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It
used to be easy didn’t it? A ‘band’ was a group of musicians who grew up on the
same corner of the same street, went to the same schools, hung out in the same
clubs and ended up playing in the same groups. The only difference between you
and your bandmates was the instrument you played – otherwise you had the same
interests and passions, had the same kind of vision and dated the same kind of
girls (or boys). CSN though represented a change. If you were a kid growing up
in the 1950s and playing at being in a band yourself then you picked your
‘leader’ – usually the frontman, occasionally the guitarist – whose name would
go up on the posters and who would go up on all the posters and be seen in big
on TV to make all the girls (maybe some of the boys) swoon while their mates
got on with actually making music behind them. Think Cliff and the Shadows,
Marty Wilde and the Wilde Three or Rory Storm and The Hurricanes. The Beatles
changed all that – as they changed most everything – even though ironically
they too started life as ‘Johnny and the Moondogs’ and ‘Long John Lennon and
The Silver Beatles’ before McCartney’s talent overtook the gap in age between
him and his musical partner. Even so, for most of the 1960s the idea was that
as equals you had to think the same thoughts, in Graham Nash’s words on The
Hollies to ‘make love to the same woman in the same room night after night’. You
couldn’t have any individual identity – your group was your identity and you
shared it between you. This is the era when bands all had the same haircuts,
the same uniforms, the same pose and the same, well, everything.
CSN
were the first to change all that (with perhaps the special exception of Cream,
though only Eric Clapton was truly a household name at the time of their first
single) – and they did so deliberately.
They were, after all, three such strong personalities that they’d outgrown the
idea of being in a band singing to the same hymn-sheet a long time ago. Indeed,
CSN were writing very different hymn-sheets to anything anyone else had ever
written before. They also looked completely different, each with their
recognisable silhouettes: there was Crosby all fringed jackets and droopy
moustaches, Stills with tight-lipped blondeness and Nash with his thin goatee
Manuncian look. If you had been beamed down from outer space (you won’t have
met Catalunia the Third yet but she’s coming in these pages – it’s probably her
planet!) you’d have wondered how these guys met and how they became friends –
never mind have their surnames linked together for all eternity as one of the
world’s grooviest sounding rock and roll law firms. That was the point though
really: this was a firm of opposites who came together because that’s what the
music demanded – not a brethren brotherhood who all shared the same sound and
who always thought alike.
This
was CSN’s greatest strength – and their greatest weakness. At their best it
enabled them to sound like no other band out there with some of the widest
range of influences out there and a sense that this trio could go anywhere and
do anything. At their best they did do anything and broke more ground than
they’re ever given credit for, especially in terms of political protest which
was a genre they more or less created (in rock and roll terms, if not folk). At
their worst it meant they couldn’t see eye to eye on anything – and all three
were used to getting their own way. While CSN have many great qualities, none
of them are what you might call ‘team players’. They weren’t very good at
biting their lip and getting through the music business machines the way that
you have to in order to have a successful career. But then CSN wasn’t a career –
the biggest difference between this band and any that came before it was that
music was a vocation, a calling. The pop stuff in their respective bands had
just been the warm-up act for the ‘real’ job of making politicians afraid and
making hippies of all ages, races and generations feel loved and hopeful. CSN
were the hippie town criers, spreading hope around the globe – and throwing in
a few stinging barbs when the people in charge of our world let us down. They
didn’t merely want to be in a ‘band’ – which was what every other musician of
their generation and taste longed for – they had all outgrown the need.
It’s
worth having a quick recap for anyone whose missed our earlier books on The
Byrds and Buffalo Springfield and who hasn’t read our forthcoming book on The
Hollies. David Crosby had been kicked out of The Byrds for seeing life
differently to his band-members. While few people can compete with Crosby in
the most liberal of bands, The Byrds were hardly the natural bedfellows for his
way mind worked: he wanted to shake things up and they wanted to preserve it;
The Byrds had a very eclectic sound but they veered towards establishment
country when Crosby wanting to go places that were very new; they had to
schmooze people in front of and behind the camera to stay in the top forty –
something that Crosby hated with a passion. When the other Byrds kicked him out
their famous line was that ‘we’ll do better without you’ – commercially they
probably had a point without David around to mess up the pop-star bandwagon
anymore, even if critically they clearly got it very wrong. The result was that
by 1968 Crosby hated the idea of being in a band and vowed to never be in one
again.
For
Stills the idea of being in a band was a little bit different. He’d enjoyed the
camaraderie that went with being in a band, especially one like Buffalo
Springfield who were shaped and moulded in his image and largely consisting of
his friends. But the powers-that-be decided that Richie Furay was a more
marketable frontman and got him to sing lead or co-lead on many of Stephen’s
songs. Then that pesky Neil Young began writing his own material and singing it
too, not to mention getting more guitar solos and close-ups and much of the
girls. Then Neil went and quit his band – his band! – six times in three years,
leaving them in disarray and killing off their big shot at fame. Stills didn’t
need the hassle – he wanted to be on his own.
Graham
had the most interesting journey to CSN. The Hollies weren’t just a few musical
mates he’d bumped in his twenties but his best friends from Primary School, at
least in the case of singer Allan Clarke. They were successful, hitting the
charts far more regularly than The Byrds or Springfield has ever been and they
had weathered many storms: changing fashions, the end of Merseybeat, critical
backlashes from own label-mates The Beatles and being pigeon-holed as a
‘singles band’ in the era of the long-playing record. But Nash seemed to have
it all: he was the lead writer by 1968, was frequently referred to in the press
as the band’s ‘leader’ and unlike Crosby his band looked to him to make
trouble, while unlike Stills he didn’t really have the competition for creative
control. But Nash found himself at odds with his bandmates. His other famous line
was that the difference between his hit bands was that ‘David and Stephen never
go to bed – and The Hollies go to bed at 8.30!’ In practical terms that meant
that Nash was always high and thinking up mystical thoughts that turned into
songs, while his pals were down the pub drinking. A rift grew between them –
and Nash realised that being in a band could be a right drag.
