David Crosby's If I Could Only Remember My Name - C or D?

Red Hash?

superstoner folk-psych from 73. they are both great albums though. that red hash album just hit the spot so well cuz i was on top of a mountain in woodstock with gale-force winds whipping around the house while high on weed. it was a set and setting kinda thing. dunno, if there is a reissue that is easy to find. i want one if there is.

(before we headed for woodstock we stayed at my wife's dad's place on top of a mountain in massachusetts where he has a new-age retreat and the crosby cd was prominently displayed next to all their african carvings.)

Absolutely nothing like "No Other", I love it personally, in fact i prefer to "No Other" ... today

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000C3G6/qid=1074537265/sr=1-8/ref=sr_1_11_8/026-4549943-0217242

how's the John Phillips - John, the Wolf King of LA? i've heard that album is supposed to tread the same terrain?

anything else like this?

Dud - that David Crosby songbook with the dodgy binding that falls to bits in your hands. Anyone else got one of those?

shit, i missed when this thread got bumped. thank you SO much, jaxon.

I have never heard the intakes though.

Re: the box set (which I would like, yes, but it is quite expensive), can you spot the odd one out here:

Customers who bought this item also bought
If I Could Only Remember My Name: Remastered & Expanded/+Dvda ~ David Crosby
There Is a Season: +DVD ~ Byrds
The Complete Reprise Sessions ~ Gram Parsons
Orphans [3CD Set] ~ Tom Waits
The Slade Box [Box Set] ~ Slade
Perception: 40th Anniversary (6 CD's and 6 DVD-A's) ~ Doors

i don't get this at all. i guess it's a little dated, but i'd never think it was terrible.

(i need to get this record at long last)

geir, good job reading AGAIN. there are two mentions only a couple of posts above yours that mention the remastered & expanded version

Madness, it's so-good-its-good!

so I'm looking to get a copy of this on vinyl - should I get the 180g reissue from a few years back (~$28 plus shipping online) or the original (~$15 plus shipping)?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/feb/15/pope-top-10-albums-vatican

just wait until you find an original in a store for $5-10?? it's not that expensive a record tbh and paying $20+ for it seems silly. cobo, where do you live? next time i see a copy I can mail it to for less than $15 ppd.

Everybody's saying music is love

I live in LA, but unfortunately since I ride the bus going store-hopping is a massive pain in the ass (especially since the best stores are out in either Long Beach or the Valley)

seems insane to pay that sort of price for this album (sorta like paying $20+ for Herb Alpert's Whipped Cream and other Delights) which i think by law you have to stock in the used vinyl section. patience is a virtue.

I see a copy of this every time I go to a record store, practically. And what Ian said.

Yeah, give it time - i see it frequently enough and often in the 3.99 - 8.99 range. When you do find it for that price it'll make your day

total classic, love the underlying paranoia

I've never seen one in the UK, they always seem to go for about £20 online

Eh? You've not been looking very hard. I doubt I paid more than 3 quid for my copy, and possibly 1 quid, but I suppose that was before it became a lost classic

i see it frequently enough and often in the 3.99 - 8.99 range

Doesn't sound very lost to me!

Lost in the sense that, for years, everybody thought it just was a load of half-baked coke-addled shit, hence it's bargain bin status

Yeah, I saw it in a street market in Woking, £2, but I only knew it as alohbcas, so left it. (about 10 years ago)

"laughing" is so chill on a day like this one, 100+ out

If I Could Only Remember My Name is the debut solo album by David Crosby, released in February of 1971 on Atlantic Records. One of four high-profile albums released by each member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in the wake of their chart-topping Déjà Vu album, it peaked at #12 on the Billboard 200. It has been in print continuously since its initial release. The album gained new recognition in 2010 when it was listed second on the Vatican's "Top 10 Pop Albums of All Time" as published in the official newspaper of the Holy See, L'Osservatore Romano.

WTF

what was number 1, I wonder

1. "Revolver" — The Beatles

2. "If I Could Only Remember My Name" — David Crosby (his first solo album)

3. "Dark Side of the Moon" — Pink Floyd

4. "Rumors" — Fleetwood Mac

5. "The Nightfly" — Donald Fagen (of Steely Dan)

6. "Thriller" — Michael Jackson

7. "Graceland" — Paul Simon

8. "Achtung Baby" — U2

9. "(What's the Story) Morning Glory — Oasis

10. "Supernatural" — Carlos Santana

EVEN THE POPE LIKE THE DAN (or at least 1/2 the dan)

No Sinatra?!

that list is so insane I can't even begin...

I was amazed at how many copies of this I saw at the flea market the other week. At least ten in one shop alone.

vinyl??

for me, it's all about the last 3 tracks on side 2.

I was amazed at how many copies of this I saw at the flea market the other week. At least ten in one shop alone.

― Your cousin, Marvin Cobain (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, March 31, 2011 9:19 PM (2 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
vinyl??

― Bleeqwot the Chef (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, March 31, 2011 9:35 PM (2 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Yeah. Most of 'em were in the $5 bin, altough a few rougher copies were just $2.

Found this for 3 bucks on vinyl yesterday!

"...You know that indian girl?/She wasn't no indian/she was tha law..."

i tried, i really did,
but i don't like Cowboy Movie.
the guitar solo, the repetitive blues beat and atmosphere.
am i the only one?

the rest of the album is excellent.

but dude, jerry

http://www.davidcrosby.com/sites/default/files/crosby_feature-croz1.jpg

The Crozfather

desert island disc imo

Doesn't Cowboy Movie also have Phil Lesh and one of the Dead drummers?

But yeah, it could have done with some editing.

No way

So amazing this is 2nd after "Revolver" on that Vatican list. Are they secret ILXors?

"Cowboy Movie" = One of best fake Neil Young songs ever = Crozy Horse

I've still never heard this, but I see this record everywhere for a few dollars or less. Don't know why I've never picked it up. Aside from Wooden Ships I've never been crazy about CSN or any of their incarnations, although I love groups who wanted to sound like them. I do love the front and back of this record.

I just listened to it. Holy shit you need to buy that the next time you see it. It is incredible.

Also, I finally get the noise track from "Stereopathetic Soul Manure" is a parody of this!

I meant "I just listened to it for the first time". Wow this is so classic.

lol so Christgau was wrong about this one eh

I wonder who they are
The men who really run this land
And I wonder why they run it
With such a thoughtless hand

What are their names
And on what streets do they live
I'd like to ride right over
This afternoon and give
Them a piece of my mind
About peace for mankind
Peace is not an awful lot to ask

see why'd you have to do that

I kind of think of this as the Dead's best studio album.

"Cowboy Movie" isn't really like a Crazy Horse song, or a Dead song for that matter, because the vocals get increasingly agitated as the song goes on. much love to the dead but I don't think they ever pulled that off themselves. the playing, of course, but not the singing. & the closest Neil song in that way is "Ohio", where again it's the Croz losing it

love cowboy movie, tho crosby's performance does make me lol.
the live show w/ garcia/lesh/kreutzmann from this period is rad (perhaps mainly for Garcia's killer solos).

There is so much on this album to hate, I imagine it is ground zero of bloated hippie dinosaur rock for many original punks.

"I kind of think of this as the Dead's best studio album."

i kinda think youre otm, even though The Dead play only a few songs here.

Also, I finally get the noise track from "Stereopathetic Soul Manure" is a parody of this!

― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Sunday, January 5, 2014 9:00 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Wait what?

I mean the beginning, which is Beck with a bunch of delayed vocals exploring experimental vibrations. It was the first thing the end of the Crosby album brought to mind.

I had forgotten it goes into harsh noise after the first few minutes.

There is so much on this album to hate, I imagine it is ground zero of bloated hippie dinosaur rock for many original punks.

Not sure about that, who actually knew about it? It's not the Eagles (in so many ways)! Nobody bought it hence its perennial bargain bin status... or maybe it sold in the US, I don't know. Anyway it was dismissed out of hand as bloated coke-addled nonsense long before punks arrived on the scene.

anyway, this record is much better than most of the "hippie rock" at the time. (including the Dead imo), so a punk with an ear for a more "artisic" record would've appreciate it i think.

Exactly, Neil Young survived pretty unscathed

i mean, fuck, even Music Is Love is awesome! reminds me of George Harrison.

xxxp i never see it in the bargain bin in the uk, wish i did, i could do with a better copy

Not now you don't, I'm talking back in the day before its critical rehabilitation

Really love this album, can remember buying the CD at the same time as VU's Loaded - it was a really hot day and I had a long wait for my bus home; it sounded absolutely amazing on my discman. I just got the vinyl reissue for Christmas but haven't played it yet.

yes this album is wonderful. bought my copy for $2 maybe 3 or 4 years ago? what a great deal.

