WM writes:
The real significance was the musical careers of the 4 names in the group:
Neil Young- Solo, CSNY, Stills Young band
Stephen Stills - Solo, CSN, CSNY, Stills Young band
Jim Messina - Solo, Poco, Loggins and Messina
Richard Furay - Poco, Souther-Hillman-Furay, Richard Furay band
I consider these guys, like the Beatles, Yardbirds, Stones, etc. a proto-super group. They weren't giants when they formed the band, but … They had so much talent and created a sound like no other band at the time. Some sort of cross between country, folk, rock, psychadelic, and pop. The bands that emerged from their breakup became equally importantant: Poco and CSN (a true super group). The Eagles not only credit Poco for much of their sound, but actually grabbed Meisner and Schmidt after Pocos breakup.
While they didnt last long (3 years), BS have had a huge influence. They were inducted into the RHOF in 97. Loggins and Messina and Poco have yet to be inducted, but in my opinion should be.
As a bonus - Buffalo Springfield was named after a company that made steamrollers.
And there are many fun serendipitous BS sites
GG writes:
Their significance, I think, came from the (definitely contrarian) position I hold that while the group went on to spawn an amazing array of popular acts, their output as in individuals never came close in quality to their output as a band.
Neil Young, to my ears, never sounded as tight or together as he did on Mr. Soul or Broken Arrow. I always cringe when I listen to Down By the River, for example. Stills output never sounded as passionate as Bluebird or Rock on and Roll Woman. That band was each artist at his peak. I actually bought Buffalo Springfield work. I never was interested in their subsequent recordings. One critic I read opined that Ravi Shankar peaked with his first recording. I think the members of Buffalo Springfield peaked as a group, although I certainly like Stills subsequent recordings.CP writes:
CP writes:
“For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield, a track that’s been the stalwart of many a movie and yet even though it’s known all over the world and been sampled to death, it has never been a hit here in the UK, didn’t even hit the top 75. I only know that from going out on a walk in the cold one New Year’s day a few years ago and listening to a “Should have been a hit” type show on BBC Radio 2 by Tony Blackburn; obviously during a radio show there’d be other tracks played but that one absolutely stood out.
BR writes:
After the Beatles, Buffalo Springfield was my all time favorite band. Even more than the Byrds and I loved the Byrds. But the Springfield had a quality I just can’t easily describe to someone else.
The first most people heard of the band was that haunting and still fresh-sounding intro to “For What it’s Worth”… the kick drum pattern and the electric guitar harmonics… and then Stills’ world-class, instant-classic, velvet-sandpaper voice. To this day, that record sounds great.
But it was the only hit they had. Unless you were from Southern California, you probably never heard “Bluebird” “Rock and Roll Woman” “Mr. Soul” Or “On the Way Home.” Growing up near St. Louis, I never did. And as a kid with limited funds, I never bought their records. I would stand at the record counter and look at them… there was something iconic about their first and second albums… but… I didn't take a chance.
Then, after I moved to SoCal in 1968, the girl that became my wife pointed to the cover of “Last Time Around” and said I should buy it. I did and it changed everything for me. AS much as I loved the Beatles, the kind of music that they wrote wasn’t in me. Those chords of theirs… amazing chords allowing for instantly memorable melodies… The Pop Standards-style foundation that the Beatles grew up on wasn't in me.
What was in me was American Roots music. I grew up listening to Elvis, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Marty Robbins and the Everly Brothers—performers who were taking the roots music of America into a popular music format. Buffalo Springfield mixed Blues, Folk, Country and Rock in a way that sounded hip and urban and modern and yet deeply rooted in rural images, the American West and Hot, Dusty Roads.
The three singers could not have been more unalike—Steve Stills’ bluesy growl, Neil Young’s haunting moan and Richie Furay’s sunny, silky croon. But they blended beautifully and the differences just kept things interesting. Even more, the songwriting… For the first time, I was encountering a cutting-edge band playing the kinds of songs I could hear coming out of myself—could begin to write myself. Some of my first songwriting efforts reached for songs like Richie’s “Sad Memory,” Stills’ “Four Days Gone” and Neil’s lovely “I am A Child.”
I grew to love all three of their albums, even though the band was defunct before I had purchased even one. I came to recognize the greatness of “Buffalo Springfield Again,” with its magnificent reach—from Sad Memory’s lonely cry to the grand sweep of “Expecting to Fly” and Still’s great masterpiece “Bluebird” with that incredible, biting Martin guitar solo. But I always went back to “Last Time Around.”
It’s a nearly perfect record. A sampler for the band’s gifts. Great singing, great playing, interesting, sensitive arrangements and blazing hot rock and roll.
And at the very end… the one song that, for me, stands out above all the rest. Strangely, much less of a band song. A Richie solo effort, nearly. The first Poco recording, actually. I don’t think Stills or Young are on it. Dewey Martin may be. Almost certainly Bruce Palmer is long gone. But it is such a gem, for me, that I still think of it last my very favorite Buffalo Springfield number.
I’m talking about Richie Furay’s lovely and timeless “Kind Woman.” With Rusty Young’s beautiful pedal steel runs and the gently rolling after-hours-at-the-roadhouse piano, and Richie’s clear, easy tenor, it’s just plain pretty. It brushes the soul with the simplicity of truth, the ache of love, the softness of the woman it was written for. I never tire of it.
No snarling, frenetic lead lines from Young. No hoarse cries over shimmery guitar from Stills. No Memphis funk in the rhythm section… but… quintessentially Springfield. No subsequent version of the song quite captures that wistful longing that the original recording has.
