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David Crosby "Lighthouse" (2016)
Things We Do For Love/The Us Below/Drive Out To The Desert/Look
In Their Eyes/Somebody Other Than You/The City/Paint You A Picture/What Makes
It So/By The Light Of The Common Day
'Leave
a light on, all night long...'
For all their feuding across 2016, Crosby and Nash
have released spookily similar solo albums this year. Graham's 'This Path
Tonight' was a slow, brooding, mainly acoustic album about coming out of
darkness that's mainly about love and taking chances, written with the help of
a hip young collaborator half Graham's age. Crosby's 'Lighthouse' is a slow,
brooding, almost entirely acoustic album about having found light and the need
not to take any chances any more, written with a hip young collaborator in
Snarky Puppy's Michael League that's half David's age. Graham's album comes
with a cover where a dark path leading into the light; David's comes with the
beacon of hope in full bloom. You can tell the differences straight away,
although they're really not that great and the songs sound at first hearing
near enough identical with lots of zen, hope and karma in the imagery. There is
a difference though and it's a big one that finds the two former friends at
very different stages in their life: Nash is crossing his fingers and hoping
for a better future with a new girl after decades of marriage where he admits
now he felt trapped; Crosby is basking in the warm glow of three decades of
marriage to his wife Jan and is enjoying a stability he's never ever found in
his turbulent life before. Nash is walking down a path and hoping he'll find
light love at the end of it; Crosby is already there and it shines like a
beacon, with the storm receding into the background. It's an odd switch-around
for CSNY's most stable member and their former loose cannon to find themselves
in. While former Crosby albums, like Nash's new one, promote adventure promise
and doing something new, David has now caught up with Graham's old ones and now
promotes family life, with two cats in the yard and life used to be so hard but
everything is easy because of wife Jan and son Django.
This is, believe it or not, new ground. While love
is central to many records and always will be, it's never really been central
to Crosby's before now. In time gone by David promoted the idea of 'triads', of
open relationships between multiple partners and openly enjoyed his promiscuous
ways even while dedicated to each partner in turn. Even after Croz did meet his
partner Jan in the mid-1970s his drug intake stymied his creativity to the
point where we never really got a full album of love songs from him. The
records made after his time in prison in the mid-1980s tended to be songs
reaching out to other people in dark places, to help them find their 'compass'
and reflect on the shock that, after assuming for years that he was doomed to
die young, Crosby was still here and kicking. Then, of course, there were so
many crooked politicians to write about (oddly, for such a political band,
neither Crosby nor Nash have chosen to take Donald Trump to task despite his
rise this year; maybe it's coming on Crosby's sequel due early next year?) Now,
at 75, Crosby seems to have realised that he's here for good and his marriage
probably is as well after 37 years and he can grow to rely on those around him
and celebrate them in song. No one would ever have picked out the younger Croz
as a natural family man but he's grown into the part well and made it his own.
There are some truly gorgeous blissful moments on 'Lighthouse' that don't go
anywhere new or embed them into your skull with their honesty and autobiography
anymore or with the invention and daring the way the songs on 'If Only I Could
Remember My Name' and past classics did, but then 'Lighthouse' isn't really
that kind of an album. It's content instead just to be, to sit there in the
'mood' across a full track, basking in the glow of a particular chord or lyric
phrase, taking the time to take in the sights, smell the roses and count it's
blessings. Some songs, such as album highlight 'The Things We Do For Love', are
profound in their stillness, going everywhere and taking in everything without
really saying much at all; 'Paint You A Picture' tries to capture the current
moment of happiness in time forever; actually the only song that doesn't suit
this vibe is the one track that finds Crosby going outside the family home and
exploring 'The City', a dark and dangerous place, though even this song is full
of love and expression (and my guess is that rather than being a generic
everywoman character this city girl, 'dangerous by night', might be actress
Drew Barrymore who for a time lived with the Crosbys in the 1990s when she was
thirteen during her own time searching for roots and stability).
