"CSN&Y
tour is 'Mothership' Feisty & contentious, they're reunited again"
CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG, 8
tonight, First Union Center, Broad and Pattison. Tickets: $40.50, $51,
$76.
By: Jonathan Takiff
Daily News Staff Writer
They take meetings. They listen and react to each other with "sensitivity."
They vote on song selections democratically.
"Yeah, the sands of time have definitely rounded off some of the edges" of
the notoriously rough and tumble relationship that's been Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young,
allows Stephen Stills with a caustic laugh.
And they're having "the best time we can remember" out on the concert
circuit, with a 26-years-in-the-waiting reunion tour that's brought them back to our town
for two shows, last night (which sold out) and tonight (seats still available) at the
First Union Center.
"It's like going back to your childhood and growing up at the same time,"
said Stills - speaking for himself but probably echoing the reactions of the core
CSN&Y audience, as well.
Pop's first supergroup, fusing the strongest and, OK, the most egotistical of talents
from Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds and the Hollies, CSN&Y combined folksy beauty and
rock and roll grit, glorious harmonies and gut-busting guitar jams, innocence and angry
protest anthems.
As a leading voice of the boomer generation, they soared like a firecracker - burning
fast and leaving quite a trail. The foursome created one masterpiece, 1970's
"Deja-vu" and one killer of a live album "Four Way Street." Then after
a 1974 reunion tour that played the Atlantic City Raceway, the obstinate Mr. Young
departed the pack, leaving CS&N to carry on as a trio (as they had for that one great
album before he joined). Or, when they couldn't all deal with each other, working in
subdivisions (C&N, S&Y) or as solo artists.
In recent years CS&N has been "reduced to a casino act," bemoans longtime
local fan Andy Clearfield - a former music critic turned attorney. "Even their label
[Atlantic] gave up on them, after making millions on these guys. Young is the only one
who's maintained his currency, his credibility with today's music buyers."
No fools, group members have always known that their "whole is greater than the
sum of its parts," Stills concedes. True, a "one-off" CSN&Y album
reunion in 1988 ("American Dream") went nowhere fast, but in large measure that
was because the project's motivation was misplaced. The album was a "reward" to
Crosby from the others, for having survived his prison sit on drug-related charges. With
no accompanying tour to help kickstart the engines, this baby had to be still-borne.
(Maybe they had to wait for Crosby's hair to grow back, too? You gotta check out the
unrecognizable "just released" picture of him that pops up in a VH1 special on
the band, airing again Thursday night.)
"Now everyone's giving credit to Neil, but that's OK" for getting the group
back to full strength in 2000, Stills adds. The muscle-flexing includes the auspiciously
named and reasonably vital CSN&Y album "Looking Forward," a new label deal
(Reprise), and their current arena concert tour.
In fact, the genesis of the reunion was a Stills visit to Young's ranch, to survey the
contents of a proposed Buffalo Springfield box set, Stills shares. "I don't know
exactly where they found this stuff, but hearing it was an emotional experience, like
listening to your childhood. And it kind of sparked this thing." (FYI - the box set
is fully done but awaiting approval of the "marketing pukes," Stills snorts.)
In the aftermath of that reunion, Stills invited Young to drop in on recording sessions
that CS&N were undertaking on their own, despite their lack of a record company to
release it. This time, Young took them up on the offer, in early 1998 popping in to add
guitar and vocal harmony parts to songs they'd already cut, and then throwing some new,
lonesome cowboy wailers of his own onto the fire. Eventually more than 30 numbers were
recorded. "The only bad day we ever had was the day we voted on which songs would be
on the album," Stills relates.
While the project was put together with Young's mantra of "feel over
perfection," Stills now agrees with one critic's assessment that the production came
out rather "lackluster." "You can't expect a studio album coming out of the
box to get this franchise back on track. The songs came from all kinds of different
elements. There wasn't a continuity to it. And as far as sales. let's face it. We're old
guys, battling against a youth market driven economy, especially in the U.S. This album
has sold four times more copies worldwide than it has here."
But Stills is quick to add that working the material on stage - with the four core guys
handling everything 'cepting bass (Donald "Duck" Dunn) and drums (Jim Keltner) -
has now beaten it into much better shape.
So, too, have his daily trips to the gym and the tennis court. "That's why we've
been recording every night on stage. We want to put out a concert recording and video of
the tour, to show what we're really capable of doing."
These marathon-length shows have been been winning solid reviews and good ticket sales
in most markets, with Philadelphia - always a CSN&Y stronghold and a city Stills
"loves" - proving especially receptive.
The three-hour long, 30- song musicade touches on highpoints from both group and solo
efforts - from "Love The One You're With" "Our House" and
"Woodstock" to Young's "Cinnamon Girl" and "Rockin' In the Free
World." (A version of "Eight Miles High," harkening to Crosby's days in the
Byrds, has just been added to the "classics" column.)
Not just trading on their laurels, the group also is rallying the troops anew with
fresh anthems like Crosby's rousing "Stand and Be Counted" (likewise the title
of his new book saluting musicians' involvements in worthy causes), Nash's melliflous
"Heartland," Young's subtle country reverie "Slowpoke" and Stills'
"Seen Enough." The last is a feisty (no surprise!) rant against the dangers of
computer culture, in part sparked by the Columbine massacre.
What's the show highpoint for Stills? "We're doing this ripping version of 'Down
By The River,'" he relates, suddenly gushing like a kid. "It's like John
Coltrane and Miles Davis meet the Four Freshman, with real good harmonies and we're off in
this netherworld and who the f--- knows where we're going next.
We're so into the moment. The trouble is, you can get lost there. Sometimes I'm falling
on my a--, but what the hell."
As for reports CSN&Y will continue this party into the summer and
beyond, Stills won't deny it. "We're not stopping," he vows.
"This is the mothership."
