Any fans of the various iterations of Crosby Stills Nash & Young? Perhaps, on the surface, a bit of an odd mention on P fansite but...

I think their studio stuff on the first 3 albums is phenominal and has aged alot better than most of their late 60s/70s California peers.

Stephen Stills, as both an acoustic and electric guitar player, is somewhat underrated. He is a beast. If you havent heard his first solo album, theres some amazing blues on there (with Clapton and Hendrix as guests).

They balance electric and acoustic moments better than many bands.

Crosby added phenominal vocals and an eccentric compositional quality to a number of tunes (Deju Vu, Almost Cut my Hair, Delta, Shadow Captain etc.)

Nash was definately the "pop" - sounded great on record, wrote their biggest radio hits (other than Judy Blue Eyes).

Then the occasional presence of Young, who toughened up the band, but was obviously too mercurial to get along with anyone for an extended period of time.

A true "Super Group." In recent years still kill it live, too.

To tie to Prince, the band was extremely close musically (they covered her song "Woodstock"), and in some cases romantically (According to Nash, he wrote "Our House" for her), to a young Joni Mitchell. Also, many of their songs had a spiritual, yearning bent and sort of a call for universal love.

Thoughts on CSN? CSN&Y? Any faves?

For sure. I love their sound and consider Young to be one of the all time greats.

fourletterwords said:

Any fans of the various iterations of Crosby Stills Nash & Young? Perhaps, on the surface, a bit of an odd mention on P fansite but...

I think their studio stuff on the first 3 albums is phenominal and has aged alot better than most of their late 60s/70s California peers.

Stephen Stills, as both an acoustic and electric guitar player, is somewhat underrated. He is a beast. If you havent heard his first solo album, theres some amazing blues on there (with Clapton and Hendrix as guests).

They balance electric and acoustic moments better than many bands.

Crosby added phenominal vocals and an eccentric compositional quality to a number of tunes (Deju Vu, Almost Cut my Hair, Delta, Shadow Captain etc.)

Nash was definately the "pop" - sounded great on record, wrote their biggest radio hits (other than Judy Blue Eyes).

Then the occasional presence of Young, who toughened up the band, but was obviously too mercurial to get along with anyone for an extended period of time.

A true "Super Group." In recent years still kill it live, too.

To tie to Prince, the band was extremely close musically (they covered her song "Woodstock"), and in some cases romantically (According to Nash, he wrote "Our House" for her), to a young Joni Mitchell. Also, many of their songs had a spiritual, yearning bent and sort of a call for universal love.

Thoughts on CSN? CSN&Y? Any faves?

Totally agreed on their first three albums. Absolute monsters.

David's 1971 solo album is a thing of majesty too. A lot of free form stuff, but totally brilliant. The song he wrote for George Harrison on that album, "Laughing" is one of my all time favorites.


Like Nash's song "Wasted on the Way", I just wish they hadn't spent so much time in childish acrimony. They could have made so much more magic together.

Agreed with Gandorb, Young is one of the all timers for sure....