CSN
agreed, then, that their next band would be different – and maybe not be a ‘band’
at all in the Beatles ‘all in it together four musketeers’ sense. What all
three had in common was that each of their respective bands had tried to
dictate their identity – and they were desperate to grow and explore the idea
of who they were. They wouldn’t necessarily agree with each other in interviews
(indeed most fans read them to see how badly they’d disagree with each other!)
They certainly wouldn’t wear the same clothes (could you see Nash in Crosby’s
fringes? Or Croz in Stills’ American football T-shirts?!) They didn’t always
share the same politics (as time went on Stills got more conservative, Nash got
more liberal and Crosby broke all the rules – until settling down with a family
late in life and renouncing or at least excusing most of his past). The only thing
they really shared, alongside the music, was a similar kind of goofy humour
that allowed them to soften the blows when they violently disagreed with each
other (CSN’s stage patter is, John Lennon aside perhaps, the best).
From
the start then, when CSN first sang together at that party (be it in Joni
Mitchell’s living room as Stills claims, Mama Cass’ kitchen as Crosby and Nash
say or – through some quirk of time – both, CSN were adamant that if they were
going to spend the rest of their lives singing together, then it had to be on
their own terms. And under their own name. Crosby and Stills had been playing
around with the druggy name ‘The Frozen Noses’, given to them by a radio disc
jockey who agreed to play their demos over the air for feedback without
revealing who the duo were. When Nash joined in and things got more serious
they discussed having a band name, but quickly opted out. What band name could
possibly sum up three such different people? Their sound was ‘real’ – it wasn’t contrived,
it wasn’t an act and they didn’t want to be known as a ‘Byrd’ or a ‘Hollie’
forever. Instead they would just be themselves, sticking to their real names
(although even there it took a lot of arguments: Crosby somehow expected to be
at the front, while with only one syllable to his name Nash found himself
out-argued that his name sounded better after ‘and’). Before this the only band
that had come close was ‘Simon and Garfunkel’ and they weren’t really a ‘band’ in the same
sense (not least because they were two guys and a guitar; Stills alone was an
entire orchestra!)
Many
people find it odd that CSN keep splitting and getting back together. I’m not
sure even they expected to break up quite as many times as they have across
fifty odd years, but some kind of flexibilty was always part of the plan – and
for me part of what made them great. Instead of some big reunion or split the
trio would just keep getting back together or departing for new musical avenues
when they wanted to, going where the music took them. Sometimes their songs
were too personal for mass consumption and epic harmonies; sometimes they
wanted to prove to themselves that they could sell records on their own;
often-times they hated each other’s guts and didn’t want to spent weeks locked
in a studio with two (sometimes three) other loonies. But even at their most
bitter, it wasn’t until 2016 that a split seemed final, that the trio (indeed
quartet) were talking about never being able to work again with each other,
ever. This wasn’t that kind of a band: however cross they got with each other,
no matter how much hostility, no matter how many girlfriends had been chased
off, CSN always knew that one day the time would be right and they would
‘return to the mothership’. There weren’t many things bigger than the egos of
Crosby, Stills and Nash separately and yet somehow those initials CSN were. All
of them saved their best music for when they were back together. All of them
guested on each other’s solo albums to make them better. And all of them could
offer anything they wanted on stage, no matter when they had written ir ot who
with – after a lifetime spent in 1960s bands where everything had to be agreed
on, CSN meant ‘freedom’ – suddenly everything was ‘allowed’. Though CSN frequently
trampled on each other’s feelings, the one thing they never lost was their
respect for each other – whatever they wanted to do was fine by the others,
because they trusted them not to mess up (and even if they did, at least they
messed up by being too ambitious, as opposed to not being ambitious enough!)
No
wonder everyone else was left scratching their heads - no other band did that,
getting back together again when they felt like it rather than when their bank
balance dictated it. Even Cream took forty years (and a lot of money) to get
back together again for one last hurrah. In fact nowadays, when CSN have been
missing for what seems like decades (but is actually only six years) is when arguably
they need the money most with back taxes, drug habits, aliony and new teeth to
pay for – but it’s now they choose not to get back together again. That seems
strange to believe now – despite the many changes CSN brought onto an
unsuspecting public, ever since the mid-1970s it’s been taken for granted that
any member splitting for a group will go solo (before rejoining the band again
– it’s only a matter of time before Robbie Williams gets sucked back into Take
That). But CSN wasn’t an ordinary group, from the very beginning, given that
they were born from the giant furnace of pop stardom and they refused to ever
get anywhere close to its brightness again, preferring to lurk in the shadows
where the real music was. CSN were special for many reasons – for always
telling the truth as they saw it for one thing, for keeping the crooked and the
greedy on a leash and for having harmonies that couldn’t have been designed to
fit any better together. But it was the template of their design that also made
them special. CSN worked differently, not being prepared to play the pop game
even when it meant we had lean years with only obscure solo albums on private
labels, while all the time the trio would save their best music until they were
all together and people would take note of what they had to say.
Neil
Young’s chemistry changed everything, the way Neil always does. Added to the
band as a touring extra, he slowly grew to the point where he eclipsed the trio’s
fame – unfairly so in my eyes (this is a band of equals; having one of them as
a superstar defeats the idea somehow, but then Neil doesn’t seem to have played
by the same unspoken ‘rules’ as the other three). His dark and edgy edge gave
CSNY a whole different sound to their original one as a trio, sucking the happiness
and hope out of the room (which is odd because even though Neil tends to err
towards the darker side of life solo, that’s hardly true of most of his CSNY
work like ‘Helpless’ and ‘American Dream’). It also destabilised the dynamic:
CSN always sensed that were meant to belong together and would return together
eventually, but Young was a mystery who always worked to his own timetable and
set his rules. There have only ever been three CSNY albums in fifty odd years,
which is strange to think but not half as strange as how the last two turned
out, with ‘American Dream’ and ‘Lookin’ Forward’ easily CSN/Y’s cosiest of
albums, as if the quartet were too afraid to address their history or the
darker edge Neil brought them. Even in a band who didn’t want to be a band,
Neil was the least likely band member you could have.
