Good morning,
CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG
In response to David Crosby’s list of “5 Albums I Can’t Live Without,” David Berkey noted a great album of his own (which happened to be one of Crosby’s:
“David Crosby's 'If I Could Only Remember My Name' may be the best album few people have ever heard of. Thank you for mentioning this supremely talented artist whose self-inflicted failings have (largely) kept him from the accolades he deserves.”
This comment got me thinking of CS&N (and sometimes Y) and how they were among the creators of the sound track of my youth. What a great list of hits: “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” “Our House,” “Marrakesh Express,” “Teach Your Children,” “Carry On,” “Ohio,” “Woodstock,” “Just a Song Before I Go.” Quite a library.
As to David’s view of this album, I can only say he is more adventurous and has a more sophisticated ear than do I. I’ll stick with the first couple of classic albums as my favorites. While I’ll agree that “Music Is Love” is a great track, and “Laughing” is okay, the album itself reads to me as a bit of a mishmash.
Here is a great segment with Crosby, Stills and Young interviewed (separately) on Sunday Morning:
As to one of Crosby’s sometime-bandmates, Doug Ziegler shared this great piece:
Neil Young, “Harvest Moon”
POETRY
Today
By Billy Collins
If ever there were a spring day so perfect,
so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze
that it made you want to throw
open all the windows in the house
and unlatch the door to the canary's cage,
indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,
a day when the cool brick paths
and the garden bursting with peonies
seemed so etched in sunlight
that you felt like taking
a hammer to the glass paperweight
on the living room end table,
releasing the inhabitants
from their snow-covered cottage
so they could walk out,
holding hands and squinting
into this larger dome of blue and white,
well, today is just that kind of day.
Have a great weekend,
Glenn
Eleanor Stills was my 6th grade student. Her dad was hilarious at parent teacher conferences!
I very much enjoy Crosby's solo album. Sometimes the pleasure is found not just in the thing-in-itself, but as a period piece embedded in a larger context, the context in this case being the SF scene at the time. It is the latter for me wrt this album. I picture Tamalpais hill (mountain?) when I play the song on this album. It is a SF period piece of the early 70's. But certainly the first two CSN(Y) albums are superior imo. Also nice, capturing the time, is Crosby's Triad. It was first on a Byrds album, later covered by the Jefferson Airplane.