Buffalo Springfield Again is the second album by
Buffalo Springfield, released on
Atco Records in October 1967. The album features some of the group's best-known songs, including "
Mr. Soul", "
Bluebird", "
Expecting to Fly" and "Rock & Roll Woman", all of which were released as singles. In contrast to the band's hastily made
debut album, recording for Again took place over a protracted nine-month span and was fraught with dysfunction, with each member eventually producing his own material largely independent of one another.
Several factors may have contributed to the slow pace of the recording sessions, including that bassist
Bruce Palmer had been deported in January and had re-entered the
United States illegally to continue working with the band, and guitarist
Neil Young had quit and rejoined the group on several occasions, notably absent for the band's appearance at the famed
Monterey Pop Festival where
David Crosby substituted in his place at the request of guitarist
Stephen Stills.[18][19]
The album features the first recordings of songs written by guitarist
Richie Furay, who had not contributed any material to the band's debut album. Also unlike the previous record, which had been recorded in its entirety by the band proper, session musicians appeared on various tracks as indicated on the album's inner sleeve. Palmer's deportation issues necessitated the contributions of outside bass players. During one of the times that Young had left the band, he had booked a studio to record "
Expecting to Fly," with session musicians under the impression it was for a Neil Young solo project rather than for Buffalo Springfield.[20]Phil SpectorWrecking Crew associate
Jack Nitzsche provided the
musical arrangements for "Expecting to Fly"; it does not feature any members of the Springfield. Nitzsche would continue to work with Young through the early 1970s on both
his solo debut album and his best-selling Harvest, also becoming a member of Young's backing bands
Crazy Horse and
The Stray Gators.
The album includes an early
country rock track by Furay, "A Child's Claim to Fame." The track "Rock & Roll Woman" allegedly includes vocals by Crosby, who also allegedly had a hand in its composition; whether true or not, Stills acknowledges the genesis of the song was from jamming with Crosby.[21]Cash Box said of "Rock & Roll Woman" that it's a "mid-tempo rock ballad" and that "throaty vocals with a shimmering group backing are spiced with some outstanding guitar showing."[22]Record World called "Rock & Roll Woman" an "imaginative, different rock song."[23] Young's extended piece "
Broken Arrow" begins with audience applause (taken not from a Buffalo Springfield show, but rather from a concert by the
Beatles) and the opening of "
Mr. Soul" (which opens the album) recorded live in the studio. The back cover of the album includes a lengthy list of people thanked as influence and inspiration, some of whom are musicians who contributed but were unaccredited. The album is dedicated to
Barry Friedman, and listed as a York/Pala production. The album was
remastered for
compact disc in
HDCD and reissued on June 24, 1997.
Producers – Brian Stone (Track 1), Charles Greene (Track 1), Neil Young (Tracks 2, 3, 4, 9, 10), Stephen Stills (Tracks 3, 5, 6, 9),
Ahmet Ertegun (Tracks 3, 5), Jack Nitzsche (Track 4), Jim Messina (Track 6), Richie Furay (Track 7), Dewey Martin (Track 8)
Recording engineers – Bruce Tergesen (Track 1), Ross Myerling (Tracks 2, 6),
Jim Messina (Tracks 2, 6, 8, 9, 10), James Hilton (Track 3),
Bruce Botnick (Tracks 4, 5), William Brittan (Track 7), Bill Lazarus (Tracks 7, 10), Tom May (Track 10)
^^ Robert Dimery; Michael Lydon (23 March 2010). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe.
ISBN978-0-7893-2074-2.