Being Crosby's most homely album lyrically, it makes
sense that 'Lighthouse' has an acoustic vibe we've never really had across a
full Crosby album before. Even though the majority of it features guitar rather
than piano the songwriter it sounds most like is Joni Mitchell - Crosby's
discovery and one-time girlfriend who spent so many of her songs observing and
commenting; usually Crosby is more of a doer and thinker, but here the songs
aren't about him but the life around him. Joni is, sadly, still absent from the
musical world following her brain aneurysm last year; Crosby, always the most
honest and entertaining figure on twitter for us fans, answers more questions
about her health than any other item it seems but has no more news than the
rest of us. Instead he keeps telling fans that his favourite writer in the
whole world is still Joni, even after all these years, all those other great
figures he's hung out with and the fact that he once 'lost' her to his former
best friend, turned fiend Nash. Joni's trick, at least until she discovered synthesisers
in the 1980s, was to always let the songs breathe - to leave lots of spaces and
breaks between the words, as if pausing for breath mid-line. Crosby does the
same here a lot and it's a subtle change in his songwriting voice. Though these
songs are usually personal they often feel as 'detached' as Joni's personal
songs too, as if they're happening to someone else in the third person and
don't involve sudden moments of emotion or power that were once such a part of
Crosby's style ('What Are Their Names?' slow rise and fall of tension is pure
Crosby for instance). It helps too that guest singer Becca Stevens sounds not
unlike Joni anyway (Crosby should make an album with Art Garfunkel's partner
Mia Sharp - they'd sound great together!) This album is still too knew and too
fresh to be truly reviewed in this sense yet, but after the first half-a-dozen
playings (the AAA is a few weeks ahead of itself so I'm actually writing this
review less than a week after the record was released) it sounds like a grower:
on the first listen nothing happens, on the second listen not much more
happens, but by the sixth there's colour and texture here missed the first time
round. It makes sense, too, that this sounds more like an album of (admittedly
gloriously recorded) demos more than anything else - and that League encouraged
Crosby to write and record it within three days, as simply as possible (in
other words it's the first Croz album to engage with Neil Young's old 'first
thought, best thought, only thought' policy - it's a lot better than
'Greendale', that's all I'm saying).
In other words, it couldn't be less different than
the last solo effort 'Croz' only released a couple of years ago (a blink of an
eye in Crosby discography terms - old age has really boosted his creativity
lately!) Though a lot of fans adored that record I never really did - it was
all a bit in-yer-face and tried a little too hard to be radio-friendly and
commercial. That album actually used up most of my goodwill after the first
listen as I kept hearing bits of recycled Crosby songs that hadn't quite been
joined up into new ones yet, played in a style that felt forced. For a
songwriter who always prided himself on sounding not like anyone else on earth
(no jazz tunings!) 'Croz' sounded like an identity crisis, despite the name in
the title and perhaps a little desperate for a hit (to be fair Crosby did
really need the money at the time, I'd have probably done the same, only far
worse). By contrast 'Lighthouse's greatest strength is that it doesn't care
what anyone thinks - it's going to be ooze natural Crosby loveliness in a
variety of slow acoustic ballads that make the most out of sounding like pure
Crosby tunes, even if this too sounds a
little like recycling at times. The album's weakness however is its lack of
variety - while 'Croz' jumped around a lot and got annoying that way, this
album is content to sit in a rocking chair and barely move, across almost of
the (rather short) running time of 40 minutes. That's fine if you want to
meditate while the album is on in the background - of all the CSNY works in
their by now pretty hefty canon this is the most suitable for that, with no
sudden surprises, changes of direction or mood swings. 'Drive Out To The
Desert', for instance, is about that very subject, of emptying your mind and
enjoying simply being alive while feeling 'humble'.
