The Wild Honey Orchestra - Tribute to Buffalo Springfield, Alex Theatre, Glendale, CA, 2-17-2018

Here's something a little different, but if you're a fan of the band Buffalo Springfield, I'm sure you'll like it.

The Wild Honey Orchestra is a loose grouping of musicians, mostly based in Los Angeles, who have been putting on a yearly concert to benefit an autism charity since about 2015. Each year, they pick a different musical theme, and they have retro tastes very similar to mine. For instance, they did cover versions of the entire Beatles albums "Revolver" and "Abbey Road" in 2014, then the Beatles' "White Album" in 2015, then Beach Boys music in 2016, Band music in 2017, this one is 2018, Kinks music in 2019, Lovin' Spoonful music in 2020, and Big Star music in 2022. The songs are done by those who generally have had successful careers in music but aren't big stars. The singers are backed by many musicians, often dozens on stage. So calling them an "orchestra" is fitting, even though it's sometimes more like a really big band than an orchestra in the classical music sense.

The big draw in this particular show was the presence of Richie Furay, one of the three key singer-songwriters in Buffalo Springfield. He generally was only on stage for the songs he sang, but he sang about eight of them. Other notables include Mickey Dolenz of the Monkees, Iain Matthews of Fairport Convention, Terry Reid, Syd Straw, Martha Davis of the Motels, Elliot Easton of the Cars, Susan Cowsill of the Cowsills, Carla Olson, Brent Rademaker of Beachwood Sparks, Darian Sahanaja of the Wondermints, the bands Dream Syndicate and the Three O'Clock, and many, many more.

These concerts aren't just thrown together. Each song was carefully rehearsed, with all the different parts well thought out. As a result, even the most complicated songs can sound well done. Give the short and turbulent history of Buffalo Springfield, that means their songs were often done is a style much closer to the studio versions than the guys of Buffalo Springfield ever managed. "Broken Arrow" is a case in point. Even the many sound effects of the studio version were faithfully duplicated here. But the performances are much better than just slavish reproductions. The lead vocalists in particular tended to put their individual styles on each song.

So, if you're a Buffalo Springfield fan, this is kind of a dream concert, with even deep cuts done well. 

I had been aware of these Wild Honey Orchestra concerts for a few years, but I hadn't paid them much attention, because I only came across audience bootlegs that merely sounded decent. I'm posting this because I finally found excellent, professionally recorded versions of each song. The snag is that there's only the music. Other than one story told by Richie Furay before one of the songs, there's virtually no banter here, and even the applause tended to fade out quickly. That's all I've got (in worthy sound quality), so it's all I can post. But in a way perhaps it's for the best, because there's just one solid song after another with little pause.

I've come across recordings of some of the other Wild Honey Orchestra concerts in similar quality, but not all, so I plan on posting those soon as well. If anyone has good versions of the Revolver/Abbey Road show, or the Big Star show, please let me know.

This concert is two hours and three minutes long.

01 Out of My Mind (Bebopalula with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
02 Hung Upside Down (David Goodstein with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
03 Down to the Wire (Syd Straw with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
04 Burned (Stephen McCarthy & Carla Olson with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
05 We'll See (All Day Sucker with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
06 Pay the Price (Brent Rademaker with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
07 Sit Down, I Think I Love You (Darian Sahanaja & Susan Cowsill with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
08 Merry-Go-Round (Chris Price with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
09 Pretty Girl Why (Luther Russell with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
10 Everydays (Cindy Lee Berryhill with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
11 Four Days Gone (Terry Reid with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
12 I Am a Child (Nick Guzman with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
13 Carefree Country Day (Steve Stanley with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
14 talk (Richie Furay with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
15 A Child's Claim to Fame (Richie Furay with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
16 Go and Say Goodbye (Richie Furay with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
17 Kind Woman (Richie Furay with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
18 Expecting to Fly (Claudia Lennear & Rob Laufer with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
19 In the Hour of Not Quite Rain (Our Truth with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
20 Broken Arrow (Iain Matthews & Chris Price with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
21 It's So Hard to Wait (Micky Dolenz with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
22 Sad Memory (Richie Furay with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
23 On the Way Home (Richie Furay with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
24 Rock and Roll Woman (Three O'Clock with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
25 Everybody's Wrong (Martha Davis with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
26 Mr. Soul (Dream Syndicate with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
27 Bluebird (Willie Aron with Elliot Easton & the Wild Honey Orchestra)
28 Uno Mundo (Carla Olson with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
29 Special Care (Claudia Lennear with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
30 Questions (Gary Myrick with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
31 Flying on the Ground Is Wrong (Richie Furay with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
32 Do I Have to Come Right Out and Say It (Richie Furay with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
33 Nowadays Even Clancy Can't Sing (Richie Furay with the Wild Honey Orchestra)
34 For What It's Worth (Richie Furay with the Wild Honey Orchestra)

https://www.imagenetz.de/fU5tz

For the cover art, I found a photo of the sign out in front of the theater. I put that at the top. I also found some promotional art listing all the musicians who performed, and I put that at the bottom.