Man Alive!
Stephen Stills
Neil Young, Graham Nash, Herbie Hancock
Pyramid Records, 2005
1 CD
Catalogue #: 501022
EAN: 0854750001028
UPC: 854750001028
You save: 25%
Personnel: Stephen Stills (vocals, guitar, piano, organ, bass guitar, percussion); Neil Young (vocals, guitar); George Terry (guitar); Steve Madeo (trumpet); Herbie Hancock (piano); Mike Finnigan (organ); Joe Vitale (keyboards, synthesizer, drums); Gerald Johnson, George "Chocolate" Perry (bass guitar); Russ Kunkel (drums); Joe Lala, Pete Escovedo, Willie Bobo (percussion); Graham Nash, Mortinette Jenkins, Marlena Jeter (background vocals); Jimmy Zavola.
Recording information: 2005.
Fourteen years after his last solo outing, STILLS ALONE, Stephen Stills unveiled 2005's MAN ALIVE!, a remarkably vital and dynamic album that features the veteran performer penning almost every song and playing many of the record's instruments. Although David Crosby is absent, Stills's other CSNY mates, Graham Nash and Neil Young, turn up separately. While Nash subtly sticks to backing-vocal duty, Young contributes his typically incendiary electric-guitar lines to the hard-rocking "'Round the Bend" and offers up vocal harmonies and acoustic-guitar work on the spare, soulful "Different Man." A more unlikely cameo comes in the form of pianist Herbie Hancock's prominent presence on the 11-minute epic "Spanish Suite," which also features Latin percussion great Willie Bobo. Of course, Stills is the main attraction on MAN ALIVE!, with his husky voice carrying every song, including the socially conscious CSN-like track "Feed the People" and the blues-tinged "Piece of Me." Those who waited years for another Stills solo outing won't be disappointed by MAN ALIVE!, an excellent addition to his formidable, decade-spanning catalogue.
Tracklist
Stephen Stills
Alongside Neil Young, Stephen Stills first hit it big with psychedelic folk-rockers Buffalo Springfield. But it was as a part of Crosby, Stills, & Nash (who were sometimes joined by Young) that Stills enjoyed his greatest success, leading the way to a successful solo career that he kept going in conjunction with CSN.
Neil Young
Like the Band, Neil Young eschewed his Canadian roots to create a sound rooted in American folk and country, which he mixed with visionary, poetic rock in Buffalo Springfield and on his solo albums. He played the crucial fourth wheel role in Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, but ultimately proved too individualistic to participate in a democracy. The gritty, electric assault of his work with Crazy Horse is the alter ego of Young's more folk/country-based work, and also proved a key influence on the grunge sound of Seattle (Young even recorded a live album with Pearl Jam as his backing band). Over the years, he's followed his mercurial muse through everything from rockabilly to synth-pop to big-band blues, always remaining uniquely Neil.
Graham Nash
Graham Nash's solo work is, in most cases, simple acoustic folk-pop, with the occasional bluesy or rocking tune, distinguished by that familiar and amiable tenor voice. One of rock music's true nice guys, he has recorded and toured on a light schedule, particularly after a 1999 boating mishap that left him temporarily wheelchair-bound. Nash has also undertaken several reunions with his old bands, Crosby, Stills & Nash (and various permutations thereof) and the Hollies.
Herbie Hancock
One of the most open-eared and forward-thinking jazz musicians of his day, Hancock has, more than just about anyone else, consistently tried to broaden the music's horizons by mixing it with the most interesting elements of contemporary pop. Hancock has consistently pushed the envelope, from his earliest days with Miles Davis to his jazz-rock fusion of the early '70s and his early embrace of synthesizers and electronic instruments, his early-'80s experiments with hip-hop and sampling, or more recently, his acoustic piano reinterpretations of songs--the new standards, in his parlance--by everyone from Don Henley to Nirvana.