The other sad loss is Crosby's other son, James
Raymond. The two haven't had a falling out or anything (unlike most people in
the CSNY camp these days I fear), but 'Croz' was almost as equally a Raymond
album as Crosby brought himself slowly up to full speed after a short creative
drought. After all, if you can't write with your talented keyboard-playing
children, who can you write with? At times James' commercial ear got slightly
in the way of that album, made largely in his studio (and with dad sleeping on
a couch so as not to break the muse); by contrast 'Lighthouse' is a family
album all the way through - despite the fact James doesn't play a note. That's
a shame because James is, at least on the CPR albums, Crosby's perfect foil -
enough like him but just different enough to bring out a new direction and with
even greater jazz chops. Much as I didn't like 'Croz' the album, I've always
enjoyed their partnership. By contrast Snarky Puppy's Michael League isn't in
the same, well, league. I must confess I don't really understand the Puppy's
music which reads on paper like a CSNY fanatic's wet dream: jazzy, eccentric
and forthright. In practice it just sounds like a lot of funky rough edges with
no real tune (Crosby clearly hears something I don't hear, but then I'm not
that keen on his other love Steely Dan for much the same reasons). To give him
credit, League doesn't do the obvious thing I was fearing and make a 'jazz'
Crosby album (although I'm sure Croz has got one in him somewhere) - however
'Lighthouse' does bear all his hallmarks as producer in being a strangely
melody-less album with no songs you can hum after the record ends (at least on
the first half-dozen listens - that might change too with time). Crosby is one
of the greatest melodic writers there ever was, but none of the tunes on this
album stand out at all. Oddly for a producer whose spent so much of his career
working with rhythm first and foremost, nor do the beats with virtually the
only percussion on this album coming from Crosby's own wedding ring, plucking
away at the side of his acoustic. Though the album's an improvement, I'd have
rather have James back again (assuming we couldn't get SN or Y). Funnily enough
Michael sounds not unlike Nash at times across this album when he sings - while
weirdly Graham's new collaborator Shane Fontayne sounded not unlike Crosby!
I miss, too, the emotional revelations of the CPR
days. back then Crosby was still so shocked at being alive and healthy that his
songs had a certain edge, a ticking time-bomb that was urging him to reveal
everything about his thoughts on life from un-expunged loss ('Somehow She
Knew'), death ('Time Is The Final Currency') and just how desperately he needed
family around him ('At The Edge', this album's parent song' in that it refers
to a family as a lighthouse for the first time). This album isn't 'what did
they do with the life they gave you?' put-your-life-straight-now! kind of songs
but 'lie on your back and your eyes will finally see' kind of songs. There's
room for both sorts of course and it's great to hear someone we love as much as
Crosby sounding so happy for the first time across a whole CD - if anyone
deserves a record full of peace and tranquillity it's Croz and it's good to
hear he's found it despite ongoing money problems and band problems. This isn't
a problem as such, but it does stop 'Lighthouse; from being one of those
definitive career-changing albums (the way I suspect 'This Path Tonight' will
be seen). This isn't an album that raises it's game through guilt about the
past, pressure from the present or fears of the future but one that's having
fun in the here and now and doesn't have much ambition past that.
The closest this album comes is the album's other
highlight 'Look In Their Eyes', the only real bit of political commentary here.
Crosby is observing again, watching media coverage of the refugee camps in
France (in case this period gets white-washed in history in the future, it was
the deeply mortifying moment when most European countries decided that it was
somebody else's job to house the poor, needy and hungry and turned their backs
on them to starve in a man-made jungle). Crosby wonders why they're being
painted as villains, scoundrels and chancers when all they're trying to do is
live - a 'look in their eyes' telling him far more than a biased news report.
'They don't mean a thing to you' he snarls - and yet even this song isn't angry
or bitter the way the old Crosby of 'Long Time Gone' or even as recent as 'They
Want It All' would have been. It's as if Crosby's used to the stupidity of man
by now - he's not going to waste his temper on it now. It's a shame though that
he doesn't lose it a little more across this album, if only for variety (the
only other song that tries the same trick is 'Someone Other Than You' but even
this is only angry in a Phil Collins 'Another Day In Paradise' type way - yep,
Crosby was on that song too!)
Overall, though, 'Lighthouse' is a strong return to
form - probably Crosby's best work since the under-rated CPR albums in 1999 and
2001. However I'm not sure I agree with some fans who are rating this album as
being up there with the very best and comparing it to Croz's younger work.
There simply isn't any new ground covered here; no brave stabs at politicians
we can get behind, no new styles to get lost in, no massive outpouring of the
soul and no real 'wow' moments (though 'For Love' comes closest). That doesn't
make it a bad album - in fact it's rather good - but it's not un-missable the
way that so much of Crosby's past works were. It's a soft pretty thankful sigh
of an album rather than an emotional maelstrom the way that 'If Only I Could'
or 'Oh! Yes I Can' were. However in its own way this album of acoustic
loveliness is brave. After years of being one of the loudest, most opinionated
musicians on the planet, with an opinion on everything (often in contrast to
his reputation as part of a mellow hippie band) this is Crosby at last living
in the moment and feeling 'small' and humble. That is quite a journey in itself
- and funnily a very similar one to Graham's on 'This Path Tonight' where he
too found humility by being small and vulnerable. However what this album
doesn't have is the dancing shadows of darkness to give it an extra dimension
or three.
