A diamond of the times, again courtesy of the dark forces of Atlantis. (Ah, but what’s troubling you is THE NATURE of this GEM.) Similar in spirit to Simon & Garfunkel, Crosby, Stills & Nash was that duo cubed: three songwriters with unique personalities. Instrumental hotshot Stephen Stills wrote complicated odes to lost love, David Crosby strummed his guitar while spinning magic and social unrest, and Graham Nash injected a dose of British charm into the whole thing. In a sense, CS&N were like The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel and Jimi Hendrix swirled into one. That it came together so well so quickly is amazing: “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” “Marrakesh Express,” “Guinnevere,” “Wooden Ships” and “Long Time Gone” are birthed titans. The remaining tracks sometimes feel unfinished, but there are surprises among the tracks you don’t know (“49 Bye-Byes” for example prefigures Steely Dan’s first album by a few years). The arrangements are solid considering that Stills is often multitracking guitar, bass and organ, and Dallas Taylor provides as solid a backbeat as Ringo ever did. The real story, of course, is the harmonies; that three voices could mesh so well is still astounding today. They may lay things on a little thick with “Helplessly Hoping,” but used in moderation (“Wooden Ships”) the three voices tuned to one another simply soar. Though their next album, which reunited Stills and Neil Young, theoretically ups the ante, the trio’s first album remains a towering achievement. The music from the Summer of Love seldom burned brighter than it did here. It was the beginning of the end (natch), but don’t be troubled, Little Dreamer. Rest your heads on the soft, harmonious clouds of social destruction and sleep, sleep, sleep…
Crosby, Stills & Nash (1969)
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Kronomyth 6.0: AIRPLANE AGAINST THE WORLD, MOTHERFUCKER. Click. Ah, there it is, that soothing sound as another piece is added to the Jefferson Airpuzzle. You’ll indulge me my strange obsession, I’m sure, peering over my shoulder to see what I’m scribbling while the tigers crouch in the corner and smile. Never mind the tigers, since I’m the only one who sees them anyway: the beggars’ banquet table as unholy altar, the empty banquet table of the dead, the empty rest-rooming place of a legend. We’ve talked before about the shifting spectrum of music in the late 60s, from black to rainbow to red, white and blue. You could hear it in the music of The Rolling Stones and on Volunteers too. Any conversation of Jefferson’s sixth should really begin and end with its two revolutionary anthems, “We Can Be Together” and “Volunteers.” But the conversation doesn’t end there. There are side conversations that must take place around the contributions of Nicky Hopkins, who gives their music a more serious dimension, and the inspired lead guitar work of Jorma Kaukonen, wielder of psychedelic lightning bolts. And then there’s that troublesome card facing us on the table, the mutinous lovers, who seem to wrest more control of the airplane with every album. Or we could talk about the band’s newfound affection for the country (“The Farm,” “Good Shepherd,” “A Song For All Seasons”), which effectively replaces the psychedelic experimentation of past albums and pre-figures the direction that the Dead would soon take. It’s a lot to discuss, more than I care to do really, and any discussion would omit some important detail anyway, as there are so many important details to capture. The band’s dark and stormy voyage through “Wooden Ships” could consume one thousand words alone. I could spend another thousand or more on “Eskimo Blue Day” and “Hey Fredrick” each. As we’ve already established, though, these reviews are merely the scratching of a nervous itch, a missing piece of discographical detail to be added, catalogued and applied as a soothing salve to an anxious mind. For your troubles, I’ll give you a short summation of Volunteers. It’s the best album from the band’s classic lineup and also their last, showing a newfound interest in the burgeoning country-rock scene, marked by the stellar musical contributions of Jorma and Nicky Hopkins (last seen at Beggar’s Banquet) and displaying an ever-increasing depth of songwriting from Paul Kantner and Grace Slick. It also contains the band’s most succinct counterculture anthems. You can lament the slow disintegration of Jefferson Airplane, but it’s unlikely they would have reached greater heights than Volunteers.