Nobody bought it hence its perennial bargain bin status

usually this is the other way around, right? the records i see in the bargain bin sold like fucking crazy in their day. CSNY were huge by any measure, this record always sits next to deja vu, harvest, etc., if you're paying more than $5 bucks for any of these records, you're getting robbed imo. not because they aren't good but because they are ubiquitous; they sold a shit load of copies.

also cowboy movie has so much more of a crazy horse vibe than a dead vibe

and can i just say how fucking gorgeous crosby's voice is? one of the all time great rock singers, for sure, his voice is magnificent. there's some dylan comment somewhere where bob talks about how much he loved crosby's voice.

if y'all dig this record then you must all love "almost cut my hair"

if CSN irritate me will I like this album?

no Stills!

if CSN irritate me will I like this album?

It depends what you don't like about CSN - I find them hit and miss myself but it's mainly the Nash songs I have problems with.

a good CSN gauge for liking this album is "Guinnevere"

also, a good gauge for liking this albom is to listen it

I've never taken the plunge mostly cuz I hate Crosby so much - always the worst thing about the Byrds, and CSN is unlistenable

I hate CSN but I love this. It sounds wasted rather than smug.

i'm ok with CSN but i love this

Without the trippy arrangement "Traction in the Rain" would be a bit too close to singer-songwriter book store dreck poetry night open mic blue eyed easy funk. The production saves it for me, which is the case for most of this album. Though the rhythm track on song 02 is BANGIN'.

I kind of think of this as the Dead's best studio album.

Crazy. Workingman's Dead/American Beauty are both miles better than this.

^otm

Yeah that was a bit of hyperbole, I agree, but many things I like about this record are because of its Dead-ness, even on the tracks w/ out the Dead, similar headspace for me. And Jerry plays incredibly on this record.

new album is surprisingly ok
streaming here:

http://albumstreams.com/s/david-crosby/croz

first he sells his sailboat, now he's trying to score some $$ with a new album, times must be tough these days for the croz

for those who didn't see this - http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1947/Alden-356-B-CENTERBOARD-SCHOONER-2007887/Santa-Barbara/CA/United-States

wooden ships

on the water, but not exactly free.

"Many of David's songs have been created on board this spiritual platform"

those must be the songs from Oh Yes I Can and Thousands Roads. maybe he should ask for a lower price..

Hey, does anyone know if "What Are Their Names" was recorded live in studio or via overdubs? I ask because the very idea of Neil and Garcia and Lesh in the same room with guitars is pretty exciting. I don't have the 2xCD reissue of this (how are the liner notes, btw?), nor have I read Crosby's bio--is this info in either of these places?

I think this pic is from the sessions
http://31.media.tumblr.com/ab35b1e56e3f8afeaa02e20eba50e916/tumblr_mg3mwmD25A1qabpu5o1_1280.png

Well, that's gonna be my desktop wallpaper from here on out. Thanks, Tyler!

Just tried to make an inroad into this album but a few tracks along I turned back to safety of No Other . Sorry, guys.

i cab't see the resemblance between those 2 albums but ok

Both Made by guys who in the Byrds prob

Were in the byrds

I was gifted the 180 gram reissue from a couple years ago for my birthday and it is just wonderful.

The low end frequencies, in particular, are noticeably juicier and just dandy.

just getting around to this ... so dope!

Orrrrrr leeeeeee aannnnnns

man Croz is nice tho

yeah i've talked to a lot of people who dig it -- i still need to check it out.

The intermittent revival of this thread is why I love ILM.

and hate Crosby.

cmon you know you want to go on this -- the Cruiseby!
http://www.travelpulse.com/news/entertainment/crosby-stills-nash-take-cruise-goers-from-new-york-to-london-in-september.html

and hate Crosby.

*high five*

DON: The mere fact that after all he's been through, we still have David Crosby among us making music and singing as well as ever is cause for celebration. We'd been fans going back to the Byrds and then CSNY, listening to those great albums, absorbing the activism, and learning the meaning of "Harmony".

GLENN: Crosby's coining of the phrase "...why can't we go on as three?" made both Don and I's personal lives waaaaaaay more interesting.

DON: Well, yeah.

Photos of Crosby's boat! I wonder if there's a stash somewhere that he forgot about before selling it.

http://testpressing.org/2014/01/david-crosbys-boat-the-mayan/

Heavy stuff on his Twitter feed:

David Crosby ‏@thedavidcrosby 1h1 hour ago
“@stillsyoung: @thedavidcrosby do you see ISIS as a threat to the continental us?”
No and I would to see us stay out
Let Sunni and Shia kill

David Crosby ‏@thedavidcrosby 1h1 hour ago
“@stillsyoung: @thedavidcrosby do you see ISIS as a threat to the continental us?”
Each other as much as the want

he also recently hated on Kanye a little on his Twitter, which bummed me out

rip sunni and shia

http://i.imgur.com/zsafi7y.png

#macklemore

#CSNvinylintheThriftShop

Yes and I does happen

croz's twitter is such a gift

wait that's real?! I thought it was a parody

it happens each day iirc

everybody's been RT'd

Almost Deactivated My Account

surprised that a 72 year old man doesn't like rap music

tbf it probably wasn't until the late 90s that he could distinguish between hearing a rap song and thinking he was hearing beavers building a dam inside his frontal lobe

AVC: What’s your favorite part about visiting Japan?

DC: Wow, where to start. The Japanese National Treasury Sword Museum.

AVC: What draws you to that place in particular?

DC: I’m a student of the blade technology that they developed back around the 1200s, 1300s, 1400s when they started making really amazing Samurai swords.

AVC: Do you collect any yourself?

DC: A little bit. I can’t afford to collect the really big ones.

http://www.avclub.com/article/david-crosby-answers-our-11-questions-232938

i need pics of david crosby wielding a samurai sword

Crosby wielding his sword against the Triads

"I’m a student of the blade technology that they developed back around the 1200s, 1300s, 1400s" is such a fantastic thing to say

Neil Young responds that he's a student of the windshield wiper blade technology developed in the 1940s and 1950s. It will also be the subject of his next album.

Neil wielding wiper blades against the Triads

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0dME_y7TDE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0le1-BHyIfY

Has anybody pointed out that the live set and rehearsals for the live set from December 70 are well worth tracking down,. Crosby and 3 of the Grateful Dead, I think Garcia, Lesh and Hart playing several songs from the Crosby lp as well as Bertha which the Dead used to do and Graham Nash's The Wall in a sublime version.
It used to be around torrent sites but may have been commercially released, not sure about officially.

"...You know that indian girl?/She wasn't no indian/she was tha law..."

― Status Update...in my Seether? (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, September 14, 2011 9:48 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

what the f does that line mean?

Hot chick was actually a narc.

Song was apparently a dig at Rita Coolidge who had at some time dated both Graham Nash and Steven Stills. Not sure which of the 2 by the time of the song and she was more famously involved with Kris Kristofferson apart from being famous in her own right.
But Dave just felt like being snide at the time or something.

how is the new Crosby record? anybody heard?

I like it

//e.snmc.io/lk/f/l/ad58ac61e2ecbef46005c3333fc4be87/1557252.jpg

I found this quite surprising when I saw it in a page long review for a number of reissues of Francoise Hardy lps in Uncut about a year ago. Can't be a coincidence can it?
Has Crosby ever said anything about it anywhere?

Ask him on Twitter!

I always associate IICORMN with the solo Jefferson Airplane stuff taht was coming out on Grunt at about the same time with some of the same musicians involved.
Things like Starfighter, Manhole, Baron Von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun and Blows Against the Empire.

I picked up a vinyl copy of IICORMN in the late 80s possibly intrigued by the cover, though I did know who Crosby was as an ex-Byrd.
Didn't get into CSN(Y) until much much later, thoug I did like Marrakesh Express as an oldie I was hearing on the radio as a preteen.

I used to play laughing a lot on the early days of my radio show.

such a classic, does anything else in his solo catalog come close?

also, "Cowboy Movie" is more or less the blueprint for Down By the River?

Down By The River precedes it by ca. 2 years.

oh... lol!

I like his last couple solo albums

I liked the one from last year as well

yesterday I listened to Thousand Roads, liked that one as well

I guess maybe I really like the Croz and I should start digging

i find the croz less objectionable now that everybody else in the world is a fucking lunatic wingnut as well

i haven't delved too deep into his solo shit but that "another stoney evening" live thing with graham nash is some good shit, there's also a really nice video of the two of them on the bbc from around this time.

A major dickbrain https://t.co/dZHmbN9Fy9

— David Crosby (@thedavidcrosby) August 9, 2018

If I Could Only Remember My Dickbrain...

The Dickbrain forgets what the Dickheart remembers

Calls to mind his great one-line cameo in Dylan's Chronicles vol 1: "Bunch of dickheads on autostroke."

