Given the impressive consistency of the albums that bore his name through the late-60s and early-70s, Stephen Stills set himself a tough challenge to sustain such excellence as the latter decade continued to unfold.
Beginning with the Crosby, Stills & Nash debut set of August 1969 (prior to that he had been head honcho in seminal folk-rockers Buffalo Springfield) and continuing on through the era-defining ‘Deja Vu‘ (March 1970) – for which his former Springfield sidekick Neil Young joined the CSN troupe – Stills, recognised as the key presence on each record, then embarked on a solo career that brought no let-up in his creative momentum.
Renowned as an affecting singer and innovative guitarist, the intelligent lyricism of his songs, coupled to melodies incorporating rock, country, blues and Latin-shuffles, made the albums ‘Stephen Stills‘ (1970) and ‘Stephen Stills II‘ (1971) showcases for this accomplished diversity.
This reached a peak, however, on the magnificent ‘Manassas‘ double-set of 1972. Fronting an ensemble that included ex-Byrd Chris Hillman, Stills created an established highpoint of early-70s rock, to use an all-encompassing term, his broad scope of melodic influences resulting in four sides of varied music molded into a cohesive entity.
After the less assured Manassas follow-up ‘Down the Road‘ (1973), Stills returned to the CSNY mothership for their lucrative U.S. stadium tour of 1974. In its aftermath his studio output became even more prolific, yet coincided with a downturn in creativity.
When a CSNY reunion album failed to materialize, Stills cut ‘Stills‘ (1975) , a 12-track collection that was likeable rather than laudable. It was, however, far superior to ‘Illegal Stills‘ (1976), this lacklustre affair appearing shortly before he rejoined forces with Young for the duo album ‘Long May You Run‘ (1976) which fell well short of the expectations for it. In this regard the songs of Stills, overall, were more substantial than those of his partner, yet it was small consolation given the dearth of genuinely top draw material in evidence.
In the meantime David Crosby and Graham Nash had been motoring along steadily through the ’70s with solo records, but primarily a sequence of duo albums. These had kept the wolf from the door, without returning sales figures anywhere near the three or four named efforts of the past.
Therefore it made sense to compile another three-way offering and eight years after the first effort, ‘CSN‘ (1977) was added to their roster. Despite choosing the year of punk to reunite, an aggregation synonymous with the late-60s counter-culture quickly had a huge-selling (U.S./2) album on their hands.
Buoyed by involvement with such a commercially successful project and the sold out tours that followed, Dallas-born Stills, by now 33, returned to his solo career as the following year drew to a close. While nobody expected him to plunge headlong into new wave by out-punking the Sex Pistols, there was an air of surprise when THOROUGHOFARE GAP (October 1978) should so embrace the refrains of disco music, another prevailing musical trend of the day.
If 13 years into his career Stills deserved credit for taking a bold sideways step, that was where the praise began and ended. In just about every respect it was unlucky 13, the album returning poor sales figures in peaking at just 83 on the U.S. charts and at the same time received widespread negative reviews. Rolling Stone magazine, who spent the ’70s fawning over Young no matter what, but disparaging Stills at every opportunity, dismissed ‘Thoroughfare Gap‘ as:
‘Garbage, the relic of a burnt out career.’
Which needless to say was unfair. Not entirely unfounded, but unfair all the same.
The overriding problem with the album is not that Stills had no grasp of dance-based progressions, in fact few songwriters of his generation, it could be argued, have better grasp of the rhythms that constitute the form. In truth the record is compromised by the generally poor calibre songs he offers in exploring this avenue.
There is no issue with those Stills calls upon for support, top notch sessioneers such as Joe Vitale (drums), Danny Kortchmar (guitar), Joe Lala (percussion) and keyboard players Mike Finnigan, Paul Harris and Alby Galuten all having enviable credits to their names. The arrangements of Stills and Mike Lewis leave little to gripe about, while the production, shared between the artist and long-serving studio aides Ron and Howard Albert, sounds perfectly acceptable. But the efficient playing and pristine tone cannot hide an absence of vitality in his writing.
With an ailing marriage informing the lyrics in a number of self-penned pieces (he and estranged wife, French singer-songwriter Veronique Sansom, would divorce the following year), there comes a sense Stills has designs on dancing away his melancholy. But two tracks in particular, the flimsy ‘Beaucoup Yumbo‘ and inane ‘Can’t Get No Booty‘ are so lacking in inspiration the front cover photograph, depicting him riding a horse at speed, could be said to represent a once revered songwriter and performer galloping toward the abyss.
Yet amongst this largely insipid fayre, (the album further denigrated by two instantly forgettable covers), there is an ironic twist in the folk-based title track being a masterpiece – the song not only out of kilter with the disco-themed mediocrity surrounding it, but a striking reminder of what Stills was actually capable of when fully focused.
Having recently worked with Florida-based pop/funk ensemble KC and the Sunshine Band, arranger Lewis immediately brings his background to the fore on the appropriately titled, string-laden opener ‘You Can’t Dance Alone‘.
With the orchestration and horns combining to provide a breezy lilt, Stills extols the virtues of dance as a means of generating romance, ‘So, dance, dance, dance, makin’ a connection/Fingertips, electricity flowin’/Rollin’ hips movin’ to me slowly/Lips touch lips, you can’t dance alone‘.
The percussive beats and propulsive guitar send the track out beneath the mirror balls, making it a potential hit in the hands of an act more identified with the genre – the presence of Andy Gibb on backing vocals bringing to mind contributions made by his brothers to the huge-selling ‘Saturday Night Fever‘ soundtrack of the previous year.
Similar disco connotations are heard elsewhere on side one, being apparent in ‘We Will Go On‘ and ‘What’s the Game.’
