Although Crosby, Stills & Nash had, in effect, been together for well over a decade when Daylight Again (1982) was issued, it was only their third studio long-player of concurrently new material.
As two of the most distinctive artists from the '60s and '70s given their work in CSNY, Crosby & Nash also did great work as a duo act. Wind on the Water was released in 1975 after the previous year's CSNY reunion tour and the dissolution of their contract at Atlantic. In many respects, this alliance made perfect sense.
At the time of its original release in November of 1977, Live was a disappointment. As a single LP in the wake of Wind on the Water and Whistling Down the Wire, it seemed a backhanded insult to this duo, who had a lengthy and illustrious history (on the other hand, ABC Records, who released it, was virtually out of business at the time). The music also seemed somewhat perfunctory, and the content offered almost no recent material, just an odd choice of older songs. The 2000-vintage CD fixed some of those problems, adding two key songs and improving Live in just about every way possible.
World in Motion is the ninth album by American singer/songwriter Jackson Browne, released in 1989 (see 1989 in music). It peaked at number 45 on The Billboard 200 and was Browne's first album to obtain neither Gold nor Platinum status. The album took three years to complete and makes statements about nuclear disarmament and the "secret" government that brought forth Oliver North and the Iran-Contra scandal.
Essential: a masterpiece of Country-Folk music.
This self-titled release is one of – if not arguably the – most impressive side project to arise from CSN.
Sweet Baby James (1970). James Taylor's second album, Sweet Baby James, released in early 1970, is the album that secured his spot among the most important songwriters of the 70s. The sweet, bluesy acoustic guitar and vocals on this album are authentic and interesting - this is a record that has everything from a blues inspired jam, packed with a big band horn section ("Steamroller Blues"); to a gospel revival-like track ("Lo And Behold"); to a traditional nursery rhyme made into a folk ballad ("Oh, Susannah"). And, of course, the album featured "Fire and Rain," which reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Country Road" was another Top 40 hit that struck a chord with music fans, especially because of its attractive mixture of folk, country, gospel, and blues elements, all of them carefully understated and distanced…
In the early and mid-'70s, the years between the live FOUR-WAY STREET and 1977's CSN, there were plenty of albums which were supposedly begun as Crosby Stills Nash and Young projects but collapsed. The Stills and Young Band's LONG MAY YOU RUN is a legendary example, as is 1975's David Crosby and Graham Nash album WIND ON THE WATER, the record the duo made after the early sessions that eventually became LONG MAY YOU RUN fell apart.
Listening to this album, it's easy to hear how different these songs would have sounded with Stills and Young's input, and indeed, the best songs from these two records would have made a killer CSN&Y release. On their own, Crosby, Nash, and the usual heavy friends–Jackson Browne, Carole King, James Taylor, etc.–have made a fine mid-'70s mellow California rock album.