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| Artist: Crosby Stills & Nash |
| Format: | CD |
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Product Summary
Song Listing
| "On some of these songs you really hear us becoming a band, trying out different ideas in our songwriting and singing and harmonies. It really is a time capsule." - Graham Nash, as told to Billboard After four decades as "three together," the creative partnership of David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash remains active and strong - the late 60s/early 70s supergroup continue to tour and record as CSN (among other configurations) to this very day. Demos, which was produced by Graham Nash and Joel Bernstein, takes us back to the beginning, offering an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes glimpse into the earliest days of their musical collaboration. Featuring 12 previously unreleased group and solo demos recorded between 1968 and 1971, it spotlights destined-to-be-classic songs that would later be featured on CSN's studio albums and solo titles. While a number of demos showcase members performing solo, the set opens with the threesome harmonizing on "Marrakesh Express," recorded four months before the song was officially introduced on CSN's self-titled 1969 debut LP (now one of Rolling Stone's 500 Great Albums of All Time). Also from Crosby, Stills & Nash is an original version of "Long Time Gone" performed by Crosby and Stills. Their next album - CSN&Y's 1970 #1 LP Deja Vu, another "500 Greatest" - is represented on Demos with Crosby's solo takes on two songs, "Almost Cut My Hair" and the title track. Another selection, "Music is Love," finds Crosby and Nash joined by Neil Young - the three co-wrote the song, which appeared on Crosby's 1971 solo debut If I Could Only Remember My Name. Other highlights include seminal solo versions of Stills' hit "Love the One You're With" - from his self-titled 1970 solo debut - and Nash's politically charged "Chicago." The latter is one of three songs featured from Nash's 1971 solo debut, Songs for Beginners, which was recorded at the famed Wally Heider studios - where most of the tracks on Demos were cut. Crosby, Stills & Nash was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, and 2009 marks the group's induction into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame. |
Album Notes and Credits
Notes & Personnel Info |
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Personnel: Graham Nash (vocals, guitar, piano); Stephen Stills (vocals, guitar, drums); Neil Young (vocals, guitar). |
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Recording information: A&M Recording, Hollywood, CA (06/13/1968-02/08/1971); Rising Sun Studios, New York, NY (06/13/1968-02/08/1971); Wally Heider Recording, Hollywood, CA (06/13/1968-02/08/1971). |
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Photographer: Joel Bernstein. |
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Composed mainly of stripped-down, mostly acoustic versions of some famous Crosby, Stills & Nash songs, DEMOS affords a fascinating glimpse of the singer-songwriter movement in its infancy. Make no mistake--these are no lo-fi collector's curiosities. Tunes like "Marrakesh Express," its bright, fresh harmonies intact, and "You Don't Have To Cry" compare quite favorable with their official versions. The David Crosby songs, "Almost Cut My Hair" and "Deja Vu," especially benefit from the unplugged treatment--one finally gets a sense of their meandering, free-floating charms, complete with vocal/guitar nuances and dynamics (some nice scat singing from David) mostly absent from the older albums. It also is true that many of the Woodstock-era lyrics here are pretty much of their time and place, but the songcraft is indestructible. |
Producer: Graham Nash; Neil Young; Stephen Stills; Joel Bernstein; Graham Nash (Compilation); Joel Bernstein (Compilation) |
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Engineer: Henry Lewy; Larry Cox; Russ Gary; Bill Halverson |
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Compilation Appearances
Technical Info
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Release Date : 06/01/2009 |
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Original Release Date : 2009 |
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Catalog ID : 8122798643 |
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Label : Atlantic/Rhino |
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Number of Discs : 1 |
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Studio/Live : Studio |
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SPAR Code : n/a |
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UPC : 00081227986438 |
Professional Reviews
- "Surprisingly clean sound fidelity displays the abundant talent, as well the sense of discovery the three clearly felt upon joining forces."
(p.80)
- 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]hese demos are of songs by three gifted musicians at the peak of their powers."
Bio
Crosby, Stills & NashThe music of David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash is a cornerstone of rock 'n roll. As Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN), this trio of legendary singer-songwriters has been actively collaborating since 1969, when they first harmonized in either Joni Mitchell's living room or Mama Cass Elliot's dining room, depending on which member you ask (Crosby and Nash ascribe to the former, Stills is adamant about the latter). Wherever its point of origin, the connection they forged from day one - as artists and as friends - was profound and unbreakable. Essential elements of our pop culture experience, their songs are just as durable, conveying emotional truths and social consciousness in equal measure.
Forty years into their creative partnership, CSN is expanding its recorded repertoire with two album projects, one spotlighting its enduring creative spark, the other its legendary roots. David, Stephen and Graham are recording a new album for Columbia Records with ten-time Grammy-winning producer Rick Rubin at the helm. Rhino Records will release Crosby, Stills & Nash Demos, a single-disc collection of rare and previously unheard demos of destined-to-be-classic signature songs reaching back to the group's earliest days.
CSN will also take to the road once again, as they have done on a recurrent basis ever since their very first gig together - before more than 500,000 people - at Woodstock four decades ago. The tour's launch coincides with CSN's induction into the New York City-based Songwriter's Hall of Fame. The honor - which follows their 1997 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - recognizes David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash as individual solo artists and as three together with CSN. It also acknowledges the groundbreaking music each was instrumental in creating with landmark groups prior to forming CSN: The Byrds (Crosby), Buffalo Springfield (Stills) and The Hollies (Nash).
The fact that each principal came from another hugely successful band caused CSN to be known as the world's first "supergroup." The threesome more than lived up to the term with their '69 debut LP, a ten-song tour de force that hit #6 on Billboard's pop albums chart, earned CSN a Grammy for Best New Artist and delivered classic tracks including "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," "Marrakesh Express," "Guinnevere" and "Wooden Ships." In naming the disc one of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Rolling Stone quoted another rock immortal in its salute: "'I've Seen Crosby, Stills and Nash burnin' ass,' Jimi Hendrix declared in 1969. 'They're groovy, Western-sky music.' Hendrix knew what he was talking about."
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