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Product Details
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| 1. Anticipatory Crowd |
| 2. Deja Vu |
| 3. Wooden Ships |
| 4. Man In The Mirror |
| 5. Orleans |
| 6. Used To Be A King |
| 7. Traction In The Rain |
| 8. Lee Shore |
| 9. Southbound Train |
| 10. Laughing |
| 11. Triad |
| 12. Where Will I Be |
| 13. Strangers Room |
| 14. Immigration Man |
| 15. Guinevere |
| 16. Teach Your Children |
| 17. Exit Sounds |
The song selection is a splendid mix of early Crosby nuggets from If I Could Only Remember My Name ("Laughing", the sweet "Traction In The Rain") and Nash from his Songs For Beginners period. In fact, Nash's version of "I Used To Be A King" is quite Neil Young-esque in delivery. It is also interesting to hear studio-enhanced material like "Orleans" stripped down to its bare essentials. Even the nuggets like a blissful "Wooden Ships" shines. There isn't a dud moment, and each song is braced with a combination of heart, humility and intimacy that is often rare in live recordings.
Kudos to the Grateful Dead Organization for releasing a first-class CD of their musical breathren. And Kudos to David and Graham for making such wonderful music.
Interesting how perspectives change. Mine anyway. David Crosby and Graham Nash may not have been billed as "genius," but they were great musicians, as this hard-to-find live set makes clear. For Crosby, this album is a tour-de-force of his best songs from his most productive period from '68-'71: "Laughing," "Wooden Ships," "Traction in the Rain," "Triad," "Guinnevere," "Orleans" and "Deja Vu." Despite an obvious flu and avowed intoxication, his performances are perhaps the most brilliant he's committed to wax. I'm still not sold on Nash as a major songwriter, but the songs he chooses for this show are undeniably melodic.
Most enjoyable is hearing how the two friends help each other. My favorite cut on this disk is Nash's "I Used to Be a King," a simple pop tune that Crosby jazzes up with some amazing, subtle scat work that propels the song forward, and makes a much more compelling performance out of it than this song would have any right to expect. For his entire career, Crosby has often saved his most magical moments for songs where he doesn't sing lead, but instead creates a rich, innovative background of harmony and rhythm. Nash, though less gifted, is equally generous to Crosby on his songs, bringing focus to the CSNY cuts, which work better here than on other live CSNY albums, with the S and Y hardly missed at all.
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