CSNY release 'American Dream' - First studio album since 'Déjà Vu'

Date: December 1st 1988
Author: Michael Goldberg
Journal: Rolling Stone

Eighteen years after the release of their classic album Déjà Vu, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young have finally completed a second studio album. Titled American Dream, the recording was due in stores in early November.

"The theme of the album is the American dream," says Graham Nash. "And there are so many opinions of what it was or is or could be. Therefore, you get songs about falling in and out of love, about being angry, about questioning. It's CSNY in '88."

Recorded largely at Broken Arrow Ranch--Neil Young's home in northern California--between February and May of this year, American Dream is a potpourri of musical styles and topics. Produced by the group and Niko Bolas (who produced both Young's and Warren Zevon's latest recordings), the album contains fourteen original songs.

The title track is about the failure of some public figures to live up to the American dream ("I used to see you on every TV/Your smiling fact looked back at me/Then they caught you with the girl next door/People's money piled on the floor"). But there are also love songs--Young's folkie "Feel Your Love," Stephen Stills's bluesy "Lose That Girl" and Nash's bittersweet ballad "Don't Say Goodbye"--as well as pointed social and political commentary, such as "Nighttime for the Generals," "Name of Love" and "Soldiers of Peace." Also included are a straight country song by Young, "This Old House," and two Stills-Young collaborations, "Driving Thunder" and "Night Song."

Young took charge of the American Dream sessions--described by Nash as "insanely tension free." Nash says that Young and Stills initially spent a week together at the ranch to ensure that "if it wasn't working with Stephen, Neil would have plenty of time to call it off. I think he wanted to know it was a workable situation. And fortunately it was. Neil was a champion," says Nash. "He's a natural leader. It's difficult to have an entire scene that has three or four madmen at your home. Neil was the quarterback--but you still need the rest of the team."

And how does Nash think American Dream stacks up beside Déjà Vu? "I don't compare them at all," he says. "Déjà Vu was created by individuals recording their tracks and bringing them to the party to be sung on, taking them away to be mixed and then bringing them back to be assembled. This time we were all there all the time, singing and playing. It really is the first CSNY record."

There are no plans for a Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young tour.