''Manassas'' is the 1972 debut

double album A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording ...

Manassas Manassas (), formerly Manassas Junction, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. The population was 42,772 at the 2020 Census. It is the county seat of Prince William County, although the two are separate jurisdi ...

, a

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre, genre and form of rock music, rock and blues music that relies on the chords/scales and instrumental improvisation of blues. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electri ...

group led by American musician

Stephen Stills Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Crosby, Stills & Nash; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and Manassas (band ...

, released April 1972. It was a critical comeback for Stills and continued his commercial success by being certified Gold only a month after being released and peaking at number 4 on the US charts.

Recording

The album was recorded at Criteria Studio B late 1971, where Stills used his clout to keep the studio and engineers Ron and Howard Albert available around the clock. The band all stayed in a rented house about 30 minutes away from the studio, in

Coconut Grove Coconut Grove, also known colloquially as "The Grove", is an affluent and the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhoods of Miami, neighborhood of Miami in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The neighborhood is roughly bounded by North Prospect Driv ...

. This allowed Stills to record the album around the clock, waking up band members in the early hours of the morning when an idea struck. Stills would also record in mammoth sessions often going on for days, until Chris Hillman and Stills got into a fight, after which they started to record at regular hours. Al Perkins and Dallas Taylor had a rule where they would not perform any more than seven takes for a single track, so often Stills would stay in the studio editing after having released the band at 4 or 5 am. The band then flew to Stills' house in London in January 1972 to finish recording and mixing the album and to rehearse for an upcoming tour starting in March 1972. It was here that

Bill Wyman William George Wyman ( né Perks; born 24 October 1936) is an English musician who was the bass guitarist with the rock band the Rolling Stones from 1962 to 1993. Wyman was part of the band's first stable lineup and performed on their first 19 ...

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

played bass on and co-authored "The Love Gangster" and is reported to have said that he would have left the Stones to join Manassas. At one point Stills put in an unbroken 106 hour stint in the studio, and engineer Ron Albert said he had just gotten to bed after a marathon session lasting 84 hours when the phone rang with Stills summoning him back to the studio with the words: "I know you're tired, but there's this idea I've got for this song that I want to get on tape before I forget it..." Another time, working to Stills' manic schedule, the band cut eight tracks in two days with no sleep.

Songs

The album was split into four thematic sides. Side 1, ''The Raven'', is a composite of rock and Latin sounds that the group would often perform in full live exactly as presented on the album, including the segues that connected several of the songs. Side 2, ''The Wilderness'', mainly centers on country and bluegrass, and features Chris Hillman on mandolin and fiddler

Byron Berline Byron Douglas Berline (July 6, 1944 – July 10, 2021) was an American fiddle player who played many American music styles, including old time, ragtime, bluegrass, Cajun, country, and rock. Life and career Berline was born in Caldwell, Kansas ...

. Side 3, ''Consider'', presents a mix of musical styles, including "Johnny's Garden" (reportedly written for the caretaker at Stills' English manor house bought from

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

), and Stills using a Moog synthesizer on "Move Around". Side 4, ''Rock & Roll Is Here to Stay'', features rock and blues songs, including "The Treasure", a mainstay of Manassas' live sets, and Stills' acoustic solo piece "Blues Man". Several of the songs on the album are inspired by Stills' romantic relationship with

Rita Coolidge Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945) is an American recording artist. During the 1970s and 1980s, her songs were on ''Billboard'' magazine's pop, country, adult contemporary, and jazz charts, and she won two Grammy Awards with fellow musician and th ...

, and Coolidge's leaving Stills for his CSNY bandmate

Graham Nash Graham William Nash (born 2 February 1942) is a British and American musician, singer and songwriter. He is known for his light tenor voice and for his contributions as a member of the Hollies and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Crosby, Stills ...

. In particular, "Raven" was Stills' nickname for Coolidge, while "What to Do" and "Right Now" were written about CSNY's subsequent breakup and Stills' relationship with Nash.

Artwork and packaging

The artwork was taken after Stills, a Civil War buff, had the band flown over to

Manassas station Manassas station is a train station in the city of Manassas, Virginia, United States. The station is served by Virginia Railway Express Manassas Line commuter trains and Amtrak , and intercity trains. History The first Manassas station was ...

