Crosby, Stills & Nash & Young so Far

By 1997, Crosby, Stills & Nash were without a label thanks to a drastic artistic slump, but they began working on a new album, paying for studio time out of their own pockets. Neil Young expressed interest in the tapes, and suddenly, a new CSNY album was in the works. Even though Young's continual tinkering pushed its release back by months, Looking Forward still feels rushed and half-finished. It's immediately apparent that the record began as a self-financed project; it sounds weirdly muted, as if all the levels weren't set accurately; similarly, it's possible to hear sometimes awkward overdubs added to basically completed tracks. While they may have named the album Looking Forward, CSNY are alternately nostalgic and haunted by the past, which colors their attempts to look toward the future. All four of Young's songs fit squarely within the Harvest tradition, as he tries to balance his restless nature with growing old…

Unbeknown to most fans, So Far was a stopgap release, undertaken by Atlantic Records in the absence of a new Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young album to accompany the reunited quartet's summer 1974 tour. At the time, the members thought it was ridiculous to release a greatest-hits/best-of compilation distilled down from two in-print LPs plus the single sides "Ohio" and "Find the Cost of Freedom"; but propelled by the publicity surrounding the group's massive stadium tour (the first exclusive stadium tour ever done in rock), So Far topped the charts and sold hundreds of thousands of copies, all without containing so much as a single new note of music. Ironically, the quartet had been working on what would have been, by all accounts, the best album in their history; as with so many other projects attempted by the four-man lineup, however, that album fell apart halfway through, amid clashes of egos and creative differences, and so there was So Far…

The times had certainly changed since Déjà Vu's release in 1970. Nevertheless, there was a hunger in audiences for a return to the harmony-soaked idealism with which the trio had been catapulted to popularity, and CSN consequently reached number two on the charts, behind Fleetwood Mac's megasuccessful Rumours. The music here is very good, though probably not up to the hard-to-match level of Crosby, Stills & Nash or Déjà Vu. Still, the songs showed a great deal of lyrical maturity and compositional complexity compared to those earlier albums (from a far more innocent time). "Just a Song Before I Go" was the latest of Graham Nash's radio-friendly acoustic numbers, and a Top Ten single. "See the Changes" and "Dark Star" ranked with the best of Stephen Stills' work, while David Crosby contributed three classics from his distinctive oeuvre: "Shadow Captain," "Anything at All," and the beautiful "In My Dreams"…

It was big news in 1969 when former key members of the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and the Hollies - three of the finest bands of the '60s-splintered off to form their own trio. Despite their already-proven talents, few could have imagined the gossamer vocal blend that would become the trademark of supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash. The band's debut effectively provided the soundtrack to the summer of '69.
For his part, Steve Stills keeps exploring the progressive folk-rock sound that he'd pioneered with Buffalo Springfield; signature tune "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" is an expansive, multi-section affair that makes full use of the group's vocal skills. Fresh from the Hollies, Graham Nash adds an accessible pop sensibility, epitomized by the effervescent ditty "Marrakesh Express"…

It was big news in 1969 when former key members of the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and the Hollies - three of the finest bands of the '60s-splintered off to form their own trio. Despite their already-proven talents, few could have imagined the gossamer vocal blend that would become the trademark of supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash. The band's debut effectively provided the soundtrack to the summer of '69.
For his part, Steve Stills keeps exploring the progressive folk-rock sound that he'd pioneered with Buffalo Springfield; signature tune "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" is an expansive, multi-section affair that makes full use of the group's vocal skills. Fresh from the Hollies, Graham Nash adds an accessible pop sensibility, epitomized by the effervescent ditty "Marrakesh Express"…

Unbeknown to most fans, So Far was a stopgap release, undertaken by Atlantic Records in the absence of a new Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young album to accompany the reunited quartet’s summer 1974 tour.

When David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash created this pop super trio in 1968 after their splits from the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and The Hollies, respectively, it would have been a pipedream that a hits package released 37 years later would sound as eternal and essential as this one. The 19 songs straddle the four-album, landscape-altered timeframe between 1969's post-Woodstock debut Crosby, Stills & Nash and 1982's Daylight Again, which helped inaugurate the MTV era. Unbalanced sequencing–which randomly bounces 12 years ahead and five years back–is rescued by the superb harmonies, unique songwriting and divergent personalities of the three members. With politics and culture always at the forefront, Stills bookends the band's trademark canon with "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" and "Southern Cross," Nash incorporates Eastern influences to "Marrakesh Express" and folk timber to "Just a Song Before I Go" and "Teach Your Children," and the ever-capricious Crosby leads the way lyrically with the lingering "Delta" to the Robert Kennedy tribute "Long Time Gone".

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. When it was just the two of them, they were often more likable. Crosby wasn't as much of a blowhard and Nash became more pragmatic. Wind on the Water's virtues are apparent with the first song, the warm and pensive single "Carry Me." "Homeward Through the Haze," "Low Down Payment," and "Naked in the Rain" are gems that all but sum up their complicated harmonic and melodic style. Besides Crosby & Nash being on their game, the studio players here are impeccable. Lovers of '70s pop/rock will love to hear players like Danny Kortchmar and David Lindley effortlessly doing their identifiable riffs…

Essential: a masterpiece of country rock music
This three-LP or two-CD set Carry On, issued for the European and Australian markets, has proved among the most popular of Crosby, Stills & Nash’s imports since its release in 1991.

Talk about understatement – there's Stephen Stills on the cover, acoustic guitar in hand, promising a personal singer/songwriter-type statement.