Stills and Young turn back the pages

Ted Joseph
Sounds
December 6, 1975

 

EVEN IF the rumour mills hadn’t cranked out enough rumours to reach the ears of all in the Los Angeles area, just the notion of a Stephen Stills concert on a Sunday followed by a David Crosby/Graham Nash bash on Wednesday would be enough to set minds twitching with imagination. Let’s see... that’s three out of four guaranteed to be in LA at the same time. Only one question remained: which night would something happen?

Well something happened on Sunday, and it didn’t involve the appearance of either Crosby or Nash, who, as it turns out, were basking in the light of another reportedly brilliant show in Berkeley, CA. Meanwhile, back In the Pauley Pavilion of the University of California, Los Angeles, Stephen Stills stepped on stage, and not more than a minute into a reggae-ish version of ‘Love The One You’re With’, (the show’s opener) this tall skinny guy with patched jeans and long stringy hair sauntered from the shadows hefting a black electric guitar. No, this wasn’t just another man from the shadow, it was Neil Young.

It was Neil Young, and it was all over, or depending how you look at it, It might have been just beginning. There was nary a sour note the rest of the threehour set which ultimately left the packed house breathless, and there was all the charged atmosphere of the real Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young shows. Into the first song of the set and already Stills and Young had amply demonstrated where the electric force of CSN&Y came from.

For the first 20 minutes (a brief, three song electric set) Young remained Just another band member, playing second lead and carving harmonies to work in and out of Stills’ flowing vocals. Taking those harmonies and three clean-picking electric guitar leads, the second song was a mesmerising version of ‘Johnny’s Garden’, shockingly brilliant to those in the audience and on stage. But they were just warming up.

Followed by a hug and a laughing boast of "this is the real Buffalo Springfield", Stills and Young launched into a slow-paced rendition of ‘Wooden Ships’, capped by a dual guitar barrage which rated with the best from Springfield and CSN&Y stage shows. The charge never died the rest of the evening. Even the acoustic set which followed, though marred by the uncooperatively noisy crowd (which denied Stills’ repeated pleadings for silence) and Stills’ strained vocals, was highlighted by a pair of Young songs (including ‘On The Way Home’), a satisfying new Stills blues number titled ‘Tree Top flier’, and Stills caressing Fred Neil’s ‘Everybody’s Talking At Me’.

Another short break, and the rest of the night was encased in brilliant electric haze. Somewhere along the line Stills’ voice loosened sufficiently to blend perfectly with one of Young’s strongest vocal nights ever, and their free-flowing exchanges let loose electric versions of ‘Black  Queen’,Young’s ‘The Loner’ (with Stills on lead vocals), ‘Turn Back The Pages’, ‘Helpless, Helpless’, and ‘The Treasure’. All the while Stills was bent over backwards in ecstacy while Young machine gunned his riffs across the stage in perfect coordination until the sound system gasped with exhaustion.

Back for an encore, and two more bodies jumped on stage for ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes’. No, not Crosby and Nash, but it might as well have been for the perfect harmonies filled by Flo and Eddie, who had opened the show. All these cynical years following the Turtles’ days, with Frank Zappa and kicking around solo had finally paid off Flo and Eddie had finally become Crosby and Nash, and they sounded beautiful, at that.

Encore number two, and it was Stills back out with an acoustic number to wrap it up; a flowing, sensitive new song which suddenly drifted into "Find The Cost Of Freedom’. It sounded so lonely with just Stills at the mike, but to the rescue came the rest of the band, and Flo and Eddie, again, a sea of faces surrounded the mikes for the closing verse. Just like the CSN&Y shows.

And just like a CSN&Y show, the dazed faces of the crowd carried a distinct message as they stumbled out, ecstatically dazed. Something had already happened, and Wednesday was yet to come.

TED JOSEPH