Manassas, Virginia Manassas (), formerly Manassas Junction, is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. The population was 42,772 at the 2020 Census. It is the county seat of ...

, where the Confederacy had claimed its first major victory at the Battle of Bull Run. The photo they liked was the band standing on the platform under a Manassas sign, and so the band was named. Included with the album were fold-out posters with named pictures of all the members and hand-written lyrics on the back, including a message urging people to 'Use The Power, Register and Vote'.

Chart performance

The album debuted on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Top LP's chart for the week ending April 29, 1972 and eventually peaked at No. 4 in June, during a 30-week run. Stills' album shared the top 5 with an album by

David Crosby David Van Cortlandt Crosby (August 14, 1941 – January 18, 2023) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He first found fame as a member of the Byrds, with whom he helped pioneer the genres of folk rock and psychedelic music, psych ...

and

(''

Graham Nash David Crosby ''Graham Nash David Crosby'' is the first album by Crosby & Nash, the partnership of David Crosby and Graham Nash, released on Atlantic Records in 1972, catalog SD 7220. It peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, and a single taken fr ...

'') and an album by

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 ...

(''

Harvest Harvesting is the process of collecting plants, animals, or fish (as well as fungi) as food, especially the process of gathering mature crops, and "the harvest" also refers to the collected crops. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulses fo ...

''), all collectively members of the quartet

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) was a folk rock Supergroup (music), supergroup comprising the American singer-songwriters David Crosby and Stephen Stills and the English-American singer-songwriter Graham Nash. When joined by the Canadian singer-so ...

. "It Doesn't Matter" was released as a single and peaked at No. 61, during a chart run of 7 weeks. "Rock & Roll Crazies" was released as the second single and peaked at No. 92 during a 3-week run. By 1974, it had sold an estimated 400,000 copies in the US, which is the equivalent of 800,000 as the album is a double.

Reception

''Manassas'' marked a critical comeback for Stills, with

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 ...

calling it a "sprawling masterpiece" and ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' saying it was "reassuring to know that Stills has some good music still inside him. Most of it has a substantial, honest sound found on too few records these days. All the sounds you hear come from the seven group members". Chris Hillman was singled out as an "importance in the success of ''Manassas'' and in the comeback of Stills, he can't be over-stressed ..He's a masterful musician whether he's playing bass, guitar, or mandolin, and his boyishly pure, uncolored voice can carry a lot of emotional weight.". However, Robert Christgau rated the album C+ and in a mixed review stated "Yes, Steve has gotten it together a little, even deigning to cooperate with real musicians in a real band, and yes, some of this four-sided set echoes in your head after you play it a lot. The only problem is you're never sure where the echoes come from". In positive reviews, ''Record World'' called it "music of the highest order", ''Cash Box'' said it will "convince you of Stills' worth", and ''Billboard'' said it "offers loads of class material". In a June 1972 review for ''The San Diego Door'',

Cameron Crowe Cameron Bruce Crowe (born July 13, 1957) is an American filmmaker and journalist. He has received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and Grammy Award as well as a nomination for a Tony Award. Crowe started his career a ...

said "''Manassas'' always remains admirable if not exciting. The musicianship is generally excellent with the only pitfall being that the droning Stills' vocal pervades all but one of the LP's sixteen cuts". He also stated the "lyrics represent a low-point in Stills' lyricist career".

Chris Welch Chris Welch (born ) is an English music journalist, critic, and author who is best known for his work from the late 1960s as a reporter for ''Melody Maker'', ''Musicians Only'', and ''Kerrang!''. He is the author of over 40 music books. Earl ...

for ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' said "The blues, soul, rock and country music are all the influences. They play them like the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...

, with a sincerity and ability that one does not always detect in the work of those exclusively involved in the original idiom". Andrew Weiner for ''

Creem ''Creem'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American rock music magazine and entertainment company, founded in Detroit, whose initial print run lasted from 1969 to 1989. It was first published in March 1969 by Barry Kramer and founding editor ...

'' said "Stills, perhaps the most maligned superstar in recent rock history, has finally - and against all the odds - got it on. And Stills has written too many good songs here even to try count them". The album was certified Gold on May 30, 1972, just over a month after being released. Stills has stated the album did not receive the recognition it deserved due to

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

and

Ahmet Ertegun Ahmet Ertegun ( ; , ; July 31, 1923 – December 14, 2006) was a Turkish-American businessman, songwriter, record executive and philanthropist. Ertegun was the co-founder and president of Atlantic Records. He discovered and championed many lead ...

