For What It's Worth: The Story of Buffalo Springfield

Interesting insight into their time together, the individual members and their place in the music scene at that time

This is Richie Furay's version of history and it's a worthwhile read for Springfield and Poco fans - but also a valuable counterbalance to all the Laurel Canyon/60s histories and memories published in the last decade. Most of those tend to take the Springfield as a jumping off point for CSNY, Neil and Eagles but obviously there's more to it than the cliches: met driving opposite directions on Sunset Blvd, badly managed, subverted by Crosby and broke up publicly in Monterrey Festival, etc.. John Einarson does a reasonable job, sticking to detailed narratives, interspersing comments and discussion by Furay and integrating new interview material from Dewey Martin, Bruce Palmer, Jim Messina, Jim Fielder, Doug Hastings, key managers/colleagues, and others like Mark Volman who have been sidelined in the popular versions of LA music. Watching some of the archival footage, and even the 1984 Stills living room reunion footage on youtube, and I began to notice what a unique bassist Bruce Palmer was, ranging all over the song while still in the pocket. Furay agrees. (Likewise: Check out the rhythm section of Grantham/Messina on Neil Young's first solo album; or Jim Fielder's bass on the Mothers and the early BS&T album). The result is both a new picture of the music - from awful production/sound quality of the debut album, the contributions of Rusty Young, and others, to the assembly of 'Last Time Around' for Ertegum/ATCO by Furay and Messina. Without any detailed referencing/annotation like that in the Byrds vols. or the recent CSNY biograpraphy - it's hard to track which are based on previous interviews, journalism of the time, and new work, but it's unsurprising that Stills and Young didn't come to the party. Fair enough - this is the version written by the nice guy, the third wheel, the one who didn't get wealthy and got religion, the one with the purest folky voice. His explanations of the others' artistic self-absorption and inconsiderations are fair, even tempered and generous. The relief here is that for once all the artistry and and group mismanagement, chaos and conflict, composition and fighting over song credits and royalties that typified the era aren't explained away by reference to drugs and drink, groupies and out of control sexuality, childhood trauma, or politics. In its way, this makes 'For What its Worth' unique. I found many of the songs and arrangements from 'Last Time Around' amongst the Springfield's (or rather Stills', Young's and Furay's individual works with Messina) memorable and powerful - 'Kind Woman', 'On the Way Home', 'Questions' really hold up well. Furay gets around to unloading his biggest whinge in the last 20 pages - that Neil's reassembly of the music on the Springfield-boxed set was revisionist, wiped out some of the best early music which featured Stills/Furay double tracked vocals, and ignored Furay and Messina's dogged production and assembly work on 'Last Time Around'. This is about right and I suspect a lot of us noticed the omission on the boxed set. It's a bit precious of Neil, considering how much all of their work wound up crossing over to their later solo and group albums and the degree to which he spontaneously exited group sessions and compositions early on in the game (sound familiar, CSNY?). Ironically, given the contested history of dualing narcissisms at work here, Einarson and Furay offer a fitting conclusion - that even now, after the reunion tour (undertaken after this book's publication, and after Palmer's and Martin's passings), after the Hall of Fame induction debacle, after illness, history and aging, the competition over whose version of the band, its history and music matters continues. Yet of all the echoes of the canyon, this is one of its most humble and self-effacing voices.

One of the era's great bands! I've read it twice and given it as a gift. The Buffalo Springfield gave us: Richie Furay, Neil Young, Steven Stills and Jim Messina.

Lots of interesting tidbits I haven't read elsewhere, maybe more than the casual fan would want. Mercifully free of the juvenile literary pretensions one often encounters in rock and roll histories and bios. Some neat photos from way back. This book is obviously Richie Furay's baby but there doesn't seem be to much if any axe-grinding going on and the author generally gives you all sides of any controversy. I'm about half-way through and it's been time well spent.

This is one of the best rock biographies that I have read. Through extensive interviews, John Einarson captured the spirit of the times--the creativity, the east to west migration, the record deals, border crossings. Ah! The times were a-changing. Music was the predominant form of media that spoke to the sixties generation. Yet, musicians themselves were often captive to a record industry scrambling to make sense of rapidly changing musical tastes and social mores. This is a story of a time when songs could change the world, and where being a band-mate sometimes put people between a rock and a hard spot. I could not put it down! If you are interested in music from the 60's, this is a must read.