Man Alive!

Man Alive! is the tenth solo studio album by American rock musician Stephen Stills. It was his first solo release with new material in 14 years, after which also refers to the self-deprecating title.

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The 13 tracks on the album are mostly rock songs ( Is not It Always, Round The Bend, I Do not Get It, Around Us, Drivin ' Thunder ), with stills also exploring the folk music (Hearts Gate, Different Man) the blues ( Ole Man Trouble, Wounded World) and the typical for her albums Latin American music ( Feed the People, Spanish Suite) undertakes. Thematically, especially the " musical autobiography " (Rolling Stone Magazine ) Round The Bend worth mentioning in the Stills many well-known anecdotes, eg the formation of the band Buffalo Springfield, processed. On the play Neil Young is heard on guitar, who had played with Stills in Buffalo Springfield. Young plays next acoustic guitar and sings the harmonies on the piece, Different Man. He is also co- author of the song Drivin ' Thunder, the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, already published in 1988 on their album American Dream.

Also on older recordings based songs, Feed The People, an anti-war song, and Spanish Suite, a elfminütiges Opus, played on Herbie Hancock's piano. The Spanish Suite contains a more than seven minutes long piano / guitar improvisation between stills and Hancock. For Feed The People and Wounded World Graham Nash contributed some vocal parts. Nash is also co-author of the latter piece. Many musicians on Man Alive! played for a long time getting back on Stills ' albums, such as Joe Vitale (drums, keyboards), George "Chocolate" Perry (guitar), Mike Finnigan (organ), Joe Lala ( percussion) and Russ Kunkel (drums).

Although Man Alive! , Like the previous album Stills Alone, no placement among the top 200 of the U.S. Billboard charts reached ( it reached number 38 on the other hand the independent charts ), critics took the album to mostly positive. Praise was mainly that stills relied on its strengths as a guitarist, singer and songwriter, without - as very often in the past - wanting to run after a trend. The Rolling Stone commented on this aptly that some songs " remind older classics without sounding like freeze-dried imprints " and stated that Stills ' musical productions beginning with stills alone are slowly but surely better. The BBC saw Man Alive! very positive, especially praised the wide stylistic variety of the album and called Stephen Stills as the "true musicians of the West Coast Kingdom " ( " stills remains the true musician of the West Coast royalty. ").

Title list

Instrumentation and instruments

  • Stephen Stills - vocals, guitar, piano, organ, percussion, bass
  • Joe Vitale - drums, organ, keyboards, synthesizer, percussion, background vocals
  • Mike Finnigan - organ, backing vocals
  • George "Chocolate" Perry - bass, guitar, backing vocals
  • Russ Kunkel - drums, percussion
  • Joe Lala, Pete Escovedo, Willie Bobo - percussion
  • Neil Young - vocals, guitar
  • Herbie Hancock - Piano
  • Graham Nash, Marlena Jeter - background vocals
  • George Terry - Guitar
  • Jimmy Zavelo - Harmonica
  • Steve Madeo - Trumpet
  • Gerald Johnson - Bass
  • Bill Meeker - Drums
  • Jennifer Stills, Dorian Holley, Brooks Hunnicutt, Mortonette Jenkins - background vocals
Record label Compact Disc Digital Audio Genre Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young American Dream (Album) Independent music Singing Booker T. Jones
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