(head of Atlantic Records) wanting him back in the "goldmine" that was Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Stills said that as soon as the album shipped gold, Ertegun pulled it, and people could not find it in stores. The album was included in the book ''

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music criti ...

''. It was voted number 735 in

Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British music writer. He founded and was the editor-in-chief of ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. Along with the ten-volume encyclopedia, Larkin also wrote the book ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'', and edited th ...

All Time Top 1000 Albums ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'' is a book by Colin Larkin, creator and editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. The book was first published by Guinness Publishing in 1994. The list presented is the result of over 200,000 votes cast by the ...

3rd Edition (2000). Retrospectively, in 2022 the album was called a

roots rock Roots rock is a genre of rock music that looks back to rock's origins in contemporary folk music, folk, blues, and country music. First emerging in the late 1960s, it is seen as a response to the perceived excesses of the then dominant psychedel ...

"landmark".

Track listing

Personnel

Manassas *Stephen Stills - vocals, guitar,

bottleneck guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...

, piano, organ, electric piano,

clavinet The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer ( ) is a modular synthesizer invented by the American engineer Robert Moog in 1964. Moog's company, R. A. Moog Co., produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014. It was the first commercial synthesizer ...

Chris Hillman Christopher Hillman (born December 4, 1944) is an American musician. He was the original bassist of the Byrds. With frequent collaborator Gram Parsons, Hillman was a key figure in the development of country rock, defining the genre through his w ...

- vocals, guitar, mandolin *

Al Perkins Al Perkins (born January 18, 1944) is an American guitarist known primarily for his steel guitar work. The Gibson guitar company called Perkins "the world's most influential Dobro player" and began producing an "Al Perkins Signature" Dobro in 2 ...

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...

, guitar, vocals * Paul Harris - organ,

tack piano A tack piano (also known as a harpsipiano, jangle piano, and junk piano) is an altered version of an ordinary piano, in which objects such as thumbtacks or nails are placed on the felt-padded hammers of the instrument at the point where the ha ...

, piano, electric piano, clavinet * Dallas Taylor - drums *

Calvin "Fuzzy" Samuel Calvin Samuel, known as Calvin "Fuzzy" Samuel, is an Antiguan-born musician best known for his bass playing in the 1970s with Stephen Stills, Manassas, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and others. He has often been credited as "Samuels", with an ...

- bass *

Joe Lala Joseph Anthony Lala (November 3, 1947 – March 18, 2014) was an American musician and actor. In 1966, he co-founded the rock band Blues Image. Life and career Lala was born in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida, into a family of Italian-American bac ...

- congas, timbales/percussion, vocals Additional players *Sydney George - harmonica (on "The Raven" and "The Wilderness") *Jerry Aiello (on "The Raven" and "The Wilderness") - piano, organ, electric piano, clavinet *

- bass (on "The Love Gangster" and "Rock & Roll Crazies") *Roger Bush - acoustic bass (on "The Raven" and "The Wilderness") *

- fiddle *

Malcolm Cecil Malcolm Cecil (9 January 1937 – 28 March 2021) was a British jazz bassist, record producer, engineer, electronic musician and teacher. He was a founding member of a leading UK jazz quintet of the late 1950s, the Jazz Couriers,The Albert Brothers Ron and Howard Albert, known as the Albert Brothers, are an American record production duo best known for their work in audio engineering and as record producers, working on recordings at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida, and Audiovision studios ...