Worth noting the surround sound DVD of this is p. amazing.

i've got friends who are super into 5.1 and i can't be bothered to set up that many speakers. i wish there were more downmixes of 5.1 records circulating, particularly if the talking heads 5.1 mixes are ordinary and standard for 5.1 mixes as has been claimed.

I should note that I only got into 5.1 when I bought a house that had surround installed. All I did was buy a receiver and a center channel and some CDs.

Regardless, this is a cool experience in surround.

I was mistaken

His new album is sounding really good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEulHicim5w

Yeah he's been doing some good work in recent years

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln9dtQ8tuKk

Nice!

member of both crosby stills and nash _and_ crosby stills nash and young! how many people can say that, really?

I can only think of two, maybe three.

Dallas Taylor, but I can't think of anyone else.

i bought a slightly overpriced copy of this yesterday and only later realized that i already owned a much nicer copy. i guess it's kind of fitting to make that kind of derp with this album

You were mistaken

I thought he was one of the best interview subjects in Echo in Canyon; looking forward to his own documentary, which opens here in a couple of weeks.

...the Canyon, the Canyon.

that echo in the canyon movie was pretty bad

speaking of Crosby interviews

I cannot recommend the last five minutes of this interview with David Crosby from the THR podcast more highly. https://t.co/jo1RNUKCBJ pic.twitter.com/4Ry4Dnx5ji

— Charles Bramesco (@intothecrevasse) July 20, 2019

that was nuts.

it was, to be fair, not a very good interview

like i would never listen to anything that guy has done based on what i heard. but the fact that his monotonous, 9th grade book report style inspired such heights of egomaniacal fury in crosby is p amazing

whenever i think of crosby i think of the part from shakey, the neil young biography, where he's being interviewed by a magazine over the phone while he's being...attended to....by a groupie

Checked out the podcast — the interviewer gets fair warning at 28:00, but has no clue or interest in how to pivot (or really conduct an interview, I guess); and he eventually gets what’s coming to him.

“Well, this is the format of the podcast... I’ve got lots of other questions like this...” — c’mon, man, for real?

yeah there was also an exchange along the lines of:

crosby: c’mon man, what’s with these questions ? everybody already knows this shit it’s been written about ad nauseam

interviewer: well, there are a lot of listeners in their 20s and 30s who probably haven’t heard of you

lol not really the best defense of your lame questions

also when he interrupts crosby and says something to the effect of:

sorry, for the sake of our musically illiterate listeners, can you explain what harmony is ?

?????

I like when the guy asks, “If you had come along a few years before you did, before the Beatles and the singer-songwriter era, what would you have ended up doing? Just singing? Just writing songs? Nothing at all?”

And Crosby’s like: “Uh, I would have gotten into the same thing, I’d just be a few years older.”

oh man this is a super uncomfortable listen

I'm surprised Crosby kept it together for so long tbh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOnZXeHRl40&feature=youtu.be

haha this host is fucking - quote - annoying as shit - close quote

huh so far they are really getting along

Croz berating his booking agent at the end of that podcast was 👍

okay that was amazing....the guy just kept going and going
basically just like "i read your wikipedia page" interview

I’d say stick with music but you’re not so good at that either. https://t.co/6ZLfjj1bpj

— Doug Henwood (@DougHenwood) August 3, 2019

Fuck u Doug henwood

croz's Russian shit is really dumb

Who cares

Does Croz write for the NYT or something? I want my washed up stars to harbor conspiracy theories.

Enjoyed the documentary. Partly a meditation on death--Crosby gives himself a year or two--mostly one long apology to everyone he's ever known. I'll throw up the usual red flag for anyone who thinks hippies ruined the world: stay clear. If that's not you, recommended.

He travels back to Laurel Canyon--the store, the house where CSN was conceived--but never mentions Manson (understandably). Which got me wondering what he thinks of the Tarantino film, if that's something he'd even see (probably not). And then--my mind does wander--I thought, "Who's a greater artist, David Crosby or Quentin Tarantino?" Well, Tarantino has never made any art the equal of "Eight Miles High," "She Don't Care About Time," or "Ohio." You can throw in some other Byrds songs, too--I'll stop there. But then Crosby just participated in two of those; he does get a writing credit on "Eight Miles High."

Amazing reaction shot from the Obamas the last time CSN sang together, at a White House ceremony in 2015. No one in the band, nor Young, nor McGuinn, is presently talking to Crosby.

yeah I'd guess Quentin had about as much to do with Ohio and She Don't Care About Time as Croz did, Neil's CSNY stuff is pretty much just Neil stuff....Clark wrote She Don't Care and given it's early Byrds it's likely Croz doesn't even play on it....I didn't know he had a co-write on 8 Miles....I generally regard him as a distant third banana in the Byrds

It struck me during OUATIH that when Dalton gets made up for Lancer, he ends up looking like a cross between Manson and Crosby.

Sounds like he was more involved in "Ohio" than Nash or Crosby; Neil supposedly wrote it on the spot with Crosby present, and then Crosby got Ahmet Ertegun to get it out immediately. I don't know why it had never occurred to me that the look for Hopper's Easy Rider character was 100% Crosby, it's pretty obvious.

http://www.cinearchivo.net/Site/Fotos/Films/Image/IMAGE26/DENNISHOPPER.bmp

(Even more obvious in the film, when both have hats on.)

"Nash or Stills" that should read.

yeah I'd guess Quentin had about as much to do with Ohio and She Don't Care About Time as Croz did

I don't know exactly what Quentin Tarantino's contributions were but Crosby is all over the track - his rhythm guitar playing is front and centre and that 'how many more' vocal part at the end is pretty memorable!

His “here if you listen” album has been in regular rotation for me

Ums otm re:Croz. He’s like the Stan Lee of the Byrds; the least consequential w the biggest mouth. (In this analogy Clarke = Kirby and uh McGuinn = Ditko? Idk)

Band dynamics are hard to parse, but I suspect Crosby had a lot more to do with the darker, more psychedelic Byrds (5D, Younger Than Yesterday) than can be measured just by songwriting credits (which, for what it's worth, spike significantly on those two albums--virtually nothing on the first two, 10/21 writing credits on the next two). Crosby begins the documentary talking rapturously about Coltrane, and that's certainly all over "Eight Miles High." If you think the Byrds were at their best on the first two albums and then later on Notorious Byrd Brothers and Sweetheart, then Crosby's importance diminishes (further complicated by Clark's comings and goings).

Biggest mouth, hands down--the documentary has some great Monterey footage I'd never seen of him going on about Kennedy conspiracy stuff (a big part of why he got the boot).

"If you think"--I'm using "you" in the general Kael-like sense there, not in reference to Οὖτις.

Crosby had a bunch of stuff on Notorious B.B. too.

i'm not saying he wasn't important!

tbough this:

I suspect Crosby had a lot more to do with the darker, more psychedelic Byrds (5D, Younger Than Yesterday) than can be measured just by songwriting credits

is you know hard to say....but i mean it's mcguinn's 12 string guitar that made that song takeoff....according to the wiki, clark said he wrote the lyrics w/croz kicking in one line

also Croz kicked in Mind Garden and Renaissance Fair which both suck ass imo

Though Everybody's Been Burned is so amazing

like he's good! but I think it's really unfair to say that McGuinn wasn't really the guiding force behind those albums, they sound psychedelic because of him, Croz is fine but Clark and McGuinn are just on another level

I know that Croz liked Coltrane and stuff but McGuinn did too and Shankar etc, but Croz frankly isn't a good enough instrumentalist to really express those influences, that's McGuinn

(xp) Yes, plus he never looked more handsome than he does on the cover.

also if we're talking about emerging songwriters within the Byrds you have to consider Chris Hillman as much as Croz

agree that it's generally pretty difficult to parse band dynamics. But it isn't difficult to make a judgment on what the likely merits various members brought to an ensemble based on what they did *outs8de* of that ensemble, ie on their own. Clark and Neil (and McGuinn, albeit to a lesser extent imo) went on to produce fantastic work. Crosby not so much (full disclosure I hate CSN and IICORMN)

to extend the Marvel bullpen analogy, this is the same as asking what Stan Lee created of note once Kirby and Ditko abandoned him (answer: nothing)

Crosby not so much (full disclosure I hate CSN and IICORMN)

― Οὖτις, Monday, August 5, 2019 10:32 AM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

haha okay but other than that how was the play mrs. lincoln?

if i could only remember my name is stone cold classic

and as deej said upthread, his recent albums are surprisingly good

Which might be the difference: I (admittedly a minority) like Crosby's songs on the first two CSN/CSNY albums.

Funniest blowhard moment in the documentary (although he does seem to be saying it half tongue-in-cheek): Crosby lobbying to be put in the Rock 'n' Roll HOF a third time, because CSNY should be inducted on their own (CSN have already been inducted).

lol

that reads kind of like a sad attempt to generate an excuse for his old bandmembers to maybe consider talking to him again

Crosby lobbying to be put in the Rock 'n' Roll HOF a third time, because CSNY should be inducted on their own (CSN have already been inducted).

