Buffalo Springfield Albums Ranked And Reviewed

Buffalo Springfield Albums

Photo: Atlantic Records, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Our Buffalo Springfield Albums Ranked takes a look at a band that had a huge impact while releasing a very small catalog of albums. Buffalo Springfield served as a starting ground for legendary musicians Neil Young, Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The band only released three studio albums. The first album was released in 1966 entitled Buffalo Springfield. The band followed that album up a year later with the record Buffalo Springfield Again in 1967. The band would soon break up. After the group had disbanded, Atco records released the final studio album of pretty much leftover tracks entitled Last Time Around. After the group broke up Richie Furay would form  a new group entitled Poco that would celebrate success. It’s safe to assume that everyone knows what Neil Young and Stephen Stills would do with the rest of their careers……..

# 5 – Retrospective: The Best of Buffalo Springfield

We don’t usually put compilation albums on this list when we are looking at a band’s studio albums. However, we will make an exception with this one for various reasons. First off, Buffalo Springfield did not put out a lot of music. They only really released two studio albums while still together. Outtakes and unreleased songs made up the third album. Secondly. this is a very big selling record.Retrospective: The Best of Buffalo Springfield sold far more copies than their first two studio albums. It’s the only Buffalo Springfield album to go platinum. The album was released in 1969. If the average music fan brought one Buffalo Springfield album it was this one. It’s actually a great compilation of the band’s best songs very wisely chosen. If you just want all the great Buffalo Springfield songs in one package this is the album to buy.

# 4 – Buffalo Springfield (Compilation)

This was the band’s second compilation put out on Atco records.  Most of the songs were released on the first two albums with the exception of the extended version of “Bluebird,” which comes in at nine minutes and it’s pretty much the only reason why we’ve included this LP on this list. Otherwise, your better off with the Retrospective: The Best of Buffalo Springfield LP if your looking just for a single disc of Buffalo Springfield classics.

# 3 – Last Time Around

The Last Time Around stands as the third and final album released by the band Buffalo Springfield. At the time of release, the band was no longer together. So the title pretty much makes sense. The Last Time Around was more of a compilation album of songs that had not been released on the first two records. The band had a contract to release three albums and so they did. So, in many ways this is the band’s weakest album. It was not really a new studio album because it was a compilation of unreleased tracks presented as a new Buffalo Springfield album. Standout tracks on the album include the great Neil Young song “I Am a Child,” “On The Way Home,” and “It’s So Hard To Wait,” which was also written by Richie Furay and Neil Young. Stephen Stills also released some great songs on the album including, “Pretty Girl Why,” “Special Care,” and the great “Four Days Gone.”  We also can’t forget to mention the Jimmy Messina song “Carefree Country Day.” While nowhere as good as the first two, I won’t kick this album out of my collection.

# 2 – Buffalo Springfield Again

In the number two spot on our Buffalo Springfield albums list is the great album Buffalo Springfield Again. The record was released in November of 1967. This was an amazing follow-up album to the band’s  stunning debut. Many Buffalo Springfield fans actually like this one better and who couldn’t argue with them, it’s a great record. This is the album when Neil Young really comes into his own. The album opened up with the soon-to-be amazing legendary Neil Young song entitled Mr. Soul. Neil Young sang lead vocals on this great track. He wasn’t giving this one away. The second song on the album was a Richie Furay song entitled “A Child’s Claim to Fame” sung by Richie Furay. Stephen Stills got his shot on the third track with his song “Everydays”which he sang himself. Another legendary song by Neil Young entitled “Expecting to Fly” was placed as the fourth track on side one. Once again Neil Young sang lead vocals. Side one closed with the great Stephen Stills song entitled “Bluebird.”

Just when you thought you had heard one of the most amazing lp sides in classic rock history, side two opens up with another fantastic Stephen Stills song entitled”Hung Upside Down.” Then up nest are two Richie Furay songs entitled “Sad Memory” sung by Richie Furay and “Good Time Boy” in which Dewey Martin sang lead vocals. Fans were then been greeted with another great Stephen Stills song entitled “Rock & Roll Woman.”  The album closes with a song  that would become one of the all-time great Neil Young classics entitled “Broken Arrow,” song magnificently by Neil Young.

As  brilliant as the second Buffalo Springfield album was, it’s pretty surprising that it didn’t do that well on the music charts. The album peaked at number 44 on the Billboard Top 200 album charts. None of the singles on the album broke the Billboard Top 40. Nonetheless it stands as one of the all-time great classic rock albums in history.

# 1 – Buffalo Springfield

We close out our Buffalo Springfield albums list with the band’s debut album that was released in December of 1966 entitled Buffalo Springfield. This is the first time the rock and roll world hears the music of Stephen Stills and Neil Young. The album was released in two different versions. The original release of the album did not have the single “For What It’s Worth” which was actually recorded the day the album was released. However, since the single “For What It’s Worth” was doing so well, the band’s record company Atco records reissued the album adding the single “For What It’s Worth” as the opening song on the record. Every song on the  first Buffalo Springfield album was written by either Neil Young or Stephen Stills.

The March 1967 pressing opened up with the great Stephen Stills song, “For What It’s Worth.” The lead vocals on the song were sung by Stephen Stills with help from Richie Furay and Dewey Martin. The album’s second number was another Stephen Stills song entitled Go and Say Goodbye” which was sung by Richie Furay and Stephen Stills. That song was followed by another Stephen Stills song entitled “Sit Down, I Think I Love You,”  The fourth track of the album presented fans with the first Neil Young song called “Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing.” Even though Neil Young wrote the song ,Richie Fury sang lead vocal with harmonies from Stephen Stills and Neil Young. Side one would  continue with two more Stephen Stills songs “Hot Dusty Roads”  and “Everybody’s Wrong.”

The second side on the debut Buffalo Springfield album opened up with three straight Neil Young songs. “Flying on the Ground Is Wrong” was Neil Young’s songs with Richie Fury singing the lead vocal. Finally the world gets to hear Neil Young sing lead vocal on the next song written by the man called “Burned.: That song was followed up by another Neil Young song called Do I Have to Come Right Out and Say It,” Then Stephen Stills gets another one of his tunes presented as the fourth track entitled “Leave,” which was  a song in which he sang lead vocal.  Neil Young returns one more time with his great songs “Out of My Mind” with Richie and Stephen still singing backing vocals. The final song on the album was entitled “Pay The Price,” which was another Stephen Stills composition sung by Stephen Stills.

The Buffalo Springfield debut album is one of the landmark albums in classic rock history. It helped inspire a whole new sound in rock and roll. It would launch the careers of Neil Young and Stephen Stills who would leave the band the next album and eventually reunite in one of the bands of all time in Crosby Stills Nash & Young and later on the Stills Young Band,  This is an album that everyone should own in their record collection.

Buffalo Springfield Albums Ranked   article published on Classic RockHistory.com© 2021

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