University of Virginia Library

Does
Manassas
Need
Stephen
Stills?

By JIMMY FAMA

CD/Jimmy Fama

Stephen Stills Alone.....

Saturday night's
performance by Stephen Stills
and Manassas at University
Hall, although weak in spots,
was professional, polished and
well received by the audience.

The proficiency and smooth
integration shown by the six
members of Manassas was most
impressive. Although Stephen
Stills is the spokesman and
organizer of Manassas, rhythm
guitarist Chris Hillman seemed
to take control and provide the
stage cues.

Before the band returned
for the second set, Hillman
showed exceptional talent
when he took the stage with Al
Perkins. Picking his flattop
acoustic guitar with amazing
clarity and ease his renditions
of the classic Burrito Brothers'
tune "Six Days on the Road"
and another country rock
standard "White Line Fever"
were excellent.

Al Perkins also added a
degree of polish to Manassas'
performance which cannot be
overlooked. Perkins' rhythmic
pedal steel guitar work on the
country numbers "Fallen
Eagle" and "Colorado" was
outstanding. More impressive
was the fact that in many cases
Perkins' steel guitar

overshadows Stills' lead guitar
but without being flashy or
obtrusive.

One of the more
noteworthy features of the
show was the impressive
assemblage of sound and light
equipment. Stills and Manassas
brought all of their own
equipment, which is somewhat
of a rarity for groups on tour -
in most cases a production
company is hired to provide
and set up equipment. The use
of multi-colored lights behind
the stage as well as the clarity
of the PA system was a
pleasant change from the often
splotchy lighting and echoey,
uneven sounds of many rock
concerts.

The weakest aspect of
Saturday night's performance
was ironically Stephen Stills.
Although Stills is a good
vocalist and certainly has some
writing ability, his guitar
playing leaves much to be
desired. His riffs on lead guitar
were for the most part choppy,
drawn out and uninteresting.
His indiscriminate use of the
"wah-wah" pedal, reverb and
choplex effect was contrived at
best.

Stills' sloppy guitar playing
was most evident on the rock
n' roll style numbers such as
"So You Want to be a Rock n'
Roll Star," "Rock n' Roll
Crazies" and "Carry On." His
efforts on the banjo and
bottleneck guitar were also
somewhat lacking in finesse.

Stephen Stills and Manassas'
performance brings up the
question of whether Manassas
could get along without Stills.
Not only was his purported
"superstardom" not evident - it
seemed that the six members
of Manassas carried Stills, not
vice-versa. Stephen Stills'
disappointing personal showing
points out that he is apparently
more of a drawing card than a
dynamic talent in himself.