Album of the Day — August 31
Crosby, Stills & Nash — Crosby, Stills & Nash
Crosby, Stills & Nash — Crosby, Stills & Nash
31.August.2020
Crosby, Still & Nash
Crosby, Still & Nash
1969
Evolving from The Byrds (Crosby), The Buffalo Springfield (Stills), and The Hollies (Nash), this was the first supergroup of this new rock era.
By the end of the ’60s, music was fracturing. And leading the charge of a more mellow, thoughtful, and lyrical approach were bands like The Band.
These three musicians in Laurel Canyon took note.
So David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash got together and started hanging out in Laurel Canyon, there were fireworks. First creative fireworks, and that’s what this debut album Crosby, Stills & Nash was borne out of.
Within two years, it would be full-on warfare between the three (eventually four, with Neil Young) and would remain that way for …well, until today. But for a moment, there was peace.
What initially set Crosby, Stills & Nash apart from their contemporaries was that they built their sound on folk, blues, jazz without sounding derivative. It wasn’t just their attention to detail in the studio or their distinct voices that melded together so well; each was strong songwriters in their own right:
David Crosby wrote the atmospheric, moody pieces.
Stephen Stills had a comprehensive knowledge of music and created complex rock structures.
Graham Nash brought the pop and broad appeal.
What CSN did was encapsulate all that would identify the Laurel Canyon sound, or “California Sound.” They became would the band would ultimately represent — the singer-songwriter. They accentuated that by choosing not to name the band and just use their names.
With three strong songwriters, the songs on Crosby, Stills & Nash were pretty evenly split:
Stephen Stills wrote:
“Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”
“You Don’t Have to Cry”
“Helplessly Hoping”
“49 Bye-Byes”
Graham Nash wrote:
“Marrakesh Express”
“Pre-Road Downs”
“Lady of the Island”
David Crosby wrote:
“Guinnevere”
“Long Time Gone”
Stills & Crosby co-wrote “Wooden Ships” with Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane.
However split the songwriting may have been, by all accounts, including the three principals, this was Stills’ baby. David Crosby and Graham Nash stayed in their lanes playing guitar and singing. It was Stephen Stills who not only played guitar and sang but also played bass, keyboards, and percussion.
Only a few other people played on the album. Drummer Dallas Taylor became an unofficial member, playing on four songs, “Pre-Road Downs,” “Wooden Ships,” “Long Time Gone,” and “49 Bye-Byes,” and session drummer Jim Gordon played on one “Marrakesh Express.” Singer Cass Elliot sang back-up on “Pre-Road Downs.”
Other than that, this was indeed a Crosby, Stills & Nash album. The initial mixes of the album placed an emphasis on their musicianship rather than the vocals. Much to the chagrin of the suits at Atlantic Records.
According to the album’s engineer, Bill Halverson, Atlantic head Ahmet Ertegün disliked the initial mixes of the album so much that he sent out Atlantic house producer Tom Dowd to California. His advice was to push the vocal harmonies up. A simple suggestion that would go on to become a staple of the Laurel Canyon sound.
[Fun Fact: Tom Dowd is the only person — I’m aware of — to have been a rock and roll guy, help create multi-track recording AND work on the Manhattan Project.]
Crosby, Stills & Nash contains some of the band’s best-known songs. But only had two singles were released and even those only made it mid-way up the Billboard Top 40 chart, “Marrakesh Express” (#28) and “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” (#21).
However, Crosby, Stills & Nash was a harbinger of sorts. Even though the singles weren’t “hits” by traditional standards, the album itself was immediate and enormous success. It peaked at #6 on Billboard’s album chart and catapulting the band into the stratosphere. This model of no “hit” singles and monster album sales would become a staple of FM radio bands over the coming decades.
The songs themselves are diverse, covering topics like love, heartbreak, poltics, and some atmospheric pieces. In particular, it was this personal approach to songwriting that would become one of the benchmarks of the budding, “California Sound.”
This debut album by Crosby, Stills & Nash would become ground zero for the aesthetic that would shape the ensuing decade of music that included acts like Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, and The Eagles.
“Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” isn’t only a tribute to vocalist Stills’ then-girlfriend singer Judy Collins; it’s a classic rock staple. Yet, it’s not the only song on the album about Collins.