Though like most of the CSNY fanbase I have a stance
on the current feud despite not having seen the emails that apparently ended
everything (I'm by and large on Crosby's side - Nash's comments in his 'Wild
Tales' book were spiky and Crosby was right to want a correction, although
given this album's vibe about family life and the fact that Crosby was right there
when Graham met wife Susan and spent a lot of time with them both Nash's
departure for a younger model may not have sat well with him either, especially
the same year Young chose to do the same); the more troubled times and
excitement of the new led Nash to write the better and more daring album in the
CSNY this year. Both, however, are fine works - far better than we have any
right to expect from musicians now in their 70s. If quiet, peaceful, still,
acoustic CSN albums is up your alley then this is the record you've longed for
- doubly so if that's what you hoped 'Stills Alone' from 1991 was going to be
alike before you realise how much his voice had aged - and did we mention that
Crosby's voice is still as warm and gorgeous and subtle as ever? Like a lighthouse
before you, at the edge of the sea, this is an album to remind you that the
darkness won't get you, that your family won't go, that you'll end up where you
know you should go. And that makes 'Lighthouse' more like 'This Path Tonight'
than perhaps either man is prepared to admit.
Opener 'The Things We Do For Love' is gorgeous, like
all your blissful hippie Christmasses come at once. An angelic, fragile backing
is the perfect accompaniment for a lyric about a girl whose terrified of losing
her love and will do anything to hold it. Crosby's narrator is clearly moved at
witnessing this, though his response is not to tell her he loves her or do
anything drastic but to prove to her, slowly, day by day, how much he lovers
her back. This song is clearly about his and Jan's courtship, which took place
down 'parallel tracks' that were always going to align themselves one day - the
two lovers were clearly fated and couldn't help it. A rare example of a full
group chorus on this album (mainly multiple Crosbys, with a few Michael Leagues
for good measure) sudden allow this timid, nervy little song to blossom into
full bloom and it's simply breathtaking, with a sudden burst of beauty and
confidence that makes it sound the same, yet different. Crosby's pure vocal is
beautiful - his strongest in years - as he tries to calm doubts, smooth fears
and contradict his early songs of time-ticking by telling the couple not to
worry - they have oh 'so much time' to spend together and get it right. They're
clearly meant to be a couple so they were always going to get it together
eventually. The fact we're hearing this other acoustic picking that sounds a
little like 'Guinevere', that other Crosby song about time immemorial across
the ages, only heightens that feeling about fate and certainty even if the song
ends with a troubled question mark ('where do you stand?', a line perhaps
addressed to Nash or Young or both). There's a stark contrast here between
Graham's boredom and need to discover something new and David's belief that if
you've found the right partner time spent together will only make you closer,
not split you apart. The clear album highlight and easily the best and most
substantial Crosby song of the 21st century so far.
'The Us Below' is melodically 'In My Dreams' with a
few alterations. This is quite a noisy song by this album's standards, reaching
a peak of indignation in the middle and a few atonal jazz chords either side of
it. The lyrics are more memorable than the melody and finds Crosby in awe at
the sheer size of Earth and the universe, looking back on the world as if
meditating in space. Crosby can feel the love coming from a couple separated by
both sides of the planet but also feels all that ice between them and
mournfully ponders 'why must we be eternally alone?' There's a slightly
critical tone though, as 'Science, God and you all agree that this isn't how
it's meant to be'. Crosby may well be seeing human romantic love as a metaphor
for how humanity has treated their planet here, urging mankind to find a
'common ground' and make the world better. However this song is less right-on
than other CSN ecological songs and seems afraid than man is never going to get
it together than impatiently ticking down the clock until he sees sense and
puts things right - there's none of the anger of 'Barrel Of Pain' or 'After The
Dolphin' for instance, more the quiet tears of 'Wind On The Water'. A more
memorable melody would have made for greater impact, but this is another
strong, thoughtful song.
