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The piano and drum tracks by Stills and Ringo Starr for "As I Come of Age" date back to 1971, [5] while "Turn Back the Pages" was recorded in 1975. [6] Although "My Angel" is credited to Stills and Dallas Taylor, and Stills calls it a "jam on a set of Dallas' changes", [5] Stills recorded a demo of the song in March 1967. [7] "First Things First" written by Stills and the bass player for Three Dog Night Joe Schermie and was played quite frequently along with the 'Myth of Sisyphus' and 'My Angel' on the CSNY 1974 tour.
The cover photo was shot at Neil Young's Broken Arrow Ranch during rehearsals for the CSNY 1974 tour. [8] The back cover features Donnie Dacus and Stills playing acoustic guitars together.
As per the sleeve notes: [5]
"Turn Back the Pages". 1975, Cut late in sessions, at Criteria, with Ron and Howie.
"My Favourite Changes". 1974, The track was cut in Sausalito with Stephen and Don Dacus playing guitars in the control booth and Leland Skar and Lala playing gin the studio. Danny Hutton put some vocals on it. Later in Colorado vocals were completed by Stephen, Kenny and Peggy Clinger.
"My Angel". 1974, Jam on a set of Dallas' changes edited into a song. Dallas played drums, Lala percussion. Stephen played bass, piano, clavinet and organ. Thanks to Sylvester.
"In the Way". 1974, Track cut live in studio in Sausalito and then Kenny recut the bass. Vocals, recorded by Jeff Geurico at Caribou, are Stephen, Don, and Kenny.
"Love Story". 1973, Back track is Russ on drums, Leland bass, Stephen piano. Organ and electric piano overdubs are also Stephen. Vocals, are Stephen, Rick, and Kenny and Don. Tried strings but to no avail. The vocals took twenty hours. The track took two hours. The song sat for four years before it was recorded.
"To Mama from Christopher and the Old Man". 1975.. Christopher was written after a long session where 7am caught Papa coming in the door just after Christopher was getting up and we hung out for a while. Cut the song that night and ended up with me and a drummer. Cut the basic, bass and second rhythm, then Tubby overdubbed the drums, with Stills hanging over his shoulder with a tambourine. We got smokin' and did it in eight hours, including mix down.
"First Things First". 1973. Dallas Taylor played drums, Joe Lala on percussion. Vocals are by Stephen, Kenny Passarelli, David Crosby and Graham Nash. A touch of Patoi.
"New Mama", 1973. Neil says this one his own way. The basic for this version was Leland on bass, Russ drums, Lala percussion and Stephen playing guitar and electric guitar simultaneously. Only instrument overdub is additional guitar by Don. Vocals are Stephen, Rick and Don.
"As I Come of Age", 1973. Track cut on London in 1971 with Stephen on piano and Ringo on drums. Stephen overdubbed organ and bass. Lead guitar is Don and vocals are by Crosby, Stills and Nash.
"Shuffle Just as Bad", 1974. Russ played drums, Jerry piano and organ. Stephen played bass on the basic and overdubbed guitar and electric piano. Vocals are by Stephen and Kenny.
"Cold Cold World", 1975. Another Donnie and Stephen collaboration, with Stephen doing lead vocal, Donnie and Betty Wright going backups. Stills on lead and rhythm guitars as well as bass. Old friend Conrad Isidore on drums, Joe's conga and percussion, Jerry on piano and organ, Donnie on rhythm guitar. Another Criteria track with Ron and Howie.
"Myth of Sisyphus", 1974. Jimmy Fox played drums and Stephen played piano and just sang the song. Cut in Miami by the Albert Bros., first take. Don and Claudia Lanier later got background vocals together with Halverson in Los Angeles.
Critical reception
Critical reception to Stills was mixed to positive. Reviewing in 1975 for Rolling Stone , Bud Scopa called it a "concerted attempt at candid expression" but one resulting in "mixed, middling results". [16] Record World said "Stills was back with that patented mellow sound" and cited "My Angel", "First Things First", and "Shuffle Just as Bad" as highlights. [17] Cash Box said Stills "takes his best lyrical and instrumental chops to form a springboard from which he moves easily amid different musical shades", and pointed to "As I Come of Age" as a highlight. [18] Village Voice critic Robert Christgau was largely unenthusiastic, describing the album as the one "in which Stills recycles his 'favorite set of changes/Already good for a couple of songs.' His admirers might find that endearing, I know. They might even dig him copping a lick from Alice Cooper later on in the lyric. But me, I find it pathetic." [13] Chris Charlesworth wrote in Melody Maker 1975, saying 'CBS came up with the cash and Stills has come up with a good album, but which in the main doesn't rank with his classics, two or three tracks excepted. It's a laid-back record, to use a hackneyed term, and deliberately underproduced to the extent where the music oozes rather than bounces from the speakers." [11] Record Mirror , called the album on par with his debut album, or a very close second. "Full of those earlier highlights - slow build ups, full of multi tracked vocals, familiar percussion breaks". Finishing the review by saying "maybe there's no new direction, but I always thought he found it somewhere years back and got lost in between." [19] Music Week , called it a quality effort, saying "nobody plays the laid-back West Coast music better than Stills and the instrumentation throughout is joyously and smoothly integrated", and praised 'Love Story", 'First Things First', and 'New Mama", in particular. [20]