A heavier, earthier, more ragged record than their debut, the cause of which is called Neil Young. His voice adds a not unwelcome sourness to the choirboy harmonies of CS&N’s debut, his cranky guitar work pushes the band squarely into the rock half of the folk-rock movement. And yet Neil Young isn’t the story here, just an interesting chapter in it. Déjà Vu is one interesting chapter after another. The opening “Carry On” aligns with the multi-part “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” in form, and perfectly sums up the contrast in styles between the two records: the harmonies are lower but no less beguiling, the music more informed by Santana than Simon & Garfunkel. Turn the page and you get the first of Graham Nash’s lovely fables, “Teach Your Children,” featuring the steel guitar of Jerry Garcia. We keep our guard down for “Almost Cut My Hair” only to discover that David Crosby has much more on his mind. It’s really an anthem, marvelous because it questions its own motives for allegiance even as it praises the cause. When Neil Young’s “Helpless” rolls around, we’ve already made the acquaintance of his cantankerous electric, so this disarming country song is met with a raised eyebrow. The real Neil emerges on the opening moments of “Woodstock,” kicking up dust like a bantam rooster, and it’s here that you get an idea of what the first album might have sounded like had he been aboard. The title track weaves its familiar spell, and just as we’re convinced that the album couldn’t get any better, it does. “Our House” is simply one of the prettiest songs ever written, on a par with any of Paul McCartney’s romantic confections (“I Will,” “When I’m Sixty-Four”). To me, it’s the peak of a nearly perfect album. Things unravel slightly at the end, beginning with the Stills solo piece “4 + 20.” The three-part “Country Girl” from Neil Young is very good, but his ambitions have always been a little larger than his skill as an arranger. The closing “Everybody I Love You,” credited to Stills and Young, sounds like a holdover from Buffalo Springfield. As brilliant as it is, Déjà Vu is a balancing act. CSN&Y wasn’t a band so much as an open market where each member could shop their finest wares. Competitive natures may have spurred them on, and they clearly benefited from bartered skills, but we should have seen the planets slowly slipping from alignment. They wouldn’t approach this level of artistry again as a unit, instead splintering off into solo ventures and earlier couplings. But the serendipitous moment was captured for eternity, and Déjà Vu won’t let us forget.
Time to feed the mythology monster living in the basement of our collective conscious. CSN and if you look real closely Y play Woodstock and the world is forever changed, or so it would seem. Joni Mitchell misses the landmark event, but after talking to the group pens “Woodstock” anyway. In March 1970, the band releases the song and the world is changed again via perspective or historical revisionism or myth-making or whatever you want to call it. Joni’s sere rendition of her own song appears one month later on Ladies of the Canyon. Somehow, not unwittingly I suppose, CSN&Y become the spokespersons for a generation, in a sense appropriating Woodstock with this tune. Toss in Young’s “Helpless,” and you have a little slice of history all to yourself. Me, I never bought into the Woodstock mystique, but then I’ve never met a mob I liked.
I haven’t listened to every solo CS&N record, but this is the best of the lot so far. It opens with the most popular of the solo bits, “Love The One You’re With.” In the middle, Stills holds his own with guests Jimi Hendrix and 
“I don’t know if I want White America to remember or to forget that Jesus Christ was the first non-violent revolutionary. Dig it, oh, dig it, oh, right on, dig it, yeah.” – Stephen Stills, “America’s Children.”
Kronomyth 1.0: ALL THINGS MUST NASH. If “Our House” was the best Beatles song the band never wrote, then Songs For Beginners is the best Beatles solo album that none of the Fab Four ever released. That’s not to suggest that Graham Nash was consciously copying The Beatles or Bob Dylan, at least not anymore than anyone else, but his first album combines British pop, ballads and a social conscience in the best possible ways. Though the last member of Crosby, Stills and Nash to release a solo album, Nash made it the best of his career. Honestly, the first three solo albums from Crosby, Stills and Nash were better salve to the wounded hearts of their fans than what John, Paul, George and Ringo had to offer. When I tell you that Songs For Beginners is my favorite solo album from Crosby, Stills or Nash (Neil Young’s Harvest is better in my opinion), it’s with the caveat that I’m a anglophile at heart. Beatles fans should immediately warm up to “Military Madness” and “Be Yourself;” Bobby Keys’ sax solo on “There’s Only One” will also feel like a bit of home. CSN fans will instantly recall “Chicago,” introduced a month earlier on the live 
The critical consensus is that the five records that Stills released on Atlantic (six if you count 
Everybody said “Why are you doing a double album?” I listen to it now–it overreached a little bit. It didn’t quite get there, but it was sure damn close. — Stills in an 
It’s Deja Vu all over again, and Wooden Ships and Woodstock too. The band was officially over at this point, part of the great crumbling of talent that marked the children of the summer of love (Buffalo Springfield, Cream, Jefferson Airplane). That CSN and sometimes Y would reunite doesn’t change the fact that much of their greatest work (as a collective) was already behind them. For those going back to the garden via So Far, some of the prettiest flowers to bloom from their generation are here: “Woodstock,” “Déjà Vu,” “Teach Your Children,” “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes.” Listening to those complex harmonies and ambitious lyrics, I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I came here originally for “Our House,” arguably the greatest pop song The Beatles should have written and never did. I really am a simple soul though. As rich as the harmonies of “Helplessly Hoping” are, they’re not my cup of tea. “Ohio” is bracing but too bitter for my tastes. I imagine that CSN&Y fans are more quickly polarized than fans of The Beatles because the individual talents were more easily separated with CSN&Y. If it seems profane to compare the two, consider this: the music of So Far is drawn from only two albums and one single (“Ohio”). If you can cobble together a better album from any two Beatles albums, let me know. As introductions go, So Far is far better than most. There are few single album compilations that capture the essential moments of an act as well as this (Jimi Hendrix’ Smash Hits comes to mind). If you buy only one CS&N album, make it this one. And if you don’t own at least one CS&N album, shame on you. Note that the original release (SD 18100) featured a cover with a raised border and brown lettering on back; the subsequent reissue (SD 19119) was produced more cheaply on regular stock with black lettering on back.
