This is a historical document as well as an absolutely stunning LP. It was recorded on September 20, 1969, just over a month after their appearance at Woodstock, which was only their second public concert ever, and it sounds gorgeous - probably due to the fact that it was sourced from the original, 55-year-old 8-track master tapes and the absence of any digital processes. This is a true analogue LP!
And, oh yeah - there was an abundance of talent, too.
This record showcases the very beginning of TWO of the greatest bands of the 1960s - Crosby, Stills and Nash (CSN) and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (CSNY). At the time this show was recorded Young had just joined the group, whose self-titled debut LP had been released the previous May. His addition added a distinct punch to the band's sound, which would be very much evident on Deja Vu, CSNY's debut that would be released the following year. But that album was still being written, although they did have a couple of songs more-or-less completed that would end up on it, including 4+20 and Our House, which are played during this performance. But they were leftovers from the CSN sessions and were entirely acoustic, lacking Young's fiery electric influence. The band was flying by the seat of the pants. Their repertoire wasn't very big and their shows were divided into one acoustic and one electric set. It was almost a "before Neil" and "after Neil" presentation that consisted of pretty much everything they had, including a few Young-penned songs and even a Beatles' tune. The standout of the Young contributions - and a highlight of this recording - is an almost 17-minute version of Down By The River, a song from Young's second solo LP, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, which had been released at around the same time CSN released their debut LP, not even six months previously.
Listening to this record now is akin to going back in time. I felt as though I was actually there witnessing musical genius in its initial, beautiful unfurling.
It's been said that with great genius comes great ego, and there certainly was a lot of ego in CSNY. Maybe that's what went wrong, but I think it also had a lot to due with Crosby's girlfriend, Christine Hinton, being killed in a car accident a few days after this concert. Crosby was devastated - completely and utterly devastated - and immediately began a terrifically awful descent into alcoholism and drug addiction. The cards were stacked. CSNY was to be a short run, a musical sprint, and the end started not too long after this show was recorded. They'd barely got off the ground.
While the band here is new, each member brought with them years of experience. Stills and Young had previously been in Buffalo Springfield together, while Crosby had been a member of The Byrds. Nash sang and played in The Hollies, and there had also been some cross pollination. Crosby stood in for Young when Buffalo Springfield appeared at the Monterey Pop Festival, in 1967, after the latter quit the band prior to the show. Ironically, Crosby's appearance with The Byrds at that same gig - where he made some between-song, politically charged conspiratorial statements about the JFK assassination - would soon see the other members of the band asking him to leave. In his own words, Crosby has said he was asked to leave The Byrds "because I was an asshole."
Nash left The Hollies after the other band members refused to record the songs he was writing, one of them being Marrakesh Express, which became a classic with CSN.
A LEGEND IS BORN
On July 3rd, 1968, all three newly unemployed musicians happened to be at a party somewhere in Laurel Canyon. Crosby claims it was at Joni Mitchell's house, while Nash, depending when asked, flip-flops between Mitchell's house and Cass Elliot's house. Stills and his friend, John Sebastien - who in 1964 founded The Lovin' Spoonful and would later compose the theme song for the hit TV series, Welcome Back Kotter - have always maintained it was at Sebastien's house. Wherever it was, this is the moment of the CSN Big Bang. At some point during the evening, no doubt fuelled by some alcohol and whatever else was on hand, Crosby and Stills began singing the Stills-penned You Don't Have to Cry. Nash was so blown away by what he was hearing that he asked them to play it again, and then one more time after that. He joined them for a third run-through, and their three voices blended together in such exceptional and distinct harmonies they - and everybody else in the room - instantly knew they'd hit on something truly special. "I knew what I was gonna do," Nash later recalled. "Whatever sound Crosby, Stills & Nash has was born in 30 seconds. That's how long it took us to harmonize that way, so much so that we burst out laughing in the middle of the song. We knew what we were doing. We'd been making records in harmony for years. But this was different."
Indeed.
Other than a few drum parts, performed by Dallas Taylor, and some keyboard contributions from Stills, it was originally just the three of them playing guitar and singing. But there was a problem. In order to tour they'd need more players on stage, particularly someone to handle the keyboards. Steve Winwood was approached to fill that position, but declined because he was already busy with his new group, Blind Faith. That's when Ahmed Ertegun, Atlantic Records' co-founder and president, suggested Stills' former Buffalo Springfield bandmate, Neil Young. Though principally a guitarist, Young was also a proficient keyboardist and could alternate between the two instruments during live performances. Stills and Nash objected to this at first - Stills because of his often problematic earlier relationship with Young in Buffalo Springfield, and Nash because of his complete unfamiliarity with Young, who wasn't as well known then as he is now. Despite their objections, and mostly due to Ertegun's persistence, Young became a member of the band.