― clemenza, Monday, August 5, 2019 10:38 AM (nineteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol ok gotta respect the hustle

"Renaissance Faire" is great, wtf.

Byrds harmonies dipped a bit, post-Croz.

don't like it whaadya gonna do

but yeah I mean he was key to two of the great harmony singing groups ever not accident

I can understand not liking CSN because of Stills but Crosby's singing with them is beautiful.

the following video, which we talked about a lot some time ago with Crosby's murderous approach, remains my go-to Crosby document (after this thread's titular album)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_fZUgeLL0o

His songs on the first Crosby & Nash album are so dope, especially Whole Cloth--slow, jazzy, contemplative mode Croz with twinkling Fender Rhodes

I'm going to try to get this out of the weeds...My broader point above was that, even though he descended to a buffoonish caricature at his lowest point, David Crosby helped create some incredible music--some of which he wrote, some of which he didn't. I think he's half-right about CSNY going into the Rock and Roll HOF. CSN is like 70% of the people in there: they certainly don't need to be, but they're not the worst pick. (29% of the inductees belong, and 1% of them is the worst pick.) But if you're only going to go with one, CSNY would be better than just CSN.

To its credit, the documentary doesn't end with some cornball reunion engineered by Cameron Crowe. But it'll happen--first, because that's what these guys do, break up to make up, and it's also clear that Nash is softening up at the end.

I doubt Neil will do it unless he breaks up with Darryl Hannah

i think there about 4 other bands i'd rather see neil get back together with

i mean, pearl jam would be more interesting for heaven's sake ... maybe it's time for a 20th anniversary mirror ball reunion tour.

I know people don't like Stills but I kinda feel for the guy, I read somewhere he's going deaf and his voice has been cooked for awhile

one of my go-to 'what if' scenarios is imagining Neil never joined CSN, and they just covered his stuff once in a while at the most.

is this streaming anywhere?

Crosby seems kind of lonely right now; if you call him up, he may let you come over and watch it.

I'm sure he would love to hear how I wrote a sort of snarky song about him

i mean croz is sort of a legendary asshole with regrettable facial hair and probably that liver could have gone to someone more virtuous but on the other side of the equation he is at least apparently dying more-or-less alone and unloved, which is a fate a lot of legendary assholes seem to avoid, and also he did write some fucking fantastic songs. there are people a lot more worth hating than croz, is what i'm saying, enough of them that i just don't have any hatred left over for him.

Def prefer the work of Crosby and Stills over Nash’s wubbly weak stuff

Nash’s Hollies songs > Crosby’s Byrds songs

yeah what a fine metric to judge them by

the best hollies song is “dragging my heels”

I think I just don’t like the sound of his voice and his treacly songwriting. I like the sample of “Chicago” in that beanie Siegel song... I like “teach your children” but mainly for jerry garcia

I believe Crosby is alone among his peers for writing a song Miles Davis covered. Unfortunately, it (“Guinnevere”) happens to be the only out-and-out dull recording of Miles’ electric period.

Nash’s Hollies songs > Crosby’s Byrds songs

I'll do this only with my favourite songs by each band--they wrote others.

Had to check the credits on my four favourite Hollies songs: "I Can't Let Go," "Carrie Anne," "On a Carousel," "Pay You Back with Interest." Nash co-wrote the last three.

So for me they'd be up against "Eight Miles High," "What's Happening?!?!," "Lady Friend," and "Draft Morning," all co-written by Crosby.

If I put the last three Crosby songs against Nash's three, pretty close--I could go either way. But "Eight Miles High" is decisive.

I don't know enough about electric Miles to call it the only truly dull recording of the period, but it's certainly far, far worse than electric Miles doing Guinnevere ought ever to be.

(xp) "What's Happening?!?!" and "Lady Friend" were 100% Crosby songs, not co-writes fwiw.

And Lady Friend is arguably a top 5 Byrds song.

Yeah, I goofed on those songwriting credits. "Lady Friend" is fantastic. I think my Top 5 would be "She Don't Care About Time," "Eight Miles High," "Wasn't Born to Follow," "Goin' Back," and either "You Showed Me" or "Here Without You" from Preflyte. "Lady Friend" would be one of the next five for sure.

You Showed Me is Clark/McGuinn! Crosby not credited on the Turtles version etc

And Eight Miles High, gimme a break - more Stan Lee syndrome ie puttin his name on shit that was almost entirely the work of others

More like the other way round on "The Notorious Byrd Brothers".

Not sure what you mean there.

Goin Back also not a Crosby song + he hated it

I was listing my five favourite Byrds songs period, whether Crosby wrote them or not--should have been clearer. Was just agreeing with NTI that "Lady Friend" was close to the top.

And Eight Miles High, gimme a break

Because you were there in the studio, right? Your dislike of Crosby seems a little intense.

McGuinn/Hillman finished off "Draft Morning" and put their names on it to Crosby's chagrin.

Crosby wanted "Triad" on the album instead of "Goin' Back".

(xxp) I mean McGuinn and Hillman attaching their names to songs that Crosby claims were almost entirely his work.

(xp)

XP By "finished off", I mean added a couple lines and brought in the Firesign Theatre to do sound effects.

On "Draft Morning".

With the usual caveats about Wikipedia, this presents Crosby's contributions to "Eight Miles High" as much more than just putting his name on something.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Miles_High#Composition

He contributes what is, for me at least, the song's single most unforgettable line--"rain grey town"; I used that for a chapter title in a book--and he's the guy who plays Coltrane and Shankar for the rest of the band. If you accept McGuinn's version, Crosby contributes more than that to the lyrics.

It looks like the song is primarily Clark's, yes, but Crosby's contributions to the writing and the playing seem crucial to me.

caught the doc last night. A lot of entertaining bits, as one would expect from someone as alternately cantankerous and reflective as Croz. Didn't raise my estimation of his musical prowess any - he's still definitely the lesser light among his many contemporaries/collaborators imo (McGuinn, Neil, Joni, Nash, etc.) - but he is a compelling subject, and his humility and contrition about his many fuckups come off as genuine, admirable, and, ultimately, tragic. The end where he discusses how no one wants to talk to him or work with him and why is he alive when so many of his friends are dead is some for real, heavy shit.

As always, the omissions were also interesting: no discussion of his brother's suicide, and Gene Clark doesn't get even a mention (he's not even in any of the Byrds clips that flash by). And my wife wanted to know why they didn't mention the Melissa Etheridge sperm donation lol.

also lol I had never seen that Silent Night performance before, that shit was hilarious

Brought a ringer into the studio to sing pic.twitter.com/D9o9wkMXPh

— Jason Isbell (@JasonIsbell) December 11, 2019

The guy's voice is still in amazing shape, which must be something of a small miracle. Still, betting Isbell is Twitter-blocking him by the weekend...

Good interview.

http://www.gq.com/story/david-crosby-coronavirus-touring-interview

https://consequenceofsound.net/2020/10/david-crosby-backlash-eddie-van-halen-tweet/?new=true

Cros gonna Cros.

great twitter personality

Would love to see Croz outlive all 70s/80s hard rockers

Cros gonna Cros.

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, October 13, 2020 2:30 PM

*croz

Croz has always been a world class dik.

Honestly it was relatively restrained for Croz to keep it to a simple "meh".

amusing on twitter for sure, i ride for this album
but a world class asshole whose honestly kinda begging to be #metooed at this point by keeping such a high profile

It only got worse from there, when yet another Twitter follower wrote, “Yeah, the guy only CHANGED THE WORLD OF GUITAR. geeezzz dave.” To that one, Crosby wrote, “Hendrix changed the world of guitar. Nobody else really … look I get it … many of you loved Van Halen …. and the one time I met he was nice … and he was talented … meh to me means I don’t care that much … and I don’t … doesn’t mean he wasn’t good, he was but not for me.”

cros otm

^^^

yeah that doesnt really seem wrong lol ... love evh tho

evh changed the guitar, absolutely he did it's absurd to say otherwise

fucking die hippie

Before Eddie Van Halen a guitar was a bus

Croz has burner accounts to kiss his own ass

Hi David. I don’t get on Twitter much but just wanted to let you know I’m really digging your album Here If You Listen. A masterpiece!

— David Crosby (@thedavidcrosby) November 26, 2020

lol that's awesome

Looks like he remembered his name!

LOL

What’s weird about it is that he clearly manages the vast majority of his own Twitter content.

and he's doing a great job

tbf, it doesn't say theREALdavidcrosby

Neil Young's secret Twitter account in the guise of David Crosby.