After Manassas, Stills went back to recording solo material, signed with Columbia Records and released Stills. The opening “Turn Back The Pages” sums it up nicely, as the album collects material from several sessions including one (“As I Come of Age”) dating back to 1971. The music on Stills isn’t quite as compelling or cohesive as the last two Manassas records, a point that didn’t escape critics. But it’s not a bad record by any means. You’ll find ambitious arrangements (“Love Story,” “Myth of Sisyphus”), sneaky melodies (“My Favorite Changes,” “In The Way”), a Neil Young song (“New Mama”) and what might be the best CSN song that never was, “As I Come of Age.” The supporting players represent a several-year span of time, including some new faces: Donnie Dacus, Marcie Levy, Kenny Passarelli, Rick Roberts. If you’re a fan of Stephen Stills, then Stills is definitely worth a flyer at some point. At least it meets my expectations of a Stephen Stills solo album: solid songs, thoughtful lyrics, some sharp guitar and organ playing, a revolving cast of stars and cameos from Crosby and Nash. You get the sense, reading some of the negative reviews of Stills as the time, that critics had simply soured on the whole CSN and sometimes Y experience. I’ll admit that their hand was overplayed and that the whole country-rock movement (The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, CSNY, Crosby-Nash, Flying Burrito Brothers, Manassas, Firefall, Poco, The Southern Hillman Furay Band, etc.) seemed to re-shuffle the same cards in endless and often-diluted variations. A world that had grown tired of Stephen Stills, however, was a jaded world indeed. I think there’s plenty on Stills to hold your interest, even if it isn’t the first, second or third Stephen Stills album you need to own.
Kronomyth 4.0: CSNchantment. Something magical happens when those three letters come together. It’s not just the harmonies, although that’s certainly a big part of it. When their voices mesh, it creates a sound that is not simply a greater sum, but sumthing altogether different where the human individual is subsumed by an angelic host. You can’t simply pull apart those harmonies and say this is Stills or this is Nash because it doesn’t work like that. As I said, though, it’s not just the harmonies; it’s the entire songwriting experience that gets elevated. Illegal Stills and Whistling Down The Wire couldn’t hold a candle to the songs on CSN. Yes, “Carried Away” does sound like “Marguerita” and “Anything At All” really isn’t. The rest of the songs on CSN are inspired: “Dark Star,” “Shadow Captain,” “Just A Song Before I Go,” “Cathedral,” “Cold Rain.” They’re some of the best songs that Crosby, Stills and Nash ever wrote, period. In looking for the catalyst to CSN’s resurgent greatness, I’m stumped. Stills was in the middle of a difficult divorce, Crosby was in the middle of being Crosby, Nash was in the middle of a wounded rocker and a hard drug user. Somehow, improbably, it added up to a classic studio rock album that eventually became the band’s biggest seller. Subsequent reunions revealed them to be merely mortal, but for one shining moment in 1977 Crosby, Stills and Nash defied time and even their own personal history to create magic once more.
I read on the Internet (and, hooray, it still sounds illegitimate!) that Graham had intended to keep the Crosby & Nash bicycle upright, but 
Kronomyth 6.0: A DAYLIGHTFUL COMEBACK. The re-reunion with the re-relapsing Crosby should have been a disaster, but Stills and Nash keep the boat afloat and sail into the new decade with a platinum album and a pair of their biggest hits: “Wasted On The Way” and “Southern Cross.” The baffling album cover aside, Daylight Again is a throwback to classic CSN: the warm and ingratiating songs from Nash, the kickin’ country and rock contributions from Stills and even an airy vocal track from Crosby (“Delta”). Financial motivation aside, the trio are truly greater as a whole than the sum of their parts. However, this is a reunion in name only, as Crosby’s harmonies are handled mostly by backing vocalists Michael Finnigan and Timothy Schmit. Stills even goes outside of the band to recruit Art Garfunkel for the closing “Daylight Again.” So, while the harmonies may be a little different than you remember, the quality remains nearly the same. With Stills writing the bulk of the material (getting assistance from Michael Stergis, Gerry Tolman and others), Daylight Again is not devoid of filler. Yet more often than not the songs resonate: “You Are Alive,” “Song For Susan,” “Into The Darkness,” “Too Much Love To Hide.” They’re a cut above what you’d usually encounter on a solo Stills or Nash album from this time. Closing with a reprise of the classic “Find The Cost of Freedom,” and finding that it doesn’t feel out of place here, shows that not so much has changed with CS&N since the 60s. I keep going into these reunions expecting tarnished memories and instead end up leaving with my faith renewed. In fact, a good portion of this album provides what would today constitute classic CSN. Although the trio stuck together for a live album, Allies, they came unstuck again soon after, only to re-re-reunite in 88. Set your wayback machines for American Dream and I’ll see you there.
Kronomyth 7.2: OUR HURT IS QUIET AND OUR HEARTS TAMED, AS THE SEA MAY YET BE TAMED. “Southern Cross” has its origins in a different song, “Seven League Boots,” written by The Curtis Brothers and recorded with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks (of future Fleetwood fame) in 1974.