Customer Reviews

Illegal Stills

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the finest album Donnie Dacus ever made. Unfortunately
it's suppose to be a Stephen Stills album, and as such it is only
mediocre. So the value of the album lies somewhere between
those two standards.

Dacus' contributions to the work are extensive, and in some
respects exemplary. He collaborates with Stills in composing
four songs, and writes another with Stills' wife, Veronique
Sanson. It's to his credit that three of these numbers, `Midnight
In Paris', `Closer To You', and `Soldier', are some of the better
compositions on the disc. Dacus, formerly of the band Spirit,
also contrbutes lead and background vocals and fine guitar work.
He is a worthy protege and second guitar foil for Stills.

But one wonders why such a talented and accomplished artist
such as Stills even needed a protege. Part of the answer lies in Stephen's
declining output as a composer. In his biography `Shakey", Neil
Young notes that he resisted overtures from Stills, David Crosby

and Graham Nash during their 1974 tour to release a second
CSNY disc simply because the others were not generating any
new material. He states that he "couldn't believe they were
finished". While none of them were "finished", in retrospect it
is clear that Neil recognized their diminishing output, especially
in comparison to his own.

In addition, it seems Stephen lost his grip on the folk, country,
and blues based rock, as well as the wah-pedal trademark
guitar sound that he had parlayed into so much success.
"Illegal" is dominated by the power-pop sound more suited
to Dacus, who would go on to play in power-pop groups
such as Chicago and Badfinger in the late 1970's and early
1980's, while Stephen joined forces again with Crosby and
Nash for 2 successful albums and a couple even less
successful than `Illegal' attempts to resurrect his solo career.

`Illegal' only features one classic Stills tune, `Buyin' Time',
an indictment of the failed economic policies of Richard
Nixon and Gerald Ford. Stills began performing the song
in mid-1975 as an acoustic number, but this studio version
really rocks the Casbah. His cover of Young's `The Loner'
is also a hot tune, but was bound to pale in comparison to
Young's pristine version. The closer, `Circlin', was first
performed on the brief Stills-Young Band tour in the summer
of 1976, and is an upbeat, interesting number. `Soldier' is
a gutsy protest song in the aftermath of Vietnam. Stills
offers his requisite Latin-hued number in `No Me Neigas',
but it is only a shadow of other Latino songs from Stills
such as `Cuban Bluegrass'. `Stateline Blues' seems to
lack the grit, and as Stills himself said in `Bluesman', "the
blues is pain, the way men cry, like tired rain...", to be
considered a `true' blues song. It is a fun song about
gambling, though Stills did a better take on the same
topic with 1970's `Black Queen'. `Ring Of Love' is
filler, a song Stills himself describes in the liner notes as
one "Donnie pulled...out of his past". Shouldn't be part
of a Stills CD.

There are interesting comments included from Stills on
the makings and origins of each song, as well as lyrics.
While `Illegal' is certainly a departure from the formula
that made Stills one of the premier artists in rock from
1966 to 1976, it contains enough quality material to
be considered essential to Stills fans. For the more
casual listener, there are many Stephen Stills releases

that would be a more desirable purchase, especially
the first Manassas CD, his first solo album, and his
early collaborations with Crosby, Nash and Young.

As a big fan of Steve Stills, I've long felt that he never received his due as a solo artist from rock critics in general. In fact, the vitriol which some professional reviewers have used in deriding his solo efforts is perplexing to me. But of all Stills' albums, none has been as unfairly maligned as "Illegal Stills". This album should have been recognized for what it was: an unmistakable statement from a great artist that, contrary to popular opinion, his skills had not diminished one bit. "Ring of Love" and "Circlin'" would have sounded right at home on top 40 radio, while "Soldier" was haunting and "The Loner" blew Neil Young's version of the song out of the water. The band is hot, the songs are excellent, the arrangements are imaginative, and on the whole this compares very favorably with the two Stills albums that get all the accolades - the debut, and the first Manassas album.

Start with his first debut, then Manassas (first one) and then #2 and then "Live" and his 1975 "Stills". This album reminds me of the band "Gentle Giant" who's many albums are mediocre/unmemorable at first listen but then get better and better with each repeated play. For those expecting early classic Stills', this album does not deliver. But this album shows Still's ability to adapt to arrangements with higher production and he gets a little help from his friends (a few songs were not written by him) including a redo of Neil Young's "The Longer". At times, this reminds me of what the Eagles were doing on their "Long Run" album but maybe not to the same success they experienced. My favorite would have to be the soley accoustic "Stateline Blues" and the latin-influenced "No Me Niegas" with it's catchy riffs. I agree that this album is not as strong as his previous works (the over instrumentation at times drowns out his guitar-work and the music/lyrics tend to be much lighter natured than on his previous works) but it's still better than most of the popular music by artists that were coming out in the 80's and 90's. If you really like Stills first few albums, you should get this but don't expect the same. If you found his first few albums so-so, then you're best to skip.

