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Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young & TOM JONES?


CSNY painted by Guy Peellaert in ‘Rock Dreams’
 
Although Neil Young apparently hated doing TV shows—one of the main reasons he supposedly left the Buffalo Springfield in 1967 was not wanting to appear on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson—by 1969 Young had given a bit on this front, as he agreed to appear along with David Crosby, Graham Nash and Stephen Stills on the This is Tom Jones TV show. CSNY did a short “You Don’t Have To Cry” and then the Welsh belter joined them, as was the custom on his program.

From Jimmy McDonough’s Young bio, Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography:

September 6 also brought a surreal appearance on the This Is Tom Jones variety show, featuring Jones himself bellowing lead vocal on Crosby’s “Long Time Gone.”

“It was highly rated, sold a lotta records, but in retrospect it was embarrassing, just a bad call’, said Elliot Roberts. ‘Neil went, ‘The Tom Jones show! What possessed you? It’s that shit.’ He always used to say ‘that shit’. Crosby had this weed of doom… Neil never forgave me for that. He ripped me about it for a very, very long time. Years.’”

 

 
Given that nearly five decades have passed since this was taped, it’s actually pretty amazing. Nothing to be ashamed of, certainly. Tom Jones and his show might’ve been seen as somewhat “square” by the rockstar standards of CSNY—Nash would’ve been acquainted with the Welsh singer from his days in the Hollies, no doubt—but the man’s mighty lungs inspire the rest of them to keep up, it must be said. I love how (an obviously manic) Stephen Stills rises to the occasion with his, er, intense vocal contribution near the end. Bassist Greg Reeves might’ve only been fifteen years old when this was shot—look at how skinny he was—and that’s Dallas Taylor on drums. You’ll note how the expression on Young’s face goes from one of disdain/‘What am I doing here?” to “This fucking rocks” about halfway through. The goofy expression on Croz’s mug needs no further explanation.
 
More after the jump…

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Posted by Richard Metzger
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06.14.2016
12:38 pm
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The ‘Doom Tour’: Incredible archival footage of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young live in 1974
05.13.2016
03:44 pm
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The coked-out megalomanical circus that saw David Crosby, Graham Nash, Stephen Stills and Neil Young storm across America in the first and most decadent superstar open air stadium tour of the rock era was nicknamed the “Doom Tour” by Crosby because of the feuding, the drugs and the fact that a small army of promoters and hangeroners were sucking at their hyper-megastar corporate rock teets like there was no tomorrow. There had been big rock tours in the past, but CSNY’s extra ginormous 1974 outing—dreamed up by manager Elliot Roberts and put into action by rock promoter Bill Graham—was like plotting a military invasion of each new town that the show moved to. The beachheads were 50-70,000 seat football arenas, which saw stages erected and massive PA systems hooked up by a legion of roadies. Other acts on the tour included The Band, Joni Mitchell, Santana and the Beach Boys. The tour was so decadent that they supposedly had pillowcases with “CSNY” embroidered on them! Don’t even ask what the “coke budget” was.

The “Doom Tour” grossed $11 million back when $11 million was still a hell of a lot of money, but the principals only pocketed half a mill each after expenses (and the promoters, natch) were paid first. There’s an amusing “oral history” of the trek at Rolling Stone.com. Only Young kept both feet (literally) on the ground, traveling in a bus with his son Zeke and avoiding the insanity.
 
More after the jump…

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Posted by Richard Metzger
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05.13.2016
03:44 pm
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Historic footage of the time Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young reformed for one night only, 1973


Photo by Joel Bernstein
 
After the success of their monstrously popular Déjà Vu album, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, “the American Beatles” as they were often called (never mind that one was a Brit and another Canadian) broke up in the summer of 1970, with all four members of CSNY recording solo albums. Soon afterwards Stills released his eponymous solo album which featured guests like Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, “Mama” Cass Elliot, Booker T Jones, Ringo Starr, as well as Crosby and Nash, Rita Coolidge and CSNY drummers Dallas Taylor and Johnny Barbata. Crosby’s If I Could Only Remember My Name and Nash’s Songs for Beginners appeared the following year. In late 1971, Stills teamed up with ex-Byrd Chris Hillman to form Manassas and Neil Young was up to all sorts of things at the time, being the prolific chap he’s always been known to be and producing some of his very best work.

