In the wake of Buffalo Springfield’s undoing, a plethora of new projects were birthed. As Steven Stills parted ways to team up with David Crosby and Graham Nash, Neil Young went solo and occasionally collaborated with them. Jim Messina discovered his folk singing protégé, Kenny Loggins, and the two went on to make heavenly sounds for the next half decade as Loggins and Messina. Dewey Redman, the group’s drummer, decided to recruit new members and milk the Buffalo Springfield thing for all it was worth, performing under the New Buffalo Springfield, and often just New Buffalo. Stills and Young weren’t so jazzed on the idea and sued Redman for use of the name, which caused a prompt re-branding: New Buffalo became Blue Mountain Eagle, named after their home state of Oregon’s oldest newspaper, who, coincidentally, did not sue. After the change, Redman left the band to form Medicine Ball, excising BME from any direct legacy of Buffalo S.
The remaining band’s ephemeral existence would see them sharing the stage with the likes of Hendrix, Lee, and Burdon. In December ’69, they entered the studio to record with Bill Halverston, who manned the decks for other acts like the Dead and CSNY (years later he would engineer Kraftwerk’s Trans-Europe Express). The final product revealed a slickly recorded, shimmering side to acid rock. "Love is Here" starts things off with a deep cookin’ groove, reminiscent of SRC or Dino Valente’s Quicksilver Messenger Service. A Young-ian lyrical structure heeds a letter of warning to a young psychonaut: “If you want to change the world you live in yeah/ There must be a feeling from all sides yeah.” BJ Jones and Joey Newman weave their wails, while lead vocalist David Price “chh”’s and “aah” throughout.
And there are plenty of other tracks worth describing:"Yellow’s Dream" is soft and folksy, with an organ intro reminiscent of Aoxomoxoa era-Dead, while the heavy blues rocker, "Feel Like a Bandit," has a dual vocal attack, filled with “my woman ain’t no good” lyrical fare, so typical of that era. Troubles’ proto-"Sweet Home Alabama" opening lick erupts into a color chorus of sunburned psychedelia that makes you think you’re back in the Haight. "Loveless Lives" evokes the stoner soul of Vanilla Fudge and the deep, deep grooves of Randy Holden’s solo work. "Sweet Mama" is similarly iconoclastic, and finally the Stills-penned single "Marianne" is lovingly added to this CD in both mono and stereo form, jovially creaks with electric wah.
On the downside, ballads like "No Regrets" and the airy "Promise of Love" detract from the album's more freewheelin’, “All American band” stride. Blue Mountain Eagle also sounds derivative at times, recalling a number of other, more popular groups; they ultimately suffer from a far too formulaic approach, with each song following the verse-chorus-verse-guitar freakout-coda-verse-chorus-coda-end template. The lyrics are sometimes abysmally simplistic ("You make me feel bad now mama/ And that isn’t good"), and despite the heaviness and proficient playing, this super group comes off as somewhat of a session band. Ultimately, big egos and poor record sales would be their demise, and in May 1970 they disbanded, only five months after recording the album. Now the tracks have been rescued from obscurity and re-released, and despite a few qualms, aficionados of West Coast hard psych should definitely check out this lost rocker.
