Buffalo Springfield (album)



Buffalo Springfield is the eponymous debut album by the folk rock band Buffalo Springfield, released in December of 1966 on Atco Records. It peaked at #80 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart. It is the first album to feature the songwriting of future stars Stephen Stills and Neil Young.

Background and content
Buffalo Springfield were formed in early 1966, playing their first gig at The Troubadour club in Hollywood in April of that year. An initial single that appeared on this album, Young's "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" sung by Richie Furay, failed to reach the national charts but made the Top 40 locally in Los Angeles during August. This album was recorded in the summer of 1966 at Gold Star Studios where Phil Spector created his "Wall of Sound" and Brian Wilson produced recordings by The Beach Boys, most notably that year their masterpiece Pet Sounds. Young sings lead on only two of his five compositions, Furay singing lead on the other three.

The album was produced by the group's managers, Charles Greene and Brian Stone, both of whom had minimal experience as record producers. The group was reportedly unhappy with the sound of the album, feeling that it didn't reflect the intensity of their live shows. The band asked Atco for time to re-record the album, but not wanting to miss the Christmas holiday season the label insisted that the record be released as it was. However, they did give Stills and Young permission to personally mix the mono version of the album themselves, and the members of the band have long insisted that their mono version is superior to the stereo version.

Buffalo Springfield was originally released in both mono and stereo versions as Atco SD 33-200. The inner sleeve contained band profiles of each member in the mode of those for Tiger Beat. Recorded the day the LP was released and issued soon after, the band's new single by Stills "For What It's Worth" became a national hit, making the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in March of 1967. For the second pressing of March 6, 1967, the album was reissued as Atco SD 33-200A with the hit as the lead track, dropping "Baby Don't Scold Me" and slightly reconfiguring the running order. "Baby Don't Scold Me" has never been reissued in stereo; all compact disc releases feature only the mono mix.

The album was remastered in HDCD and reissued on June 24, 1997 with two versions on one disc, the mono tracks from Atco 33-200 first with the stereo tracks from SD 33-200A following. Not contained were the stereo mix of "Baby Don't Scold Me" from Atco SD 33-200 or the mono mix of "For What It's Worth" from Atco 33-200A. Strangely, "Burned" has also never been issued in stereo for unknown reasons. It redundantly appears twice on this disc in mono.

Recording sessions took place at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles in July, August, and September of 1966, with "For What It's Worth" recorded at Columbia Studios in Los Angeles on December 5, 1966.

Personnel

 * Stephen Stills — vocals, guitars, keyboards
 * Neil Young — vocals, guitars, harmonica, piano
 * Richie Furay — vocals, rhythm guitar
 * Bruce Palmer — bass guitar
 * Dewey Martin — drums, backing vocals


 * Production personnel
 * Charles Greene, Brian Stone — producers, stereo mix
 * Tom May, Doc Siegel, James Hilton, Stan Ross — engineers
 * Sandy Dvore — design
 * Henry Diltz, Ivan Nagy — photography
 * Tim Mulligan — HDCD digital mastering
 * John Nowland, Pflash Pflaumer — analog to digital transfers

Charts
Album - Billboard (North America)

Singles - Billboard (North America)