In 1973, a black and white video recording was made of an impromptu CSNY set taped live at Bill Graham’s Winterland in San Francisco. It was originally a Stephen Stills and Manassas concert, but then some “very special guests” decided to show up. At the time Neil Young was on what could be called his Tonight’s the Night tour with the Santa Monica Flyers and Crosby & Nash were touring as a duo.

It’s sloppy, sure—and clearly none of them could be bothered to actually tune their fucking guitars—but the four hadn’t played together in well over two years at this point, although Young had jammed with Crosby and Nash at Winterland on March 26th, 1972 at an event called The Sheriff’s Benefit Concert, an attempt to raise funds for the problems faced by prisoners.

Neil Young, perhaps emphasizing his independence from the other three, doesn’t come onstage until the fifth number:

Setlist:
0:00:00 - Helplessly Hoping
0:04:31 - Wooden Ships
0:10:16 - Blackbird
0:13:36 - As I Come Of Age
0:16:42 - Neil joins in…
0:19:03 - Roll Another Number (For the Road)
0:23:39 - Human Highway
0:27:32 - New Mama
0:33:13 - And So It Goes
0:38:01 - Prison Song
0:42:48 - Long Time Gone
0:51:02 - Change Partners

 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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04.19.2016
10:27 am
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‘CSNY 1974’: Listen to exclusive live tracks from Crosby, Still, Nash and Young
07.18.2014
10:51 pm
Topics:
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Photo: Joel Bernstein

Not only am I one of those people who gets all squirmy if a concert goes on for much longer than an hour, I tend to really hate live albums. So why did I spend six straight hours yesterday listening intently to CSNY 1974, the new 40 song live box set from Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young all the way through twice in back to back playings? Because it’s the best archival rock release of the year…

The coked-out megalomanical circus that saw David Crosby, Graham Nash, Stephen Stills and Neil Young storm across America in the first and most decadent superstar open air stadium tour of the rock era was nicknamed the “Doom Tour” by Crosby because of the feuding, the drugs and the fact that a small army of promoters and hangeroners were sucking at their hyper-megastar corporate rock teets like there was no tomorrow. There had been big rock tours in the past, but CSNY’s extra ginormous 1974 outing—dreamed up by manager Elliot Roberts and put into action by rock promoter Bill Graham—was like plotting an invasion of each new town that the show moved to. The beachheads were 50-70,000 seat football arenas, which saw stages erected and massive PA systems hooked up by a legion of roadies. Other acts on the tour included The Band, Joni Mitchell, Santana and the Beach Boys.

The “Doom Tour” grossed $11 million back when $11 million was still a hell of a lot of money, but the principals only pocketed half a mill each after expenses (and the promoters) were paid. There’s an amusing “oral history” of the trek at Rolling Stone.com. Only Young kept both feet (literally) on the ground, traveling in a bus with his son Zeke and avoiding the insanity, but suffice to say that the debauchery and rockstar egos—at least from the evidence on display here—didn’t interfere with the music, which is insanely good.
 

“Carry Me”

The musicianship on CSNY 1974  is first rate, better even than their earlier live album 4 Way Street as each member had creatively matured since the 1970 tour. In Stephen Stills we have one of the single most remarkable guitarists of the rock era. Don’t get me wrong, Neil Young is no slouch on the six-string himself, but with Stills—as opposed to with Crazy Horse—his ragged, idiosyncratic playing is obliged to conform to, fight against and to parry with Stills’ more structured and almost architectural guitar style. Musically at least, they bring out the best in each other, but it’s Stills who provides the foundation in CSNY that Young reacts to and then he in turn reacts to what Young does, and lemme tell ya, it’s breathtaking. If, like some people, you approach CSNY solely from the POV of Young’s perhaps more “aloof” contributions, these are some canonical performances by him here that I think any Neil Young freak would go absolutely nuts over. (Five of the songs in the set composed by Young—“Traces,” “Goodbye Dick,” “Love Art Blues,” “Hawaiian Sunrise” and “Pushed It Over the End” –appear on CSNY 1974 for the first time on any official release.)

