While I was putting these album together in recent days, I got to thinking: since those guys are two members of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, what about Stephen Stills and Graham Nash? With Nash, I might give it a try someday, but I doubt I have enough solo acoustic material from him from this time, and converting Hollies songs into acoustic versions would be tough. However, I decided I could do something with Stills. The Buffalo Springfield box set has eight acoustic demos he did that could get me part of the way there.
But that was only part way. For the rest, including his most famous Buffalo Springfield songs, I tried the sound editing program Spleeter to remove the bass and drums. This at least gave me something to work with most of the rest of his songs. But there were a couple, "Leave" and "Uno Mundo" where nothing I did sounded good enough for inclusion. So those are left out, but I think I managed to include all the other Stills songs he did with Buffalo Springfield where he sang lead vocals.
These Spleeter edits are far from ideal. Although they removed most of the bass and drums, they often left in other elements, such as backing vocals, piano, keyboards, electric guitar, and the like. That means they may be stripped down some, but they're not solo acoustic versions. Still, I figure they're interesting enough to be worth a listen.
I tried using the sound editing program X-Minus to strip out the backing vocals, but that rarely worked because the other vocals were so close to the lead vocals. In fact, on a number of songs, Stills essentially did a co-lead vocal with band member Richie Furay. But I did manage to at least lessen the backing vocals on a few songs, such as "Pay the Price" and "Rock and Roll Woman." Mike Solof helped me with X-Minus file conversion in some cases.
"For What It's Worth" is a little different, because that's the only song where I had access to the multitrack recording. That's because it's such a famous song that it got included in the computer game Rock Band, which breaks songs down to each instrument. So that one sounds especially good. But even with that one, I couldn't get rid of the backing vocals entirely.
To get the best possible sound, I enlisted the help of musical friend MZ. He improved the equalization of all the songs. The one song he and I had the most trouble with was "Pretty Girl Why." There is what MZ called a "strange, low breathing sound" going through the whole song. I found two original versions of this song, and both of them had it. I think it's just some weird musical effect that's meant to be there, and it sounds good in the full version, but if you strip away many of the other instruments, it sounds weird. I used some editing tricks to lessen it, but it's still there in spots.
This album has some sonic issues here and there. But consider that Stills, unlike Neil Young, has abandoned most of these songs after he left Buffalo Springfield, so acoustic versions simply don't exist in any form for most of them. This, at least, is an approximation, and hopefully gives you a different way to appreciate his many quality songs he did during this time period.
This album is an hour and two minutes long.
01 For What It's Worth [Stripped Mix] (Buffalo Springfield)
02 Go and Say Goodbye [Edit] (Buffalo Springfield)
03 Hot Dusty Roads [Edit] (Buffalo Springfield)
04 Sit Down, I Think I Love You [Edit] (Buffalo Springfield)
05 Pay the Price [Edit] (Buffalo Springfield)
06 Come On [Demo] [Edit] (Stephen Stills)
07 Baby Don't Scold Me [Demo] (Stephen Stills & Richie Furay)
08 Hello, I've Returned [Demo] [Edit] (Stephen Stills)
09 Neighbor Don't You Worry [Demo] (Stephen Stills & Richie Furay)
10 We'll See [Demo] (Stephen Stills & Richie Furay)
11 Bluebird [Edit] (Buffalo Springfield)
12 Rock and Roll Woman [Edit] (Buffalo Springfield)
13 Everydays [Edit] (Buffalo Springfield)
14 So You've Got a Lover [Demo] (Stephen Stills)
15 Hung Upside Down [Demo] (Stephen Stills)
16 My Angel [Demo] (Stephen Stills)
17 49 Reasons [49 Bye-Byes] [Demo] (Stephen Stills)
18 Four Days Gone [Demo] (Stephen Stills)
19 Pretty Girl Why [Edit] (Buffalo Springfield)
20 Special Care [Edit] (Buffalo Springfield)
21 Questions [Edit] (Buffalo Springfield)
https://www.upload.ee/files/15105102/StephenS_1966-1968_BuffaloSEraAcousticVersions_atse.zip.html
For the album cover, I found a good photo of Stills that dates to 1967, in the middle of his time as part of Buffalo Springfield.
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