# The Strange Magic of: Crosby, Stills and Nash



## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

One of my longtime favorite bands, CS&N defined near-ecstatic, tight harmony singing throughout the 1970s and well into the 1980s. I'm not prone to nostalgia, but their wonderful sound has given me enormous pleasure over the decades. For a bit, they were also Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, but Neil Young, though I am a big fan, was always vocally and personally the odd man out in the group. CS&N certainly had their share of "adventures", as recounted in Graham Nash's autobiography Wild Tales, A Rock & Roll Life, with Nash spending much of his time and energy keeping his friend David Crosby from almost certainly killing himself through chemical excess. Their best sound was achieved in the studio, but here is a fine performance of the Steve Stills classic, _Southern Cross_:


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

More from the Three Musketeers, an earlier and evocative gem, _Long Time Gone_. There is no mistaking that David Crosby profile--like Dylan's, one of the most recognizable in Rock.....


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

I liked the solo material of Graham Nash, the Songs for Beginners album is the one I know. I think Immigration Man is from a different one, that's good too.


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## Harmonie (Mar 24, 2007)

I don't love every song I hear by them, but I find "Guinnevere" to be very beautiful, and I also really love "Just a Song Before I Go".


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## Jay (Jul 21, 2014)

The first LP put the final nail in the coffin of psychedelia. Not flawless, but close.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Jay said:


> The first LP put the final nail in the coffin of psychedelia.


A wonderful album. But please elaborate on that nail in the coffin of psychedelia--an interesting notion.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

They were/ are good but prefer Buffallo Springfield what a shame they never got further as a group


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

CS&N. The trio, along with Jefferson Airplane/early Jefferson Starship, the Grateful Dead, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, evoke a time of close personal and musical relationships on America's west coast that was one of mutual catalysis and creativity. The history of Rock/Pop could be told well by focusing on geographical associations--pockets of groups and artists watching and hearing each other's work at close range--coagulation and then dispersal, both physically and artistically. But the era of Crosby, Stills and Nash: Wasn't That A Time! Here are the threesome, Crosby sober enough to perform, doing _Dark Star_.....


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## chill782002 (Jan 12, 2017)

My mother's favourite band. :lol:

Seriously though, the first couple of albums are good and I like David Crosby's solo album, "If I Could Only Remember My Name". I think that album is quite psychedelic although it's largely acoustic.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Strange Magic said:


> A wonderful album. But please elaborate on that nail in the coffin of psychedelia--an interesting notion.


I'm not sure if Jay is around these days but I'm guessing he meant the CSN debut was one of those albums released towards the end of the 1960s when American music became more rootsy and less lysurgic - i.e Delaney and Bonnie, the Band, the Allman Bros, post-Crosby Byrds etc. Even the Grateful Dead shook off pyschedelia with the superb _Workingman's Dead_ album.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

For me, it was a long wait after 1970's Deja Vu until 1982's Daylight Again album--the 1977 CSN had little in it for me, and the best of what there was, was best served up live in 1983's Allies. I believe all three videos are from that Allies tour. Graham Nash's book details all that was involved in keeping the ball rolling through those dark years of the 1980s with Crosby so fragile. But the musical record of 1982-1983 of CS&N is of a remarkable return to excellence.

On the geographical links, here is Wikipedia on the trio:

"An entire sub-industry of singer-songwriters in California either had their careers boosted or came to prominence in the wake of CSNY. Many of these musicians lived in or near Laurel Canyon in California. These artists include Laura Nyro, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, America, and the Eagles. David Geffen formed Asylum Records in 1971 to record and sell the works of many of these individuals and groups, a time when CSNY was at the height of its popularity and commercial appeal."


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## Room2201974 (Jan 23, 2018)

chill782002 said:


> Seriously though, the first couple of albums are good and I like David Crosby's solo album, "If I Could Only Remember My Name". I think that album is quite psychedelic although it's largely acoustic.


It's the only pop/rock album that I know for which I would use the term "impressionism" to describe its sound. While _If I Could Only Remember My Name_ didn't have the commercial success that the first Stills album did, in many ways it's artistically superior. A truly unique album. That Crosby would descend into chaos after this effort speaks volumes about what could have been.


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## chill782002 (Jan 12, 2017)

Room2201974 said:


> It's the only pop/rock album that I know for which I would use the term "impressionism" to describe its sound. While _If I Could Only Remember My Name_ didn't have the commercial success that the first Stills album did, in many ways it's artistically superior. A truly unique album. That Crosby would descend into chaos after this effort speaks volumes about what could have been.


Completely agree. It has a very spacey feel to it which I really like.


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## ldiat (Jan 27, 2016)

coming up less then a month KSU may 4th


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Have to confess I never cared for CSN. I do like Neil Young, but separately for the most part.


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