Long May You Run is not a Neil Young solo album. It is credited to "The Stills-Young Band," which is to say, Stephen Stills and his band with Young added, and the two divide up the songwriting and lead vocals, five for Young, four for Stills. The pairing, though it proved short-lived and had, in fact, ended before this album was released, must have seemed commercially logical. Like Young, Stills had seen his record sales decline after a successful period following the 1970 breakup of CSNY. So had erstwhile partners David Crosby and Graham Nash, but they had returned to Top Ten, gold-selling status in the fall of 1975 with their Wind on the Water duo album.
Why couldn't Stills and Young do the same thing? Maybe they could have (and, actually, this was the first gold album for either in two years) if they had made a better record together. Young's songs were pleasant newly written throwaways with the exception of the title track, a trunk song he had written as a tribute to an old car, it’s a brilliant performance and would have fit any of his solo albums at the time. “Fontainebleau” is just a cut below and features some creative guitar work and an odd beat. His other three songs are okay which is faint praise. “Let It Shine” is amusing if nothing else, “Midnight On The Bay” does have some nice guitar work from Stephen Stills. In the other hand, Stills' compositions seemed more seriously intended, but still were not substantial. The playing, largely handled by the professional sessionman types in Stills' band, was far smoother than what one was accustomed to in a Young album.
by William Ruhlmann and David Bowling
1. Long May You Run (Neil Young) - 3:52
2. Make Love To You (Stephen Stills) - 5:09
3. Midnight On The Bay (Neil Young) - 4:00
4. Black Coral (Stephen Stills) - 4:41
5. Ocean Girl (Neil Young) - 3:18
6. Let It Shine (Neil Young) - 4:41
7. 12/8 Blues (Stephen Stills) - 3:43
8. Fontainebleau (Neil Young) - 3:59
9. Guardian Angel (Stephen Stills) - 5:47
Musicians
*Neil Young - Guitars, Piano, Harmonica, String Synthesizer, Vocals
*Stephen Stills - Guitars, Pianos, Vocals
*Joe Lala - Percussion, Background Vocals
*Jerry Aiello - Organ, Piano
*George "Chocolate" Perry - Bass, Background Vocals
*Joe Vitale - Drums, Flute, Background Vocals
1972 Stephen Stills - Manassas (2006 HDCD)
1971-73 Manassas - Pieces (2009 release)
1975-76/78 Stephen Stills - Stills / Illegal Stills / Thoroughfare Gap
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This album is a must in every collection...
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