CROSBY, STILLS & NASH
DISTINCTIVE HARMONY- BASED SUPER-GROUP OF
THE LATER SIXTIES, WHO AT THEIR PEAK WERE THE WORLD'S MOST POPULAR LIVE ACT.
Author: Peter Dogett
Journal: Record Collector
Date: January 1983
Even after thirteen years, Crosby, Stills and Nash are still linked in
most people's minds with the Woodstock generation. They encapsulated so many of the ideals
of the time - the quest for 'love, peace and music' - in their music, that no matter what
they did afterwards they were regarded as the ultimate 'hippy' band. That may be a
compliment to the impact the trio had in 1969, but it has meant that their contribution to
rock over the last fifteen years has been more or less forgotten, in Britain at least.
They have spent more time apart than together since 1969, but whereas their solo careers
have foundered in recent years, together they are still big business, especially in
America, where their most recent reunion has seen them firmly back in the Top Twenty. To
the British rock press they may be little more than a joke, but their unmistakable brand
of vocal harmony and distinctive songwriting has influenced a generation of American rock
musicians, and produced a series of fascinating albums which are now forgotten by all but
their greatest fans.
INTEREST
It's difficult to think of a modern-day equivalent to Crosby, Stills
and Nash (CSN), who could excite the same media interest that greeted the trio's formation
early in 1969. David Crosby was the most public of the Byrds, sacked from the group in
1967 after disagreements over musical direction, and conflicts with Roger McGuinn. Besides
providing the top harmony on hits like "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Turn Turn
Turn", his jazz-tinged guitar playing and songwriting were responsible for some of
the Byrds' finest moments. But his biggest asset was his tenor voice, one of the purest in
rock, which linked perfectly with the heavily-accented Mancunian vocals of former Hollie
Graham Nash. By 1968, Nash had become the Hollies' chief songwriter, but increasingly he
found his songs clashing with the musical policy of the rest of the group. Harmonies had
been his trademark, too, perhaps the best example being the incredibly high vocal line at
the end of the chorus of "I Can't Let Go", which most people took to be a guitar
rather than a human voice.
The jigsaw was completed by the most versatile musician of the three,
Steve Stills. A brilliant guitarist and keyboards player, Stills could turn his hand to
almost any instrument. Since leaving Buffalo Springfield he had been concentrating on his
guitar-playing rather than his singing, but his rough, raw voice contrasted with and
matched the sweet blend of Crosby and Nash. The trio came together at John Sebastian's
house late in 1968. Crosby had been recording a solo album, when he was joined by Stills
fresh from his work on the "Super Session" album with Al Kooper. Together they
made a few rough demos, collaborated on the song "Wooden Ships" with Paul
Kantner of the Jefferson Airplane, and worked out some harmonies on several of Stephen's
compositions. Nash visited the duo while on tour with the Hollies in the States, heard
them singing and instinctively joined in. It didn't take them long to
realize that the
vocal mix was perfect, and so they set about overcoming the contractual difficulties that
might prevent them recording together. Nash hurried to sever his ties with the Hollies and
EMI; Crosby had been a free agent since leaving the Byrds and Columbia; and Stills was
already with Atlantic which proved the obvious choice of label for the newly-formed trio.
Early in 1969 they began sessions for their first album, "Crosby, Stills And
Nash".
All three members had several songs in store, so their biggest problem
was finding musicians. Crosby was a fine guitarist, but hadn't enjoyed his brief period as
bassist with the early Byrds; and Nash was an adequate guitarist and pianist. Stills
filled in most of the gaps. Helped by drummer Dallas Taylor from Clear Light, he laid down
the rhythm tracks and basic guitar parts, before the trio added their perfect three-part
harmonies. Then Stills polished off the tapes with some remarkable guitar and organ fills,
using electric sound to enhance the acoustic feel of the album. The results were polished,
almost neurotically so, with the harmonies the album's main attraction. Some people
criticized their search for perfection, and later in their career the trio were prone to
sacrifice emotion for technical excellence; but the close personal rapport of the band
members, and long periods of rehearsals, made absolutely sure that all the vocals were
complex and exact.
