruition. Atrocious mismanagement, infighting, and unsustained success were the elements standing in their way.

A great deal of care and careful research obviously holds the book together, and it pays off. Each chapter ends with a great array of rare photos from the private collection of Mr. Furay and other sources. This is clearly the definitive (and only) book on Buffalo Springfield. As mentioned by Richie Furay in the book's preface, "For those who want to know what was going on in our lives 30 years ago, this book tells the story. I don't know how it could have been written any better." It most certainly couldn't have been.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

INDEX

page created with Easy Designer