You
see, what’s wonderful about CSN – as opposed to CSNY these days - is that
everyone is (roughly) equal. In other bands that might not have mattered, but
CSN were meant to be equal – it’s what they sang about in their songs all the
time and the need to respect other people’s opinions when they were so
different to your own. They even had an African-American bass player at a time
when bands didn’t tend to mix race much and more Spanish-speaking players than
you could shake a conga at. The fact that the trio were walking the walk as
well as talking the talk made it oh so real. I mean, if three nutcases who were
so extremely different could get it together – some of the time – then why not
the world? CSN were in many ways as different as you could get, with very
different characters all jostling for position (Crosby by being a natural
counter-culture rebel leader, Stills by being a forceful workaholic and Nash
via friendly persuasion). The trio also had very different backgrounds
(Crosby’s was a rich Californian lifestyle; Stills was a middling Texan one
where his family moved a lot; Nash came from bitter Manchester poverty). Nobody
who worked with one would ever have guessed that they could be in a band
together through work-rate either: Crosby wrote six songs a year and was happy
to let the others change them around, Stills wrote six before breakfast and
they were all fully formed and Nash wrote six before each deadline to make sure
the band had something to sing when they got the studio. Compared to getting
CSN in the same room together, solving the cold war was a doddle. But each of
them was roughly equal and – nearly always – respected, with one track by one
of them treated much the same as one by the other two (or in the early days three).
There
were always similarities too, something that’s all too often dismissed when
discussing the trio. Crosby felt abandoned and dismissed during his childhood,
overlooked in his posh Hollywood family house by an elder brother Ethan who
seemed to have everything while a young David was a fat bullied kid and not a
particularly determined scholar. Stills was a swot and eager to please his
military parents, but his family kept moving every few terms that left him
finding it difficult to make friends and with all the love in the world Stills
was never going to agree to a life of service for an institution he didn’t
believe in (even if the discipline paid off in his musical career). Nash had
responsibility young after his dad died after a spell in prison he should never
have been inside for (not grassing up a friend who sold him stolen goods if you
haven’t read the review for ‘Wild Tales’ yet!), close to his family but somehow
ignored by then simultaneously. All three men wanted to make their mark, were
hungry for success and for all three of them the only thing worth living
through their pretty brutal teenage years for was music and the chance of
escape. Music mattered, it wasn’t just a chance to make money or pull girls but
a chance to save the world and make it a better place. That vision was bigger
than any difference between them all – at least until Nash ran off with Stills’
girlfriend, or Stills started dictating how the music went, or Crosby ended up
high as a kite and Stills wiped the Crosby-Nash harmonies off his and Neil’s
record and and and….anyway, usually the pull of taking on the world as town
criers and making it a better place, brick by brick, was usually enough to keep
CSN on the straight and narrow.
Of
course being so different and with such different working practices didn’t
always make for plain sailing. No wonder it led to so many fights over the
years – three leaders into one band doesn’t often mix. But with CSN it kind of
worked because even though the three of them were saying things very
differently, they were essentially saying the same thing: that life is better
with love and humanity is better with peace. If even CSN could come together
because of that and despite all their differences then the world might – just
might – have a chance of working together too. Life really is better
multiplied, well most of the time. One tacit agreement of CSN was that the trio
would never be censored or ridiculed the way they sometimes had been in their
earlier bands. All three were free to express themselves and their individual thoughts
and feelings without being afraid of how these songs would look when sat next
to their colleagues’ work. Therefore a song like Crosby’s ‘Deja Vu’ – with it’s
weird time signatures and talk about past lives informing our present selves –
sits easily against Nash’s ‘Teach Your Children’ with it’s more straight-
forward country tale of learning from past mistakes and guiding the next
generation to help them best make their own decisions and Stills’ ‘Carry On’
(with it’s rock moral about how, if only we can hold on through the bad times,
‘love is coming to us all’). They’re all coming from roughly the same place and
heading to roughly the same direction – they just take three very different
routes to their destination sometimes.
This
is what makes the first (and second) CSN/CSNY albums such a landmark in music
history – here we have four very individual writers all working towards the
same message but approaching it from different angles. Later albums too, though
the formula was never quite as astonishing on returns as it was the first time
(even if many individual songs on those albums are better). The closest you get
to a previous partnership like this is the Beatles, with Lennon’s droll sarcasm
and scattered brainstorms balanced by McCartney’s thoroughness and natural
melodic sense. But CSN take this idea to its logical conclusion, adding in a
third (and when Neil agrees to join them a fourth) voice to the mix and
stressing their differences, rather than have George Martin’s production values
smother both Beatles for the sake of ‘album unity’. Almost every track on every
CSN album sounds like a completely different beast to its predecessor and
successor (even if all three writers do, from to time, rehash old ideas of
their own) and that’s exciting to listeners then and now. You don’t know where
each of these albums are going next, from one track to another. Have there ever
been three more different songs from a debut album than ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes’
‘Marrakesh Express’ or ‘Guinnevere’? CSN records can go anywhere and do
anything – they can be small and humble, epic and huge, as poppy as the
poppiest band, as weird as the most out-there jazzy combo. Whatever the music
dictated they could usually provide it between themselves, Stills especially
being a dab hand at altering his style depending on which of the trio’s many roots were showing: pop, rock,
folk, blues, psychedelia, jazz, R and B, Latin American influences. The trio
all ‘got’ what the other brought to the table too. They didn’t merely tolerate
it the way other bands do, they actively supported one another. Though the trio
were pigeon-holed as early as their opening three trio songs as the ‘weird’
one, the ‘epic’ one and the ‘pop’ one, they could all do anything – including
what the others did so well. All three men were good mimics at each other’s
style and were often at their best when writing like each other: when Stills
wrote a great hook-laden pop song like [
] ‘Carry On’, when Nash wrote an epic like [ ]
‘Cathedral’ or when Crosby combined the two on a song like [ ] ‘Yours and Mine’. The result was a band
with a wider scope and a bigger musical playground of ideas and backgrounds and
influences to play around in than perhaps any other before or since. Add in a
coating of three voices that sounds so perfect together and which was so
instantly recognisable whatever the backing was and an interest in politics
that meant they told the truth as honestly and fiercely as they could and you
have several very good reasons why CSN may well be the most important band that
ever lived. At least for a year, until those very differences that made them so
interesting blew them so wide apart.
