Customer Reviews

If I Could Only Remember My Name (180 Gram Vinyl LP)

5 star:		(108)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

. . . though his recent stuff with CPR comes darned close. But this is a longtime favorite of mine, and nothing is likely to dislodge it.

If every speck of weed were to disappear from the planet tomorrow, it would still be possible to get stoned just from this CD. (Strictly speaking, you wouldn't even have to listen to it; you could pick up a contact high just from holding it in your hand.)

But contrary to the previous beliefs of some of my generation, it's not actually necessary to use chemical aids to achieve this sort of high. The high Crosby achieves on this album is the real thing: hauntingly beautiful artistry that includes but transcends his own individual contribution, producing a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. This is some of Crosby's best music, and it's not an accident that so many other names appear in the liner notes.

For this album reads like a Who's-Who of the late '60s/early '70s California music scene: Graham Nash, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and an array of other contributors we might as well call the Grateful Airplane. And everybody pitches in _something_ without which the album wouldn't be what it is.

But the center of it all is Crosby and his own unique musical vision. And when he's at his best -- as he is here -- his songwriting is so good he sometimes doesn't need to bother with words at all (as, e.g., on "Song With No Words (Tree With No Leaves)"). If the first thirty seconds of "Tamalpais High (At About Three)" doesn't leave you stunned and transfixed, then you and I aren't from the same home planet -- and I don't especially want to visit yours.

(The stuff _with_ words is still timely as well -- unfortunately, because some of it was recorded in the hope of making itself irrelevant and unnecessary. "I wonder who they are / The men who really run this land / And I wonder why they run it / With such a thoughtless hand . . . " At the time, this stuff was a call to action and a cry for change. Now, thirty years on, you may find yourself shaking your head and wondering whether anything has changed after all.)

Longtime Crosby fans probably already have this CD; if not, let me just mention that the CD was remastered from the original analog recordings by the original engineer, Stephen Barncard, who did it right both times. And you'll probably remember all the cool photos (many of them by Henry Diltz); they're included.

New listeners: if you like CPR, you'll probably like this stuff too. Crosby's keen musical intelligence is sometimes less than obvious because of his understated approach, but don't underestimate it; there are few who can do it better. Terms like "groovy" and "far out" are easy to ridicule owing to their overuse, but this album is what they're supposed to mean.

For anyone who truly appreciates the scope, verve, and power of sixties music, this CD literally says volumes. Using an eclectic and heavily electric but dreamy LA sound base, an approach that employed most of southern (and northern) California's constellation of rock legends in production, Crosby weaves a series of thoughtful, mystic, and mysterious moods with this music. From the dreamy opening bars of "Music is Love" through the fanciful strains of "Cowboy Movie" all the way to the haunting strains of "Laughing", he shows why he has so many friends in the music business. All of CSN&Y are here, appearing alone or in combinations on individual song cuts. But this is most emphatically not just another CSN&Y album. Rather, this is an unusual yet emblematic album that only someone as rarely gifted and as countercultural as Crosby could take from conception, through writing, production and performance for us. The shame is that it (the album) is one of a kind. None of his other works with Nash or CSN or CSN&Y are as striking or as unabashedly David Crosby. Buy it, spin it, and enjoy it. You'll be humming the bars to any one of a number of the instrumentals like "Orleans" for weeks.

This album has special significance for me as it, along with the Dead's American Beauty and a couple of classical LPs acompanied me on a trip to South America at the beginning of the '70s. perhaps it was because Crosby's sailing experience oozed from the grooves (I too was at sea). This is arguably Crosby's best work (it is to me). The richly crafted harmonies, carefully woven acoustic accompaniment and general "aura" of the overall album make it a gem of the period. It is criminal that this work has been so overlooked. Although Crosby is the dominant featured performer and composer, this LP highlights the then lively communal SF music scene. Those followers of the current underground scene would identify with this. Standout guest performances include glorious Joni Mitchell vocals (along with Neil Young), earthy Garcia guitar and potent Phil Lesh bass lines. Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady also provide excellent supporting roles. I can't identify one particular track, 'cause the WHOLE album is so damn good and works so well as an organic whole. Over the years, I have found myself repeadedly coming back to this album for inspiration. Inspiration for what?...writing my own music, recapturing a feeling which oozes from these grooves and, yes, inspiring my life through just listening to the music. THIS IS '60S MUSIC OF THE HIGHEST ORDER AND IN THE BEST SENSE. Its a treasure undiscovered by many people. Discover it yourself, set back and be prepared to be touched by its magic!!

Some of you may wonder why an aging rocker like Crosby is still hailed, or why VH1 bothered to do a special about the "saving kidney. Musically speaking this CD is the reason. Other than Deja Vu, and some of his work vith Nash, this CD represents David Crosby's finest work. His voice is at its dramatic peak, the songs -both melodies and words are his most beatiful ones ever- and, to top ot all off, he's backed by the who's who of the West Coast "Psychedelic Intelingentsia." Everybody who was anybody, is here! I probably worked my way to three vinyls already. If you'd like to find out what rock was like when creativity was a requirement for recognition, or remember what moved us, back in the Sixties, to see the poetry of life in every single thing, this is an absolute must-have.