50 years old today apparently

David Crosby's debut solo album 'If I Only Could Only Remember My Name' is Crosby's most definitive work as a psychedelic rock pioneer

It turns 50 today; we looked back on it in a retrospective review: https://t.co/JQJYuuI2Tz pic.twitter.com/2fpFwdShvh

— BrooklynVegan (@brooklynvegan) February 22, 2021

HOLY FUCK http://aquariumdrunk.blogspot.com/2006/07/david-crosby-1970-session-outtakes.html
― flëétwøöd måçk (jaxon), Thursday, July 6, 2006 10:23 PM (fourteen years ago)

A decade-and-a-half later, I finally pulled down these outtakes and ... I love them (so much so that I tweeted at Croz to see if there's any chance these would be released officially).

First off, this stuff **sounds** incredible -- pristine and crisp but also ... spacey, like the unresolved harmonies and languid rhythms of "Triad" and "Deja Vu" gently folded into a mixing bowl. In places, there's a bit of a Dream Letter-era Tim Buckley vibe to some of this -- the acoustic rounds of stuff like "Mountain Song" where these semi-improvised harmonies just coast over pristine guitar arpeggios, the lumbering floatiness of "Wall Song." In others (ie, "Wild Turkey - aka Leather Winged Bat") there's a sort of mellow acid rock jamminess that transcends a lot of the work of the dudes creating it. Hell, I even like the Jerry Garcia vocal on "Loser." The fact that half of it feels like it's being "written" on the spot without being aimless or half-assed kind of only adds to the magic.

Anything that conjures such a vibe almost demands a full release. Do it, Croz!

I’m disappointed that there wasn’t some 50th anniversary deluxe edition containing all the PERRO sessions and the David and the Dorks show. Croz may not be as big as some of the other 1971 releases getting that treatment, but he just had a documentary so you’d think there’d be some commercial potential. Maybe the rights issues were too much, considering all the famous names involved.

I’ll also say the surround sound mix of this album is pretty good—the “airiness” of it enhances the mood, whereas surround mixes can often make older LPs sound a bit too separated, like listening to the components of a song rather than the final product. It’s quite a thing to hear those harmonies wash over you from all directions.

I haven't heard the David and the Dorks show -- okay, gotta grab that now.

Yeah, I actually adore the surround mix of IICORMN -- it helps that it was done by Stephen Barncard, who engineered the original sessions. And they included a mix of "Kids and Dogs" from the PERRO sessions. But you're right -- this really would be the year to do it given everything. Who knows? Maybe Nash's involvement in the record is part of the problem with getting things done now. One can still hope ...

Did anyone else realize that if you remove one letter and shuffle the words of the title "Music Is Love"... Crosby was predicting the name of this very board, not to come into existence until thirty years after his album came out?

Hate to break it to you but everybody's sayin' that.

Yes, he predicted the internet!

We used to listen to a kids song called “I Love Everything,” and one verse was “I love music, I love music…”

man, songs like that are soooooo fucking weird

it's like a style of childrearing where you try to keep the innocence and perfection going as long as possible while ignoring everything else

that song should be called I Want to Love Everything, but I have Already Heard About What Is Happening

It was used in a music class for babies and young toddlers; each verse deals with something very basic they know and (presumably) love.

but they could maybe throw in a verse about how sometimes the diapers get dirty, and that's normal

not just innocence and perfection but forced jubilation

babies

babies should be made to sing songs about the other sperms that didn't make it

"He Would Have Been My Brother Archibald"

advanced infant songs, vol 2.

one in a hundred million / I said one in a hundred million!
and i won't forget what my father's done...

So I was listening to the latest episode of the Deadcast and they were interviewing Steve Silberman, the writer who has been a good friend of Croz for many years, and he dropped that this is getting reissued in the fall with "extra material".

Maybe this was already announced somewhere, but it was news to me. Anxious to learn what the extra material ends up being.

That David & the Dorks stuff teh live set and teh rehearsal covers some of teh sam ematerial with a smaller bunch of players. Crpz himself and 3 or 4 of the Dead. Has teh ever been officlly released yet. though I would assume most people who wanted a copy had it in some form by now.
Delicious version of The Wall in it anyway.

Also PERRO directly interrelated and featured several of the same players as on the lp and on Baron Von tollbooth & The Chrome Nun among a few other things. Not sure what of that stuff has officially been released.

I don't think any of that David & The Dorks stuff has been officially released, I wouldn't mind seeing a 3xCD thing with the original album, a Dorks live set and PERRO style outtakes. Seems like Croz is still friendly with the Dead crew and if Rhino reissues it they should be able to clear the rights, but who knows.

I was asking about legitimately because i have come across cds of the live set and rehearsal coupled being advertised. But I wasn't sure how legit they were.

I don't think they've ever seen legit releases, but I wouldn't doubt there are some of those gray area releases.

In the doc he says a friend of his who shall remain nameless offered him a hit of heroin. Bets on who? My moneys on Neil. The doc also says that Niel offered Crosby time at his ranch to get straight…guilty conscience?

Pretty sure Neil has always disdained heroin.

Dallas Taylor maybe?

...or Bruce Berry.

Pretty sure Neil has always disdained heroin.

So …I am a fan of Elon’s …I think his efforts at getting the humans out into space are exemplary
But
We ordered our Tesla 7 months ago
They have lied to us 4 times about when we would get it
Lied
We are seriously looking at canceling the order and looking at a Porsche

— David Crosby (@thedavidcrosby) August 18, 2021

Your old friend Neil has a Lincoln he'd like to sell you...

Lies! Lies!

A typically forthright interview with Crosby in The Guardian today:

“Neil has got a genuine beef,” he admits. “I did say something bad about his girlfriend [the actor Daryl Hannah, now Young’s wife]. I said I thought she was a predator. OK, he can be mad at me. That’s all right. Graham just changed from the guy I thought was my best friend to being a guy that is definitely my enemy, so I don’t see any future there at all.”

Crosby is not known for holding back. Having said he is partly to blame for Young’s alienation, I expect him to say something conciliatory. But he’s on a roll now. At least, he, Stills and Nash were roughly in agreement politically, he says. “I’m a very liberal guy and a modern thinker in terms of politics. Neil doesn’t really do politics. He does Neil.” What does that mean? “Well he’s probably the most self-centred, self-obsessed, selfish person I know. He only thinks about Neil, period. That’s the only person he’ll consider. Ever!” Would Young agree with that? “Probably. He knows himself pretty well.”

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/sep/02/david-crosby-on-love-music-and-rancour-neil-young-is-probably-the-most-selfish-person-i-know

Nope https://t.co/ATDjjD2KmL

— David Crosby (@thedavidcrosby) February 10, 2022

I think that was a follow up on this one:

No offense but …not a chance https://t.co/Le2u6fOYKB

— David Crosby (@thedavidcrosby) February 9, 2022

Holding out hope that it's incorrect while waiting for additional info, but Yahoo is reporting that Croz passed away.

oh shit.

Literally only Yahoo Finance reporting it so far, so maybe a hoax. But I'm cautious after the whole Jeff Beck "it's a hoax", "nope it's real" thing.

that's odd, I follow him on Twitter and I noticed he was pretty active yesterday. so whatever it is would be pretty sudden!

Wikipedia already shows it. RIP? kind of a miracle he made it this long.

xp - what gives me pause is that the Yahoo thing says "after a long illness", but, who knows, maybe it was kept quiet.

when was the last time a celebrity death actually was a hoax? Steve from Blue's Clues? it sucks but this is something that's almost never misreported

It is odd. The Yahoo finance article is just a supposed message from his wife, but no mention of where the message came from.

Didn't Jeff Beck get reported as a hoax for a day, before it was actually confirmed?

Also, the "article" is aggregated from some place called "NewsDirect" which looks like some kind of self-publishing news service.

I tried searching mediacontact-J✧✧✧@gm✧✧✧.c✧✧ (cited in the report) but I didn't come up with anything that looked credible...it's really strange, does Yahoo just regurgitate stuff like that without doing at least a little reporting?

But yeah, it kind of looks dubious...we'll see. As Josh mentioned, he tweeted a lot yesterday, albeit not today, so it would seem kind of sudden.

yeah, the contact for the source article is named J Bickerton. i imagine a lot of media outlets have been unsuccessfully emailing j bickerton over the last hour

xp

or I should say frogs, not Josh

Nash probably killed him.

Surprised it's still listed on wikipedia.

if i could only remember to vet my sources?

Yeah, maybe not dead. Or maybe dead! Crosby's Cat.

The confirmation will be an absolutely cranky as fuck tweet coming through later to blast everyone for believing bullshit rumors.

Variety is now reporting it.

Singer-songwriter-guitarist David Crosby, a founding member of two popular and enormously influential ’60s rock units, the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash (later Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young), has died. He was 81 years old. https://t.co/s7sNXpN4Jn pic.twitter.com/y3tdH8Gkv8

— Variety (@Variety) January 19, 2023

J Bickerton at News Direct, all is forgiven?

tbf a lot of these celebrity death rumors do initially come from weird sources only to be confirmed by everyone else a few hours later

Probably because the AI behind NewsDirect or whatever has a lot less to lose by failing to vet.

