Crosby, Stills & Nash hadn’t produced a new studio record in fifteen years (or ten, if you add Neil Young), but there hadn’t been a more active period of release activity of new/previously unheard material by these three than there have in the last few years. David Crosby and Graham Nash got things started in 2004 with their first album of new material as a duo since the mid-seventies. The following year Stephen Stills unveils his first solo album of new recordings since 1991. Two years after that, in 2007, a recently-discovered batch of demos he taped in 1968 came out (Just Roll Tape). Last year came the Neil-led CSNY’s Déjà Vu Live.
As for Young solo, he still makes new records as often as you and I change the oil in our cars, but in 2006, Young finally began his long-threatened archive release series, dropping one album of vintage live performances per year since then. Earlier this month on June 2nd, he unleashed a massive DVD + BluRay + 8 CD multimedia extraveganza, Neil Young Archives, Vol. 1: 1963-1972).
It’s on that same June 2nd day that Rhino Records chose to give CSN fans more fodder to reminisce over the “good ol’ days”: a twelve track collection of early, unvarnished recordings that preceded the finished, well-known versions called, natch, Demos. These preliminary versions are all made available to the public—legally, at least—for the first time, and cover their creatively rich era of 1968 to 1971. Most, incidentally, were recorded in the same Wally Heider studio in Hollywood, a favorite studio haunt for West Coast rock musicians at that time.
There are a few revelations in this collection, but not necessarily the kind you might expect. The first one is that Crosby, Stills and Nash only appear all together on one track, Graham Nash’s “Marrakesh Express” that kicks off the album. Furthermore, these tweleve tracks aren’t limited to merely CSN songs; only three later appeared on the debut album and two more on CSNY’s Déjà Vu. The rest of these songs appeared on the the individual group members’ respective solo albums that immediately followed Déjà Vu, if at all. And except for “Long Time Gone,” all of the cuts are accompanied only by acoustic guitars.
Like Just Roll Tape, the light accompaniment lies at the heart of what makes that album interesting; with most of the production, instrumentation and harmonies peeled away, all you have left are the songs themselves, played before their reputations. That these songs hold up with little more than sincere, little-rehearsed renderings from their authors is perhaps the most significant revelation of all.
After the stripped down version of “Marrakesh Express” that still sounds good without the polished harmonies and all of Stills’ studio enhancements, comes a bare and unaffected version of Crosby’s “Almost Cut My Hair.” His eclectic song “Déjà Vu” sounds just as unpredictable and shifty as it does on the CSNY album of the same name. For “Music Is Love,” the leadoff track from his If I Can Only Remember My Name, Crosby is joined by the song’s co-writers Young and Nash. As an unapologetic hippie anthem, it’s a little sloppy and sounds made up as they went along here as it is in finished form, but who cares: that’s the way this song should be played. It’s worthwhile to note that Young has also released a demo version of this same song on that huge Archives set he just released, but it’s a different take.
The only track here with full accompaniment is “Long Time Gone,” with Crosby on vocals and guitar and Stills on guitar, bass and drums. This song, which ended up on CSN’s self-titled album, was recorded just before Nash had joined them in 1968 to round out this legendary trio. Stills’ lovely “You Don’t Have To Cry” is another song the first appeared on that debut record, and regrettably ends less than 90 seconds after it begins. His “My Love Is A Gentle Thing” never appeared in any form on a proper album (although a different version is found in the CSN boxed set from 1991).
Stills’ other contributions are “Singing Call,” which ended up on his second solo album, and a very early version of his big hit “Love The One You’re With.” At this point, the tune is mostly developed, but the “do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do’s” in the chorus hadn’t been invented yet, but Stills’ skillful guitar playing, as it always does to this day, powers the song as much as his vocals.
Outside of “Marrakesh,” all of Nash’s submissions ended up on his 1971 solo album Song For Beginners. “Be Yourself,” “Sleep Song,” and “Chicago” are all here in unaccompanied form. The first two Nash belts out with acoustic guitar, and the politically charged “Chicago” he plays on piano, with the same gait he so effectively employed for “Our House.” All three are delivered in his trademark straightforward, reflective style, and the simple but memorable melodies are already quite apparent here in their infancy.
With the consistently good audio quality from start to finish to go along of the fact that these tracks haven’t been officially released anywhere else before, it’s a safe pickup for CSN fans. These tracks don’t threaten replace the official versions in their finished forms for anyone’s listening rotation; it’s value lies primarily as a historical document. But even as curio items, these recordings do a lot to show just how good these guys were in their heyday without the benefit of crack studio musicians, top-line production, and in most cases, even the harmonies of each other.
Demos isn’t one of the most essential Crosby, Stills and Nash (and Young) records, but if you already appreciate their genius, having extra servings of it can only be a treat for you.
- Cannonball Adderley – ‘Poppin’ in Paris: Live at L’Olympia 1972′ (2024) - April 20, 2024
- Christian Marien Quartett – ‘How Long Is Now’ (2024) - April 18, 2024
- Dave Douglas, feat. James Brandon Lewis – ‘Gifts’ (2024) - April 11, 2024