The newly expanded group embarked on a 39-date tour that included this stop, the second of a two-night stand. The tour created significant anticipation and helped catapult their first album with Young (Deja Vu) to the top of the charts, where it hovered for months.
But this is before all that. There are no overdubs on this recording. What you hear is what you would have heard if you were there. The talent is about to split the seams and the production is outstanding. The show starts with a strong, almost nine minute performance of Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, and they do it wonderfully well. I'm not 100 per cent sure, but I think it might just be Stills on guitar. All the rest is vocal harmonies. It's simple and clean and pure. This is followed by The Beatles' Blackbird, done really well, although I did wonder why they included it in the setlist. Perhaps it was because, as Young recently stated, "I was new to the band. We didn't know much material to sing together yet. They had the historic CSN album with tracks created largely by Stills. When we took the stage, CSN would play their favourites along with some brand new songs that would later become classics. Some, like Our House, were so new that only the writer-singer would perform them."
Helplessly Hoping, a Stills tune, follows. The band members start laughing in the middle of its performance, maybe because looking out at the wildly enthusiastic and appreciative crowd they can't believe they're really on this extraordinarily, fast moving ride. It is obvious they are having the time of their lives. They quickly recover their composure and continue. Guinnevere follows, and Lady Of The Island finish side one. Both are exquisitely performed. Side two is more of the same, including the aforementioned and as yet unreleased 4+20 and Our House. There are also a couple of Young-penned songs here - On The Way Home and I've Loved Her So Long, which both serve to introduce Young to his new audience.
That electric set - record two - commences with Long Time Gone, one of Crosby's songs from CSN's debut, but Young makes himself at home on it. With both CSN and CSNY the singer is almost always the songwriter, and Crosby's voice is strong and clear. Another (partly) Crosby song, Wooden Ships, follows, and is in turn followed by a Stills song (Blue Bird Revisited) and Young's Sea Of Madness. But the electricity really started to flow when I dropped the needle at the beginning of side four and the band launched into Down By The River. It's a masterpiece performance that confirms Young's addition to the band was indeed the right move. At 17 minutes it takes up almost the entire side, after which the concert concludes with a haunting Find The Cost Of Freedom, a Stills composition that first appeared at the end of the movie Easy Rider.
I don't think this record is the entire concert. The songs are pieced together - there are obvious cuts between them - and I've heard they even performed a Donovan song, Happiness Runs, which seems to be confirmed by an online setlist database (it was played before The Beatles' Blackbird, in case you're wondering). They also performed a Quicksilver Messenger Service tune, Let's Get Together, probably to flesh out their time on stage. As previously noted, they didn't have a large repertoire at the time. Or it could just be they decided this release was to be a two-LP package; I don't think the missing songs would have been enough to fill another LP.
This record should be in your collection if you appreciate great-sounding analogue recordings and want to hear the very beginning of something truly special. It's …
This is a historical document as well as an absolutely stunning LP. It was recorded on September 20, 1969, just over a month after their appearance at Woodstock, which was only their second public concert ever, and it sounds gorgeous - probably due to the fact that it was sourced from the original, 55-year-old 8-track master tapes and the absence of any digital processes. This is a true analogue LP!
And, oh yeah - there was an abundance of talent, too.
This record showcases the very beginning of TWO of the greatest bands of the 1960s - Crosby, Stills and Nash (CSN) and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (CSNY). At the time this show was recorded Young had just joined the group, whose self-titled debut LP had been released the previous May. His addition added a distinct punch to the band's sound, which would be very much evident on Deja Vu, CSNY's debut that would be released the following year. But that album was still being written, although they did have a couple of songs more-or-less completed that would end up on it, including 4+20 and Our House, which are played during this performance. But they were leftovers from the CSN sessions and were entirely acoustic, lacking Young's fiery electric influence. The band was flying by the seat of the pants. Their repertoire wasn't very big and their shows were divided into one acoustic and one electric set. It was almost a "before Neil" and "after Neil" presentation that consisted of pretty much everything they had, including a few Young-penned songs and even a Beatles' tune. The standout of the Young contributions - and a highlight of this recording - is an almost 17-minute version of Down By The River, a song from Young's second solo LP, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, which had been released at around the same time CSN released their debut LP, not even six months previously.
