AMERICAN Dream (Atlantic) is Crosby Stills, Nash and Young's
first studio LP in 18 years. Predictably, the record does have its weak spots, but they
haven't fallen flat on their faces by any means. Each song here is stamped with the
individual singer/ songwriter's own personal style, but it's those tunes by Neil Young and
Stephen Stills (both individually and collaboratively) that come out on top. Young's songs
include a bittersweet tale of a couple facing the loss of their home ("This Old
House") and "American Dream" which sounds like a portrait of fallen TV
evangelist Jim Bakker ("I used to see you on every TV/ Your smiling face looked back
at me/ Then they caught you with the girl next door/ People's money piled on the
floor/
Accusations that you try to deny/ Revelations and rumors begin to fly"). The
Stills/Young collaborations produce American Dream's hardest rocking moments
("Night Song," "Drivin' Thunder") and the more harmonious "Got It
Made," one of the record's highlights.
David Crosby offers a merely average tune "Nighttime For The
Generals," an indictment of undercover U.S. militarism, and recalls his recent drug
ordeal in the confessional ballad "Compass." The weak link here is clearly
Graham Nash - his "Don't Say Goodbye" is a sleep-inducing ballad and the
colorless anti-war sentiment of "Shadowland" is insufferably bland. Still, Nash
fares slightly better on "Clear Blue Skies," an expression of concern for the
state of the environment, and the whole project, despite its occasional flaws, has enough
bright spots to have made the reunion a worthwhile endeavour.
