David Crosby - If I Could Only Remember My Name (2LP, 45RPM, Ultra Analog, Half-speed Mastering, SuperVinyl)
ORDER LIMITED TO ONE ITEM PER CUSTOMER
David Crosby – vocals, guitars [click here to see more vinyl featuring David Crosby]
Graham Nash – guitar, vocals (A1, B1-2, C1-2, D1) [click here to see more vinyl featuring Graham Nash]
Neil Young – guitars, vocals (A1, C1), bass (A1), vibraphone (A1), congas (A1) [click here to see more vinyl featuring Neil Young]
Jerry Garcia – electric guitar (A2, B1, C1, D1), pedal steel guitar (B2), vocal (C1)
Jorma Kaukonen – electric guitar (B1, D1)
Laura Allan – autoharp (C2), vocal (C2)
Gregg Rolie – piano (A1)
Phil Lesh – bass (A2, B1-2, C1)
Jack Casady – bass (D1)
Bill Kreutzmann – drums (B1-2), tambourine (A2)
Michael Shrieve – drums (C1, D1)
Mickey Hart – drums (A2)
Joni Mitchell – vocals (B2, C1)
David Freiberg, Paul Kantner, Grace Slick – vocals (C1)
Written by David Crosby (all except D2), Graham Nash (A1), Neil Young (A1), Jerry Garcia (C1), Michael Shrieve (C1), Neil Young (C1), Phil Lesh (C1)
2 LPs, Gatefold jacket
Limited to 4,000 numbered copies
Original analog Master tape : YES
UltraDisc One-Step (UDS1)
Half-speed mastering
Heavy Press : 180g SuperVinyl
Record color : black
Speed : 45 RPM
Size : 12'’
Stereo
Studio
Record Press : RTI
Label : MOFI
Original Label : Atlantic
Recorded 1970–1971 at Wally Heider Studio, San Francisco and A&M Studio Hollywood
Engineered by Stephen Barncard and Henry Lewy (A1)
Produced by David Crosby
Remastered by Krieg Wunderlich at Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab ®, Sebastopol, CA on the GAIN 2 ULTRA ANALOG SYSTEM ™
Originally released in February 1971
Reissued in April 2022
Tracks:
Side A:
- Music Is Love
- Cowboy Movie
Side B:
- Tamalpais High (At About 3)
- Laughing
Side C:
- What Are Their Names
- Traction In The Rain
Side D:
- Song With No Words (Tree With No Leaves)
- Orleans
- I'd Swear There Was Somebody Here
Awards:
Number 156 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's book All Time Top 1000 Albums
Ranked one of the 40 Greatest Stoner Albums by Rolling Stone Magazine
Reviews:
“David Crosby's debut solo album was the second release in a trilogy of albums (the others being Paul Kantner's Blows Against the Empire and Mickey Hart's Rolling Thunder) involving the indefinite aggregation of Bay Area friends and musical peers that informally christened itself the Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra. Everyone from the members of the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane to Crosby's mates in CSNY, Neil Young and Graham Nash, dropped by the studio to make significant contributions to the proceedings. (Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, and Bill Kreutzman, primarily, act as the ad hoc studio band, with other notables adding bits of flavor to other individual tracks.) Crosby, however, is the obvious captain of this ship. With his ringing, velvety voice -- the epitome of hippie crooning -- and inspired songwriting, he turns If I Could Only Remember My Name into a one-shot wonder of dreamy but ominous California ambience. The songs range from brief snapshots of inspiration (the angelic chorale-vocal showcase on "Orleans" and the a cappella closer, "I'd Swear There Was Somebody Here") to the full-blown, rambling Western epic "Cowboy Movie," and there are absolutely no false notes struck or missteps taken. No one before or since has gotten as much mileage out of a wordless vocal as Crosby does on "Tamalpais High (At About 3)" and "Song with No Words (Tree with No Leaves)," and because the music is so relaxed, each song turns into its own panoramic vista. Those who don't go for trippy Aquarian sentiment, however, may be slightly put off by the obscure, cosmic storytelling of the gorgeous "Laughing" or the ambiguous (but pointed) social questioning of "What Are Their Names," but in actuality it is an incredibly focused album. There is little or no fat despite the general looseness of the undertaking, while a countercultural intensity runs taut through the entire album, and ultimately there is no denying the excellence of the melodies and the messy beauty of the languid, loping instrumental backing. Even when a song as pretty as "Traction in the Rain" shimmers with its picked guitars and autoharp, the album is coated in a distinct, persistent menace that is impossible to shake. It is a shame that Crosby would continue to descend throughout the remainder of the decade and the beginning of the next into aimless drug addiction, and that he would not issue another solo album until 18 years later. As it is, If I Could Only Remember My Name is a shambolic masterpiece, meandering but transcendently so, full of frayed threads. Not only is it among the finest splinter albums out of the CSNY diaspora, it is one of the defining moments of hung-over spirituality from the era.” AllMusic Review by Stanton Swihart
Ultra Analog™ : The GAIN 2 Ultra Analog™ Series stems from the use of the Gain 2 system, mastered at half speed from the original master tapes where possible, capturing and uncovering as before undiscovered sonic information.
Half-speed mastering. In half-speed mastering, the whole process is slowed down to half of the original speed. A typical 33 1/3 rpm record is cut at 16 2/3 rpm. The source material is also slowed down (reducing the pitch in the process) meaning the final record will still sound normal when played back. Slowing the whole process down allows more time, which means the end result sounds better and is more efficient — allowing engineering to minimize the effects of inherent limitations within the vinyl format. The result is a more accurate and more open high-frequency response in the half speed vinyl when compared with a normal speed recording.
MoFi SuperVinyl: The World's Quietest Surfaces and Cleanest Grooves: Developed by NEOTECH and RTI, MoFi SuperVinyl is the most exacting-to-specification vinyl compound ever created. Analog lovers have never seen (or heard) anything like it. Extraordinarily expensive and extremely painstaking to produce, the special proprietary compound addresses two specific areas of improvement: noise floor reduction and enhanced groove definition. The vinyl composition features a new carbonless dye (hold the disc up to the light and see) and produces the world's quietest surfaces. This high-definition formula also allows for the creation of cleaner grooves that are indistinguishable from the original lacquer. MoFi SuperVinyl provides the closest approximation of what the label's engineers hear in the mastering lab.
Ratings :
AllMusic : 4.5 / 5 , Discogs : 4.4 / 5