The Best of Musikladen Live - Stephen Stills & Manassas

This 40-minute live studio performance, taped without an audience for a German broadcast, captures the essence of Manassas's debut album Down the Road, confirming the strength of Stills's choices as well as the ultimately slight value of the songs written for and with that band. At its best, Manassas sketches a warm Stills-Hillman vocal stamp that's pleasing if still generic, and the instrumental interplay is likewise confident if only fleetingly inspired. The production injects some now dated, even corny visuals, including solarized psychedelic shots used as backdrops. But the original mono sound quality is detailed and well-mixed, confirming the superior equipment and more sympathetic ears of the German crew. This is a satisfying document for aficionados of California's laid-back '70s wing. --Sam Sutherland

Fortunately, the band is being seen in their genesis, promoting their debut double-LP. Their sound is clean and Stills appears pumped-up for this performance. The filming couldn't be much smarter for the early 1970's, aside from graphics displaying song titles, and day-glo, mirrored images of the band members for the background. These are minor distractions. The bulk of the video is pure performance footage.

Despite the lack of an audience to spur them on, it doesn't appear the performances could be more inspired. Stills takes a deep breath before launching into the first number, the introspective 'Bound To Fall'. The band already appears warmed-up, with Paul Harris contributing a scintillating organ solo.

'Bound To Fall' is followed by a Stills/Chris Hillman composition, perhaps the loveliest ballad either man has ever recorded, 'It Doesn't Matter'. Joe Lala's provocative percussion on the production is penetrating and persuasive.

The opening selections conclude with the entreating 'Hide It So Deep', a country-flavored number which Stills is especially adept at delivering. Al Perkins adds a sweet steel guitar to the rich mix. Each of the first three songs feature lingering harmonies from Stills and Hillman.

We are then treated to the opening salvo from the double-LP 'Manassas', titled 'The Raven'. 'The Raven' is Stephen Stills' Abbey Road. As he segues from 'Song Of Love', to 'Rock and Roll Crazies', to 'Cuban Bluegrass', Stills puts on display the immutable appeal of the singer-songwriter. These are clearly songs written by Stephen Stills for Stephen Stills. We sense his roots, connect with his passions, and need only sit back to be absorbed by the appreciable talents he employs to convey his artistry. Particularly appealing are the pronounced vocal and guitar hitches of 'Rock and Roll Crazies' surrounding the lyric, "...catch yourself practicin' bein' shallow every day... yeah!" Beautiful. And 'Cuban Bluegrass' stirs Stills into a mambo only a lead guitarist could get away with.

Stills finishes off this abbreviated version of 'The Raven' with the wrought-iron blues of 'Jet Set'. His delivery will cause you to wonder whether Stills was born for the blues, or the blues for Stephen Stills. From this point on in the video the cameraman is clearly mesmerized by Stills' masterful fretwork.

While nearly all the material chosen for the video has a parallel studio version, 'Jet Set' does segue into a jam session, aptly titled 'Jam', which is not available on any other release. This segment runs five minutes and features a funky guitar from Stills, and nice instrumental runs from Lala and Harris. It's nice to have this unique instrumental, but when one considers that it replaces the usual conclusion to 'The Raven', the strutting and determined 'Anyway', and the engaging 'Both of Us'....

Appearing as an afterthought (something of a studio session encore), the video concludes with Stills donning his fourth electric guitar of the evening for a churning rendition of 'The Treasure', one of the closing numbers from their debut album. Stills smoking guitar and strong vocals are backed up with soaring harmonies by Hillman and Al Perkins, and a sharp-as-a-knife steel guitar solo from Perkins. Although the camera (enraptured with Stills' wah-wah backup) misses most of Perkins picking, it is still true icing on the cake.

At the conclusion of the first number, Stills jokingly remarks to Hillman, "...take the first verse of the first one...", apparently suggesting this was the second take of 'Bound To Fall'. Fans of Manassas can only hope that more material from this rare and exciting performance remains in the vault, and will one day find the light of day. Indeed, if versions of songs such as 'So Begin the Task' and 'Colorado' lie in wait, justice demands they be awarded their freedom. It would be criminal to hold them back any longer.


Well, almost....   April 14, 2003
o dubhthaigh (north rustico, pei, canada)
5 out of 12 found this review helpful

One of the things that this DVD demonstrates is that Stills was actually capable of pretty nifty playing when he checked his ego at the footlights. Long overlooked, and often deservedly so, Stephen Stills could, when he made up his mind, assemble a crack,no pun intended, ensemble of musicians and generate considerable heat, so long as he could refrain from showboating.

This is a good concert video of the electric portion of his concerts from this era. It is too short, the audio is only of adequate quality (i.e. better than the available boots), but you took a chance with Stills acoustically, so maybe there just wasn't a good take on the acoustic set available to this team. What you do get is an appreciation of the considerable talnts of Chris Hillman, who ought to be awarded his own place in the Hall of Fame for having endured both Crosby and Stills. Hillman is the reason this band was so good on its good nights. And in all honesty, he brought out the best in Stills that the saturated fat of CSNY could not.
So, does it make a case for elevating Steve Stills in the pantheon of rock performers? Well, almost...........