The former makes some pointed observations about his unhappy marital state, (‘Here without you is loneliness/I called out in desperation/Give me back your hand‘), while the latter keeps energy levels high in hoping for resolution, (‘I know we can work it work it out/Together‘). The lyrics of both songs would not come under the same scrutiny had they been tracks cut by say Tavares, with all due respect to the Rhode Island soulsters, but from a once respected wordsmith such as Stills represent pretty thin gruel.
With ‘Beaucoup Yumbo‘ the emphasis swings from strobe lights to the swamp, Stills constructing some piano-based funk around his tribute to a lover who also happens to be a great cook, ‘There’s a bayou woman she waits for me/She treats me nice and she makes good gumbo.’
The track, co-written by Stills and Vitale, is engaging enough but this intentionally light-hearted piece barely reaches the level of lightweight, this in spite of excellent keyboard work from Finnigan and judicious use of the strings and horns.
While sustaining the dance-infused motifs, only with more pronounced electric guitar work, ‘Woman Lleva‘ finds Stills lamenting a relationship in ruins, ‘And when you think of me/Try to remember/All of the good times/And love that was tender.’
The Cuban inflections of the melody, accentuated by the flamboyant piano playing of Galuten along with Stills delivering a verse in Spanish, (not a new innovation for him as he had previously done so on ‘No Me Niegas‘ from ‘Illegal Stills‘ and a couple of Manassas cuts prior to that), make this a superior stab at the ambience he had been aiming for.
The blues-rock stylings of ‘Lowdown‘ would not have been out of place on the previous two or three albums to which he had contributed, be they with Young, Crosby and Nash or his own work. With the string and horn accoutrements barely noticeable, Stills, supported by a seven-voiced group of backing vocalists, delivers some pained, yet assertive guitar breaks that match his downcast outlook:
‘Spirit movin’ at a dreadful pace/Slowly dyin’/I can see it in my face/Sadness and anger all that keeps me goin‘.’
The latest in a mode of song he had taken to writing, while there was little to distinguish it from others of such ilk (particularly ‘Make Love to You‘ from ‘Long May You Run‘), the next batch, which appeared on the 1982 CSN ‘Daylight Again‘ album were inferior still.
Even in acknowledging his prowess as a writer was on the wane, it is still hard to legislate for closing cut ‘Can’t Get No Booty‘. That two admired songwriters, guitarist Kortchmar receiving a co-write credit, could be responsible for such schlock is disappointing, but having the front to include it on an album by a reputable artist reveals how far awry Stills had gone in regard to quality control at this point. That said, similar questions would be asked of Joe Walsh when he came up with songs in the same fatuous vein during the early-80s.
The covers that appear of side two also detract from his artistic credibility. Featuring former Traffic guitarist Dave Mason on backing vocals, a run through of the Allman Brothers ‘Midnight Rider‘ amounts to little more than flabby funk, while an organ-heavy take on the Buddy Holly-Norman Hardin classic ‘Not Fade Away‘ may have been passable in terms of a live show encore, but here it cannot fade quickly enough.
This pair of sub-standard efforts, along with ‘Can’t Get No Booty‘ serve to make the second side a dispiriting listen, a sad state of affairs from one who by the mid-point of the ’70s had produced so much compelling work.
It remains then hard to escape the irony attached to the magnificent song that is ‘Thoroughfare Gap‘, originating as it does from 1972. At this juncture Stills was still in the midst of his purple patch, second-in-command Hillman later revealing a formative version was cut, but not used on the Manassas debut.
Offering train travel as a metaphor for life being lived at speed, which in turn makes scenery go by unnoticed, Stills uses a framework not dissimilar to Dylan’s ‘Chimes of Freedom‘ in charting the journey, inserting philosophical railroad allusions along the way:
‘Always ascending/Each yard as a mile/To the never ending pull of the steepening grade that’s before you.’
Receiving sterling support from Al Gould (fiddle) and in continuing the Manassas association, Paul Harris (piano), Stills conjures evocative imagery in depicting the undulating contours of human existence, understanding and perspective not awaiting at a final destination but discovered along the route – the final verse particularly eloquent:
‘Then take it as far as you see and beyond/With eyes you don’t use enough to gather up strength/As Thoroughfare Gap/What awaits is whatever you see/When you get there of even before/It’s no matter/No distance/It’s the ride.’
Later described by the writer himself as ‘Probably my favourite work from a literary standpoint,’ it undoubtedly stood among his finest compositions, but such excellence alone could not save the parent album from a critical pummeling.
Rolling Stone followed up their derogatory comments with a one star (from five) rating, while respected CSNY archivist and commentator Johnny Rogan came up with the chilling assessment of, ‘(It) does severe damage to his future prospects as a solo recording artiste.’
That appraisal proved somewhat prophetic. ‘Thoroughfare Gap‘ in barely entering the U.S. Top 100 led to him being dropped by CBS, Stills not finding another outlet for his own work until 1984 when Atlantic backed ‘Right By You‘. But this only proved a one album arrangement after it stalled someway short of the Top 50.
From starting the ’70s in a blaze of glory, his career, to paraphrase Rolling Stone, had apparently gone up in smoke. Stills later attributed the malaise during this period to ‘Problems with my marriage, too much drinking, too many drugs‘ – leaving ‘Thoroughfare Gap‘ an album while in essence right for the time, wrong on almost every level for Stephen Stills.
STEPHEN STILLS – THOROUGHFARE GAP (Released October 31 1978):
You Can’t Dance Alone/Thoroughfare Gap/We Will Go On/Beaucoup Yumbo/What’s the Game/Midnight Rider/Woman Lleva/Lowdown/Not Fade Away/Can’t Get No Booty;
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