Crosby, Stills and Nash – CSN (2LP, 45RPM)
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Vocals, rhythm guitar - David Crosby [click here to see more vinyl featuring David Crosby]
Vocals, piano - Graham Nash [click here to see more vinyl featuring Graham Nash]
Vocals, guitars, electric piano, timbales - Steven Stills
Drums, organ, electric piano - Joe Vitale, Ray Barretto
Piano - Craig Doerge
Organ - Mike Finnigan
Bass - George "Chocolate" Perry, Jimmy Haslip, Tim Drummond, Gerald Johnson
Congas - Ray Barretto
Written by David Crosby (A1, B2, D2), Craig Doerge (A1), Stephen Stills (A2, B1, C1, C3, D3), Graham Nash (A3, B3, C2, D1)
2LPs, gatefold jacket printed by Stoughton Printing
Limited Edition
Original analog Master tape : YES
Heavy Press : 180g
Record color : Black
Speed : 45 RPM
Size : 12'’
Stereo
Studio
Record Press : Quality Record Pressings
Label : Analogue Productions - Atlantic 75 series
Original Label : Atlantic
Recorded 1976-1977
Recorded by Howard Albert, Ron Albert
Produced by David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, Howard Albert, Ron Albert
Mastered by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering
Photography by Joel Bernstein
Art Direction, Design by Gary Burden, R. Twerk & Co
Originally release in June 1977
Reissued in 2024
Tracks:
Side A:
- Shadow Captain
- See The Changes
- Carried Away
Side B:
- Fair Game
- Anything At All
- Cathedral
Side C:
- Dark Star
- Just A Song Before I Go
- Run From Tears
Side D:
- Cold Rain
- In My Dreams
- I Give You Give Blind
Reviews:
"The times had certainly changed since Déjà Vu's release in 1970. Nevertheless, there was a hunger in audiences for a return to the harmony-soaked idealism with which the trio had been catapulted to popularity, and CSN consequently reached number two on the charts, behind Fleetwood Mac's megasuccessful Rumours. The music here is very good, though probably not up to the hard-to-match level of Crosby, Stills & Nash or Déjà Vu. Still, the songs showed a great deal of lyrical maturity and compositional complexity compared to those earlier albums (from a far more innocent time). "Just a Song Before I Go" was the latest of Graham Nash's radio-friendly acoustic numbers, and a Top Ten single. "See the Changes" and "Dark Star" ranked with the best of Stephen Stills' work, while David Crosby contributed three classics from his distinctive oeuvre: "Shadow Captain," "Anything at All," and the beautiful "In My Dreams." Nash's multi-part "Cathedral," a recollection of an acid trip taken in Winchester Cathedral on his 32nd birthday, became a staple of the group's live repertoire.
CSN was the trio's last fully realized album, and also the last recording on which the three principals handled all the vocal parts without the sweetening of additional voices. It has held up remarkably well, both as a memento of its time and as a thoroughly enjoyable musical work." AllMusic Review by Jim Newsom
"It's impossible not to feel apprehensive about seeing Crosby, Stills & Nash, the group who seemed to epitomise the insatiable, sunshine optimism of the late 60s counter-culture, as they head into their dotage in 2013.
The California-based trio were always riven by contradictions. They were the cantankerous hippies who couldn't get on, their history a succession of fall-outs and abandoned albums. Yet compared with fellow west coast baby-boomers the Eagles, who nowadays shuffle round the world's arena circuit going through the motions, they still appear remarkably fresh and vital.
Age has naturally taken its toll. Guitar virtuoso Stephen Stills, barefooted Brit Graham Nash and the rotund David Crosby, his white hair cascading over his shoulders, can no longer hit the meticulous high harmonies that were their trademark. Yet it also enriches them: Crosby's advanced years lend added piquancy to his musings on mortality on What Time I Have.
They were always Laurel Canyon classicists rather than psychedelic experimentalists, and their quicksilver melodies still sound sweet on Stills' Treetop Flyer, a song about Vietnam vets turned dope dealers, and Nash's Beatles-like Our House, a paean to his former domestic idyll with Joni Mitchell. Yet it's Crosby who earns the night's biggest cheer with Almost Cut My Hair, his dogged defence of the hippy dream, and "letting my freak flag fly".
Inevitably there are lulls, but a two-and-a-half hour set climaxes in soulful style with Stills' epic, episodic love song, Suite: Judy Blue Eyes. The standing ovation routinely afforded to acts of this vintage is, in Crosby, Stills & Nash's case, entirely merited." The Guardian Review by Ian Gittins
Ratings:
AllMusic : 4 / 5 ; Discogs : 3.82 / 5 ; The Rolling Stone Album Guide : 3 / 5