Listening to this record now is akin to going back in time. I felt as though I was actually there witnessing musical genius in its initial, beautiful unfurling.
It's been said that with great genius comes great ego, and there certainly was a lot of ego in CSNY. Maybe that's what went wrong, but I think it also had a lot to due with Crosby's girlfriend, Christine Hinton, being killed in a car accident a few days after this concert. Crosby was devastated - completely and utterly devastated - and immediately began a terrifically awful descent into alcoholism and drug addiction. The cards were stacked. CSNY was to be a short run, a musical sprint, and the end started not too long after this show was recorded. They'd barely got off the ground.
While the band here is new, each member brought with them years of experience. Stills and Young had previously been in Buffalo Springfield together, while Crosby had been a member of The Byrds. Nash sang and played in The Hollies, and there had also been some cross pollination. Crosby stood in for Young when Buffalo Springfield appeared at the Monterey Pop Festival, in 1967, after the latter quit the band prior to the show. Ironically, Crosby's appearance with The Byrds at that same gig - where he made some between-song, politically charged conspiratorial statements about the JFK assassination - would soon see the other members of the band asking him to leave. In his own words, Crosby has said he was asked to leave The Byrds "because I was an asshole."
Nash left The Hollies after the other band members refused to record the songs he was writing, one of them being Marrakesh Express, which became a classic with CSN.
A LEGEND IS BORN
On July 3rd, 1968, all three newly unemployed musicians happened to be at a party somewhere in Laurel Canyon. Crosby claims it was at Joni Mitchell's house, while Nash, depending when asked, flip-flops between Mitchell's house and Cass Elliot's house. Stills and his friend, John Sebastien - who in 1964 founded The Lovin' Spoonful and would later compose the theme song for the hit TV series, Welcome Back Kotter - have always maintained it was at Sebastien's house. Wherever it was, this is the moment of the CSN Big Bang. At some point during the evening, no doubt fuelled by some alcohol and whatever else was on hand, Crosby and Stills began singing the Stills-penned You Don't Have to Cry. Nash was so blown away by what he was hearing that he asked them to play it again, and then one more time after that. He joined them for a third run-through, and their three voices blended together in such exceptional and distinct harmonies they - and everybody else in the room - instantly knew they'd hit on something truly special. "I knew what I was gonna do," Nash later recalled. "Whatever sound Crosby, Stills & Nash has was born in 30 seconds. That's how long it took us to harmonize that way, so much so that we burst out laughing in the middle of the song. We knew what we were doing. We'd been making records in harmony for years. But this was different."
Indeed.
Other than a few drum parts, performed by Dallas Taylor, and some keyboard contributions from Stills, it was originally just the three of them playing guitar and singing. But there was a problem. In order to tour they'd need more players on stage, particularly someone to handle the keyboards. Steve Winwood was approached to fill that position, but declined because he was already busy with his new group, Blind Faith. That's when Ahmed Ertegun, Atlantic Records' co-founder and president, suggested Stills' former Buffalo Springfield bandmate, Neil Young. Though principally a guitarist, Young was also a proficient keyboardist and could alternate between the two instruments during live performances. Stills and Nash objected to this at first - Stills because of his often problematic earlier relationship with Young in Buffalo Springfield, and Nash because of his complete unfamiliarity with Young, who wasn't as well known then as he is now. Despite their objections, and mostly due to Ertegun's persistence, Young became a member of the band.
The newly expanded group embarked on a 39-date tour that included this stop, the second of a two-night stand. The tour created significant anticipation and helped catapult their first album with Young (Deja Vu) to the top of the charts, where it hovered for months.
But this is before all that. There are no overdubs on this recording. What you hear is what you would have heard if you were there. The talent is about to split the seams and the production is outstanding. The show starts with a strong, almost nine minute performance of Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, and they do it wonderfully well. I'm not 100 per cent sure, but I think it might just be Stills on guitar. All the rest is vocal harmonies. It's simple and clean and pure. This is followed by The Beatles' Blackbird, done really well, although I did wonder why they included it in the setlist. Perhaps it was because, as Young recently stated, "I was new to the band. We didn't know much material to sing together yet. They had the historic CSN album with tracks created largely by Stills. When we took the stage, CSN would play their favourites along with some brand new songs that would later become classics. Some, like Our House, were so new that only the writer-singer would perform them."
