We continue our look at the music of 50 years ago…..
David Crosby was at loose ends and grieving. CSNY had splintered during the recording of Deja Vu early in 1970 and Crosby still hadn’t got over the death of his 21 year old girlfriend Christine Hinton. Hinton had been killed in a car crash while taking their cats to the vet and Crosby had been the one to identify her body at the morgue. His friend, Graham Nash said he was never the same after that…so later in 1970 a group of his musical friends decided an intervention in the studio was called for. That’s what hippie musicians did when they had problems…they created their art and escaped the real world for awhile. A what a group of friends it was…Nash and Young were there…Jerry Garcia and most of the Grateful Dead…Jorma Kaukonen from Hot Tuna and most of the Jefferson Airplane including Paul Kantner & Grace Slick….Michale Shrieve and Greg Rolie from Santana and Joni Mitchell gathered in a San Francisco studio and jammed….some of which became Crosby’s first solo album “If I Could Only Remember My Name” which was released in February of 1971.
It was a strange LP to warm up to. Much different than the solo offerings from Stills, Nash & Young. It was more hippie-freak-folk than rock & roll…but the more you listen to it, the more it may grow on you.
My fave cuts are Laughing & Traction In The Rain although Cowboy Movie (which is supposed to be a veiled description of the CSNY breakup) is weird and groovy. And Crosby & Nash give us a taste of their soon to be partnership with Song With No Words (Trees With No Leaves). In a strange side-note, the Vatican City newspaper L’Osservatore Romano listed this as 2nd on their Top 10 Pop Albums of All-Time behind only Revolver.
So, if you are in a mellow mood, turn down the lights, arrange the bean bag chair and light a candle…you might (if you really want to be authentic) fire up a fat one as well. Let your freak flag fly….
And, would have thought even 20 years ago that out of the four members of CSNY, that it would be David Crosby that would still be releasing meaningful music into the 2020’s. He has released 4 excellent records since 2014… Croz, Lighthouse, Sky Trails, and Here If You Listen…with another scheduled for release later this year.
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