Perhaps
modern sanitised bands should take a leaf out of CSN’s book: differences are
what cause the artistic tensions within a band but they’re going to show up one
day anyway and should be at best encouraged at worst exploited, not
extinguished outright as everyone puts on false grins and pretends they haven’t
happen. You believe every word CSN say to the world – and to each other with a
quite amazing long list of songs directed at each other through the ages (
[ ] ‘King Of The Mountain’ [ ] ‘Do For The Others’ [ ] ‘Frozen Smiles’ and [ ] ‘Hippie Dream’ to name just one each by
CSNY). Other songs looked at CSNY as a collective: [ ] ‘Cowboy Movie’ told the tale of the 1970
split via Western spaghetti B-film plots, [
] ‘Beneath The Waves’ had Nash refusing to prop the goof ship CSNY up
anymore and [ ] ‘The Old Homestead’ and ‘Walk
Like A Giant’ are contradicting Young views of CSNY as a millstone or a
milestone around his neck. At least the band are honest though and respectful,
letting us know how they feel about each other – and accepting what the others
write as fair game for musical inspiration (I’ve never read any of CSNY criticse
another for what they said in a song, though they complain bitterly about what
was said in interviews all the time).
Would
that this would happen more often: just think how more fun The Spice Girls
break-up might have been with songs about what the others were ‘really’ like or
Justin Bieber using his failed relationships as a chance to pour out his heart
instead of acting like a big headed twonk. Just look at the awful situation we
have with today’s girl and boy bands, where the only differences seem to be
people’s hair colour. CSN are a prime example of why life is better multiplied
and shared. All three men could and did have a good chance at a solo career,
but heard together they do so much more and go in so many more directions and
together they made some of the greatest music that was ever made, adding
harmony to each other’s music even as they add discord to their lives. They
belong together, not in the same way that a horse and carriage or fish and
chips are made for each other, but in the same way that a sandwich is: you can
enjoy the parts separately, but only together do you get the true blend of
flavourings that your taste-buds deserve, with so much happening at once your
ears strain to keep up. Suddenly everything feels bigger, bolder, better. And
who can deny the power when CSN finally put their differences together and
combine, as they do stunningly so many times throughout this book (though the
best may well be that final surge on [ ]
‘Country Girl’). Whatever the future of
‘supergroups’ (and let’s face it, there haven’t been many recently have
there?!), the birth of CSN is an often overlooked milestone for music – the
time when being in a band and making important music was the most sacred thing
in the world and when it all seemed so special and plausible it really did feel
like love was one day coming to us all. Three very different voices saying one
thing will always be more special than one saying the same thing three times
and CSN are surely the holy trinity of music, with the power of three. There
will surely never be a band like CSN/Y – a band that wasn’t a band but a
gathering of like-minded individuals - and no, we hadn’t really been here
before.
Plus Updates:
Stephen
Stills in ‘The Rides’ "Can’t Get Enough"
(429
Records, August 2013)
Roadhouse/That’s A Pretty Good
Love/Don’t Want Lies/Honey Bee/Rockin’ In The Free World/Search and
Destroy/Can’t Get Enough/Only Teardrops Fall/Talk To Me Baby/Word Game
CD Bonus Tracks: High Voltage/Honey Bee
(Radio Edit)/Don’t Want Lies (Acoustic Version)
"I’m
lost in the shadows, close to the end”
Having
recently dusted off his past, here’s Stills back concentrating on the present
with a new power trio made up of Barry Goldberg from Paul Butterfield Blues
Band spin-off Electric Flag (who were on stage at Monterey shortly after The Buffalo
Springfield and who also played with Stills on the ‘Super Session’ LP back in
1968) and guitarist Kenny Shepherd. With CSN broken up, his old session muso
buddies mostly retired and/or in rehab and struggling with his new slurred older
voice Stills responds in the best way possible by using all this as a strength
and doing something he’d never tried before. After decades of sounding old
before his time, here Stills really is a gnarled blues veteran and is surrounded
by players who have a similar passion for a heavy rock form of the blues, with
a band sound that’s big on authenticity over the sort of aural perfection
Stills used to stand for. To some extent it works: Goldberg is a fine foil, his
tighter vocals bouncing off Stills’ own without diminishing the blues
flourishes, whilst the sound is just enough like the spirit of Manassas’
bluesier moments to come off (although you miss that band’s eclecticism across
a whole LP). What this debut record doesn’t have is the material to go with it.
There are a grand total of four original songs on this album, only one of which
is up to the glory days of old, alongside three covers and a messy revival of
old war horse ‘Word Game’. It’s all a little loud, lacking the dynamics and
harmonies we’re used to from Stills, but at least it’s powerful and there’s a
sense that Stephen is enjoying his music again – certainly a lot more than he
seemed to on ‘Man Alive’. This time he really sounds alive again.
