The enigmatic
Bruce Palmer is known mostly as the original bassist in
Buffalo Springfield, one of the greatest rock groups of the 1960s. Although
Palmer did not sing or write any material during his time in the band, he was a vital member, both on-stage and (at least in the beginning) in the studio, for providing much of the "rock" muscle in the band's folk-rock with his powerful, creative basslines. He was also its most mysterious member, playing with his back to the audience and often even posing in photographs with his face away or hidden from the camera. Some bad luck and personal problems interrupted his stint in
Buffalo Springfield several times, however, and he was eventually replaced by
Jim Messina shortly before the band split up. While he would briefly play with ex-
Buffalo Springfield members again in subsequent years, never again would he enjoy nearly as high a profile in the rock world as he had in his early twenties as
the Springfield's bassist. He also managed to produce a rare solo album in the early '70s that counts as one of the strangest rock records ever released by a name musician, or by a major label.
Palmer, like fellow
Buffalo Springfield member
Neil Young, was Canadian, and started playing in Toronto R&B and rock & roll bands in his mid-teens. In the mid-'60s, he played for a time in Jack London & the Sparrows, a British Invasion-like group that had a couple Canadian hit singles (released after
Palmer's departure from the band). He then joined the Mynah Birds, with AWOL American sailor (and future funk and soul star)
Rick James on lead vocals, in a trade whereby
Nick St. Nicholas of the Mynah Birds (and later of
Steppenwolf) replaced
Palmer in Jack London & the Sparrows. In early 1966,
Neil Young joined the Mynah Birds, who got a contract with Motown and recorded some material for the label that's never been released. Part of the reason it remained in the vaults is that
James was arrested for being AWOL, which broke up the band only a couple of months after
Young had joined.
Young and
Palmer then undertook a legendary drive to Los Angeles in
Young's hearse, the goal being to find
Stephen Stills (whom
Young had previously met) and see about forming a band.
Young and
Palmer had no address for
Stills, and after several days of searching for him in L.A. they were on the verge of giving up, and decided to head north to San Francisco. But in one of rock & roll's greatest strokes of luck, they found him in Los Angeles when a vehicle in which
Stills and
Richie Furay were riding passed the hearse on Sunset Boulevard going in the opposite direction. Almost immediately, the nucleus of
Buffalo Springfield was formed, finalized by the addition of
Dewey Martin as drummer.
Although
Palmer plays on everything on
Buffalo Springfield's first album and most of the second, he's not on most of the band's third and last LP. Actually, he first left the group in January 1967, when he was busted for marijuana possession and deported back to Canada. The group used a couple different bassists (Ken Koblun and
Jim Fielder) over the next few months, until
Palmer managed to get back into the United States and rejoin in June. Another bust for various offenses, including speeding without a driver's license and drug possession, led to his final departure from
Buffalo Springfield in January 1968,
Jim Messina taking his place. The group only lasted a few more months without
Palmer, disbanding in May 1968.
About a year later,
Palmer was briefly considered for the bassist position in
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, but was cut loose after a bit of rehearsal and recording,
David Crosby and
Graham Nash objecting the most to making
Palmer a permanent backup musician. (Two recordings on which
Palmer plays, a version of "Helplessly Hoping" and a cover of
Terry Reid's "Horses Through a Rainstorm," appear on the Crosby, Stills & Nash box set.) Shortly after that, he took advantage of an offer from MGM to do a solo album, although he had never before written or sung any material. That borne in mind, it's less surprising that his early-'70s solo album,
The Cycle Is Complete, turned out to be almost wholly instrumental, comprised of four jam-like tracks mixing psychedelic rock, improvised jazz, and more esoteric styles. Among the musicians backing him were four members of Kaleidoscope and his old bandmate
Rick James, who played percussion and occasionally added some scat-like vocals.
Unsurprisingly, the album sold little, and
Palmer vanished from the music business. He did unexpectedly resurface to play live with his old friend
Neil Young in the early '80s, also contributing to
Young's
Trans album. In the mid-'80s he formed the tribute band Buffalo Springfield Revisited, in which
Dewey Martin was the sole other original
Buffalo Springfield member.
Palmer passed away October 1, 2004 after suffering a heart attack. ~ Richie Unterberger