For all the talk of the backstage feuds, there is simply no sign of this in the onstage camaraderie documented here, which is supportive, fraternal and joyously ecstatic. A good example of this comes with Stills’ delicate piano backing of Young on “Only Love Can Break Your Heart.” Other highlights of the set include several “solo” numbers: a simply smouldering take on Young’s “On The Beach,” a gorgeous rendition of Crosby’s confessional “Carry Me” (at that point still un-issued on record), Nash’s “Grave Concern” from his dark, nearly unknown Wild Tales solo LP and Stills’ motherfucker of a rip, spitting his way through a frantic “Word Game.”

There are various configurations of CSNY 1974 on vinyl, CDs, DVD and Blu-ray Pure Audio discs. Unless you have to have vinyl (and are a masochist who loves flipping six records over) I’d highly suggest going with the version that Rhino sent me, the Blu-ray, which has all 40 songs—there were three sets, two rock sets with an acoustic set in between—on one disc so you can just relax and take it all in for three hours. Another reason to opt for the Blu-ray set is that it sounds really, really good. Produced by Graham Nash and the group’s longtime archivist, Joel Bernstein, the set was culled from the tapes of nine shows that were recorded by Elliot Mazer, the tour’s audio engineer and others. The audio quality here is astonishingly good for 40-year-old live recordings to begin with, but it would be remarkable sounding if it was recorded yesterday. The acoustic guitars chime, the electric leads cut through you like a knife, Stills and Young’s duelling guitars complement and argue with each other. You’ve got the heavenly harmonies of Crosby and Nash mic’d so closely that you can hear their breath. The piano has presence and clarity as if it had been recorded in a studio and not at an open air sports arena in front of 50,000 screaming fans. You get the idea. At least when all of that money was flying out the door unaccounted for, they got these great recordings out of it. The mastering was done by Bernie Grundman (an audiophile mark of distinction) after it was mixed down by Nash, Bernstein and Stanley Tajima Johnston in 192-kHz/24-bit resolution. [To anyone who says that stuff doesn’t make a difference, I defy you to listen to the acoustic set on Blu-ray and tell me you’ve heard a more “intimate” sounding live recording, ever. I suspect that Nash and Bernstein presented their work to Stills and the notoriously picky audiophile Young with confidence. What else would there be for Neil Young to say other than “Hey, great job, guys!”?]
 


“Grave Concern”

To my mind CSNY 1974 is the “classic rock” release of the year so far. It’s so damned good that I can’t imagine anything coming along and topping it, either, but if that did occur, then 2014 will be a good year for rock snobs, overflowing with an embarrassment of riches like this and the Led Zeppelin remasters.

Like the majority of Amazon reviewers, Ima gonna give CSNY 1974 five stars. One woman writes that she bought it for her husband and gave it to him before they were going to go out and eat. They opted instead to stay home and listen to it all the way through. That was my reaction to it, too. I expected to like it, but I liked it so much that I spent six hours straight with it. Not listening while surfing on my iPad, but listening to it. Listening intently and digging the shit out of it. In summation: CSNY 1974 is fucking good. You want a box set to feel like a good value and Christmas day simultaneously and this one truly does.

(Did I mention that there’s a separate DVD of video performances shot at Wembley Stadium and at Landover, MD’s Capital Centre? That’s awesome, too.)

Here’s something fascinating, a black and white video recording of an impromptu CSNY set taped at Winterland in 1973. It was originally a Stephen Stills and Manassas concert, then some “very special guests” showed up. At the time Neil Young was on his Tonight’s the Night tour with the Santa Monica Flyers and Crosby & Nash were touring as a duo. It’s sloppy, sure, the four hadn’t played together in over two years at this point, but it’s history, baby! Neil Young, perhaps emphasizing his independence from the other three, doesn’t come onstage until the fifth number:
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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07.18.2014
10:51 pm
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Stunning David Crosby & Graham Nash BBC ‘In Concert’ performance, 1970
03.25.2014
01:40 pm
Topics:
Tags:


 
The early 1970s BBC series In Concert featured some of the greatest performers of the folk rock / singer-songwriter era, including Joni Mitchell, Carole King, James Taylor, Cat Stevens and Neil Young in front of intimate crowds at the old BBC Television Centre in London. In the case of each of the artists featured, the BBC sets are probably the very best records we have of these performers in their youthful prime. This is almost certainly the case with the gorgeous Crosby & Nash performance linked here. It’s a stunner.

