Thousand Roads - David Crosby
1993

All Music Guide

For his third solo album, Thousand Roads, Crosby increased the participation of his guests and attempted to redefine himself as an artist. Where previously, whoever was playing or singing on the track, the song was a Crosby composition, on Thousand Roads Crosby acted primarily as an interpretative singer, pennings only one of the ten songs and contributing to two others. The result certainly was a craftsmanlike set of songs written by pop professionals - Phil Collins, Jimmy Webb, Marc Cohn, John Hiatt, Paul Brady, Stephen Bishop - and produced by the cream of pop producers - Don Was, Glyn Johns, Phil Ramone. The failings were, first, that Crosby's individuality was lost and, second, that, as the list suggests, his choices were more calculated than inspired. The problem with David Crosby as a solo artist was not how to make him sound more conventional, it was how to make his unconventionality work. Thousand Roads solved the wrong problem; the album was Crosby's least successful in the record stores.

William Ruhlmann

 

Billboard Review: 5/8/1993

The veteran Crosby has recruited a truly heavyweight cast - Phil Collins, Graham Nash, Marc Cohn, Joni Mitchell, Andy Fairweather Low, John Hiatt, Don Was, and others too numerous to mention - for this ambitious record, modeled after Bonnie Raitt's "Nick Of Time" in its use of diverse songwriters and performers. Lead single is Crosby-Collins ballad "Hero," a collaboration that brings to mind "Another Day In Paradise", other high points are the singer's confessional title cut, Paul Brady ballad "Helpless Heart," and lovely Crosby-Mitchell tune "Yvette In English.