Easily the most remarkable thing about Buffalo Springfield Again, aside from the fact that it managed to get completed and released under the Buffalo Springfield name at all, is how cohesive the album sounds in spite of so many different sounds and styles throughout. Again has genres that range from pure psyche rockers like "Mr. Soul" to stripped-back folk of "Sad Memory"; country-rock in "A Child's Claim to Fame" to the lush psychedelic pop of "Everydays". Given that all of these songs were written and produced by each member, it's amazing that it all manages to come together, and yet its this diversity that elevates Springfield to new heights on this - gone is their debut's consistent foot in folk-country-psyche-rock, but instead a new colorful tapestry of melodies and textures. There's even a full-on soul song in Furay's "Good Time Boy" an interesting diversion ultimately made weak by a poor vocal performance from drummer Dewey Martin; If Stephen Stills gave it his best whack on vocals, it probably would have been better. On the topic of things being better, Again is a decisive upgrade in the performance and production front - really a song like "Rock & Roll Woman" sounds like it's more tightly made than most of their debut album, but the choice of Springfield's members taking what is essentially a Monkees approach to album production results in a great sounding and dynamic album through and through, certainly much more professional and sharp than its more slapdash predecessor. All of the tools are laid out on this album for a surefire hit, with its grand scale and variety cementing it alongside plenty of album from the Summer of Love - I'm sure there's some Sgt. Pepper influence in some way on this album with its similar encouragement of studio exploration, especially given that Springfield cited The Beatles as influences on the back cover of this very album.
It isn't just that the material clearly has much more care put into it - each of the album's three songwriters bring the goods in one form or another. While Richie Furay's compositions probably sit as the album's weaker moments, that's not to say that the stripped-down folk of "Sad Memory" or the pure country-rock of "A Child's Claim to Fame" aren't worthwhile; the latter is a particularly solid moment, and one that signals what kind of music Furay would go on to make in the 1970s with the group Poco. Stephen Stills, for what it's worth, showcases a great amount of growth as a songwriter on this release; On the last album he was writing "Sit Down I Think I Love You" and "Pay the Price", but here Stephen proves exactly how he became great in the first place. "Everydays", his first cut on the album, is a pure psychedelic number with its occasional fuzzy guitar line, droning note, jazzy piano, and clean vocal performance from Stills. One part playful, another part mysterious in what proves one of the album's most enduring moments. Stills also brings us two pure rock numbers in the Side A closing moment "Bluebird" and the penultimate "Rock & Roll Woman", both of which prove that Stills remarkably learned how to proper rock in less than a year's time. The former is a brilliant way to end the album's first half, with a special shout-out to the almost bluegrass-inspired fade-out of the song, while the latter really does signal the kind of music Stills would eventually make at the end of the decade with David Crosby and Graham Nash, but that is of course a review for another time. There's also the Side B opening moment that is "Hung Upside Down", which gives me hints of Jefferson Airplane with its psychedelic stylings, proving a strong start to the album's second half. Then, of course, there's Neil Young, who does far from disappoint - on Again, he yet again proves himself as the strongest link, bringing three of the group's absolute greatest songs to the album. The opening "Mr. Soul" is a fantastic driving rock number, mixing the Stones with Motown and hints of Revolver thrown into the mix to create a screaming opening. Young's other two songs aren't so blasting, but instead stand as the album's artistic highs, with the beautiful and sensitive "Expecting to Fly" playing like a darker and more isolated "She's Leaving Home" musically, with a touch of Spectoresque production on the chorus in what may be the absolute greatest song by Buffalo Springfield. If not that, try the almost progressive pop of the album's closing "Broken Arrow", yet again showcasing the unending ambition of Young on this album. If this album be Springfield's Sgt. Pepper, than "Broken Arrow" be their "A Day in the Life"; a climactic, big finish with a few musical twists and turns throughout, making for a crowning achievement of the era.
It shouldn't surprise you that Buffalo Springfield wouldn't last much longer after Again - a little over six months after this album, Springfield unceremoniously disbanded in Long Beach, just after sessions for their third (and final) album wrapped up. Still, a legacy was undoubtedly left by the time it was over, and in my mind it's not one of a one-hit wonder. On Buffalo Springfield Again, everything the group was, from the folk to the rocking to the country-tinges, comes together in a cavalcade of creativity and hot tunes to create a largely cohesive blend of ideas and styles that rightfully stands as a stone-cold classic of the era. Everything that the group had done on their first album has only been refined and polished more on this debut, while also managing to go beyond what they had hinted at on that album. In a year of Sgt. Pepper and Surrealistic Pillow, Buffalo Springfield managed to rub shoulders with the greats. Something's happening in here, and what that is is Springfield's crowning achievement as a group, just as everything was coming undone.
RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯
Listen to Buffalo Springfield Again.
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