Manassas
	Produced by Stephen Stills, Chris Hillman & Dallas Taylor
	Released on April 12, 1972
	US CHART POSITION #4 . . . GOLD RECORD . . . UK CHART POSITION #30
	Find it at GEMM
82808-2 cover [high resolution scan]

K ronomyth 3.0: ALL THING MUST PASS THROUGH MANASSAS. As the CS&N solo albums slowly bled into the bland, Stephen Stills set his sights on a new supergroup featuring a couple of leftover Burritos (Chris Hillman, Al Perkins) and a backing band that included CS&N alumni Dallas Taylor and Calvin “Fuzzy” Samuels. Dubbed Manassas (inspired by the cover photo taken during a tour through Virginia), the band released a double elpee’s worth of new material from Stills that represented, to date, the largest single outpouring of Stephen’s creative muse. In a sense, Manassas is his All Things Must Pass, a magnum opus that shows his multifaceted muse in its most flattering light. Country, rock, blues, folk, Caribbean, it’s all in here and spread over four album sides with the best backing band he’s ever had. Although George Harrison’s was the higher achievement, even with an album side of jams, Manassas has a similar effect on Stills fans, insofar as it’s a tower by which his other albums are judged and by which his legend will ultimately be measured. The twenty-two songs themselves range from good to great, sticking mostly to the country-rock sound of the Flying Burrito Brothers, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Eagles and, of course, Crosby, Stills & Nash. Stills tosses in some unexpected surprises, however, and the results sound more like Fleetwood Mac (“It Doesn’t Matter”) and Cat Stevens (“Bound To Fall”) in a couple of spots. Manassas has at least a half-dozen songs that belong in a discussion of his best work including “Anyway,” “Colorado,” "So Begins The Task,” “The Treasure (Take One),” “How Far” and “Johnny’s Garden.” While I was impressed with his first album, my estimation of the man as a songwriter grew some after hearing Manassas--and this even after the CS&N albums. If you’re looking for the most interesting of the CS&N solo projects, Manassas will have you seeing double.

TRACK LISTING

THE RAVEN

1. SONG OF LOVE
2. ROCK & ROLL CRAZIES    (Stephen Stills/Dallas Taylor) / CUBAN BLUEGRASS    (Stephen Stills/Joe Lala)
3. JET SET (SIGH)
4. ANYWAY
5. BOTH OF US (BOUND TO LOSE)    (Stephen Stills/Chris Hillman)
   
   THE WILDERNESS
   
6. FALLEN EAGLE
7. JESUS GAVE LOVE AWAY FOR FREE
8. COLORADO
9. SO BEGINS THE TASK
10. HIDE IT SO DEEP
11. DON'T LOOK AT MY SHADOW
    
    CONSIDER
    
12. IT DOESN'T MATTER    (Chris Hillman/Rick Roberts/Stephen Stills)
13. JOHNNY'S GARDEN
14. BOUND TO FALL    (Mike Brewer/Tom Mastin)
15. HOW FAR
16. MOVE AROUND
17. THE LOVE GANGSTER    (Stephen Stills/Bill Wyman)
    
    ROCK & ROLL IS HERE TO STAY
    
18. WHAT TO DO
19. RIGHT NOW
20. THE TREASURE (TAKE ONE)
21. BLUES MAN
    
    All songs written by Stephen Stills unless noted

CREDITS

STEPHEN STILLS -- voices, guitars, keyboards, bottleneck guitar, acoustic guitars, Expanded Series III Moog synthesizer, cover design
PAUL HARRIS -- piano, organ, electric piano, clavenette, tack piano
CHRIS HILLMAN -- voices, guitars, mandolin
JOE LALA -- congas, timables, percussion, voices
AL PERKINS -- guitars, steel guitar, voices
CALVIN "FUZZY" SAMUELS -- bass
DALLAS TAYLOR -- drums
Jerry Aiello -- keyboards
Byron Berline -- fiddle
Roger Bush -- acoustic bass
Malcolm Cecil -- synthesizer programming
Sydney George -- harmonica
Bill Wyman -- bass
Ira H. Wexler -- cover design, photography
Ronald and Howard Albert -- engineer, mixing

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