After the success of their monstrously popular Déjà Vu album, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young,“the American Beatles” as they were often called (never mind that one was a Brit and another Canadian) broke up in the summer of 1970, with all four members of CSNY recording solo albums. Crosby’s If I Could Only Remember My Name and Nash’s Songs for Beginners appeared the following year. In the fall of 1970, the two toured as an acoustic duo previewing tunes from their upcoming albums and singing fan favorites.

The BBC set begins with Nash at the piano, pouring out his pain over the break-up of his relationship with Joni Mitchell in “Simple Man,” one of the loveliest, saddest songs in his canon. As you’d expect of a performance of this vintage—before cocaine wrecked their voices, I mean—the harmonies are glorious. There is pure eargasmic pleasure to be had here, I promise you. The inclusion of one of my favorites “Song With No Words (Tree With No Leaves)” from Crosby’s If I Could Only Remember My Name (truly one of the greatest, most under-rated albums of the era, now seen as a touchstone of the “freak folk” movement) was the cherry on top for me.

Simple Man
Marrakesh Express
Guinnevere
Song With No Words
Teach Your Children
Right Between The Eyes
The Lee Shore
Traction In The Rain

Graham Nash and David Crosby contributed backing vocals—some of their finest work together in years—to Jonathan Wilson’s Fanfare album, which was easily my hand’s down favorite for best album of 2013. David Crosby, now 72, underwent major heart surgery last month for blocked arteries.
 

 
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Joni Mitchell: Amazing live BBC ‘In Concert’ performance from 1970

A Natural Woman: Carole King ‘In Concert,’ 1971

Folk Hero: Gordon Lightfoot live ‘In Concert,’ 1971

‘Neil Young sings Neil Young,’ 1971

Posted by Richard Metzger
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03.25.2014
01:40 pm
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David Crosby and Graham Nash at Occupy Wall Street


 
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s “Teach Your Children,” released 41 years ago, was one of those tunes that seemed hopelessly corny when I first heard it, preachy in the worst hippie fashion.

As an 18-year-old flower child, CSN&Y’s Deja Vu was supposed to resonate with me—it did for most of my generation ( the album’s tracks wafted from open windows throughout Berkeley). But I was a flower child about to go to seed and their musical macramé left rope burns on what was left of my hippie dippy sensibility. I understand deja vu as a kind of compression of space and time, but when things move swiftly, stopping in your tracks to observe frozen, insistent memories is the very antithesis of what made the youth movement so vital—we were moving forward not looking back and certainly not letting deja vu trip us up. Had we been here before? No. It just feels familiar because it feels so fucking right.

CSN&Y seemed like a bunch of rich hipsters whose biggest concerns revolved around whether to cut their hair and self-doubt about their parenting skills. My hair was still long, would remain so, and all I cared about was screwing the chicks hanging out in Ho Chi Min Park.

Looking back, I figure CSN&Y, along with the wave of Topanga Canyon and Malibu longhair country-rock bands that followed in their wake, factored into why I was driven in the direction of Iggy And The Stooges and the MC5. For me, CSN&Y marked the point when the Sixties became too hopelessly self-referential, choking on its own patchouli scented vomit.

But fuck the past, right now this song and these guys seem very real and soulful to me thanks to this video. David Crosby and Graham Nash are looking forward and deja vu is now the middle space between what was and what is going to be.

Brothers, I salute you.

Still waiting for the “Street Fighting Men” and Mr. “Born To Run” to make the scene. Where’s the rock and roll 1% when we need ‘em?

The fact that you can’t have electronic pubic public address systems in Zuccotti Park results in an amplification system that is flesh, bone, blood and communal.
 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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11.11.2011
01:11 am
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