Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young: C/D, S/D

I remember hearing that suite for the first time and being very impressed with it, hadn't heard anything like it at the time

can't hang with all of "Deja Vu" but man do I love "Country Girl".

Do love the extended jamming bits of the electric sets. THought the big Sur Down By The River was pretty great when i saw the film, i think tht's 6 minutes there . it was often about 18 odd on the live sets I've heard. & I think the focu8s is a Bit different to Crazy Horse.

Have they made up yet? No? <checks notes> Well, at least we’ll always have this—their last performance—to remember them by:

https://youtu.be/-mLSMbKo-5w

"Country Girl" has always been one of my favourite Neil songs.

Have they made up yet? No? <checks notes> Well, at least we’ll always have this—their last performance—to remember them by:

https://youtu.be/-mLSMbKo-5w🕸

That "Silent Night" clip turns up in the Crosby documentary, but--I also checked another online version--a reaction shot of the Obamas, looking appropriately horrified, has evidently been edited out.

Wonder what’s in that Caitlín R. Kiernan book? Oh I see.

Aldiss is great when he is on though. Maybe somebody should do a POLL. I nominate you, Shakey.

Ha wrong thread.

On this thread wanted to ask if we have a dedicated thread for particularly out of tune harmonizing.

This band is an absolute monument to 60s and 70s excess – the drugs, in-fighting, tell-alls, and mostly underwhelming (and often embarrassing) product. And I say that as a guy who likes a few of its members somewhat intensely.

In that sense, that “Silent Night” clip is as note perfect a finale as you could possibly script.

You think?

stills is doing the talking and yeah clearly saying something horrible, cros as per usual giving the avuncular creep stare, neil is estimating how much the gas mileage will decrease with one additional passenger, nash is shaking his head slightly as if to say 'you don't want to get in this car'

― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Tuesday, November 18, 2014 5:22 PM (four years ago) bookmarkflaglink

ahahahahaaaa

I always thought _county gjrl_ was a scrap that fell off neils table that he picked up and gave to csn.

You think?

sorry, that was my way of saying "otm"

CSN > CSNY

fite me

Obv

Even the guitar playing is atrocious in that clip - they thought of everything

I just finished watching some 2:45 documentary on CSNY on Prime that took me three nights to get through. Here’s what I don’t get:

What made Neil Young want to be part of this band? Notwithstanding his century long dick measuring competition with Stills, the guy was clearly never really central to the CSN drama. He didn’t really fit their vocal thing. He pretty much wiped them off his songs on Deja Vu. And most important of all, he didn’t need them artistically or commercially a fraction as much as they needed him.

And yet ... he comes back to them over and over and over. In 1974 for that gross stadium tour. In 1976 for that Stills Young Band album where he literally left a note for Stills in the middle of the night that he was quitting the tour. In 1988 for that dogshit American Dream album once Crosby cleaned up. In 1999 when CSN were perfectly happy recording another dire trio album. And then in 2006 he even hires them to be his backing band on the Living With War tour. To my knowledge virtually every one of these experiences ended badly in some way or another.

What gives? It’s like some bad relationship with an ex- you can’t shake that gets progressively worse every time you go back to them. But in this case, I’m not sure I’ve ever understood the attraction.

I honestly don’t get it.

Agreed. It is odd.

Have always just considered it a loyalty thing on Neil's end. He had his first real success with Stills, so maybe he feels some sort of obligation to keep working with him.

Then again, he never showed up on any Poco albums, so who knows.

I like Deja Vu, btw. If I'm going to listen to the group, it's probably going to be that album.

Neil kind of answered this when he was interviewed during their last tour. He actually has a lot more fun on the CSN&Y tours than his own (at least later on, after they dealt with their personal issues I'm guessing) for one simple reason - he can relax. If it's just him or with Crazy Horse or any other backing band, he's more or less the show. It's a huge responsibility that's completely on his shoulders. But when he's with CSN&Y, it's four guys sharing that responsibility.

thank goodness for that gross stadium tour in 1974 -- i saw them twice as a teen, both times they hit long island. one was a mini-festival at roosevelt raceway that also included the beach boys and joni mitchell. neil's duet with joni on "sugar mountain" is stamped in my mind. those guys could sing, the guitar duals were fierce, neil got a nice long solo spot for his weirdo new songs, and he sure looked to be enjoying himself.

