Down The Road - MANASSAS***

Isn't It About Time/Lies/Pensamiento/So Many Times/Business On The Street/Do You Remember The Americans/Down The Road/City Junkies/Guaguancó De Veró/Rollin' My Stone

Down The Road was the second outing for the musical collective organised by Stephen Stills. Whilst the musicianship might be excellent, most of the songs are forgettable. (US:26 UK:33)

“It’s got pop, rock, country, blues, folk, bluegrass, Latin, and gospel, often co-mingling in the same song. It's a Stephen Stills album, for the most part (Chris Hillman gets a track), featuring the most versatile, instrumentally accomplished band he ever played in.”

“It mostly contains rather dull, if well played Latin influenced rock tracks that petered out pretty quickly. Isn't It About Time and Do You Remember The Americans are both pretty good though.”

“A complete disappointment. Isn't It About Time and Rollin' My Stone stand out but the rest are less than acceptable. A commercial flop, the first of many in Stills' history until CSN regrouped in early 1977. For hardcore fans only.”

“This Stephen Stills project pulls together a number of excellent musicians that perform well. The only problem is most of the songs, all originals, are weak.”

“If you could pinpoint where Stills lost his genius, it's somewhere between Manassas and Down The Road. There are a couple of lovely songs in Spanish here, but there's a wasted weariness to the whole affair, as if the band had spent too many nights in the hotel bar. For completists only.”

“The entire project seems thrown together like as if Stills and the boys were forced under contract to put something, anything, down on record. The lyrics are soporific, and the rest is beneath Stills to put out.”

“The songs are mostly forgettable. But the defining feature of this record is that it scarcely has a groove. It isn't that the tunes were conceived as grooveless (they sound promising), but that they are played in a loose, noodle-headed way.”

“Brilliant guitar playing, excellent all-around musicianship and singing, and fine, inventive songwriting make this a fine, enjoyable album. Overall though, it does sound a little thrown together.”