‘Roadhouse’
is a new song credited to the whole band that has Stills roaring his head off
as if he’s been gargling with sandpaper. The chord changes are very Stills even
if the setting isn’t, while Stills laments being back on the road again ‘no
closer to home’ than he was when he set off as a twenty-something half a
century again, bemoaning ‘playing my music’ for a bunch of people who don’t get
it.
Little
Feat song ‘That’s Pretty Good Love’ hands things over to
Goldberg and it’s a sprightly romantic number with a funky catchy descending
riff and a lot of noisy percussion. Not the sort of thing you’d want to listen
to often, but OK.
‘Don’t Want Lies’ is the clear album highlight as Stills pours his heart out about
feeling depressed and watching his career going nowhere, ‘wondering what it is
I see’ when he looks in the mirror at the person who was once going to do so
much and sighing that ‘I wonder how I make it through the week’. The blues
backing is delicious, with a three-guitar attack rocking from side to side in
sympathy while Stills’ vocal is delicious, dripping with a vulnerability that
really suits his hardened lived-in voice. A choir of gospel singers chant along
in sympathy for a track that’s really moving if you’ve followed any of Stills’
self-destructive story up until this point.
‘Search and Destroy’ is a noisy Iggy Pop cover handled by Goldberg that seems a bit
over-the-top with its talk of napalm bombs and desperation not really suited to
a band of this age, though Stills does fit in a fiery guitar part.
‘Honey Bee’
has Goldberg singing lead again on a slow boring blues number by Muddy Waters.
Stills is having fun playing like he’s been reincarnated as a 1920s blues
guitarist, but the backing sound more like Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings than The
Rolling Stones, a group of friends playing for fun rather than musicians who
mean it.
The
days when Stills used to do a Young song on every album to help his partner out
during his ‘doom trilogy’ fall from grace seem a long time ago, so a noisy
unfocussed take on ‘Rockin’ In
The Free World’ is a big surprise though, Stephen, of course, had played
it many times in CSNY by this stage. Stills shouts rather than sings and doesn’t
quite get Neil’s dripping sarcasm, but it’s entertaining in a noisy way.
Interestingly Crazy Horse guitarist Frank Sampedro gets a co-credit even though
he didn’t on Neil’s original, released on ‘Freedom’ in 1989, one of his better
LPs.
‘Talk To Me Baby’ is an Elmore James slow blues revved up to sound like any number
of rockabilly moments. Stills provides some convincing muscle, but this song
isn’t really in his style and Goldberg sounds a bit over-stretched on the
histrionic vocal too.
‘Only Teardrops Fall’ is the final original, another soggy ballad played with a heavy
guitar attack as Stills laments once being on top of the world and wondering ‘why
did I let it go?’ Just like the old days he uses the act of writing a song as
his inspiration in a postmodern sense, claiming that back then he was about to
write a masterpiece, ‘the pen was in my hand’, but he got distracted. The song
isn’t quite as sharp or as ‘real’ as ‘Don’t Want Lies’, though.
The
album then closes with Stills’ most poetic and complex song ‘Word Game’ reduced to a shouter,
like a champagne evening has been turned into a pub brawl. It works better than
it has any right too, though, thanks to a committed Stills vocal that’s still
outraged over prejudice and intolerance all these years on.
The
result is an album that veers from being the best thing Stills has done since ‘After
The Storm’ in 1994 (to be fair there hasn’t been much competition!) and a pale facsimile
of ‘The Shocking Pinks’ without the laughter. This is a bumpy ride in truth and
Stills might have been better off waiting for inspiration to flow and coming up
with a second bunch of original songs to go alongside his own promising work
here. The band are fine, though, it’s just the material that they need and it’s
good to hear Stills confronting his heavy rocking side after a decade or so of
mainly acoustic work. More enjoyable than expected, if ultimately a collection
filler rather than a changer, this set is still worth checking out for its best
moments.
Non-Album Recordings #23 2016
Most of ‘This Path Tonight’ does a
pretty good trick of sounding like vintage CSN, but the bonus tracks – leftover
tracks from the ‘dozens’ Nash and Fontayne wrote together on their tour bus –
sound musically like discarded Hollies. That’s odd because after a full album
of personal; songwriting, all three songs are political protest – more
something that CSN would do. [458] ‘Mississippi Burning’ sounds
the perfect direction for Nash to travel in musically, with its dark folk and
sense of foreboding, like the fourth Hollies album ‘Would You Believe?’ where
the pop acts as a light to a brooding sense of darkness (think ‘breakthrough’
Nash song ‘Fifi The Flea’, perhaps the first he wrote on his own). Thematically
too this is Nash still outraged at the racial lynchings in South America half a
century before his birth in a different land and his outrage at the cover-ups
that are still perpetrated in the supposedly enlightened modern era. And yet
the words are awful, without his usual ability to empathise: ‘Kill me quick or
kill me slow, my friends they are still with me’ is the unrealistic last cry of
the hanged African American, while the song’s oddly nursery rhyme feel is at
odds with the names of his two colleagues Nash reads out as his friends die
alongside him. ‘Black and white, white and black, our world will keep on
turning’ Nash urges though, determined that the racists won’t win. This feels
like it should be a more substantial song than it is though, a big subject
dealt with in an oddly small way. Find it on: the
deluxe edition of ‘This Path Tonight’ (2017)
[459] ‘Watch Out For The Wind’ is more moving, Nash’s
response to the senseless killing of a black student by police in Missouri and
the cover-ups and protests that then happened in response. Nash preceded this
song in concert with a warning about how ‘military madness’ was taking over
America and how the police had more and more control of people. Nash, though,
has been here before and sees a backlash beginning, a wind that can’t be seen
but is fanned by the flames of the burning fires he sees in the protests. This
slow sombre ballad tries hard – a bit too hard perhaps, with some over-written
lyrics that are more about poetry than pain. ‘Don’t you forget’ he growls
though, determined that this one lost life won’t be in vain and in turn that
it’s not too late to ‘save the souls’ of the perpetrators. Again, though, for
what should be a really moving song about modern politics sounds oddly
unconvincing compared to the personal songs that made the album. Find it on: the deluxe edition of ‘This Path Tonight’
(2017)
[460] ‘The Last Fall’ could be both, as the personal and
the political intertwine on a song about lost opportunities and missed chances.
