Album: Greatest Hits
Artist(s): Crosby, Still & Nash
Label: Atlantic/Wea
“And I dreamed I saw the bomber death planes/Riding shotgun in the sky/Turning into butterflies/Above our nation”: Such is the imagery conjured by David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash (collectively known as CSN). Even without the multi-faceted Neil Young (who brought the Y to CSN) the trio towers over their contemporaries.Ergo a ‘Greatest Hits’ album, for such a talented group of musicians is a tricky compilation: what to put in and what to leave out?
The album is culled mainly from their ‘Four Way Street’ (1971) and ‘So Far’ (1974) albums, and is a delectable testament, to not only a band with immense pedigree (prior to CSN, Crosby founded the Byrds, Stills was in Buffalo Springfield, and Nash was in The Hollies) but with a harmonising ability on par with the Beach Boys and Mamas and Papas.
Those who decry their vocal style are missing the key to CSN — their penchant for lyrics that are, at their core, grounded in reality, yet ethereal in their suggestion.
The ‘Greatest Hits’, has the standard CSN classics like ‘Woodstock’, ‘Wooden Ships’, ‘Southern Cross’ and ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes’, but it is behind these that CSN’s unsung heroes lie. Tracks like ‘Our House’, Helplessly Hoping’, and ‘Just A Song Before I Go’ epitomise the rich tapestry — with lyrical and musical strands — woven by the band.
CSN made their mark in tumultuous times; the US was fighting a losing war; the youth were restless and taking to the streets; and all about them was an air of change.
Theirs is a music of, not so much a bygone era, as it is of a circle of history, and that is what makes them eternal, in their music and in their wisdom.
In ‘Teach Your Children Well’, Graham Nash sings: “And you, of tender years/Can't know the fears that your elders grew by/And so please help them with your youth/They seek the truth before they can die.”
CSN is a seeker’s band, and its message is clear: There is no end to the search, only realisation that what we seek is inherent.