Helplessly Hoping, a Stills tune, follows. The band members start laughing in the middle of its performance, maybe because looking out at the wildly enthusiastic and appreciative crowd they can't believe they're really on this extraordinarily, fast moving ride. It is obvious they are having the time of their lives. They quickly recover their composure and continue. Guinnevere follows, and Lady Of The Island finish side one. Both are exquisitely performed. Side two is more of the same, including the aforementioned and as yet unreleased 4+20 and Our House. There are also a couple of Young-penned songs here - On The Way Home and I've Loved Her So Long, which both serve to introduce Young to his new audience.
That electric set - record two - commences with Long Time Gone, one of Crosby's songs from CSN's debut, but Young makes himself at home on it. With both CSN and CSNY the singer is almost always the songwriter, and Crosby's voice is strong and clear. Another (partly) Crosby song, Wooden Ships, follows, and is in turn followed by a Stills song (Blue Bird Revisited) and Young's Sea Of Madness. But the electricity really started to flow when I dropped the needle at the beginning of side four and the band launched into Down By The River. It's a masterpiece performance that confirms Young's addition to the band was indeed the right move. At 17 minutes it takes up almost the entire side, after which the concert concludes with a haunting Find The Cost Of Freedom, a Stills composition that first appeared at the end of the movie Easy Rider.
I don't think this record is the entire concert. The songs are pieced together - there are obvious cuts between them - and I've heard they even performed a Donovan song, Happiness Runs, which seems to be confirmed by an online setlist database (it was played before The Beatles' Blackbird, in case you're wondering). They also performed a Quicksilver Messenger Service tune, Let's Get Together, probably to flesh out their time on stage. As previously noted, they didn't have a large repertoire at the time. Or it could just be they decided this release was to be a two-LP package; I don't think the missing songs would have been enough to fill another LP.
This record should be in your collection if you appreciate great-sounding analogue recordings and want to hear the very beginning of something truly special. It's …
BONUS TRACK
Neil Young’s big break came in the mid ‘60s when he co-founded Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills. He was living in a hearse at the time. When that band broke up, not too much later, Stills co-founded Crosby, Stills and Nash (CSN) with David Crosby and Graham Nash, while Young embarked on what would become a stellar solo career. Both released debut albums within weeks of each other, in May, 1969. CSN was an incredible collection of harmony and musicianship, but the group soon realized it would be hard to reproduce their music live - and people wanted to hear them live. Atlantic Records president, Ahmet Ertegun, urged the band to consider bringing Stills’ old Buffalo Springfield bandmate, Young, on board in order to be able to perform the music live.
There was opposition to Ertegun's suggestion. Stills' previous musical collaboration with Young was at times problematic, and Nash just didn't respect him. “It was like lobbing a live grenade into a vacuum,” he later recalled, in his autobiography, Wild Tales. “Neil was a guy with immense talent who was utterly self-centered. Bands for him were merely stepping stones, way stations to a personal goal. That’s the way it had gone down with Buffalo Springfield. They could never count on him at crunch time, never be sure he would turn up at gigs.”
Crosby was OK with the idea of Young joining the band, and after a bit of convincing Stills eventually acquiesced. But Nash wasn’t convinced. “Stephen mentioned, 'maybe we should just get Neil.' I was totally against it. I didn’t want Neil in the band. I didn’t want anybody else in the band and I said as much” He finally agreed to meet with Young and then see how it felt. “Turns out Neil Young was a funny motherfucker,” Nash recalled. “Now, maybe he understood that I was the group’s lone holdout where he was concerned and he was on his best behaviour, but at the end of breakfast I would have nominated him to be the Prime Minister of Canada. Based on his personality and my intuition, I went back to the guys and said, 'I get it - he’s in. Let’s give it a shot.'”
There was a major condition to Young joining the band, however. His manager, Elliot Roberts, insisted Young would "have to be a Y,” a full member of CSN that would necessitate an additional letter be added to the band's name. At first the group opposed the idea - they were already becoming well known as CSN - but they eventually decided the benefits of Young's participation would outweigh any negatives. Thus was born CSN and Y.
Rehearsals began shortly afterwards, and it wasn't long before what was once a three-vote democracy became more of an autocracy with the rest of the band following Young’s direction. “As soon as they started to rehearse, it was clear that Neil was gonna be in charge,” Roberts recalled. Decades later Young would state that Crosby was the heart and soul of the band, but it wasn't like that at first.
