"Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young Together"
By MARY CAMPBELL
Newsfeatures Writer
February 23, 2000PHOTO: Richard Tsong-Taatarii / Star Tribune
NEW YORK (AP) - Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young made some wonderful music in the late 1960s and early '70s. There were songs of insight and feeling, beautiful four-part harmonies and impressive guitar work.
Then the group split up.
In the years that followed, each tried solo projects, with Neil Young scoring the most success. David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash often worked as a trio.
In 1998, Stills visited Young and played him a rough track for a Crosby, Stills and Nash album. Young said he'd like to play on the album. In the studio, he heard more things he liked. The quartet recorded six songs in four days.
They realized they were in the midst of a CSN&Y record.
``As soon as I showed up, I was on the same page,'' Young, 54, said. ``Then everybody wanted to do it because it was fun. We discovered the soul and heart of what we do.''
Young had recorded 15 songs for a solo album. He played some of them and the other three members chose four songs they thought the quartet could sing.
``We really came together in the midst of two projects,'' Young said. ``We merged and added stuff and made it into what this record is.'' Reprise Records released ``Looking Forward'' last October, and the band has been on tour since early this year.
``The songs showed the direction of where we can go - stay together and write new songs,'' Young said. ``We really have the method down. Everybody had a blast doing it. I think that's what I'm most excited about - the new music we're going to make now by looking forward to the next record.''
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young recorded the album the way they first did 30 years ago, singing together into one microphone instead of laying down each vocal separately, which they did later.
``We found there's a definite difference between voices electronically mixed and mixed in the air before they ever touch electronics,'' Crosby, 58, said.
``Looking Forward'' has two songs by Crosby, three by Stills, two by Nash and four by Young. Each writer presented his songs and the four worked together to shape them.
``A lot of the songs wrote themselves,'' said Stills, 55.
``These guys make me want to write,'' Crosby said. ``It's why this band is so good for me. It makes me want to play, sing and grow.''
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young is far from being a nostalgia band trying to repeat old successes. ``I think we've yet to reach our peak,'' Young said. ``I think we've shown that we can keep doing what we're doing and that we're going to get higher.''
The new CD includes ``Sanibel'' by Denny Sarokin, who handed Nash a cassette of the song on the street. Usually, such offerings are terrible, said Nash, 58.
``This attracted me. It was Neil's idea to close the album with it. He said `we've put people through some changes. Now let's send them on vacation.'''
Young considers creating new music more important than performing. But, he said, ``if everything continues to be a lot of fun, we'll find a way to do all of it.
``We're on a roll if we can stick with it and not get distracted with all the attention we're going to be getting. We had one or two tracks left over. If we make another record, chances are we've already made a little bit of it.''
The new songs speak of hope, trying to be a good person and keeping love alive.
``That's all hard to address without sounding like you're preaching,'' Young said. ``I hope we haven't crossed the line. If we have, it's because we're overanxious to make points we want to make. The songs are all sincere.''
Although four egos were a problem in the past, Young doesn't anticipate any problems. ``Now we don't have anything to argue about we can't work out. We are who we are. We respect each other and realize the value of what each brings to the table. There aren't many people who have three old friends they hung out with 30 years ago, let alone can make music with.''
They remember past incidents and laugh, he said. ``That's the kind of stuff that makes music soar, those relationships. The more time we spend together, the more music we play together, the more it's going to be great.''
He grins. ``Like we planned it in 1969.''