Manassas

This is one of the few cases where a collection from the vaults was completely worthwhile. There is no filler, no half-assed fodder included here. If it is any indication at all, Manassas Pieces bodes well for the retrospective material Stills will issue in the future.

Manassas were the first band Stephen Stills involved himself with after the breakup of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. He'd recorded a pair of solo albums, but forming this group with ex- and future Byrd and former Flying Burrito Brother Chris Hillman, pedal steel guitarist Al Perkins, Joe Lala from Blues Image, the CSNY rhythm section of Dallas Taylor and Calvin "Fuzzy" Samuels, and session man Paul Harris turned out to be a dream band, for a time. The unit released two albums on Atlantic: its self-titled debut in 1971 (which is widely regarded as a classic) and a less successful follow-up entitled Down the Road in 1972. Stills' and Rhino's Pieces assemblage of Manassas tracks includes outtakes and unreleased numbers from both recordings. This is the first in a series of retrospective recordings that Stills plans to issue, among them a box set, a live set, and (in association with Experience Hendrix) an album of studio session demos he recorded with Jimi Hendrix, his then guitar teacher (Hendrix appeared on Stills' debut solo effort), as well as a live compilation.

A sprawling masterpiece, akin to the Beatles' White Album, the Stones' Exile on Main St., or Wilco's Being There in its makeup, if not its sound. Rock, folk, blues, country, Latin, and bluegrass have all been styles touched on in Stephen Stills' career, and the skilled, energetic musicians he had gathered in Manassas played them all on this album. What could have been a disorganized mess in other hands, though, here all gelled together and formed a cohesive musical statement.