The group’s manager, David Geffen, reportedly negotiated a $100,000 payday for the band's first two concerts, a wildly crazy amount in 1969. The first was at Chicago's Auditorium Theatre, with Joni Mitchell, who was fast becoming one of music's biggest stars in her own right and was also Nash's girlfriend. CSNY began the night with an all-acoustic first set, led by the Stills-penned ode to his then girlfriend, Judy Collins, Suite: Judy Blue Eyes. After the acoustic portion of the show the electric guitars came out and mowed the place down.
“The Chicago gig lived up to everyone’s expectations, including ours,” Nash later wrote. “We did three and a half hours: all the stuff on the first album, stuff that would later be on Deja Vu, all of Neil’s songs, some Springfield stuff. And we would talk. A lot. It felt great to finally put it all together and to hear the crowd’s reaction, which was beyond delirious.”
The next day, CSNY played the second gig in a small, out-of-the-way town called Bethel, New York.
MORE CSN/CSNY
Neil Young’s big break came in the mid ‘60s when he co-founded Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills. He was living in a hearse at the time. When that band broke up, not too much later, Stills co-founded Crosby, Stills and Nash (CSN) with David Crosby and Graham Nash, while Young embarked on what would become a stellar solo career. Both released debut albums within weeks of each other, in May, 1969. CSN was an incredible collection of harmony and musicianship, but the group soon realized it would be hard to reproduce their music live - and people wanted to hear them live. Atlantic Records president, Ahmet Ertegun, urged the band to consider bringing Stills’ old Buffalo Springfield bandmate, Young, on board in order to be able to perform the music live.
There was opposition to Ertegun's suggestion. Stills' previous musical collaboration with Young was at times problematic, and Nash just didn't respect him. “It was like lobbing a live grenade into a vacuum,” he later recalled, in his autobiography, Wild Tales. “Neil was a guy with immense talent who was utterly self-centered. Bands for him were merely stepping stones, way stations to a personal goal. That’s the way it had gone down with Buffalo Springfield. They could never count on him at crunch time, never be sure he would turn up at gigs.”
Crosby was OK with the idea of Young joining the band, and after a bit of convincing Stills eventually acquiesced. But Nash wasn’t convinced. “Stephen mentioned, 'maybe we should just get Neil.' I was totally against it. I didn’t want Neil in the band. I didn’t want anybody else in the band and I said as much” He finally agreed to meet with Young and then see how it felt. “Turns out Neil Young was a funny motherfucker,” Nash recalled. “Now, maybe he understood that I was the group’s lone holdout where he was concerned and he was on his best behaviour, but at the end of breakfast I would have nominated him to be the Prime Minister of Canada. Based on his personality and my intuition, I went back to the guys and said, 'I get it - he’s in. Let’s give it a shot.'”
There was a major condition to Young joining the band, however. His manager, Elliot Roberts, insisted Young would "have to be a Y,” a full member of CSN that would necessitate an additional letter be added to the band's name. At first the group opposed the idea - they were already becoming well known as CSN - but they eventually decided the benefits of Young's participation would outweigh any negatives. Thus was born CSN and Y.
Rehearsals began shortly afterwards, and it wasn't long before what was once a three-vote democracy became more of an autocracy with the rest of the band following Young’s direction. “As soon as they started to rehearse, it was clear that Neil was gonna be in charge,” Roberts recalled. Decades later Young would state that Crosby was the heart and soul of the band, but it wasn't like that at first.
The group’s manager, David Geffen, reportedly negotiated a $100,000 payday for the band's first two concerts, a wildly crazy amount in 1969. The first was at Chicago's Auditorium Theatre, with Joni Mitchell, who was fast becoming one of music's biggest stars in her own right and was also Nash's girlfriend. CSNY began the night with an all-acoustic first set, led by the Stills-penned ode to his then girlfriend, Judy Collins, Suite: Judy Blue Eyes. After the acoustic portion of the show the electric guitars came out and mowed the place down.
“The Chicago gig lived up to everyone’s expectations, including ours,” Nash later wrote. “We did three and a half hours: all the stuff on the first album, stuff that would later be on Deja Vu, all of Neil’s songs, some Springfield stuff. And we would talk. A lot. It felt great to finally put it all together and to hear the crowd’s reaction, which was beyond delirious.”
The next day, CSNY played the second gig in a small, out-of-the-way town called Bethel, New York.
MORE CSN/CSNY