Also, I never like CSN(&Y) either, a massive disappointment considering how much I love the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield, and I've even grown to like the Hollies too. CS&N and Deja Vu are their best albums, and even then there's a lot I don't like about them. But "Helpless," "Long Time Gone" and especially the single "Ohio" are flat-out great, and on stage there were real glimpses of their full potential. Maybe not for a whole show, but more than a few times, they've lifted Neil's songs to greater heights:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq2YSfkcURM

*liked

Holy shit, I've never seen that. Where's the rest of the song?

It's not just dutiful loyalty to Stills, I think he genuinely feels a flash of that 1966 feeling when they play together, even if no-one else can feel it anymore.

And most important of all, he didn’t need them artistically or commercially a fraction as much as they needed him.

Is this true, commercially speaking? I would have thought the CS&N sold more records and was a bigger concert draw than Neil.

I think you can make the case that in 1988 Neil’s commercial fortunes were not what they were or would be. And I believe that documentary said, though I may have been nodding off, that while the 1974 tour sold a boatload of tickets it wasn’t nearly as profitable as it should’ve been. So while not the slam dunk it was artistically after 1970, I think the commercial case for playing with them was mixed at best.

The simple answer to the OP: Young likes working with them in drib and drab.

Also, CSNY at least early in their tenure looked like the rare group whose members genuinely liked playing on each other's songs.

Holy shit, I've never seen that. Where's the rest of the song?

It's from a short-lived TV show called Music Scene, which had a unique 45-minute runtime (w/commercials!) that CSNY had to share with like six or seven acts, so they couldn't jam out completely.

one thing Neil claims at the beginning of waging heavy peace is that whenever he gets “a lot of money” he throws it into investments/projects with varying levels of success. Biodiesel, model trains, the bridge school probably... can’t remember specifics

Doghouses, iirc.

all the real heads know that the real shit is Crosby Still Nash Young & Jones.

(crosby's face in this, and his eyes....)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIDzA0YDso8

Damn Stephen with some high notes on that

I think you can make the case that in 1988 Neil’s commercial fortunes were not what they were or would be.

Part of the real tension in "Muddy Track" of the fractious 87 Euro tour is shows are getting cancelled and it is pretty clear Neil was a pretty low-ebb and to be fair to that stone cold piece of garbage American Dream (the cassette of which my dad had in his car and played when he would drive me to school, it is amazing I ever gave Neil a chance after that) is he did promise to make it if CROZ got his shit together, though of all the promises Neil has made over the yrs it does seem strange that is the ONE he decided to keep

Just listen to Crosby's "Cowboy Movie" and you'll see why these four are bonded for life.

Didn't realize that Music Scene clip upthread is edited. Here's the whole thing:

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

is Coz playing that electric rhythm guitar or is it the coke

rereading shakey right now and just read about how embarrassed neil was at doing the tom jones show, ha

The thing that always kind of surprises me about all their fractious bullshit is that these guys were never building the Sistine Chapel. From the jump, their best stuff was mostly comprised of simple pleasures. Yes, Neil added some grit and substance but it was largely catchy acoustic ditties, slightly dippy lyrics, a little bit of light jamming, and those sumptuous harmonies.

I get that they all came from big time bands and the expectations that they maybe should’ve been more than that. But no one who goes to a CSN or CSNY concert or listens to one their albums is totally bummed if they don’t blow our minds with next level political statements or mindbending song structures. I mean, all they had to do was remake the first two records a few times over with the help of some outside writers and no one would’ve really complained.

And yet, there is a portentousness to almost everything they did after those records—the fights, tours, celebrated reunions, and blowouts—that suggests they were always on the cusp of ... something. All of which contrasts rather strikingly to the reality of their actual output, which ranges from intermittently satisfactory at best to uniformly pitiful post-1982.

I mean, drugs + money + ego. I get it. But still.

Dear Stephen, etc.

Pristine upload of Webley show during said gross 1974 tour:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3To8bmGLA-0

(Wembley)

As gross as that tour was, it was still a high-water mark of Rock'n'Roll Mutton Chops.

Been watching this in piecemeal form the past few days. Just got into the acoustic portion and on one of Croz's numbers (whatever the one is after "The Lee Shore") Still is singing WHILE HOLDING A BABY.

It's not a baby, fool: it's a doll stuffed with coke.

STILLS: We were the first band to do coke babies on-stage. I got the idea during some downtime in a little bar in Da Nang back in my special ops days. It took a little while to realize it though; Neil kept saying they didn't look and sound real enough. Crosby tried to eat one.

Well, yeah.