"We could sing the first album in
your living room." David Crosby
The first album is the purest conception
of Crosby, Stills and Nash, and still their finest hour. This album features the strengths
of the trio - depth and variety in song writing, wonderful vocal arrangements and the
instrumental talents of Stephen Stills. There are no slick studio sidemen here. The only
"outside" musicians are drummers Dallas Taylor and Jim Gordon. CSN keep things
simple and let the songs shine.
This project grew out of
the mutual admiration of Crosby and Stills. Their first work together was
the Buffalo Springfield’s Rock and Roll Woman. Although Crosby, then a
Byrd, is un-credited, this is truly a collaboration, and in it’s rocking
yet pretty style, it is a clear precursor of CSN. After the Springfield
broke up and Crosby was asked to leave the Byrds, they eventually got
together again to demo some of their new material, the first step in the
making of this album. It is the work of Crosby and Stills that really
rises to the top on this album. Stills weighs in with Suite: Judy Blue
Eyes, Helplessly Hoping, You Don’t Have to Cry and 49 Bye Byes. His
writing is shockingly mature, and manages to be literary ("lacy
lilting lyric, losing love lamenting") without becoming fey. Stills’
best work has always been solidly grounded in his folk and blues
background, and that grounding here is strong enough to hold both the
lyrical cleverness and the lush three part harmonies without losing it’s
earthiness.
Crosby was at his best too.
Crosby has never been prolific, but his time off after the Byrds enabled
him to bring three of his best songs ever to this album, Guinevere, Long
Time Gone and Wooden Ships. Guinevere is the type of spacey, slightly
jazzy work he was doing at the end of his stay with the Byrds (It Happens
Each Day, Everybody Has Been Burned), and it gets a very simple yet fully
realized acoustic treatment here. Long Time Gone, written in response to
the assassination of Bobby Kennedy, burns with passion. This song is very
different from Crosby’s earlier work, much more bluesy. The apocalyptic
science fiction tale Wooden Ships (written with Stills and Paul Kantner)
is probably Crosby’s masterpiece. Musically, Long Time Gone and Wooden
Ships benefit from the collaboration between Crosby and Stills. Stills
contributes mightily in arrangements and musicianship, even at times
sharing lead vocals on Crosby’s tunes.
Graham Nash, who came to
this group by way of England’s The Hollies, is not quite at the level of
his mates on this outing, but his material is still very strong. He
provides a very catchy single in Marrakesh Express and his simple but
rocking Pre-Road Downs provides a welcome burst of energy at the end of
side one. Lady of the Island fall a bit short of the mark, probably due
more to a lifeless arrangement than to the song itself.
The lasting impression of the album is the
"wooden music" - the outstanding acoustic work of Stills with the signature CSN
harmonies over the top. The songs are more than strong enough to hold up to this simple
treatment, and the arrangements and the pace of the songs seem a perfect fit (in later
live versions, these songs often felt like the harmonies were driving them, and something
was lost).
This "wooden"
impression obscures the times when this simple band really rocks. Wooden
Ships features Crosby’s chunky rhythm guitar, and Stills lead guitar
manages to be both heavy and beautiful. Stills plays a stunning backwards
guitar on Pre-Road Downs, which Nash sings the hell out of. Long Time Gone
is passionate. The heavy reliance on their own playing (especially Stills
on bass, guitar & keyboards) creates a unity of sound. These are
deeply personal songs, and the album resounds with the theme of loss -
Stills’ songs of lost love, Crosby’s reaction to the loss of Bobby
Kennedy, the temporary separation of Pre Road Downs, the loss of a world
in Wooden Ships.
In a period when their peers were wavering
off into excess, CSN stood out with a deceptively simple, beautiful, sad album whose
melodies and harmonies suggested a very real harmony, a true brotherhood. Would that it
were so. It would never be like this again.
Raincheck.