ACCLAIM
The album was released in May 1969 in the States (June in Britain), to
great critical and public acclaim. It sold a million in America within a matter of weeks
and although British sales weren't so spectacular there was the consolation of Graham
Nash's attractive "Marrakesh Express" reaching No. 17 in September. The album
was remarkable not only for its vocal harmonies, but for the way that three song-writers
worked together so well. All three contributed songs of lost love, and managed to convey
sincere emotion through the personal nature of their Lyrics. Critics wasted no time in
matching the love songs with the women who had inspired them - all of which added to the
mystique of the band. Stills' 'Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" was edited down from seven
minutes to three for the album's second single in a version unavailable elsewhere, but
didn't make the charts. It was backed by "Long Time Gone", a song Crosby had
written in response to the shooting of Robert Kennedy.
The band were keen to go out on the road, but needed musical support
for Stills. After casting round for a session pianist, Stills remembered his Buffalo
Springfield colleague Neil Young. Young played rudimentary piano, but was renowned as a
guitarist and idiosyncratic vocalist. Having assured himself that he would be able to
continue his solo career with Crazy Horse, Young agreed to join bringing with him another
Springfield member Bruce Palmer, to play bass. This aroused considerable speculation that
the Springfield's unfortunate personality differences might be revived in the new band. In
fact, Palmer scarcely stayed long enough to find out. A disagreement with Nash over
technique ended in him being sacked. He was quickly replaced by Greg Reeves, a young
session player.
Having solved the problem of which of their new members should receive
separate billing, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (CSNY) began live performances with a gig
at the Fillmore East in July 1969. Their second show was rather more daunting - at the
massive Woodstock Festival in August. Although they were some way down the bill, the
pressure on the band was enormous - as the opening comments of Crosby and Stills
(preserved on both film and vinyl) reveal. Already they had begun to divide their sets
into two halves, opening with 'wooden' (acoustic) music as a three-piece, each member
getting a solo spot, before Young, Taylor and Reeves joined them for the electric half of
the set.
SPIRIT
The use of their music in the film and the soundtrack album helped to
connect the group and the event in people's minds, and CSNY became very much the epitome
of the festival spirit, reflecting the feeling of togetherness and shared ideals that the
event had supposedly inspired. In fact, despite the success of their set, only one of
their songs was actually shown in the film, although a couple of remixed studio tracks
were used as background to some of the general scenes of the crowd and the site.
The soundtrack triple album featured "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes"
(on which their off-key harmonies were apparent), Neil Young's otherwise unavailable
"Sea Of Madness" and a fine version of "Wooden Ships". "Woodstock
Two", a double set issued in 1971, strengthened the feeling that the acoustic set had
been better than the electric one by including the trio's "4+20",
"Marrakesh Express" and "Guinevere"
"Woodstock" wasn't the only film with which CSN have been
involved. The rather pretentious "Strawberry Statement", made in 1970, used
"Our House", "Long Time Gone" and "Helpless" (all studio
versions) on its soundtrack, while "Melody" climaxed with the quartet's
"Teach Your Children". "Celebration At Big Sur", filmed at the 1969
folk festival, featured CSN singing and playing with Joni Mitchell (on 'Get
Together") and John Sebastian, while both "Supershow" (Steve Stills) and
"Teenage Fair" (David Crosby) were documentaries that featured brief appearances
from members of the band. Finally 1980's "No Nukes", a record of the MUSE
concerts in New York, featured a number of songs by the group, while the soundtrack album
also had several CSN contributions. CSN also turned up in Neil Young's rarely-seen
"Journey In The Past", of which more later.
Early in 1970, CSNY recorded their one and only complete studio album,
"Deja Vu". According to Neil Young, most of the numbers were recorded by
individual members of the group with the rest of the band adding overdubs. Only
"Almost Cut My Hair", "Woodstock" and "Helpless" were actual
group cuts, although Young complained that in their quest for perfection the rest of the
band had overdubbed a fiery live take of "Woodstock" because the vocals weren't
quite perfect. "Deja Vu" was issued in March 1970, to a great reception. All
four members contributed some of their best material, ranging from Crosby's paranoid
"Almost Cut My Hair" to Nash's idyllic "Our House", Steve Stills
showed off his remarkable ability to get as much from one set of Lyrics as possible:
"Carry On" included some of the words from his earlier "Questions",
while the Stills/Young composition "Everybody I Love You" contained a set of
Lyrics that ended up on Stills' second solo LP as "Know You Got To Run".