Catergorically one of the greatest records out of rock, and the very best of all the various CSNY efforts, this remarkable work has been incredibly remastered and restored to deliver a sense of awe. From the smeary beginnings of "Music Is Love" through the haunting paean to Christine Hinton ,"I thought there was somebody there..." this is every bit the revolution in recording that DARK SIDE OF THE MOON & SGT PEPPER were, and in many respects, for its organic fundamentals, perhaps an even greater accomplishment. The story is well told by Stephen Barncard in the accomapnying DVD interview. He was an assistant engineer on DEJA VU, who took this opportunity, at first reluctantly, to an entirely new level, one not entirely imagined even by the protean creative genius that is Crosby. It's in the small details that make this so amazing: the blurring and phlanging of source tapes that were sonically dirty into epic western tales, the layering of polyphonic vocals that pre-date the lofty and profound works of Part, the little found sounds of setting up a recording on the fly, as it were, to capture every possible sound - a concept only Miles Davis was using at that point. In fact the collaboration between Barncard and Crosby is very much akin to the sympatico between Miles and Teo Macero. And it is just as amazing in what has been produced.
As a guitar album, it also vindicates Crosby's understated talents. Almost every note, chord and lick on this disc is by Crosby. Garcia and Lesh added pedal steel and bass, Kreutzman drums, and Joni, Slick, Nash and Young notable vocals, but all of these contributors were on a cameo basis. The main tracks all the way through were Crosby. The writing is sophisticated, the vocals incredibly powerful, and the sheer "sound" of the recording revolutionary, especially for rock. This is a high water mark in every respect.
I would encourage you to pick up the DVD audio version of this release. In 5.1, as well as in the cleaned up stereo remastering, this is stunning, jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring. It wouldn't be so were the material not the measure of the task, but since it is, this is honestly one of the CDs I hope survives for generations into the future.
And the great thing, Crosby was just getting started....

The cover hints at what's inside... an older, probably wiserhippy icon looking into the middle distance with the setting sun inhis eyes.

The opening track, "Music is Love" - a gentle, rambling acoustic jam that could have come straight from a the human "be-in" at Golden Gate Park - sets the scene for a wonderful and clearly heartfelt meander through a diverse but effective set that encapsulates a great deal of what he and his West Coast peers were trying to achieve.

At times bizarre ("I'd Swear There Was Somebody Here"), beautiful ("Traction In The Rain", "Tamalpais High"), innovative ("Song With No Words", "Laughing"), political ("What Are Their Names") and aggressive ("Cowboy Movie") the overall feeling generated by the album is one of cohesion and warmth amongst a group of friends playing carefully crafted songs that they really enjoy.

As such, this odd, often ignored record sums it all up - a marvellous good-bye to a unique period of musical innovation. END

This is really as good as Crosby gets, which is pretty darn good. "Music is Love" (co-written by Nash & Young) is a wonderful gateway into a deep listening experience. "Laughing" is a truly great track (featuring Joni M. on vocals and Garcia on pedal steel), "Cowboy Movie" is a trip, and "Traction in the Rain," despite hippie-dippie lyrics (hey, it was 1971) is sweet as can be. This is a wonderful record.

Yes, I will admit it-- a little part of me is forever stuck in the 60's (and early 70's). This album goes a very long way towards explaining why. They just don't make 'em like this anymore. This is another one of my "desert island discs", one of that handful of albums I can't imagine having to live the rest of my life without. It is absolutely brilliant. A virtual who's who of west-coast-folk-rock-60's-hippie-cool artists of the time, the roster of people who contributed to this album is mind-boggling by any standards. Everyone from Joni to Neil to Grace and Jorma to virtually the entire Grateful Dead. One of the most amazing things is that there is absolutely no grandstanding here-- all of the artists greatly contributed but none made an issue of their presence. At times it can be fun just to try to pick out the various artists as you listen. And although I'm admittedly an unabashed Dead freak, I just can't let Jerry Garcia's contributions go by without special mention. Not only can his unmistakable guitar work be heard throughout, but his pedal steel guitar on "Laughing" is indescribably beautiful. It is really hard to know where to begin in describing this album and its high points because it's all high (pun very much intended). This is truly one of the most gorgeous albums I have ever heard. And as an added plus, it is all astoundingly well recorded for the period (despite the claims of some other reviewers). Every time I hear this incredible album it makes me simultaneously happy and sad-- happy that such a masterpiece was ever recorded and that it still exists for all to hear and enjoy, and sad that the time it always takes me back to is gone forever.

What were the 60s like? Listen to this album for the more peaceful Zeitgeist of that era.. A beautiful pipedream of an album that went through the "Doors of Perception" (Aldous Huxley) where so many of us journeyed in that time. It is, in the parlance of that time, a "trip" album which then meant that you went to another place to spend some time to learn what you could learn. Yes, it's personal and self indulgent, but without the 80's animus of greed. In addition to the ethereal beauty of the music, I still sing (approx) "What are their names, and on what streets do they live/ I'd like to ride right over and ask them why they run this land in such a thoughtless way." Right on.

In my effort to find more mellow music like "Woodstock" by CSNY et all, I ran across this album in one of those Campus Used Album stores in the early 70's. I picked it up for a buck. Then during a entire wicked weekend, listened to side one continously. That marvelous record player would start the album over and over. Night and day, it played. People yelling and people screaming to turn it off. I made a munch run Sunday at noon, and when I got back, it was gone and in its place was Deja Vu. Some how I survived to today. Now I can set the CD to play both sides, continously.