Crosby, Stills & Nash

Crosby, Stills & Nash - Atlantic 1969

Tracks:   1. Suite: Judy Blue Eyes / 2. Marrakesh Express / 3. Guinnevere / 4. You Don't Have To Cry / 5. Pre-Road Downs / 6. Wooden Ships / 7. Lady Of The Island / 8. Helplessly Hoping / 9. Long Time Gone / 10. 49 Bye-Byes / 11. Do For The Others / 12. Song With No Words / 13. Everybody's Talkin' / 14. Teach Your Children

Comments:

The trio C, S & N was formed by members from the Byrds, The Hollies and Buffalo Springfield - and consequently hailed as a supergroup on their formation in 1969. This is the group's debut album and though a couple of songs may appear slightly dated, it's always a pleasure to listen to their trademark vocal hamonies.

All bandmembers were songwriters, but on this album it's Steven Stills' songs that stand out. The terrifix opening "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" simply has it all; great melodies, beautiful harmonies and great production - no doubt that Stills was also the driving force in the production of the album. The other Stills stand-out is the beautiful acoustic "Helplessly Hoping" - and "You Don't Have to Cry" is almost as strong. Stills also wrote the soulful closing track "49 Bye-Byes"

Among the bonus-tracks is an early demo-version of "Do For The Others", with harmony vocals from Graham Nash - another great song. Graham Nash from the Hollies wrote the single "Marrakesh Express", which is quite nice, but not much more. Nash also wrote "Pre-Road Downs", one of the most rocking tracks on the album. "Lady of the Island" is Nash third contribution to the album - a quite acoustic ballad, not unlike some of his later Hollies songs like "Fifi the Flea".

David Crosby wrote two songs and co-wrote one for the album. The strongest is "Wooden Ships" ( co-written with Stills and Paul Kantner ) - great chorus on that one. "Guinevere" is a typical Crosby song - nice, but molodically slightly vague - could have been an outtake from "Younger Than Yesterday". The soulful "Long Time Gone" also has a nice chorus.

The trio expanded with Neil Young on the next album, "Deja Vu", giving the group more edge, which may be missed at places on this one.


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