Musically, the album was rich, with Jerry Garcia's steel guitar and John Sebastian's
harmonica adding to the texture. Like the trio's first album, "Deja Vu" was
reissued in 1972 when Atlantic computerized their numbering system. Later pressings of the
first album (and the later "Four Way Street") lost their initial
Lyric sheets,
while "Deja Vu" soon jettisoned its fine embossed cover for a straightforward
one. These changes help make the original issues more collectable than the later
pressings.
SUCCESS
To consolidate the album's success, the quartet set out on a major
American tour in May 1970 - but only after the original rhythm section of Taylor and
Reeves had been replaced by Fuzzy Samuels and Johnny Barbata, when they demanded time on
stage for their own material. The tour was recorded, and in the absence of any new studio
recordings a double live set called "Four Way Street" was issued in 1971,
featuring a cross-section of acoustic and electric material. Before that, the band
released a new single. At the end of the tour came the killings at Kent State University
in Ohio. Young's response was to write a song called "Ohio", which was recorded
the day it was written and (like John Lennon's "Instant Karma" a few months
earlier) in the shops within a week. This was probably CSNY's finest hour, taped in a
single take and capturing all the fire and passion of the band. The flipside was
"Find The Cost Of Freedom", which Stills had originally written for the
"Easy Rider" movie, but which had been rejected by Peter Fonda. Only the chorus
was recorded by CSNY, but in the early Seventies Stills added a long preamble to the song,
and used it as the climax to his gigs. Finally in 1982 CSN recorded a slightly shorter
version of the tune as the final track on their reunion album, "Daylight Again".
SEPARATE
"Ohio" proved to be the last new CSNY studio track ever
released. After their summer tour, the four went their separate ways to follow solo
project's. Young's career has been covered fully in Record Collector No. 37: throughout
the Seventies he was easily the most respected member of the band, and at the same time
the least likely to collaborate with any of the other three. Besides suffering a severe
back injury and making a million-selling album in "Harvest", Young spent the
early Seventies preparing his "Journey Through The Past" movie, a
semi-documentary which included footage of CSNY live, playing "Ohio" and
"Find The Cost Of Freedom", both of which were included on the double soundtrack
album.
Steve Stills resumed his solo career at the end of 1970, with a hit
single ("Love The One You're With") and the "Stephen Stills" album.
Most of his albums appear to have more or less the same title, which has tended to confuse
record-buyers. The first was the best-seller, however, and probably the best featuring a
selection of immaculately-performed and soulful songs with session contributions from Jimi
Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Crosby and Nash and Ringo Starr, who collaborated on a London
session that produced the beautiful "To A Flame", "We Are Not
Helpless" and "As I Come Of Age", the last of which was held over until
1975. This was easily the most productive period of Stills' career, both in terms of
sessions and songs. Most of the best numbers on his solo albums were written between 1969
and 1971 and later LPs tend to be dominated by the earlier songs. "Stephen Stills
2", which followed in 1971, followed a similar format to the first album, with
slightly less success. Again Stills handled a host of overdubs, helped by top session
players and guitarist Nils Lofgren, fresh from his work with Neil Young.
In 1972, Stills formed a new permanent band called Manassas, although
he received separate billing on each of their releases. Manassas featured Dallas Taylor,
Chris Hillman and Al Perkins (both from the Flying Burrito Brothers), ex-John Sebastian
sideman Paul Harris, Fuzzy Samuels and two musicians who brought out the Latin influence
on Stills' music, Joe Lala and Jerry Aeillo. Their first album was a double called
"Manassas", with sides devoted to blues, rock, country and folk. Almost all of
the songs were written by Stills, with occasional help from band members and Bill Wyman of
the Stones; but there was nothing to match the best of his two solo albums, and the
production was very thin, making the band sound lumbering and ungainly. Their live shows
were something else. As a BBC "In Concert" programme in 1973 showed, Manassas
were a genuinely fine rock band on stage, still dominated by Stills, who alternated
between keyboards and guitar, but allowing plenty of room for the rest of the group to
stretch out. Unfortunately, little of that power was captured on the band's second album,
"Down The Road", which sounded suspiciously like a collection of out-takes from
"Manassas". Later that year the band split, as Stills considered a CSNY reunion
and at the same time assembled a new live band.