'Drive Out To The Desert' is the most immediate song
on the album: it oozes warmth and contentment as Crosby simply wallows in being
part of the universe, of being alive. The melody doesn't flow so much as roll,
delighting in taking it's time to appreciate each and every chord and note.
After such a busy, difficult , complex life it's great to hear Croz trying not
to mourn a lost girlfriend or disable a Government or try and tell us life
lessons he learnt the hard way but simply to be - to exist rather than teach or
think. If you're of the meditating frame of mind (personally I hate 'emptying'
my mind - I don't know what to do with it without music in it) then this is the
Crosby track you've always dreamed of. However even for a meditative song this
one moves slowly. The song doesn't really have anywhere to go - not that that's
a problem when you can stand still as well as Crosby - and that means this song
doesn't have the impact of some others, drifting on past your ears without
really grabbing you in even if the sheer warmth of this track makes it the one
that 'crystallises' in your memory first. Sometimes, like the song says, it's
probably better to observe rather than over-think and this is one of those
songs (hope there aren't too many like that or it would put me out of
business!)
'Look In Their Eyes' is close to being another
Crosby masterpiece. A heartfelt song about the refugee 'Jungle' camps seen on
the news and the squalid conditions suffered simply because people can't do the
decent thing and offer help to fellow humans in pain, it's an obvious CSN style
song about an obvious CSN subject. What's missing from the past is the anger:
'They don't mean a thing to you, but if you take a step backwards it's your
story too!' is exactly the sort of line a 1969-era Crosby would have spitted
with venom, usually while being changed round the mix by a Stills-Young guitar
at full steam. Even this song, the album's most rebellious outward looking and
critical moment, is a quiet revolution for once, treated with bliss and harmony
rather than burning injustice and anger. To be honest, it's quite hard to click
into such a different style Crosby song and it seems a little odd too that such
an ugly subject matter gets such a pretty singalong riff to go with it. This
sounds more like a Phil Collins track than a typical Crosby song, a tutted
response that still has hope that things can be put right before anyone gets
hurt (it makes more sense when you realise what close friends the two musicians
are). The melody is perhaps a little too happy-go-lucky for its own good though,
drifting along like much of this album rather than pointing the finger a song
like this needs to. The closing chant of 'look in their eyes what do you find?'
ought to come with the sting of a 'What Are Their Names?', especially when the
rest of the song drops away to leave just a mass chanted chorus of voices
standing up for their rights. Instead it 'just' sounds quite pretty. And a song
with Crosby tackling an awkward subject that no one else is brave enough to
touch feels like it should be more than just pretty. Still, this is another
strong song lesser songwriters aren't brave enough to touch.
The hardest song on the album to like is 'Somebody
Other Than You'. Maybe that's deliberate - it's about the differences between
people when really we're so similar and the walls built between those who don't
want to imagine the people beneath them are real people with real feelings
(though 'walls' aren't mentioned by name this is still the most Stills like
song on the album!) The opening verse appears to be about an un-named official
('The worst of the lot, you are!) or maybe the whole bunch of them. As on 'They
Want It All' Crosby wonders why the people in power are the ones least likely
to understand the meaning of fairness and kindness. This class of people always
leave the dirty jobs to somebody under them - 'somebody's brother' 'mother',
anyone, without realising that these people have a life and a family too. A
snarling atonal lurch into jazz is ear-catching in all the wrong ways - the one
moment of tension across this whole album - and the higher pitch and manic grin
doesn't really suit Crosby. A second verse has Crosby declare himself through,
tired of watching people getting 'fat' through inheritance. A cascade of
delicious chords roll away from the harshness at the centre of the song, as the
melody plays cat and mouse throughout. The closest to the 'old' Crosby
lyrically, sadly these lyrics aren't up to his very best and it quickly becomes
a 'list' song.
