The Parts As Strong As The Whole

We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago……

You could argue that from 1968-1971 there were few bands bigger than Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Their albums sold millions…their tours sold out….they could do no wrong…until their egos decided they could not work together anymore and they went their seperate ways…well, almost.

All four released critically acclaimed solo work in 1970-71, but in the latter part of that year David Crosby & Graham Nash went out on tour together playing old favorites and new songs that focused on their seamless harmonies. It resulted in a live album called “Another Stony Evening”. In 1972 came the release of their “official” debut as a duo, simply called “Graham Nash/David Crosby”.

Here’s the CSN classic Wooden Ships from Another Stoney Evening

The duo of Crosby/Nash complemented each other well. Nash wrote short hooky pop songs that mostly dealt with relationships, a skill he had honed in the Hollies, but the new stuff was certainly pithier than Carrie-Anne. Crosby wrote more ethereal stuff, using odd tunings and his breathy voice ,perfectly pitched to get across his views of the world.

They were backed on most of this by the crack group of LA cats known as The Section. Danny Kootch Kortchmar on guitar, Craig Doerge on keyboards, Lee Sklar on bass and Russ Kunkel on drums. Kootch delivers a great solo on Crosby’s “Whole Cloth”. Members of the Grateful Dead chip in on ‘The Wall Song” and Jerry Garcia also adds some of his great steel guitar on “SouthBound Train”, my favorite cut on the LP. Another great guest appearance is Dave Mason’s cutting guitar on “Immigration Man”. Crosby’s “Page 43” also stands out as a beautiful track.

Th LP was a hit going to #4 on the charts and garnering good reviews. The duo would get back together with Stills and Young before recording a couple more solid mid 70’s records. They reformed in the 2000’s but as of late have had a falling out.

Nash has concentrated on his photography work although he records and tours once in awhile. Crosby has been very prolifiic the last few years recording a string of excellent records with much younger musicians. He is having another moment and you should check those records out.

This is a perfect example of the singer-songwriter genre that was going full steam ahead in 1972.