REPUTATION
David Crosby and Graham Nash had been operating as a duo since the
retirement of CSNY. Crosby's one and only solo album, "If I Could Only Remember My
Name", was issued in 1971, and has acquired a reputation as one of the most
self-indulgent albums of its era. It was certainly light on songs; but most of the set was
taken up with exquisite vocal music, often without words, featuring Nash, Young, Joni
Mitchell and assorted members of Santana, Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead. In
1971 most people wanted an album of political songs from Crosby, and weren't prepared for
a record that said nothing but sounded beautiful.
At about the same time Graham Nash issued his first solo album,
"Songs For Beginners". Compared to the other three CSNY members, he had a weak
solo voice and slight songwriting talent, but with the help of his friends he managed to
make an album of minor but endearing songs, some of which wouldn't have sounded out of
place with the Hollies. The following year "Graham Nash And David Crosby" was
released, with the usual superstar backing crew on hand. Nash's songs here were weaker
than on his own LP, with the exception of "Southbound Train", but Crosby came up
with some more good melodies and the duo's harmonies ensured that even the weakest songs
sounded significant. For the next year Crosby and Nash played a series of gigs as a duo,
occasionally joined by Neil Young (as on the "Water Brothers" bootleg). Nash and
Young also recorded a single together, the powerful "War Song", which was
released in a picture sleeve in the States but not at all in Britain, and has never been
reissued since.
In 1973 Crosby and Nash began to plan their second album, together with
Graham's next solo project. Both were postponed, however, when a CSNY reunion was mooted.
Crosby and Nash had joined Young for a spring U.S. tour (documented on Neil's "Time
Fades Away" album) and the break-up of Manassas made a complete reunion more likely.
All four members had been saving songs for a possible joint project, and there was no
doubt that no matter what reservations the public had about solo albums, they were keen
for another CSNY release, as it was now two years since "4 Way Street"
The summer 1973 recording sessions began well, concentrating on several
Graham Nash songs and Young's "Human Highway". However, nothing definite came
from them, except the promise to try again next year. In the meantime Nash finished his
solo album, "Wild Tales", which included the songs which CSNY had recently been
attempting. It was released to a very lukewarm reception and poor sales. Simply, Nash had
stretched himself too far, and without the backing of the rest of CSNY the album sounded
flimsy and rough, not helped by Nash's insistence on taking a major instrumental role
himself. More attention in 1974 was paid to the next CSNY reunion, which produced a world
tour including an appearance at Wembley Stadium, where they were supported by the Band and
Joni Mitchell. To tie in with the tour, a compilation album was released, complete with
cover art by Joni Mitchell. "So Far" seemed a little presumptuous, as it was
based on only two albums and a single, but it did mark the first appearance on album of
the original "Ohio" studio tracks - and it sold very well, helped by the tour
publicity. A new studio album and live double set were discussed after the tour, but
neither actually appeared, so we have to rely on bootlegs to capture the atmosphere of the
concerts. As always, the band frequently played and sang out of tune, but carried such
presence that no-one seemed to mind. As David Crosby said later, CSNY were "probably
the biggest group in the world" at that time.
ABANDONED
After a second series of sessions had been abandoned, the individual
members of the band returned to their own projects. Crosby and Nash completed two albums
in quick succession, and continued touring. "Wind On The Water" is probably the
best of their recordings together, helped by the musicianship of their backing band: Danny
Kootch, David Lindley, Tim Drummond, Russ Kunkel, Lee Sklar and Craig Doerge. It also
contained several of their strongest songs for years, such as the vocal piece "To The
Last Whale" and Crosby's "Carry Me" and "Low Down Payment". The
follow-up, "Whistling Down The Wire", was recorded by the same team, but the
songs lacked the quality of the earlier efforts. A few token Crosby/ Nash singles were
released during this period, but they sold very poorly, and are now quite hard to find,
although they contain no unreleased material.