Nash has sounded vulnerable most of the album through but usually with a sense
of destiny that what he is doing changing his life around is meant to be. This
song, though worries. This is his last chance at finding happiness and purpose,
just as its probably the world’s last chance to turn left instead of right. Has
he made the right choice? Can he trust this wonderful girl who rushed into his
life to do the right thing by him? Why does he still feel the ‘heartbeat’ of
someone he was close to – be it ex Susan, Crosby or the world leaders like
Obama then departing the international scene? For all this song’s inner
turbulence, though, there’s a lovely quiet calm at the centre that makes the
best of the three extra songs on the album if not up to 9/10ths of the actual
record. It’s only human to question the big changes in your life and Nash would
be more worried if he wasn’t worried. Somehow in the end this ‘fall’ he worries
about is just an easier first small step than he was anticipating and his
instincts tell him he’s in the right place. A sweet son that’s bristling with
typical Nash chord changes and a folky flavour that suits his new lived-in
voice. Find it on: the deluxe edition of ‘This Path
Tonight’ (2017)
Stephen
Stills in ‘The Rides’ "Pierced Arrow"
(429
Records, May 2016)
Kick Out Of It/Riva Diva/Virtual
World/By My Side/Mr Policeman/I’ve Got To Use My Imagination/Game On/I Need
Your Lovin’/There Was A Place/My Babe
CD Bonus Tracks: Same Old Dog/Born In
Chicago/Take Out Some Insurance On Me Baby
"I
don’t know what to call all of this, it seems like a runaway tram”
Stills, meanwhile, was having The Rides of his
life, as the power trio returned for a second album that’s more consistent than
the first if missing the high points of Stills pouring his heart out. Instead
he’s having fun on an album that thankfully throws out most of the cover songs
and has much more original material instead (eight songs to two this time, not
five and five). By now the band have been on the road a few times and their
telepathy is much sharper, especially the guitar-work which recalls the Buffalo
Springfield: Shepherd comes into his own as the ‘Neil’ of the group, pouring
out intense passionate blues stylings and Goldberg plays the more
straightforward Richie Furay rhythm work, while Stills does everything else,
adding a range to the band that make them more than just another bad blues
band. The result still isn’t quite as major or important as it should be, but
it’s worth a ride or three.
Listening to the blues of the original songs on
the first LP you might wonder why these three elder statesmen of rock still do
what they do for a living. ‘Kick
Out Of It’ is the answer, the closest Stills has got to heavy metal yet
with a heavy metal stomp about how the world dismisses him as ‘insane’ but
Stills adores his ‘oldest profession’ and wouldn’t change it for the world.
‘Riva Diva’ has Goldberg taking the
lead on a simple bluesy song about a distant woman who causes the narrator to
get the ‘rock and roll blues’. A nicely gutsy guitar part and a blistering solo
from Stills elevate it past the ordinary.
‘Virtual
World’ is perhaps the best song
on the album, Stills and Goldberg in wobbly unison as they consider the
problems of pollution and the madness of being on Planet Earth. ‘Someone
started a fire’ they sigh, but no one seems to know how to put it out, with
everyone bucking the problem of what to do and living in a ‘virtual world’ where
its everybody else’s problem to sort out.
Goldberg and Shepherd came up with the moody ballad
‘By My Side’ which
sounds more like Humble Pie than CSN. It’s quite hypnotic as the pair conclude
that life doesn’t get any easier with age but just ‘goes on – to the bitter
end!’
Stills returns for the witty bitter ‘Mr Policeman’ which could
have easily been a CSN song in a different setting with a pleasant pop tune and
protest lyrics that seem to be inspired by the same Missouri protests (when police
killed an innocent black kid for being in the wrong place at the wrong time) as
Nash. Stills, who was trained to be so subservient to authority figures in his
youth by his military father, has by now lost all respect for men in uniform
only taking ‘orders’, even when they’re clearly wrong. A shame the music errs
towards another noisy blues thrash, though, compared to some excellent words.
Legendary songwriter Gerry Goffin wrote the
words for Goldberg’s ‘My
Imagination’ but neither lyric nor tune quite get going on a
slow-burning song about making the best out of your life and not worrying about
the future. The organ part is very much in the feel of Al Kooper’s on the ‘Super
Session’ LP though and it sounds very 1960s all round, which can only be a good
thing.
‘Game On’ finds Stills fully grasping
the blues feel by the horns on a shouty song about how ‘people just wanna be
left alone’ without interference from the politicians and priests who think our
lives should be better. There’s a great harmonica part in there, while Stills’
raw vocal is better performed than anything on ‘Man Alive’ that tried a similar
sense of straightforward outrage.
‘I Need Your
Lovin’ is another
Goldberg-Shepherd song that’s an over-simple rockabilly love song made better
than average thanks to a brutal Stills guitar part that ought to sound out of
place but instead gets the song moving. It’s unusual to hear Stills as the support
act rather than the ‘star’ but he does a good job here.
‘There Was A
Place’ is a moody ballad that
has Stills really struggling with his vocal on what is another album highlight.
He once used to be somebody but ‘it’s been a long time’ and he barely remembers
what it was like when the world once knew his name. This moving song is easily
the second best The Rides have done so far and they really suit this naked
emotional honesty as Stills wonders why his fall from grace was so hard and
fast, bringing out his insecure and bluesy side most magnificently. Stills has
still got it though, at least for songs like these that come from the heart.
