Few American groups have produced a wealth of talent like that of Buffalo Springfield. The group's formation is the stuff of legend: driving on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, Stephen Stills and Richie Furay spotted a hearse that Stills was sure belonged to Neil Young, a Canadian he had crossed paths with earlier. Indeed it was, and with the addition of fellow hearse passenger and Canadian Bruce Palmer on bass and ex-Dillard Dewey Martin on drums, the cluster of ex-folkies determined, as the Byrds had just done, to become a rock & roll band.
Over a 19-month period, during 1967 and 1968, Buffalo Springfield released three impressive albums. Their debut, including their sole big hit (Stills' "For What It's Worth"), established them as the best folk-rock band in the land baring the Byrds, though the Springfield were a bit more folk and country oriented. The second, Buffalo Springfield Again, is their masterpiece, as the group expanded their folk-rock base into tough hard rock and psychedelic orchestration. Possessing three strong songwriters with distinctly different yet complementary styles -- Stills, Young, and Furay (the last of whom didn't begin writing until the second LP) -- they also had strong and often conflicting egos, particularly Stills and Young. The group, which held almost infinite promise, rearranged their lineup several times, Young leaving the group for periods and Palmer fighting deportation, until disbanding in 1968. Their final album, although it contained some excellent material, clearly shows the group fragmenting into solo directions.
Even more than the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield's sound was undeniably American, drawing from rock, folk, and country. The intense clash of creative energies, however, finally caused the demise of the band in May of 1968. Stephen Stills went on to Crosby, Stills & Nash. Neil Young joined that group briefly for Deja Vu, then went on to pursue an erratic solo career with periods of great success and brilliant music. After Springfield, Jim Messina and Richie Furay founded the country-rock group Poco. After Poco, Messina recorded a string of hits during the '70s with Kenny Loggins, as Loggins & Messina.
Rick Clark & Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide