THE LAST THROES OF COMBS

Last night I was watching the first night of the Democratic National Convention. At the end of it they played a video of Billy Porter doing a well intended but, well, underwhelming version of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" with Stephen Stills on guitar. Now I don't wanna be a downer, but after the show closed I saw a snippet of an interview with him where he said that he recorded the song earlier in the year with an eye on the temperament of America and, to paraphrase (albeit in more frank terms), timed it for an opportune release date to capitalize on the unrest. I forget how he put it but the overall feeling I got was that it was a little disingenuous.

So, I went to listen to the original. It's a great song, there's no doubt about it. I remember trying to learn the song with some roommates when we were going to start a band, basically learning as we went. That lasted a couple weeks. The song though is a favorite still. I was checking a video of them live, on a TV show, doing "For What It's Worth" and "Mr. Soul". It's awesome, particularly when, in "Mr. Soul", Neil Young's solo at 2:20, starting out all robotic then getting pretty wild for a TV show. Then at 2:40 a shot of Richie Furay and Stephen Stills rocking out, with Stills looking kind of goofy with his cowboy hat and suit, but the good kind of goofy. The "Yeah, yeah Laurel Canyon, you still got a little freak in you." kind of goofy. The icing on the cake is at about 3:09, just a few seconds of Stills on the right banging the hell out of his guitar like that banjo player in the Monks. That's an asshole-ish level of obscure reference but fuck it, I call 'em as I see them. I mentioned it to illustrate how easily distracted I am when pursuing something. Anyway, dig the sound of the studio version of "Mr. Soul". There's a lot of shit going on that song, not the least of it is some well placed fuzz.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth mp3 at Sounding the Alarm
Buffalo Springfield - Mr. Soul mp3 at Tumblr
Video:
Billy Porter and Stephen Stills - For What It's Worth at YouTube