The album closes with ‘My Babe’, a Willie Dixon cover that sounds a
bit out of place here with its tale of pure unconditional love and how his girl
‘can’t stand no cheatin’. The Rides sound ever more like a pub tribute act here
rather than the real thing, which can’t hold a candle to their own songs.
Overall, though, ‘Pierced Arrow’ is a fine
album with some interesting tracks that for the most part dig a little deeper
than most noisy generic blues songs. It’s interesting that all of CSN should be
stepping outside themselves with their 2016 releases, re-defining who they are
although still becoming more ‘true’ to the stereotype of what each one had to
offer back in 1969 (when Crosby was ‘the weird one’ Stills was ‘the bluesy one’
and Nash was sort of the ‘folky one’ after The Hollies had a bash at that
genre). Stills sounds the most comfortable of all though on an album fans expected
him to make decades ago, although its perhaps only now that his fading voice
and lowered expectations allows him to really fig into the soul of the ‘bluesman’
he once claimed to be. The result is an excellent if flawed second ride that
promises even better things to come with album number three (which, scarily,
would put the band equal with Buffalo Springfield in terms of discography and
one more than CSN/Y the first time round).
Stephen
Stills and Judy Collins “Everybody Knows”
(Cleopatra,
September 2017)
Handle With Care/So Begins The
Task/River Of Gold/Judy/Everybody Knows/Houses/Reason To Believe/Girl From The
North Country/Who Knows Where The Time Goes?/Questions
"Come
on lover, talk to me!”
Released the week before ‘Sky Trails’, this is
the big development in Stills’ life story and career over the past decade – his
reuniting with old flame Judy Collins that finally puts to a close some
unfinished business dating back to 1968. The pair had become good friends ever
since they stopped trying to be lovers somewhere around 1972 and stayed in
touch – far longer than Stills did with any of his other exes. Friends often
asked them when they were going to make an album together and there were plenty
of hints down the years that it might happen – the pair guesting on Nash’s
short-lived talk show in the late 1990s or the sweet comments that Judy Blue
Eyes made about the ‘love of her life’ in her autobiography. But only here in
2017, after a well received acoustic tour, did the pair finally tie the
recording knot. And the result is…rushed, frankly, for an album that fans had
been waiting for across forty-eight years. Most of these songs sound like first
takes, recorded so quickly Stills didn’t even have time to get his teeth in
(the slurred vocals that suited the blues songs by The Rides don’t work as well
on folk, with its precision and bareness). On this album there is just one new
song – one of Judy’s, the less than flattering ‘River Of Gold’ about how
seasons and partners come and go. There is no less than half an album of cover
songs, from the sublime (Tim Hardin’s ‘Reason To Believe’ is a sweet song
that’s perfect for the Stills-Collins relationship, where they struggle to live
both with and without each other) to the ridiculous (The Travelling Wilburys’
‘Handle With Care’ is a clumsy clod-hopping arrangement if ever I heard one and
Stills’ ‘baby you’re adorable’ is enough to have Judy running for the hills
again).
That still leaves half a remarkable album
though made up of old songs from both he and she that were written for each
other down the years. We never did get to hear a full band recording of the
remarkable ‘Judy’, written by Stills and recorded as a quick demo for the ‘Just
Roll tape’ that then got forgotten for nearly forty years. It sounds great,
with Stills longing to keep his ex ‘company’ and hoping ‘you have need of me’
as he asks to ‘tell you about my life’. ‘Questions’, a playful song early on in
their relationship from the Buffalo Springfield days when Stills’ ‘head is
reeling now’ wondering where their relationship might go is now answered not
with the aching fade-out of first the Springfield then CSNY remakes (as heard
on ‘Last Time Around’ and then as part of the ‘Carry On’ single) but with a
lovely harmony-fest where Judy now sings alongside her one-time boyfriend with
confidence and passion, this half-century chase of cat-and-mouse fulfilled at
last. Stills’ lovely ballad ‘So Begins The Task’, about the time he realises he
will leave his lifve, had been hanging around since 1968 but really came into
its own when the relationship was over on the first Manassas record. Stills’
version here can’t come close to that stunning piece of work, but its healing
somehow to hear him start singing the
song with his usual pain and suffering only to be joined by Judy’s still pure
vocal as she gives him hope for the future at last. Judy’s own ‘Houses’, the
B-side of her song ‘Send In The Clowns’, is also a welcome addition to the
album as a woman with a different house for every big change in her life is now
accompanied by her ex playing some truly fabulous bluesy guitar.
