The band that was my second favorite back in the Sixties and one to which I related was Buffalo Springfield. They were very American even though two of the five members were Canadian (maybe even three if Dewey Martin was Canadian), and they lived nearby. They were a band that often played the Sunset Strip and even immortalized the infamous Sunset Strip riot of 1966 in their first hit For What It’s Worth. They also got busted for pot while living in Laurel Canyon, Neil Young had a house in Topanga Canyon and I would occasionally see drummer Dewey Martin at the Adam’s Rib restaurant on Ventura Blvd.
I always loved the two lead guitar and 12 string acoustic rhythm guitar sound and use the “fuzz tone” effect Neil Young used even to this day. Although there was already a “Neil” in the band with great sideburns I think I still would have fit in from a musical and image standpoint. I certainly wouldn’t suggest being able to replace Neil Young or Steven Stills but I would have dug being in that particular band.
I was at their second to last ever concert at the Valley Music Theater in Woodland Hills, California in 1968 and couldn’t believe a band that great would break up after only three albums. Looking back now and listening to those three albums I’m amazed Buffalo Springfield stayed together long enough to make three albums. That band is two distinct groups. One is the hard rock outfit in which I would have liked to have been a part and the other is a country band. There are some “country” touches such as the aforementioned 12 string acoustic guitar and some banjo on the end of Bluebird but it’s the Richie Furay and Jim Messina songs such as Kind Woman, Sad Memory and Carefree Country Day that make Buffalo Springfield albums sound more like compilation CDs than a single band. Throw in the late Dewey Martin’s R & B soul song Good Time Boy and you wonder why these particular guys thought being in a band together was a good idea.
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