Search - Stephen Stills :: Live at Shepherd's Bush (CD/DVD)

Career-spanning 2008 concert performance

hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 10/27/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"With so many artists retreading their catalogs with concert performances of classic albums, Stephen Stills' career-spanning live set provides a different proposition. Rather than take his audience back to a single point in time, he takes them on the musical journey he mapped out for himself with Buffalo Springfield, CSN(&Y), Manassas, and various solo releases. The set list focuses primarily on the years 1966 through 1973, but reaches to Stills' last solo album, 2005's Man Alive! for "Wounded World" (segued here with Joe Walsh's "Rocky Mountain Way") and draws in a cover of Tom Petty's recent Mudcrutch song "Wrong Thing to Do."



The show is split into solo acoustic and electric band sets, and rather than following a strict timeline, Stills has arranged the songs into a program that makes for a good show, with crowd-pleasing favorites placed strategically among the deeper album cuts. The solo tunes show Stills to still be a powerful acoustic picker (both finger and flat-pick), and though his singing voice is rough in spots, the song introductions and storytelling are incredibly engaging. Best of all, the disc provides generous helpings of between-song continuity and gives you a good sense of how the show felt as a whole. This is a document of a live concert performance rather than a cleanly edited set of live songs.



The show kicks off with "Tree Top Flyer," a 1968 solo tune that didn't appear on a commercial release until CS&N tackled it fifteen years later. Fan favorites "4+20" and "Change Partners" bracket a touching version of the Manassas tune "Johnny's Garden," and a couple of covers, Dylan's "Girl From the North Country" and the traditional "Blind Fiddler" show off some of Stills' own favorites. The acoustic set closes with a 9-minute rendition of "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" that shows off Stills' blistering guitar skills, and provides a transition to the electric band set. The second set opens with the little heard "Isn't It About Time," from the second Manassas album, and unlike the chestnuts that follow, the arrangement and performance sound very fresh as Stills adds some meaty Stratocaster playing.



The Buffalo Springfield numbers are a mixed bag. They're stretched into jams that give Stills an opportunity to show that his guitar can reach heights that his voice can't always follow. capable of. "Rock & Roll Woman" retains its passion, "Bluebird" is reworked enthusiastically to fit Stills' limited vocal range, but a bluesy 7-minute version of "For What It's Worth" can't muster the vocal pungency of 1966, despite its on-going political relevance. Overall, Stills sounds more enthusiastic about the material that's newer to him, including his own "Wounded World" and the Petty and Walsh covers.



The widescreen DVD offers the same track line-up as the CD, though with the option of DTS Surround. The only extras are a short intro clip by Stills and credit-roll clips in which Stills discusses the set list. The lighting and videography are excellent, giving viewers a chance to see close-ups of Stills singing and picking. He sells his songs with facial expressions, postures and body movements, and his lack of vocal flexibility is more than made up for by watching him rip on guitar. This is a nicely selected mix of hits and album cuts, performed with the freedom of someone with nothing left to prove. CD and DVD discs are packaged in a three-panel cardboard slipcase. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]"

Man Alive!

o dubhthaigh | north rustico, pei, canada | 11/02/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you've read Crosby's second installment of his autobiography, you know that he and Nash get off a couple of very pointed barbs aimed at Stills. Presumably, they were good natured. With his very first remarks on this set, Stills slaps the puck back into their net and scores magnificently, and then gets on with the business at hand, beginning with Tree Top Flyer and roaring right on through seamlessly to the closer, Love The One....

Stills looks healthier, and by his own admission, feels so. His voice is coming back, much as Levon Helm's has, and that's just amazingly great news. While there is no new material here, the renditions, now from a 63 year old campaigner and defender of democracy, a cancer survivor, and a man who has lived his life with eyes open and his mind on, all sound brand spanking new and infused with an insight that comes from the road thus travelled. It ain't the years, it's the mileage, and Stills delivers a triumphant survey of his work. He has found different registers in which to cast his voice and the songs he has written. For my money, I think his take on Suite: Judy Blue Eyes and Rock and Roll Woman eclipse the CSN and Buffalo Springfield versions. The loss in both songs is more palpable, the tragedy accepted with a wisdom that knows one's life runs against time. His sense of humour is spot on throughout and there is even a sense of self deprecation, first evident in his tumble during the Deja Vu film and now in his wry asides about his own youthful perceptions found in Four and Twenty.

There is a clarity of tone to his guitar playing that I haven't heard in ages and his command of his instrument and the Latin and American blues that are the bedrock of his influences ring with an authenticity that has been enhanced by age, by life. There isn't a lick throughout that is there as showmanship. Every harmonic, every chord and key sequence, every pluck and plectrum strike rings with authority. He takes on Dylan's "Girl From The North Country" and makes it his own - absolutely an astounding delivery. And the man looks like he's having fun.

Stills has questioned whether he still has it, whether the Muse is still speaking to him, or if he can, through his tinnitus, still hear her. Based solely on this performance, I'd encourage him to keep at it. He has very clearly prepared himself in such a way that the Music is as much playing him as he the music. In short, in the words of another English guitarist, he has prepared himself so that Music can lean over and take him into its confidence. To that end, I would hope he will continue to sing, play, compose. He has something worthwhile to say, and I very mcuh want to listen to him. For all his afflictions from a life such as his, he is a man alive with his muse and that's cause for celebration. Isn't it about time?"

Stills alive and well

Bodhi Heeren | Copenhagen | 10/27/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A fine live set from the often rather underrated Stephen Stills caught live at the legendary Shepherd's Bush. Starting of with an intense acoustic set showcasing his considearble picking skills that ends with a surprise "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes", a song he hasn't played in recent years, here nailed perfectly. He even hits some of those high vocal notes. In fact he seems to be in the best of form both vocally and overall. Thx to a clean up of his act and succesful cancer treatment.



After the break he dives into a solid electric performance backed by a congenial band anchored by the always inventive drumming of long time musical partner Joe Vitale. And here the show really takes flight with classics like "Bluebird", "For What it's Worth", "Dark Star". But also some lesser known tunes like "Rock & Roll Woman" and the stylish "I Wanna Make Love To You" (from the Stills-Young album).



The often reclusive Stills comes across here as a humorous and relaxed performer facing a great and enthusiastic crowd. The days when he was a pioneering artist may be long gone, but he can sure still deliver a magnificient evening armed with a collection of songs many others would have to envy him. Blues, rock, country, latin, impressive wah-wah drenched psychedelic solos all blend into one.



Like the recent brilliant album of Manassas outtakesPiecesthis is essential stuf for any CSN(Y) fan.



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