Even if the suddenly happy couple couldn’t
write any new songs together, this is the way they should have gone, re-tracing
old life paths they could have taken and exploring their relationship through
old songs. There’s a bucket load more we could have had – including, most
obviously, ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes’ which seems an odd absentee here not to
mention ‘49 Bye Byes’ and ‘Bluebird’, all three of which could have sounded
stunning with Collins’ still-youthful vocals. Judy too has more than enough
songs from her time with Stills to sing. Filling up half of a short running CD
with songs we’ve heard before and better (how many times has Stephen sung ‘Girl
From The North Country’ now?!) seems a waste of a reunion fans have longed for
in such a long time. Sadly the price, the short length, the antiseptic
production values (far worse than the Crosby or Nash albums between it) and
Stills’ audible struggles with his vocals will mean that this is a record for
fans only, for the faithful few who realise what a big deal it is for these two
to be in the same room together never mind making sweet music at last. For that
reason alone this album should be treasured, but this album feels less like the
sweet Leonard Cohen title track (which is far too syrupy here) than Neil’s
confused and lost ‘Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere’ – it feels like this album
is marking time for both halves rather than the career high it could and should
have been. Released the week before Crosby’s ‘Sky Trails’ the album feels like
it kind of got lost too - and that one wasn’t exactly a best seller…
A Now Complete List Of CSN/Y and Solo Articles Available To Read At Alan’s Album Archives:
'Crosby, Stills and Nash' (1969) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-29-crosby-stills-and-nash-1969.html
'Deja Vu' (CSNY) (1970) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-34-crosby-stills-nash-and-young.html
‘Stephen Stills’ (1970) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/stephen-stills-1970.html
'If Only I Could Remember My Name' (Crosby) (1971) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-45-david-crosby-if-only-i-could.html
'Songs For Beginners' (Nash) (1971) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-46-graham-nash-songs-for.html
'Stephen Stills II' (1971) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-48-stephen-stills-ii-1971.html
‘Graham Nash, David
Crosby’ (1972) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/graham-nash-david-crosby-1972.html
'Stephen Stills-Manassas' (1972)http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-51-stephen-stillsmanassas-1972.html
'Wild Tales' (Nash) (1973) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/news-views-and-music-issue-75-graham.html
'Stephen Stills-Manassas' (1972)http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-51-stephen-stillsmanassas-1972.html
'Wild Tales' (Nash) (1973) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/news-views-and-music-issue-75-graham.html
'Down The Road' (Stephen
Stills/Manassas) (1973) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/stephen-stillsmanassas-down-by-road-1973.html
'Stills' (1975) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/review-65-stephen-stills-stills-1975.html
'Wind On The Water' (Crosby-Nash) (1975) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-67-crosby-nash-wind-on-water.html
'Stills' (1975) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/review-65-stephen-stills-stills-1975.html
'Wind On The Water' (Crosby-Nash) (1975) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-67-crosby-nash-wind-on-water.html
'Illegal Stills' (Stills)
(1976)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/stephen-stills-illegal-stills-1976.html
'Whistling Down The Wire'
(Crosby-Nash) (1976)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/david-crosby-graham-nash-whistling-down.html
'Long May You Run' (Stills-Young) (1976) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-33-stills.html
'CSN' (1977) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-70-crosby-stills-and-nash-csn.html
'Long May You Run' (Stills-Young) (1976) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-33-stills.html
'CSN' (1977) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-70-crosby-stills-and-nash-csn.html
'Thoroughfare Gap'
(Stills) (1978) http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/stephen-stills-thoroughfare-gap-1978.html
'Earth and Sky' (Nash)
(1980)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/graham-nash-earth-and-sky-1980.html
'Daylight Again' (CSN) (1982) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/news-views-and-music-issue-131-crosby.html
'Daylight Again' (CSN) (1982) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/news-views-and-music-issue-131-crosby.html
'Right By You' (Stills)
(1984) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/stephen-stills-right-by-you-1984.html
'Innocent Eyes' (Nash)
(1986)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2017/01/graham-nash-innocent-eyes-1986.html
'American Dream' (CSNY)
(1988) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/crosby-stills-nash-and-young-american.html
'Oh Yes I Can!' (Crosby)
(1989)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2016/07/david-crosby-oh-yes-i-can-1989.html
'Live It Up!' (CSN) (1989) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-viedws-and-music-issue-104-crosby.html
'Live It Up!' (CSN) (1989) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-viedws-and-music-issue-104-crosby.html
'Stephen Stills Alone'
(1991)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.nl/2016/09/stephen-stills-alone-1991.html
'A Thousand Roads'
(Crosby) (1993) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2017/02/david-crosby-thousand-roads-1993.html
‘After The Storm’ (CSN)
(1994) https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/the-final-review-crosby-stills-and-nash.html
'CPR' (Crosby Band) (1998)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/cpr-david-crosby-band-1998.html
'Looking Forward' (1999) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/crosby-stills-nash-and-young-looking.html
‘So Like Gravity (CPR,
2001)
https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/cpr-just-like-gravity-2001.html
‘Songs For Survivors’ (2002) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/graham-nash-songs-for-survivors-2002.html
‘Songs For Survivors’ (2002) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/graham-nash-songs-for-survivors-2002.html
'Crosby*Nash' (2004) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/news-views-and-music-issue-21-crosby.html
‘Man Alive’ (S) (2005) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/stephen-stills-man-alive-2005.html
'Deja Vu Live' (CD) (2008) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/08/news-views-and-music-issue-1-crosby.html
'Deja Vu Live' (DVD) (2008) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008_09_21_archive.html
'Reflections' (Graham Nash Box Set) (2009) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/news-views-and-music-issue-22-graham.html
'Demos' (CSN) (2009) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-41-crosby.html
'Manassas: Pieces' (2010) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/news-views-and-music-issue-52-manassas.html
‘Carry On’ (Stephen Stills Box Set) (2013) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/stephen-stills-carry-on-box-set-2013.html
'Croz' (Crosby) (2014) http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/david-crosby-croz-2014album-review.html
'CSNY 74' (Recorded 1974 Released 2014)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/crosby-stills-nash-and-young-csny-74.html
'This Path Tonight' (Nash) (2016) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/graham-nash-this-path-tonight-2016.html
'Lighthouse' (Crosby)
(2016) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/david-crosby-lighthouse-2016.html
‘Sky Trails’ (Crosby)
(2017) https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/david-crosby-sky-trails-2017.html
‘Here
If You Listen’ (Crosby) https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2018/10/david-crosby-and-friends-here-if-you.html
The Best Unreleased CSNY
Recordings http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/csny-best-unreleased-tracks-news-views.html
Surviving TV Appearances (1969-2009) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/csny-surviving-tv-appearances-1969-09.html
Non-Album Recordings (1962-2009)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/crosby-stills-nash-and-sometimes-young_6.html
Live/Compilation/Rarities Albums Part One
(1964-1980)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/crosby-stills-nash-and-sometimes-young.html
Live/Compilations/Rarities
Albums Part Two (1982-2012)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/crosby-stills-nash-and-sometimes-young_20.html
Essay: The Superest Of
Super Groups?
https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/csny-essay-superest-of-super-groups.html
Five Landmark Concerts and
Three Key Cover Versions
https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/csny-five-landmark-concerts-and-three.html