'The City' is rather an oddball too. A funkier
acoustic song than most on the album, it's based around a nifty little riff
quite unlike anything else in the Crosby catalogue (and sounds more Like
Michael League's work) and sounds like a bright energetic spark. That's
suitable for a lyric about a girl whose a real livewire with a heart of gold,
one 'not upset to step on people like me' and who was a 'beauty by day but a
danger at night'. My guess is that the person Crosby sees as a 'child on the
movie screen' is really actress Drew Barrymore. Croz has never really talked
about his time as an unofficial guardian to the actress, who stayed with him
for several months at the age of fourteen as a halfway house between the
clinics she hated and the family home she hated even more. Crosby didn't know
Drew personally but he knew her actor father John through his own family ties
to the Hollywood industry (Croz's father was award winning cinematographer
Floyd) and he no doubt identified with trying to live up to a successful family
name. This was in 1989 when Croz had been out of prison for three years and was
keen to repay karma for helping him get his life back on track by reaching out
to fellow sufferers. David and Jan offered the actress a stable home for the
first time in her young life, wasn't trying to make money out of her (unlike
everyone else she knew) and could relate to her dependencies and relapses. Crosby
certainly sounds like the father figure she needed, telling reporters outside
her first day at an AA clinic (as opposed to an AAA clinic where they treat
dependency on lengthy music reviews!): 'It's kind of like your baby walking off
into traffic - but I think she's going to make it!' 'The City' shares that same
sentiments - theirs livewire is trying to throw everyone off the scent the way
many addicts do, give into self-destruction and the need not to feel the pain
of living anymore. Crosby sighs as she 'puts them to the test' (he wasn't used
to being a 'parent' at the time - he didn't even know James had been born and
Django arrived in 1999). So this song is less about Drew Barrymore the star and
more about an anxious first-time parent who can't tell off a girl he barely
knows because he's done the same and worse and feels the same tug that 'somehow
got a hold on me'. All Crosby can do is show by example how not to do things,
praise her when she does well and be understanding when the 'wind' blows - 'all
you can do is your best to stay in' he sighs, cutting off the parties and
drunken friends he used to know so well himself. Crosby knows that it's an
inevitable fight in many respects ('she can't lose - and you can't win!') and
that she was always going to play by 'her own rules', but equally he does what
he can and urges everyone in the same situation to do the same. After a final
whirlwind flurry of acoustic chords, he closes the song with a blissful
extended coda that's one of the prettiest moments on the album and the motto
that runs all the way through. 'Leave the light on' he urges us, asking us to
be kind to those going through pain and comfort and without the stability they
need in life. 'Leave it on all night long'.
'Paint You A Picture' is the most CPR-ish track on
the album. Crosby stills feels haunted by loss and people he wasn't very good
to - I'm willing to bet this song is the latest in a long line about girlfriend
Christine Hinton in a car crash in 1970. Winter's moving in and it reminds him
of past times when he lost her. 'I thought we'd be together but I thought
wrong' he sighs, 'too much heavy weather for much too long'. There's so much
she missed that he wants to tell her about though - the way California looks
now in the Winter, his continued sobriety and his happiness in an old age she
never got the chance to see. Crosby still admits that, even after all this
time, 'I'm still aching for a taste of your mouth'. Then again, maybe this
song's for Joni, poorly and at one point housebound in her house and unable to
experience the weather outside herself. Joni always used nature a lot in her
songs exactly like this and this sad, mournful song has the feel of 'River'
about it, Joni's career-best song where she bids goodbye to Nash while gazing
across a frozen lake and kicking herself for letting him out of her sight - or
maybe 'Urge For Going', a song about the changing seasons where 'winter is
closing in' ust like here which Crosby-Nash recorded but abandoned in 1971 (it
made it out on the 1990 CSN box set). The imagery of this whole album is very
Mitchell-inspired but especially this song which could easily be one of her own
as nature carries on oblivious to human emotion and discovery going on around
it. Perhaps Croz is trying to tell her what happened to her old boyfriend Nash
too, with similar imagery of loss and mourning. Or maybe it's written for Susan
Nash, a close friend of Crosby's, in a 'Hey Jude' like show of solidarity that
love hurts but times change (McCartney wrote it for Cynthia Lennon after John
moved in with Yoko). Whatever the inspiration, it's a pretty song but as it's
mainly descriptive without any meaning given in the song it's not quite as
involved or as emotional as the similar sounding CPR songs about loss, memory
and weather.