RIP David Crosby

Wiki saying he isn't, the NME saying he is.

man rip. this album is really one of the more unique masterpieces out there

his wife released a statement to variety, feels like pretty rock solid confirmation

ahh man, i know my other post kinda flippant but i literally opened this up saying aloud, "NO NO NO NO NO"

Going by the documentary from two or three years ago, sad that he and Neil weren't able to patch things up (unless they did after the film came out).

shoot. one hell of a weirdo. rest well, croz.☮️

Oh, fuck me.

RIP. I loved lots of his work (thread subject especially) plus what an odd character to be pretty famous for my entire life

RIP. Not really a fan of much of anything I know post-Byrds but I love much of his material with the band (esp Mind Gardens can't lie)

RIP. Miraculous he made it this far tbh.

I discovered this LP through the "Can we talk about early-mid70s West Coast post-psych/pop/rock/folk-rock/country-rock?" thread eight years ago (geez, how could it be so long ago...), and it became one of those records I've recommended to anyone who mentions having an interest in '70s California vibes. "Laughing" is one of the most beautiful songs I've heard--that slide guitar! Bummed I never got to see him live.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D57SvLGXkAI4LTT?format=jpg&name=small

That was weird. Yahoo Finance pulled that story, but if Variety had direct contact with his wife, that's it then.

A shame. Love, LOVE the Byrds, and even though I remained skeptical of his later work, I saw his free show at Lincoln Center a few years ago and it far exceeded expectations. The highlight was when he got people to stand up and sing along to "Ohio," which he re-cast as a protest for the current times.

I had a bit of weird relationship with this guy. Growing up I always associated him with the absolute worst of boomer-era folk rock, just the epitome of what I hated in music from that era. In fact, I still don't connect with the pre-Y, CSN albums, and only backdoored my way into his work through the CSNY albums and, eventually getting deeper into The Byrds.

Eventually, by getting deeper into the Dead and Garcia's work, I discovered the album this thread is about and fell head over heels for it. Still my very favorite thing he's ever done. I did check out and like a few of his more recent albums too.

Of the three songs he wrote or co-wrote on the first CSN album, never liked "Guinnevere," but I think "Wooden Ships" and "Long Time Gone" are good; his two on Deja Vu, pretty good too, even if "Almost Cut My Hair" might be a little confusing today.

His final review:

I’d say that’s beautiful…..really fine https://t.co/eFZi2tFFMJ

— David Crosby (@thedavidcrosby) January 16, 2023

Perfect!

rip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSDrYvbT9wc

Listening to this for the first time, finally. RIP

sweet little garcia / croz jam from the If I Could Only sessions ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIEqbFofRZA

thanks for posting, love that one, a real revelation from the reissue that was new to me

a lot of famous people have died recently, sad. RIP.

This one hits me a little hard. I love how many lives this dude had – Byrds, CSN-and-sometimes-Y, the CPR band with the son he never knew he had, his cool little comeback over the last decade, as well as the non-music stuff like his awesome Twitter feed (which he was still active on as of yesterday) and his general position as Rock’s Most Opinionated Grampa. The guy was everywhere for almost six decades, and beyond the music itself—a lot of which I adore—I just totally respect that. I only wish I’d actually had the courage to go up and say hello to him at a DC hotel bar a decade or so ago, YOLO and all. But I guess he knew that. RIP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_AFsDgNW2k

I should’ve said, Rock’s Most Opinionated Grampa and Foremost Joint Connoisseur.

I saw CSN once back in ... I'm going to say it had to be summer of'94? Was not memorable, but tbh I'm going to say that year it was particularly Not For Me.

"Laughing" is a great song and production.

It is indeed amazing in every aspect.

This BBC doc is pretty solid, with lots of classic Crosby:

https://archive.org/details/BBC.Hotel.California.LA.from.the.Byrds.to.the.Eagles.2007.DVBC.XviD.MP3.MVGroup.org

The best may be him on the Eagles around 1:11 in...

I didn't follow his tweets, I just don't follow anyone on Twitter, but when I did see them, I thought something close to NTI's reaction--he's still out there saying whatever he wants to say, good for him, and even though I don't know if I'd connect to his recent music (there was some of it in the documentary), I liked that he was still doing that, too. Weirdly--he'd despise this comparison, or at least the person making it--he reminds me of Nixon's characterization of Theodore Roosevelt in his bathetic farewell speech: "always in the arena, tempestuous, strong, sometimes wrong, sometimes right." (Sorry, David Crosby.) I doubt if I know more than a third of the music he made in his life, but from my vantage point, having a hand in writing "Eight Miles High" is enough in and of itself for one lifetime (Outic and I argued about the extent of his contribution once in some other thread; I thought his discovery of Coltrane was crucial to "Eight Miles High"), and obviously he did lots else too. He was also supposedly key in getting CSNY into the studio to record "Ohio" immediately.

Posted this on Facebook earlier, a clip I saw a few years ago and never forgot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCT9naHt2oo

Should also mention: he was a helluva acoustic guitarist, writing songs around his weird spacey chords. It's what drew him to Joni Mitchell, whom he produced (and the last time anyone produced her).

alfred otm— i initially "gave him a chance" as i was taking a bigger interest in acoustic plucking about a decade ago and that's when i really took notice of the album this thread is named after. shame the whole thing isn't on streaming (or spotify anyway). even the deluxe edition is missing tracks. big sigh.

always a favorite deep cut from cs+n proper—
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5EvWBj5SAQ
"in my dreams" (1977)

and a last, more personal note—
i know i'm not a pro or anything, but after i did start paying closer attention to his acoustic playing and those "weird spacey chords" it really did open up a world of possibilities for my own playing and music. i know discussing influence is tacky, but i really did feel a deep connection to his music for a few years there. i never got good enough to play it exactly, but it was always fun to noodle along to records and marvel at him. i liked his grouchiness a lot. somehow, his guitar playing sounded exactly like his disposition; especially on the crosby+nash albums (which i obvs highly recommend).

really a huge figure for everyone around my age, in one way or another.

He was self-deprecating about his production work with Joni Mitchell, but I think that album sounds pretty good, beautiful in certain moments, so that‘s a legit credit.

Yep! And to his credit he didn't stop reminding people she was the best songwriter of them all.

Austin, thanks for posting that CSN deep cut.

RIP. Bet the big guy is up in heaven trying to talk a couple of angels into a threesome.

no no no

it's a "triad"

I only heard the first Crosby/Nash album and it didn't do much for me (though Nash's "Immigration Man" was good). It didn't have any of the rock detours of the Crosby solo record, and you could see why he/they eventually went in a yacht rock direction, cause there really wasn't enough substance to call it art rock or anything more than oblique mood music.
I mean, you could make a case that Crosby, Stills and Nash each peaked in 1967, before they even got together...not to say that there wasn't occasional interesting stuff from each of them for the next decade and a bit.

don't ever use "yacht rock" on ILM

lol Darin

Speaking of "Triad", dig this cover by Sally Keller man

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtJp8gSqkmU

Arranged by Barry Manilow, who also produced with Ron Dante.

I thought Crosby actually owned a yacht, but I guess it was a schooner...the difference, according to one explanation I found, is that "all schooners are yachts, but not all yachts are schooners."

https://medium.com/schoonermayan/mayans-history-the-david-crosby-years-517d8c0cb389

So he invented Schooner Rock.

Just scrolled though all today’s posts and the one thing that really caught my eye was “Ron Dante.”

I mentioned on a Dennis Hopper thread that I've been reading Mark Rozzo's Everybody Thought We Were Crazy, about Dennis Hopper and Brooke Hayward (and L.A.) in the '60s. Synchronicity: when I was reading over at the gym tonight, I just got to the 20 pages that had lots on the Byrds and Ciro's.

Dennis seemed particularly fascinated by Crosby.

(Big surprise, they were so different...)

Hillman noticed the connection: "They were both obnoxious, overly aggressive," he said. "They were very much alike. David could lead you into the abyss seven times a week. I'm sure David and Dennis shared the same operating methods." They even said the word "man" the same way.

That sounds a little harsh...as a photographer, Hopper seemed to take to Crosby's smile.

Polly Parsons, on FB:

David Crosby

In 1966 my mother was engaged to marry sweet David, when my father swept in and stole her from him at a party one night. David would later write Guinevere about her and Gram would write 1000 Dollar Wedding among others.

Loving, magic and muses. This was the base air altitude of Laurel Canyon in the 60’s. Surrounded by the smells of frankincense and myrrh and sounds of harmonies and acoustic guitars. We were constantly barefoot, joyful and oh so full of life. This is how I will remember you.