Although credited as a Stephen Stills solo album, 1976's "Illegal Stills" probably should have been billed as a "Stephen Stills & Donnie Dacus" duo album. Dacus had a heavy hand on Stills' previous album (not including the "Live" album), 1975's "Stills", but he comes to the fore even more here--he contributes to the songwriting on a handful of tracks, plus he seems to handle a majority of the background vocals and even gets lead vocal spotlights on 3 songs.

Coming to this album today, knowing that Dacus later went on to join one of the '70s ultimate schlock-pop bands Chicago (following the death of Terry Kath), you might be baffled as to why the astonishingly-talented Stills would allow Dacus to contribute so much to what's billed as a Stephen Stills solo album. It could be because marriage troubles had begun to rear their head for Stills' during the making of it and that Stills wanted someone who was competent and reliable and yet didn't have an overarching ego and agenda of their own to push (e.g., Neil Young).

And it worked out really well. "Illegal Stills" is indeed very slick in a mid-'70s kind of way, and on the whole it has an uncharacteristically lightweight feel for Stephen, but it's a highly enjoyable listen. Latin rhythms crop up repeatedly, always to excellent effect. "Midnight In Paris" was written by Dacus and Stills' then-wife Veronique Sanson (Dacus had been a member of Sanson's backing band), and it's an irresistible feel-good tune with Dacus singing lead on the English-language verses and Stills giving it his best on the middle verse which--surprise, surprise--is sung in French. The all-out Latin-pop number "No Me Niegas" has a certain corniness to it, but it's smile-inducing and amusing as opposed to cringe-worthy. Dacus' slick blue-eyed-soul vocals prove to be an engaging foil for Stills' huskiness on the irresistible "Closer To You", again done up as a duet between the two; the Dacus-sung lyrics, which I presume he also wrote, are fairly laughable, but Dacus does a commendable job of masking their corniness with his slick, yet carefully-nuanced vocals. The excellent album-opener "Buyin' Time" is a surging, organ-soaked uptempo number with a super-cool instrumental mid-section. "Different Tongues" is a crafty ballad with a lush synthesizer background. The imaginative re-working of Neil Young's "The Loner" really cooks, toppling Neil's own original version. Dacus gets a lead vocal all to himself on a song that he primarily wrote (although Stills is co-credited in the booklet) called "Ring of Love" which is an excellent feel-good tune--it's catchy and has a great groove to it.

It'd be stretching it though to hail the album as a neglected masterpiece. "Stateline Blues" is quite brief, but still a fairly dull and overly-repetitive acoustic-based number. The album-closing "Circlin'" is energetically performed and has a pretty catchy chorus, but still feels underdeveloped.

Overall though, "Illegal Stills" is a damn good album. Don't be fooled by people who tell you Stephen was losing it by the point, or that the prominent role of Donnie Dacus signals Stills' artistic bankruptcy.

This is a very good album...(okay, CD)...not excellent. The polish on the tunes is tight and well done, but detracts a bit from the raw gold of the Stills experience. Again, the production quality is excelllent but just a little to spiffed up. However, as guilty pleasures go, :Midnight In Paris" is such a catchy tune, and when Stills goes into his french lyrics, it does have a nice earthy undertone. (Sort of like a nice Chateau Lafitte Rothchild Vintage 1929.) Now, go buy it and enjoy. After all this is Stephen Stills here, ya ain't gonna go wrong.

A really good mix of songs with some great sounds...his vocals are clean and clear. Steven and his band ring through. A must buy for the real fan.

Like a painter mixing colors for a visual masterpiece, Stephen Stills mixes language, expression, different styles of music and good guitar playing for an auditory masterpiece. This collection is proof positive that Stephen Stills is a very talented man. He is great solo (although I admit I like CSN & CSNY best of all) and his talent come shining through like a beacon. This collection has some really outstanding songs. How can anyone not like it?

While not his greatest work, this album personifies its artists ability to change tempos and tunings to offer a variety of different sounds. Throughout his carrer, Stills has shown the uncanny ability to mix music, language, and emotion. Never was it more evident than on the track "Midnight in Paris". Songs like different tongues are laden with smoke-filled lyrics from some cafe in Europe. Buyin' time is probably the albums most popular cut and captures the artists social concerns at a time when it wasnt so popular to do so.

This is a very top album,his first was very good and this one is as good.

Stephen puts it out there, and that just sums up where he's coming from to where he's at.