- engineers *Stephen Stills, Ira H. Wexler - cover design *Ira H. Wexler - photography Special thanks to Bruce Berry & Guillermo Giachetti, Daniel J. Campbell, Michael John Bowen, Michael O'Hara Garcia, Buddy P. Zoloth, Edward Astrin &

Charts

Year-end album charts

Certifications

Tour

Manassas toured across the world in 1972, this being Stills biggest solo tour date, playing arenas in Americas, and headlining festivals in Australia. After the initial Manassas tour from 9 April to 20 May. Manassas then completed five tours in six months, from July 14 to July 30 they toured the West Coast, the second tour from 11 to 28 August toured the East Coast, they then toured Europe and Scandinavia from September 13 to October 9. The fourth tour was a tour of Midwestern American Colleges, and finally the fifth tour was conducted in the South from December 1–19. During this tour Manassas had a charter plane and toured manically, but Stills was losing money on these tours as he was paying the band very generously. Manassas *

- vocals, guitar, keyboards *

- vocals, guitar, mandolin *

- pedal steel guitar, guitar, vocals * Paul Harris – organ, piano, electric piano,

* Dallas Taylor – drums *

– bass *

– congas, timbales/percussion, vocals Tour setlist Typical tour set list ''All songs written by Stephen Stills, except where noted.'' # "Rock and Roll Woman" # "Bound to Fall" # "Hot Burrito #2" (

Chris Ethridge John Christopher Ethridge (February 10, 1947 – April 23, 2012) was an American country rock bass guitarist. He was a member of the International Submarine Band (ISB) and The Flying Burrito Brothers, and co-wrote several songs with Gram Pars ...

Gram Parsons Ingram Cecil Connor III (November 5, 1946 – September 19, 1973), known professionally as Gram Parsons, was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pianist. He recorded with the International Submarine Band, the Byrds, and the Flying Bu ...

) # "It Doesn't Matter" # "

So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" is a song by the American rock band the Byrds. Written by Jim McGuinn and Chris Hillman, it was included on the band's 1967 album, ''Younger Than Yesterday''. The song was inspired by the manufactured natu ...

" (

Jim McGuinn Jim McGuinn, born James Slusarek, is an American radio personality. He served as program director of the now defunct Y100 100.3FM (1997–2005) and its predecessor, WDRE in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1995–97), both of which changed formats ...

) (also played on April 22, 1972, in Dania, FL) # "Go Back Home" # "

Change Partners "Change Partners" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin for the 1938 film '' Carefree'', in which it was introduced by Fred Astaire. The song was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1938, but lost out to "Thanks for the ...

" # "Know You Got to Run" (Stills, John Hopkins) # "Crossroads Blues" (

Robert Johnson Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His singing, guitar playing and songwriting on his landmark 1936 and 1937 recordings have influenced later generations of musicians. Although his r ...

) (also played on April 22, 1972, in Dania, FL) # "Black Queen" (also played on April 22, 1972, in Dania, FL) # "4+20" # "Blues Man" # "Word Game" # "Do for the Others" # "Move Around" # "Both of Us (Bound to Loose)" (Stills, Chris Hillman) # "

Love the One You're With "Love the One You're With" is a song by American folk rock musician Stephen Stills. It was released in November 1970 as the lead single from his debut self-titled studio album (1970). The song, inspired by a remark Stills heard from musician Bi ...

" # "He Was a Friend of Mine" # "Fallen Eagle" # "Hide It So Deep" # "Johnny's Garden" (or "You're Still on My Mind" (

Luke McDaniel Luke McDaniel (February 3, 1927 – June 27, 1992), who also recorded under the stage name Jeff Daniels, was an American country and rockabilly music singer and songwriter. He was the grandfather of Mississippi state senator Chris McDaniel. ...

) (played on April 22, 1972, in Dania, FL)) # "Don't Look at My Shadow" # "Sugar Babe" # " 49 Bye-Byes" (also played on April 22, 1972, in Dania, FL) # "For What It's Worth" # "Song of Love" # "Rock & Roll Crazies" # "Cuban Bluegrass" # "Jet Set (Sigh)" # "Anyway" # "The Treasure" # "

Carry On Carry On may refer to: Film * ''Carry On'' (film), a 1927 British silent film * ''Carry On'' (franchise), a British comedy media franchise *''Carry-On'', a 2024 American action thriller film Music Albums * ''Carry On'' (Chris Cornell album) * '' ...

" (also played on April 22, 1972, in Dania, FL) # "

Find the Cost of Freedom Find, FIND or Finding may refer to: Computing * find (Unix), a command on UNIX platforms * find (Windows), a command on DOS/Windows platforms Books * ''The Find'' (2010), by Kathy Page * ''The Find'' (2014), by William Hope Hodgson Film and ...

/Daylight Again"

References

{{Authority control Manassas (band) albums 1972 debut albums Atlantic Records albums