'What Makes It So?' is the latest in a long line of
Crosby songs that date back almost to the first - the 'how the hell did the
world get so messed up and how are we meant to cope?' song that first reared
its head as early as 'What's Happening?!?!?' on Byrds 1966 album 'Fifth
Dimension'. However it's not just a song about what but about who, with Crosby
again turning his wrath on the people who dictate how we live our capitalist
lives ('How can there be only one way?' he wonders). The world is infinite,
full of wonder and new things to experience, so why do humans limit themselves
is the main theme. Crosby is clearly inspired by his and Nash's trips to the
Wall Street protests when they were pretty much the only two 'celebrities'
brave enough to come out and stand with the anti-banker demonstrators. However
this song too feels a little muted, as if Croz has taken all that grief and
confusion and pain and written a peaceful song about it instead of his usual
rocking protests. The track works in a Martin Luther King turn-the-other-cheek
kind of a way and Crosby's vocal is one of his best on the album, direct and
passionate but cool. But this is one of those songs on the album that feels
like a demo for something to be added later and calls out for a Stills burst of
anger or a snide Young solo instead of the rather hammy organ and clichéd blues
riff that plays in bursts every so often. The humming harmonies are rather poor
for a CSN-linked record too.
The album ends on 'By The Light Of The Common Day'.
Musically it's another rather forgettable song with not much happening and
Crosby speak-singing a lyric that was obviously written before music was added.
Croz sings alongside jazz singer Becca Stevens and while her vocals are strong
too, their voices really jar - they have the wrong timbre somehow and sound as
if they're working against rather than together; this is also amongst Croz's
most personal songs and it shame it ends up coming out like identi-kit Norah
Jones. However lyrically it's much better. Back in 1969 'Long Time Gone' came
with one of the best middle eights ev-uh as the singer told us 'the darkest
hour is always just before the dawn'. This song is a whole extension of that
fact: that things will always seem easier when bad times are past and that day
always follows night. Crosby knows from hard experience how tough life can be,
but he's lived long enough to get his 'reward' for taking better care of
himself - stability he never experienced in his younger days. 'I was wrong of
course I see now' he tells us about his wilder younger days when drugs got in
the way of his creativity for years. Unlike the narrator of 'Shadow Captain'
and 'Delta' who felt lost and steered in directions not of his own doing, now
Crosby feels firmly in control. The really great news is that the music he used
to have to work so hard to hear is now 'knocking at my door trying to get in' -
Crosby has so many ideas he can't keep up with them! The song ends with Crosby,
formerly one of the most rebellious rule-breaking form-changing musicians who
ever lived, telling us that we'll survive if we have faith in 'some lifting
force of light' that will 'raise its voice and then raise yours'. The muse
seems to be strong with Crosby these days (there's a sequel to this album due
out very soon!) and it's a delight to hear him saluting it in song in a manner
more usual for Stills or Young. It's just a shame that a song about the healing
powers of inspiration and giving yourself so fully over to it comes over
sounding like one of Crosby's more generic songs until you get to know this
song properly and let it breathe.
That's probably true of the whole album actually.
Fittingly 'Lighthouse' gets stronger every time you play it and get 'nearer' to
its source and peel back the occasional period production, gratuitous extras
and the occasional forgettable melody. This is a work that often reads better
than it sounds with the lyrics strong throughout but the music not always
matching it for inspiration. In many ways this is also Crosby's simplest CD,
certainly outside his covers project 'Thousand Roads' - the record can be summed
up by a man lying on his back in the desert looking up at the stars, with
memories flitting past his eyes, old music flittering past his ears (many of
these songs sound familiar in a way no Crosby set ever has before) and thoughts
whistling through his head. There's nothing deep going on here, no attempt to
really address guilt about the past or fear of the future as Croz usually does
so well and there's no major attacks on the people who deserve it this time
around, just a gentle 'oi!' at best. If groundbreaking Crosby is what you want
then there are other albums that perform this function a lot better. But no
matter, that isn't what this album is about: this is a man at last happy with
his present, content to live in the moment and simply be. At times it's as
pretty as any album in the CSN catalogue. At other times it's as clever, with
some interesting subject matter handled with aplomb. What it doesn't have is
the passion and fire of the Crosby of old, the very things that Nash left his
life behind for in the search for something new to inspire him. Crosby, though,
is content to get his inspiration from the things and people that are loyal and
faithful and true to him and that he knows he can trust completely. Though Nash
couldn't handle the quiet and still, it's helped Crosby re-discover his voice
and while this isn't always a great album it's a good one - the best in some
time.
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