Meanwhile Steve Stills had begun recording with his new band, which
centered around the guitar/vocal talents of Donnie Dacus. "Stills" was a
collection of songs dating back over the last six years, and featuring two CSN recordings,
"First Things First" and "As I Come Of Age". "Stills Live"
was issued by Atlantic after he had left for CBS but didn't really capture the band at
their best. Six months later came "Illegal Stills", something of a creative
renaissance, but still a disappointing seller. Then, completing a run of four albums in
eighteen months, Atlantic released "The Best Of Stephen Stills" in late 1976.
The final attempt at a CSNY reunion came in 1976. Neil Young and Steve
Stills joined forces to make an album with Stills' band, before going out on a nationwide
tour. A few days into the sessions, Young decided to invite Crosby and Nash in to work on
the harmonies. They spent the best part of a fortnight overdubbing the already finished
tracks, before contractual pressures meant they had to return to finish their own
long-overdue duo album. While they were away Stills and Young decided to make the record
as a duo after all, and wiped Crosby and Nash's harmonies off the tapes. They were
furious; the album, "Long May You Run", was a severe disappointment; and the
tour had to be cancelled halfway through when Young got bored and returned home. Since
then, feelings between Young and the rest of CSNY seem to have been decidedly lukewarm,
and no further projects have been considered by the full quartet.
Early in 1977 CSN again considered a reunion. Their recent solo
projects had been disappointingly received, and a revival of the group name seemed the
best bet for commercial success. "CSN" was almost completely ignored in Britain,
where the Sex Pistols and Clash were gaining more attention; but in the States it was a
massive seller. Basically the album retrod old ground, with only David Crosby coming up
with any decent songs; but once again the perfection of the group's harmonies covered up
any cracks. But this reunion too foundered, and in 1978 Steve Stills was back making solo
recordings, resulting in the completely ignored "Thoroughfare Gap", a rather
lacklustre collection highlighted only by the title track, another song from the early
Seventies. It sold poorly, a fate that also met Crosby and Nash's disappointing
"Live" LP and 'greatest hits' compilation in 1977 and 1978 respectively.
STRUGGLED
For the next four years, all three men struggled. Crosby and Nash
parted, and although Nash managed to get a solo album ("Earth And Sky") released
in 1980, it was totally ignored by the press. Crosby was unable to find a company willing
to take his latest solo effort, while Stills, whose live gigs during this period were
apparently little short of disastrous, was dropped by CBS. In the meantime a very strange
CSN compilation called "Replay" appeared, which contained a mixture of joint and
solo recordings, including "Carry On" from "Deja Vu", which had
originally featured Neil Young. In a bizarre move, all mention of Neil Young was left off
the cover, and Stills overdubbed a new guitar solo to cover up Young's original one,
suggesting that feelings between that half of the partnership were running pretty high. As
in the past, a CSN reunion seemed to be the only way for the trio to regain popularity,
Crosby was still estranged from the other two when they began the project, but shortly
before it was completed he asked to be included. Stills and Nash, who had roped in (among
others) Art Garfunkel to take Crosby's place, agreed, and Crosby recorded two new songs,
added a couple of overdubs to the already finished tracks and co-produced the set.
"Daylight Again" was released in the autumn of 1982. As
usual, Britain ignored the album, but in America its success was incredible, and both
singles taken from it ("Wasted On The Way" and "Southern Cross") made
the Top Twenty. Although they had again gone over old musical ground, the charisma of the
CSN name was obviously enough for most American fans, and there was also an element of
relief that the trio could still sing the way they used to. For the moment, then, they
remain together, hopeful that the trio's success will allow them room for solo projects,
and touring on the strength of their old songs.
Besides their recordings together, CSN have also played and sung
innumerable sessions over the years. At least one of them is featured on every Joni
Mitchell album up to "Hejira", while Elton John, Art Garfunkel, James Taylor and
Carole King are among the many artists who have received vocal aid from Crosby and Nash.
David Crosby also made an album called "Seastones" with Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh
and other friends in 1975. Finally, the last official CSNY release wasn't "So
Far" in 1974: the last track of Neil Young's "Zuma" album in 1975
"Through My Sails", is a live CSNY recording made in 1974 during the world tour.
It seems unlikely that even after the success of CSN the quartet could ever record
together again; but less likely things have happened, and it seems impossible that the
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young story is anywhere near completion!
