''Buffalo Springfield'' is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by the Canadian-American folk-rock band

Buffalo Springfield Buffalo Springfield was a Canadian-American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1966 by Canadians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin (musician), Dewey Martin and Americans Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely know ...

. Released by

Atco Records ATCO Records is an American record label founded in 1955. It is owned by Warner Music Group and operates as an imprint of Atlantic Records. After several decades of dormancy and infrequent activity under alternating Warner Music labels, the com ...

around November1966, the songs on the album were written by the band members Stephen Stills and

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...

and produced by Charles Greene and Brian Stone. The tracks were recorded by July 18 to September 11, 1966, in

Gold Star Studios Gold Star Studios was an independent recording studio located in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood, California. In its entire history, Gold Star was one of the most successful commercial recording studios in the world. Founded by David S. Gold ...

and CBS Columbia Square, based in

Hollywood, Los Angeles Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

. Two singles were originally released for the album: " Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" (backed with "Go and Say Goodbye") and "Burned" (backed with "Everybody's Wrong"). Most subsequent pressings of the album from March 1967 onward replaced the track "Baby Don't Scold Me" with the standalone single " For What It's Worth", which was ascending the US charts at the time. The single (backed with "Do I Have to Come Right Out and Say It?") eventually peaked at number 7 on the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

, while the album reached number 80 on the ''Billboard'' Top Pop Albums chart.

Background and content

Buffalo Springfield were formed in early 1966, playing their first gig at The Troubadour club in Hollywood in April of that year. An initial single that appeared on this album, Young's " Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing", sung by Richie Furay and recorded on July 18, 1966, failed to reach the national charts. But made the Top 40 locally in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

during August. This album was mostly recorded in July, August and September of 1966 at

where

Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (December 26, 1939 – January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter who is best known for pioneering recording practices in the 1960s, followed by his trials and conviction for murder in the 2000s. S ...

created his " Wall of Sound" and

Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (June 20, 1942 – June 11, 2025) was an American musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often Brian Wilson is a genius, called a genius for his novel approaches to pop compositio ...

produced recordings by

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their f ...

. Young sings lead on only two of his five compositions, Furay singing lead on the other three. The album was produced by the group's managers, Charles Greene and Brian Stone, both of whom had minimal experience as record producers. The group was reportedly unhappy with the sound of the album, feeling that it did not reflect the intensity of their live shows. The band asked Atco for time to re-record the album, but not wanting to miss the Christmas holiday season the label insisted that the record be released as it was. ''Buffalo Springfield'' was originally released in both mono and

stereo Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...

versions as Atco SD 33-200. The back cover contained band profiles of each member in the mode of those for '' Tiger Beat''. Recorded the day the LP was released and issued soon after, the band's new single by Stills " For What It's Worth" became a national hit, making the top ten on the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...

singles chart in March 1967.Google Books archive Billboard March 25, 1967 Hot 100 chart retrieved 25 March 2017
/ref> For the second pressing of March 6, 1967, the album was reissued as Atco SD 33-200A with the hit as the lead track, dropping "Baby Don't Scold Me" and slightly reconfiguring the running order. "Baby Don't Scold Me" has never been reissued in stereo; all

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...

releases feature only the mono mix of this track. The album was

remastered A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether Mastering (audio), audiophonic, Cinematography, cinematic, or Videography, videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The term ...

in HDCD and reissued on June 24, 1997, with two versions on one disc, the mono tracks from Atco 33-200 first with the stereo tracks from SD 33-200A following. Not contained were the stereo mix of "Baby Don't Scold Me" from Atco SD 33-200 or the mono mix of "For What It's Worth" from Atco 33-200A. "Burned" has also never been issued in stereo. The recording sessions took place at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles from July 18 to September 11, 1966, with "For What It's Worth" recorded at Columbia Studios in Los Angeles on December 5, 1966.

Critical reception

The album was met with positive reception when it released.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

and ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' (the latter written by Colin Larkin) would later give the album four out of five stars, while ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'' would give the album three out of five stars. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said that "Burned" has a "slick, mid-tempo rock

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

that could catch on big" and mentioned how " Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing" was a "pulsating, folk-ish item with some inventive unexpected melodic changes."

Track listing

Original release

March 1967 release

Personnel

;Buffalo Springfield * Stephen Stills — vocals, guitars, keyboards *

— vocals, guitars, harmonica, piano * Richie Furay — vocals, rhythm guitar * Bruce Palmer — bass guitar * Dewey Martin — drums, backing vocals ;Production personnel * Charles Greene, Brian Stone — producers, stereo mix * Tom May, Doc Siegel, James Hilton, Stan Ross —

engineers Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while consider ...

* Sandy Dvore — design * Henry Diltz, Ivan Nagy — photography * Tim Mulligan — HDCD digital mastering * John Nowland, Pflash Pflaumer — analog to digital transfers

Charts

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * {{Authority control Buffalo Springfield albums 1966 debut albums Atco Records albums Albums produced by Charles Greene (producer) Albums produced by Brian Stone Albums recorded at Gold Star Studios