Here’s to our lions among men. The unapologetic forces of nature we are so blessed to have had in this world at all.

We love you.

I did not know that.

I saw him once in 2010 sitting on a bench in Hyde Park London by himself, completely undisturbed and apparently unrecognised, as the crowds gathered in the early evening before a Paul McCartney concert.

like in the Neil Young song "Thrasher"?

No real feelings for his work on my end. But I enjoyed this story Paul Myers posted about a 1999 encounter with him, and indeed, always flying the Joni flag.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CnnqzNsLHbl/

i last saw him at an obama rally in a local park. it was poorly advertised that theere would be performances, and the music came on after most people had left, so it was just the stalwart few clustered around the stage to see crosby / nash. i still remember how the three intro chords to 'wooden ships' just destroyed me. i can't find a video of it, but this one from the same set is equally ambitious. i unironically love this stuff and always have. prog folk. that open chord they both chomp down on just before the one minute mark is really something. serious 'hard day's night' vibes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNZJ4VG6U3o

Havin' a normal one at Monterey...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5xRqCqJOAU

i have a lot of love for CSN and CSNY … Mr Veg and i bonded early over “Almost Cut my Hair” when we first met. there’s something magical about their music for me that temporarily overrides anything i dislike about them irl. (i have a similar relationship w Eagles but to a far lesser, less magical extent)

seeing CSNY live in 2013 at Bridge Benefit was a pretty overwhelming experience, just one of those cool hippie-sounding “nothing better than live music shared w a large crowd” moments where it felt so nice to be alive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRsuKdC5nXw

RIP Cros

For such a volatile character he made such delicate crisp airy music, I almost want to say he is a little under appreciated (in the mainstream or whatever) for his unique songwriting and vocal style, as opposed to just being a hippie icon

Some excellent Crosby bits in Harvest Time. He seems really focused as he works out backing harmonies with Young and Stills.

RIP. Lifetime pass for his guitar work on NY’s “Revolution Blues.”

I had a bit of weird relationship with this guy. Growing up I always associated him with the absolute worst of boomer-era folk rock, just the epitome of what I hated in music from that era...

― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0)

Same here. He was literally a punchline when I first became aware of him. I couldn't name a single song he did for many years, so much that The Simpsons joke didn't land when I first saw it - for different reasons, I had the same response as Barney.

Then I discovered the Beatles and they led me to the Byrds box set (and until then I only knew one of their records, "Turn! Turn! Turn!," again through The Simpsons) and it was a genuine surprise to see David Crosby in that band. Completely changed my view of him, and for the Byrds alone, I'll always be a fan.

I'm still not completely sold on his post-Byrds work, but he definitely had moments, and "Long Time Gone" is probably my favorite among them.

I saw him live once, at a free show at Lincoln Center in 2019. I had low expectations, and he exceeded them all - excellent band, excellent performances, voice in top form, and nearly every song landed. (The only disappointment I recall was a new turgid arrangement for "Eight Miles High," which otherwise is my favorite Byrds single.) The highlight was when we all got up to the front of the stage and sung along with an especially angry "Ohio" that was aimed at the Trump administration.

RIP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sM1cbhrQhI

xp actually maybe that’s for similar reasons? Ah it’s late, too tired to think straight

Rest easy, Croz. You made a helluva mark.

And probably once a week I think about his remark to Dylan about the Princeton grandees in 1970: "Buncha dickheads on autostroke"

listening to Laughing, what a song

nothing grand but I enjoyed this Amelia cover when it came out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-bbil4mJgc

So did Nash sulk with his new wife until the end? Or did he make up with Crosby?

Lifetime pass for his guitar work on NY’s “Revolution Blues.”

...despite the fact that he hated the song!

For those that have never seen it, this may be career best from everyone involved:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIDzA0YDso8

Crosby's pretty clearly tripping balls, Neil is out of his mind, wild-eyed, angry and stank-faced, Stills is almost out-belting Tom Jones because, oh yeah, Tom Jones is there, too.

Joan Baez, from FB:

In 1965, Bob Dylan and I were discussing the state of the music scene. He said The Byrds, who had made a hit of “Mr. Tambourine Man,” were the only thing happening musically at that point in time. Perhaps an exaggeration, but certainly a tribute to the stellar musicians who formed the budding monster groups of the years to come like The Byrds and CSNY.

David Crosby was among the monster group icons who continued a solo career with the kind of success reserved for great musicians. And he could sing the hell out of a harmony.

He was also a friend to me. He was always, I repeat, always present for me, to defend my character and politics, and often included over the top (sometimes unwarranted) praise. He was funny, clever, and refreshing to be around. And I was honored that he chose my portrait of him as his last album cover.

He will be missed by millions, including myself. Sending my love to Jan and his family.

Some excellent Crosby bits in Harvest Time. He seems really focused as he works out backing harmonies with Young and Stills.

yeah that was a pretty incredible scene, loved seeing him at work like that

Crosby worked with members of Pink Floyd and Genesis, and was covered by Yes; it adds proof to Christgau's suggestion that the Byrds were the first art-rock band.

I mostly don't have anything complimentary to say about him, and quite a lot critical as such, but I'll say a couple of nice things now, and maybe in a couple of days we can have a nuanced discussion…

1. While it's well known he was in the middle in the CSN three part harmonies, in the Byrds, I think he was the high harmony? anybody know? Nash was always gonna be on top in any harmony arrangement, but it might have also been that in the Byrds, Cros hadn't quite fucked up his voice, whereas during the overwhelming majority of CSN, his proclivities would have precluded him singing high harmonies…

2. Jeff Beck is a name known to rock music enthusiasts/ aor-classic rock radio listeners for 50 years, but he had no next no presence in the larger culture with music under his own name, or say, after the Yardbirds, and so most of those listeners probly never his shit. But being that I think its demonstrably true that the CSN was the dominant american rock act in the early to mid 70s, Cros is absolutely part of the fabric of the lives of —truly— millions of normies/n0n aesthetes who were into rock music as it was understood for several decades. He's like Jerry Garcia.

xpost: never heard his shit

xpost also worked with Hootie. Proving something...

this guy's image rehab into some kinda avuncular stoner grandpa is really something jesus it's getting hard to take on twitter

haha yeah, i mean I love a lot of his stuff, but he was incredibly annoying on Twitter (occasionally funny, but it felt like the exception). I think I muted him at some point.

I'll add that I'm still taken aback by how many people love the album that inspired this thread. Greg Kot just called it a masterpiece and Elvis Costello of all people listed it among his 500 favorite albums. (Kot posted "Cowboy Movie," EC singled out "Laughing.") I was definitely not a fan, but I'll give the album another chance. After sampling "Cowboy Movie," it's possible I'll get into it as Crosby's take on what Neil Young was doing with Crazy Horse, as if Crosby set aside his initial dislike for them and drew inspiration from them (like he understood there was a lot more going on there that he had missed earlier).

I'll admit it's not for me but I've come around to several tracks. I can't bend my brain around Christgau's savage takedown, though; it's like Crosby poisoned his cats.

he was also a tremendous creep and asshole! like renowned for it

Not a fan of his post-Byrds work (I just tried listening to If I Could Only, and I couldn't), and I largely agree with the New Rolling Stone Record Guide (1983) assessment of CSN as "limpid adult bubblegum." I love "Helpless" and "Ohio," though, and he's responsible for one of my favorite moments in music: his foreboding open E string before McGuinn's 12-string kicks in on "Eight Miles High." Crosby's rhythm playing is that record's secret weapon, and the song wouldn't be half as good without it.

xps Jim O'Rourke is also on the record saying If I Could Only Remember My Name is one of his all-time favorite albums, hence:

pic.twitter.com/B4NUOGA69Y

— ジム　オルーク　ライブ (@steamroomlive) January 20, 2023

Anyway, huge RIP. His music and the whole CSNY axis was a cornerstone of my youth; I think my mom's vinyl copy of the first CSN album was the first album I ever became obsessed with, at age six. These days the first Crosby & Nash album is my favorite, with several of Croz's grooviest/moodiest tunes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0VfvOXnS8w

xp

i think both helpless and ohio are neil songs, right? you probably mean crosby's harmonies on them, though. i do enjoy the CSN harmonies but i have a hard time picking out who is who on them

Yeah Neil wrote both of those on his own

when scott seward posted on ILM, he often praised those Crosby-Nash albums.

and for a while they were staples of used record stores

I don't like CSN, I find them cloying, and I don't like much from that scene in general but I really like this album.

i think both helpless and ohio are neil songs, right? you probably mean crosby's harmonies on them, though. i do enjoy the CSN harmonies but i have a hard time picking out who is who on them

― Karl Malone, Friday, January 20, 2023 11:29 AM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, saying those are the two CSNY songs are the only ones I love was kind of backhanded -- I like the songs that Nash, Stills, and Croz had very little to do with! But their harmonies, and Crosby's ad-libbing on "Ohio," really do make them something that a straight Neil Young & Crazy Horse rendition wouldn't have been able to approach (and Young's solo acoustic "Ohio" falls flat for me).

