But being a legacy act with a strong catalog, Atlantic was fully behind the idea of a CSN box set, particularly after the success of a similar Led Zeppelin package. Outside of the usual rarities and album cuts, the CSN set boldly incorporated solo and duet work by each of the members (save Neil, who was keeping his best stuff on ice for his own archival brick). The trio took extra care to sequence the wide-ranging tracks into a logical and somewhat chronological order.
Of course, the bulk of the first two discs comes from the extremely fertile cusp of the ‘70s, when all three were positively teeming with tunes. Most of the first album is here, some in mildly different takes or mixes. By the middle of the second disc, they’ve all started their actual solo albums, so the set practically creates an imaginary 1971 album by the trio. The best of everyone’s work from the mid- to late ‘70s also provides a nice reminder as to why we still cared. As is the case with many such sets, the excitement tails off at disc four, where such hits as “Southern Cross” and “Wasted On The Way” share space with some uninspiring ‘80s solo and group work, including a dull remake of “Dear Mr. Fantasy”, ending with the 1970 B-side version of “Find The Cost Of Freedom” to close the circle.
For true rarities, there’s their lush arrangement of McCartney’s “Blackbird” for three voices and guitar, an earlier “Song With No Words”, a true Déjà Vu outtake in “Horses Through A Rainstorm”, and the full nine-minute take of “Almost Cut My Hair” faded on the LP. One of the more daring experiments that works is a studio take of “The Lee Shore”, but with vocals that weren’t added until the ‘90s. Crosby & Nash duet on a nice version of Joni Mitchell’s “Urge For Going”, and all four come together for alternates of “See The Changes”, “Taken At All” and “Homeward Through The Haze”, for those CSNY albums that never happened.
Taken all together, it’s a fine set, complete with detailed notes for each track. Neil’s contributions, while scattered, are pretty essential for his diehard fans too. What still baffles after all these years is what to call the thing; the spines of the disc and the box itself read Crosby, Stills & Nash, while a stylized CSN on the cover, booklet and jewel cases suggests that’s the title. Both, of course, had already been used as album titles. Meanwhile, a two-disc distillation of the set called Carry On appeared in Europe, so it’s too bad they just couldn’t go with that.
Crosby, Stills & Nash Crosby, Stills & Nash (1991)—3½
Much of this is way too precious. Self-indulgent & puerile
ReplyDeleteThe music or my review?
DeleteThe music. Your review was...kinder than I would have been, but well written & a delight to read.
ReplyDeleteThe last time that I saw the group was in 1991, when they landed at the newly opened Yale Tennis Stadium. It was only the trio, and they sounded great. Crosby announced that this set was coming out, interrupted by someone yelling, “Capitalist!” (Really, dude? This was 1991. On the other hand, it was Yale.). They then performed “Taken at All”, which I was absolutely stunned by – I had never heard the C&N version. This was one the goodies that the box unearthed.
ReplyDeleteRandom thoughts: The bulk of what made the band great is on Disc 1, with 80% of the first two albums represented, although with different versions and mixes of some. I like the demo of "Guinnevere" better than the final version, with Jack Casady’s bass being a big part of that. I also like this CSNY version of “Helplessly Hoping” better, with that extra guitar part. I would have put “Pre-Road Downs” on instead of “Lady of the Island”, the snooziest tune on the debut. The “Déja Vu” remixes aren’t anything special.
The end of disc 1 (“Laughing”) and disc 2 pull most of the best songs from the first wave of solo albums, from 1971. The two from “Stephen Stills” don’t give enough of an indication of why that album is an essential purchase. Nash’s tracks on the first duo album show them peaking in terms of important hit singles, but Crosby’s show the beginning of the drift into L.A. soft rock. As do the two selections from “Wild Tales”, which show perfectly how dull it is. (I would have put “Oh, Camil” on, instead.). The title track did come across well live.
Going from disc 2 to disc 3, the earlier CSNY takes of “See the Changes”, and “Taken at All” are real gems, much better than the final versions. “Carry Me” and “To the Last Whale” are the last classics that would come from the duo. Stills lasted longer putting out marvelous songs, up to "Thoroughfare Gap", on disc 4. I had never heard that one before. I would have include “Marianne” from his second album. I would have also substituted a live version of “Word Game” – that song COOKED in concert. Then we get to “CSN” – “Shadow Captain” and “Cathedral” are cool mood pieces, but the rest of the songs make the case for this being the first “yacht rock” album.
The fourth disc selects the best of the “Daylight Again” sessions (“As I Come of Age”, another should-have-been classic) and the worst (a TERRIBLE “Dear Mr. Fantasy”, with two stupid new verses from Stills). After that. Well, it’s not that surprising that NONE of the original tracks from “American Dream” made it. I would argue that “Compass” deserved a slot. Instead, we get an awful, muddy early mix of “Soldiers of Peace”, which makes the song even worse. As well, there’s a stupid live take of “Got it Made”. In the liner notes, Steve says that he “was never happy with it”. In this case, that meant that he should have scrapped it! "Yours and Mine" and "After the Dolphin" are here to remind us that they were still “relevant”. Except that making crappy synth-pop really wasn’t. Ending the box with “Haven't We Lost Enough?" would have been more appropriate than using "Find the Cost of Freedom", which should have been slotted on disc 2 On the other hand, that might have made a point that they didn’t want to make..
This is really an excellent overview of the group’s career up to that point. However, since “Pre-Road Downs”, “Country Girl”, and “Everybody I Love You” aren’t here, the first two albums are still necessary.
A couple of instances of priceless banter from Crosby at that concert. After performing the arrangement of “In My Life” which ended up on “After the Storm” (which got a standing ovation), he said, “Now, from the sublime to the ridiculous”. Then they performed “Déja Vu”! There was also this exchange:
ReplyDeleteAudience member: “Act out your fantasies!”
Crosby: “What did she say?”
Nash: “Act out your fantasies.”
Crosby: “Oh, no! I’m done with that! I done acted out every fantasy I ever had! All that did was get me in prison!”
Stills looked like he was going to bust a gut laughing. The crowd, of course, roared its approval. Can’t say Croz doesn’t have a sense of humor.