“You Don’t Have to Cry,” about both the collapse of a relationship as well as a career on the ascent, as hers was in 1969:
You Don’t Have to Cry
Verse x2
In the mornin’ when you rise
Do you think of me, and how you left me cryin’?
Are you thinkin’ of telephones and managers,
And where you got to be at noon?
You are living a reality I left years ago
It quite nearly killed me.
In the long run it will make you cry.
Make you crazy and old before your time.
And the difference between me and you.
I won’t argue right or wrong,
But I have time to cry, my baby
You don’t have to cry
I said cry my baby, you don’t have to cry
I said cry my baby, you don’t have to cry
Stephen Stills also wrote one of the more seemingly simple songs on the album with “Helplessly Hoping.” Songwriters in rock were beginning to play with syntax around this time. Bob Dylan used it on “Mr. Tambourine Man,” as did The Beatles on “Mother Nature’s Son.”
In this case, the song is an exercise rich in alliteration using it in every verse.
On the other hand, “Helplessly Hoping” a song is about heartbreak. The two verses identify the pain that accompanies it:
“Did he hear a goodbye?
Or even hello?”
Or the second verse:
Love isn’t lying it’s loose in a lady who lingers
Saying she is lost
But then when you reach the chorus, it’s a testament to the strength of brotherhood and how that can help ease the pain of heartbreak.
Each member contributes to the chorus until all three harmonize on the last line:
“They are One Person” — Stills
“They are two alone” — Nash
“They are three together” — Crosby
“They are for each other” — all three
This unity and brotherhood among the three wouldn’t last very long. But for a moment, it was there and captured on tape.
Helplessly Hoping
Helplessly hoping her harlequin hovers nearby
Awaiting a word
Gasping at glimpses of gentle true spirit he runs
Wishing he could fly
Only to trip at the sound of goodbye
Wordlessly watching he waits by the window and wonders
At the empty place inside
Heartlessly helping himself to her bad dreams he worries
Did he hear a goodbye?
Or even hello?
CHORUS
They are one person
They are two alone
They are three together
They are for each other
Stand by the stairway you’ll see something certain to tell you
Confusion has its cost
Love isn’t lying it’s loose in a lady who lingers
Saying she is lost
And choking on hello
CHORUS x1
While the production of the album is attributed to Crosby, Stills & Nash, “Helplessly Hoping” was one of the first songs they recorded under the watchful eyes and ears of producer Paul Rothchild (Janis Joplin, The Doors).
SOUND & IMAGE
Crosby, Stills & Nash also contains one of the most iconic album covers in rock. Shot by friend and photographer Henry Diltz, before they’d chosen a name. Stumbling upon an abandoned house with a couch out front in Laurel Canyon, they took the picture. Interestingly, the photo is the band in reverse order — from left to right, it’s Nash, Stills, Crosby.
In the sense of symbolic foreshadowing, when they decided on the band name of Crosby, Stills & Nash, they went back to re-shoot the cover only to find the house had been demolished.
CRITICS:
Hey, hey, an album Robert Christgau liked: “Crosby, Stills & Nash is as perfect as has been expected. But it also demonstrates the dangers of perfection: the wildness that should liberate great rock is so well-controlled that when it appears (as on Nash’s excellent “Pre-Road Downs”) it seems to have been inserted just to prove the music is rock: the only exception is Crosby’s wailing vocal on “Long Time Gone.”
In 2000, for its 3rd edition, Colin Larkin named this album #83 on his All-Time Top 1000 Albums.
Jason Ankeny at AllMusic wrote: “…the harmonies are absolutely timeless, and the best material remains rock-solid. Stills’ gorgeous opener, “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” in particular, is an epic love song remarkable in its musical and emotional intricacy…”
The people who were around Crosby, Stills & Nash would go on to help shape the modern singer/songwriter and rock era. Both David Crosby and Graham Nash had love affairs with Joni Mitchell (Nash would write “Our House” for her), and singer Rita Coolidge left Stephen Stills for Graham Nash.
The band managers Elliot Roberts and David Geffen would be the driving forces behind the “California Sound” of the 70s.
Crosby, Stills & Nash is a benchmark in modern rock, and miraculously the majority of this album sounds just as relevant today.