Sorry for the derail, but not only is that video of CSNY with Tom Jones sweet, the linked video of Tom alone singing “Vehicle” is grebt too.

I've got mixed feelings about CSN&Y, including some of Crosby's songs - I think Neil definitely improved the group, but I think Crosby's contributions were better on the first album. His best post-Byrds song ("Long Time Gone"), a good one he co-wrote with Jefferson Airplane ("Wooden Ships") and a pretty number inspired by Miles Davis's Sketches of Spain ("Guinnevere"). Miles even paid Crosby the ultimate respect by covering it himself - by then Miles had already evolved into his fusion era, which made it all the more fascinating. I almost want to say it's like translating a poem into a different language, then translating it back into the original but with a very different dialect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y2d0t4PttE

Outside of that, they could be (but not always) great on-stage: I thought they were one of the great highlights of the Woodstock film, and this may be one of the few times I thought they achieved their potential with Neil Young:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5icrWZnl_1w

^^^ that's great, and Crosby's chukka-chukka rhythm is just what it needs

Miles even paid Crosby the ultimate respect by covering it himself - by then Miles had already evolved into his fusion era, which made it all the more fascinating.

iirc, in the Croz documentary he repeatedly lamented the fact that, unlike Stills, Nash (counting "Chicago" here), and Young, he never had The Big Hit Single. But hopefully he took some solace in the fact that he was the only rock musician of his generation to have a song covered by Miles Davis.

FWIW, here they are in Woodstock (only their second gig ever):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lembnHGIfU

I wasn't a fan at all at the time and the movie itself seemed way too long, so I was ready to completely dislike this. Instead I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it, partly because the film got me to see them from a fresh perspective. It's 1969, you're among the counterculture, and three guys from a three groups you like (two you LOVE) come out to do a set during the acoustic part of the festival. Virtually no one's seen them perform together before. At that moment, I kind of get the hype.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcN1NVHY0G8

it's interesting to me that anyone would dislike If I Could Only Remember My Name, I was late in finding it but clicked immediately

the Croz doc from some years back (?) deal with his image rehab and iirc he's doing a lot of "all my friends are gone because i was a huge asshole, maybe still am"

csn debut is a joy

in the Byrds, I think he was the high harmony?

Yes, McGuinn and Gene Clark usually sang in unison with Crosby above. But even in his youth, he didn't have the kind of freakishly high tenor than Nash did.

Someone suggested that the three original singing Byrds each had a flaw in their voices that made them less than an ideal lead singers, but made for an excellent harmonic and textural blend. Actually, in terms of which Byrd has the nicest, clearest, most expressive voice, I might say Chris Hillman, who didn't even sing on their first three albums!

talked to my dad last night (who saw them at woodstock but cant remember much, shocker), i brought up If I Could Only Remember My Name and he started just ruthlessly clowning on me for liking it. "you can actually stay awake for the whole thing? he cant remember his name, i wish i couldnt remember that ALBUM, lolol!" etc. dunno if i'll ever recover from that in his eyes.

We've had CSN, CSNY, Stills & Young, Crosby & Nash ... have we ever had Stills, Nash & Young?

On "Words" on Harvest, it's the three of them singing.

We also had Nash & Young.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Song

Good song.

he cant remember his name, i wish i couldnt remember that ALBUM

For whatever reason, I heard Rodney Dangerfield's voice saying that.

Looks like there's a 1970 BBC live set by Crosby & Nash on BBC4 tonight.
9pm by listing I have

Some of the CSN records from Crosby's heavy drug period were actually GSN - Art Garfunkel recording the parts that Crosby would've if he were able.

The Garfunkel-Stills album is a hidden gem imo

That part of you that feels you're being attacked is your ego, it's your ego. It's not going to get you any more effing attention either. Try playing right!

I'm not mad on any of the CSN(Y) stuff - to the point that I couldn't honestly say I'd ever listened to anything longform all the way through. IOICRYN though is utterly transcendent. What a record. Also a fan of the Crosby/Nash albums.

IOICRMN, obvs. xp

Worst acronym since King Crimson's "ITCOTCK."

It's awful and I regret partaking in it.

lol

ITWOP isn't much better tbf.

So is the CSN (1977) worth resurrecting? It had "Wasted on the Way" but I didn't know it went 4x platinum; I guess it would've hit #1 if something called Rumours hadn't interfered. I know "Dark Star."

Yes it’s their best album

“Just a song before I go”, “shadow captain”, and yes “dark star”

“Cathedral” is something else too, re cros on that album

Oops, sorry -- I meant "Just a Song..."

xp sorry I’m stoned, “cathedral” is nash

lol Croz would approve, I think

R.I.P. He was absolutely right about Phoebe Bridgers.

"Dark Star" is among my top three CSN songs.

xp - absolutely not, his treatment of Bridgers was a good reminder that, nah, he really was still a huge fucking asshole and misogynist

FWIW, the Washington Post published a story on the confusion over whether he died:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2023/01/20/david-crosby-obituaries-variety-confusion/

An excerpt:

The first apparent news about Crosby came at 3:15 p.m. Eastern time. It was a one-paragraph statement attributed to Crosby’s wife, Jan Dance, disseminated via a news-release wire called NewsDirect. It carried the headline, “Legendary Musician, Husband, Father, and Friend David Crosby passes away.”

Reporters typically rely on close family members, associates of the deceased or law enforcement officials to corroborate a death. But it wasn’t clear who had written Dance’s statement; when reporters sought to verify its source, listed by NewsDirect as “J. Bickerton,” their emails bounced back. They were also unable to reach Dance.

Just before 5 p.m., Variety, the entertainment industry journal, confirmed Crosby’s death via two sources that it didn’t identify. It published a lengthy obituary that included Dance’s statement...About 90 minutes after Variety published its initial report, however, it added a seemingly ominous “clarification” to the bottom of its lengthy story: “An earlier version of this story included a statement attributed to Jan Crosby that Variety has not been able to independently confirm with others in Crosby’s camp.”

The clarification raised the possibility that Dance’s statement might be a fabrication, and news reports that relied on it might be wrong.

Unable to reach family members and lacking further confirmation, some news organizations, including The Washington Post, withheld their Crosby stories.

The New York Times finally published the news around 7 p.m., more than two hours after Variety’s story. The Times relied on an unusual source for confirmation — Patricia Dance, the sister of Crosby’s wife. The Times reported that Patricia Dance had said via text that Crosby had died “last night” but that she “provided no other details.”

Minutes later, the Associated Press, which provides news to thousands of other news organizations, conspicuously hedged. The wire service published an updated obituary that attributed the news — originally sourced to Crosby’s wife — to reporting by “several media outlets,” including the Times.

It added: “The Associated Press was not able to confirm Crosby’s death despite calls and messages to multiple representatives and Crosby’s widow.”

After the Times published its story Thursday night, a Post reporter reached Crosby’s sister-in-law. She declined to confirm the death.

The Post’s news story appeared online at 8:37 p.m., nearly four hours after Variety had reported the story. The newspaper’s obituary editor, Adam Bernstein, had finally reached a former publicist for Crosby, who cited family members in confirming the news.

The Wall Street Journal published its story more than three hours later. It cited “people close to Mr. Crosby,” and detailed the complications involved in pinning down corroboration.

As of Friday afternoon, it was still not clear that any news organization had reached Crosby’s wife to confirm his death.

Saw this newish track mentioned in STErlewine's newsletter, never heard of it before. It's a co-write with Donald Fagen, and very nice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s4g9PhYthU

so weird. “J Bickerton” is one of those names that just sounds fake.

Sounds perfectly cromulent to me.

i think i'm just immediately thinking J Peterman

From Mark Wakefield on Facebook:

So sad to read of David Crosby's death. We lived in Summit, New Jersey in the 80's. One day I was driving down the main street in town and saw Crosby standing on the sidewalk. I pulled over to go back and tell him I was a huge fan, only to see him jump in a car and drive off. Turns out he was in Summit on a court-mandated stay at the drug treatment hospital in town. The next day it was reported he had escaped from the treatment center the day before. I figure I was the last one in town to see him before he went on the lam. My near brush with greatness!

more on his leaving that nj treatment center:

https://waynerobins49.substack.com/p/watching-david-crosby-relapse?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=361300&post_id=97965673&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email

hmm if that link doesn't work try this one:

https://waynerobins49.substack.com/p/watching-david-crosby-relapse

It worked for me. Great read, and yes he made the right call. Crosby paid it forward - he helped others clean up including Grace Slick in the late '90s (which may or may not be news, but it was in her statement after Crosby died).

^pvmic
(xpost)