Man Alive!

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Man Alive!
Stephen Stills studio album

Publication
(s)

August 9, 2005

Label (s) Talking Elephant Records (Germany), Titan / Pyramid Records (USA)

Format (s)

CD

Genre (s)

skirt

Title (number)

13

running time

57:58 min

production

Stephen Stills , Joe Vitale

chronology
Stills Alone
(1991) 		Man Alive! Just Roll Tape - April 26th, 1968
(2007)

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, which is also what the self-deprecating title refers to.

To the album

The 13 tracks on the album are mostly rock songs ( Ain't It Always , Round The Bend , I Don't Get It , Around Us , Drivin 'Thunder ), with stills also excursions into folk music ( Hearts Gate , Different Man ) , the blues ( Ole Man Trouble , Wounded World ) and the Latin American music typical of his albums ( Feed The People , Spanish Suite ). Thematically, the "musical autobiography" ( Rolling Stone Magazine ) Round The Bend is particularly worth mentioning. Stills contains many well-known anecdotes, e. B. the formation of the band Buffalo Springfield , processed. On the piece you can hear Neil Young on guitar, who played with Stills at Buffalo Springfield . Young also plays the acoustic guitar and sings the harmonies on Different Man . He is also the co-author of the song Drivin 'Thunder , which Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young released on their American Dream album back in 1988 .

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

Although Man Alive! Just like the previous album Stills Alone , which did not rank among the first 200 on the US Billboard charts (it reached number 38 on the independent charts), the album was largely received positively by critics. Above all, it was praised that Stills relied on his strengths as a guitarist , singer and songwriter without - as very often in the past - wanting to follow a trend. The Rolling Stone aptly remarked that some songs are reminiscent of "older classics without sounding like freeze-dried copies" and stated that Stills' musical productions slowly but surely get better starting with Stills Alone . The BBC also saw Man Alive! very positive, especially praised the broad stylistic diversity of the album and described Stephen Stills as the "true musician of the West Coast kingdom" ("Stills remains the true musician of the West Coast royalty.").

Track list

  1. "Ain't It Always" (stills) - 3:25
  2. "Feed The People" (stills) - 4:24
  3. "Hearts Gate" (stills) - 2:59
  4. "Round the Bend" (stills) - 5:12
  5. "I Don't Get It" (stills) - 3:35
  6. "Around Us" (Joe Vitale / Stephen Stills) - 3:47
  7. "Ole Man Trouble" ( Booker T. Jones ) - 4:56
  8. "Different Man" (Traditional) - 2:10
  9. "Piece of Me" (Stills) - 4:09
  10. "Wounded World" (Stephen Stills / Graham Nash) - 3:12
  11. "Drivin 'Thunder" (Stephen Stills / Neil Young) - 4:30
  12. "Acadienne" (stills) - 4:02
  13. "Spanish Suite" (stills) - 11:20 am

Instrumentation and instruments

  • Stephen Stills - vocals, guitar, piano, organ, percussion, bass
  • Joe Vitale - drums, organ, keyboards, synthesizers, percussion, backing 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 - backing vocals
  • George Terry - guitar
  • Jimmy Zavelo - harmonica
  • Steve Madeo - trumpet
  • Gerald Johnson - bass
  • Bill Meeker - drums
  • Jennifer Stills, Dorian Holley, Brooks Hunnicutt, Mortonette Jenkins - backing vocals

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Album Reviews ( Memento from October 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) See the review in Rolling Stone Magazine and on www.rollingstone.com
  2. ↑ Billboard Albums
  3. ↑ According to Billboard Magazine, online at www.billboard.com Stills Touring Solo Before CSNY Reunion
  4. ↑ In addition to the Rolling Stone criticism, see also the one at www.cduniverse.com [1]
  5. ↑ Album review on www.bbc.co.uk [2]

Web links