Stephen Stills (album)



Stephen Stills is the debut album by Stephen Stills released on Atlantic Records in 1970. It is one of four high-profile albums released by each member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in the wake of their 1970 chart-topping album Déjà Vu. Stills dedicated the album to Jimi Hendrix, who had died a month before the album arrived in stores.

Content
The album features an array of well-known guest musicians, including John Sebastian, David Crosby and Graham Nash, who contributed vocals. Ringo Starr drums on two tracks under the pseudonym "Richie," which he also used for his contribution to the London Sessions album by American bluesman Howlin' Wolf, recorded in England the same year. Stills' album is also the only album to which both Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix supplied guitar work.

The song "We Are Not Helpless" was wrongly assumed by many critics to be a response to Neil Young's song "Helpless" from the Déjà Vu album. "Love the One You're With," Stills' biggest solo hit single, peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 on December 19, 1970, and another single pulled from the album, "Sit Yourself Down," went to #37 on March 27, 1971.

The album peaked at #3 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart in the week of January 2, 1971. It was reissued by WEA after being digitally remastered using the HDCD process on December 5, 1995. "We Are Not Helpless" and "Love the One You're With" were first performed in concert on May 12, 1970 during Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's Déjà Vu tour. In 2009 Crosby, Stills, & Nash released Demos featuring an early demo of "Love the One You're With".

Reviews of the album were decidedly mixed ranging from lukewarm to positive. Allmusic calls it "a jaw-dropping experience" just short of Crosby, Stills & Nash and Déjà Vu while others such as Rolling Stone were less effusive, qualifying the somewhat negative tone by writing "I'm not saying I don't like this album."

Personnel

 * Stephen Stills – vocals, guitars, bass, piano, organ, steel drum, percussion; horn and string arrangements on "Church," "To a Flame," and "Cherokee"
 * Jimi Hendrix – electric guitar on "Old Times Good Times"
 * Eric Clapton – electric guitar on "Go Back Home"
 * Booker T. Jones – organ on "Cherokee" ; backing vocal on "We Are Not Helpless"
 * Calvin "Fuzzy" Samuel – bass on "Love the One You're With," "Church," "Old Times Good Times," "Go Back Home," and "Sit Yourself Down"
 * Conrad Isedor – drums on "Church" and "Old Times Good Times"
 * Johnny Barbata – drums on "Go Back Home" and "Sit Yourself Down"
 * Ringo Starr – drums on "To a Flame" and "We Are Not Helpless"
 * Dallas Taylor – drums on "Cherokee"
 * Jeff Whittaker – congas on "Love the One You're With" and "Old Times Good Times"
 * Sidney George – flute, alto saxophone on "Cherokee"
 * Rita Coolidge, David Crosby, Priscilla Jones, John Sebastian – backing vocals on "Love the One You're With," "Go Back Home," "Sit Yourself Down," and "We Are Not Helpless"
 * Cass Elliott, Claudia Lennear – backing vocals on "Go Back Home," "Sit Yourself Down," and "We Are Not Helpless"
 * Graham Nash – backing vocals on "Love the One You're With," "Sit Yourself Down," and "We Are Not Helpless"
 * Judith Powell, Larry Steele, Liza Strike, Tony Wilson – backing vocals on "Church"
 * Sherlie Matthews – backing vocals on "We Are Not Helpless"
 * Arif Mardin – string arrangements on "Church" and "To a Flame"

Additional personnel

 * Bill Halverson – producer
 * Andy Johns – engineer
 * Gary Burden – art direction, photography
 * Henry Diltz – photography
 * Charles John Quarto – sleeve poem
 * Joe Gastwirt – digital remastering