Customer Reviews

Songs for Survivors

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Altough a long time coming, Graham has finally placed a third masterpiece alongside "Songs for Beginners" and "Wild Tales".
Nash's "Earth and Sky" was nice enough, but, in its production saught too hard for monumental reaches. "Innocent Eyes" (with the exception of "Glass and Steel"), sadly, was nearly worthless and revealed little about the artist.

While "big production" and horrilbe pop synths sunk "Earth and Sky" and "Innocent Eyes", neither of these mistakes is duplicated here. The production of "Songs for Survivors" is just right. Delicate, yet powerful.

The instrumentation on this album is beautiful -- there is just so much for the listener to dig in and listen to. None of it is "in your face" --the listener just notices it slowly.

The lyrics, too, are supurb. "The Chelsea Hotel" are some of the best that Graham has ever written. A lot of wonderful allitteration! "Liars Nightmare" is Dylan-esque in its sweeping reach and approach. The song could have jumped off of "Time Out of Mind"!

"Nothing in the World", though, is the understated gem of this record. It's got that stomping writing technique that Graham learned from Neil Young. When the band kicks in on the third verse, it's just like classic Graham.

It's good for all of us that Graham doesn't try "too hard" on this album. It's relaxed, confident and a joy to hear.

Beautiful music by the "man in the mirror". It's obvious that, these days, when Mr. Nash looks in the mirror in the morning, he likes what he sees. We like what we see, too, Graham!

One might be quick to conclude that a 60-year-old hippie whose primary causes have been saving the world and society to produce a bland album of boring romantic and political pop.

This album, however, is almost the exact opposite of that.

Perhaps it isn't quite as strong as Songs for Survivors (or even Wild Tales), but it does come close at times. "Lost Another One" and "Blizzard of Lies" are two of the strongest songs Graham has written in years (far better than his contributions to the last CSN&Y album). True, there are a few duds ("Nothing in the World"), but the fantastic performances and arrangements make up for them.

It's incredible how well Nash's voice has held up (compared to how both Stills' and Young's have dropped an octave). The harmony vocals are also well done, although it rarely sounds like CS&N.

In reality, this would be a five-star album if one did not have to compare it to Songs for Beginnners and Wild Tales. This album shows how easily Nash could have built a career as a solo performer years ago, had he chose to. All in all, a very solid album from a wonderful pop songwriter.

Graham Nash has always seemed like a peacemaker, someone you'd enjoy having for a close friend. His new set is a welcome return to form. The opener "Dirty Little Secret" was written with Russell Kunkel; it pulses with a nice energy & appears to be about some incident from the past dealing with race relations, laced with Rodney King's quote, "Can't we all get along?" "Blizzard of Lies" has some classic Nash harmonies with David Crosby. Nash writes about experiencing the death of friends on "Lost Another One." Joni Mitchell who was once romantically linked to Nash wrote "Chelsea Morning"; here Nash writes "Chelsea Hotel," a gathering place for artists, with his sweet acoustic guitar setting the pace. Nash's "I'll Be There for You" shows sentiments of friendship with gorgeous harmonies on a somewhat perfunctory melody. Dan Dugmore shows that pedal steel doesn't have to only be in a country song on "Nothing in the World." "Where Love Lies Tonight" is a touching track about finding love that could only have been enhanced with a more imaginitive melody. Today as I watched Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces being blown apart by American bombing, I find myself listening in a special way to Richard & Linda Thompson's "Pavanne," "At the presidential palace a thousand people saw his excellency leave his car & never make the door; the blood flows through his fingers as he clutches at the stain & staggers like a drunken man lies twisted in the rain." Nash takes a Jean Ritchie melody and does his best Dylan song construction on the long but entertaining "Liar's Nightmare." There's a huskiness in Graham's voice that is charming on the closing ballad "Come With Me." "Songs for Survivors" is a charming CD with great vocals & arrangements. With a really blockbuster track or two with memorable melodies, it'd be totally outstanding. As released, it is a welcome return from a voice as gentle as a true friend. Enjoy!

I just met Graham Nash. Nash, along with CS & Y, have been favorites of mine for 35 years.
That's a long time.
Mr. Nash, shook my hand, offered himself for a photo with me, and took time to chat about his music before a recent appearance here in Minneapolis.
It was a thrill.
I immediately went to Amazon and ordered up SONGS FOR SURVIVORS!
I think this is his best work since SONGS FOR BEGINNERS and his
first effort with David Crosby.
This soft spoken song craftsman has created a CD that will have you coming back to it again and again.
"The Chelsea Hotel", "Nothing in the World" and "Pavanne" are my favorite tracks.
Graham informed me that his newly remastered Vinyl version of his SONGS FOR BEGINNERS album sounds wonderful. I'm looking forward to picking that up too! (Afterall, my original copy is worn out anyway.....)
I still can't believe it.
I met Graham Nash.
As Ralph Kramden might have said...."HamanaHamanaHamana...."

I loved this CD. Graham Nash has one of the most enduring and distinctive voices in all of pop music. Likewise his writing is always sharp, timely and insightful. "Lost Another One", written, I believe, after hearing of Jerry Garcia's passing, is quite powerful and stays with you. Unlike most of today's pop music which is pretentious, mean spirited and just plain awful, Nash and CSN have produced music that will withstand the test of time.

IF YOU LIKE CSNY IN ANY OF ITS MULTIPLE CONFIGURATIONS, THIS IS A GREAT ALBUM. GOOD SONGS, GREAT SINGING AND AN EARTHY, ORGANIC SOUNDING BAND (NO ELECTRONICA OR SYNTHS!) MAKE THIS ALBUM A WELCOME RARITY THESE DAYS. I CAN LISTEN TO THIS ALBUM IN ITS ENTIRETY WITHOUT SKIPPING ANY SONG, THAT IS HOW GOOD IT IS. IT JUST SOUNDS HONEST AND HEARTFELT. WHAT AMAZES ME IS THAT IT WAS RECORDED IN 2000 AND NOT RELEASED UNTIL 2002! WHAT A WASTE OF TIME! RECORDED AFTER THE 2000 HIGH PROFILE CSNY TOUR, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN RELEASED THEN. NOW HOW ABOUT RELEASING A CD/DVD OF THE 2000 OR 2002 CSNY TOURS? THESE GUYS HAVE TO GET ON THE BALL AND START DOING MORE REGULAR RELEASES.
PS. THIS ALBUM IS MUCH BETTER THAN NEIL'S "ARE YOU PASSIONATE?"

It's been 16 years since Graham's last solo outing, the dreadful "Innocent Eyes", and 22 years since "Earth And Sky", which was only so-so. So you have to go all the way back to 1973 and "Wild Tales", or 1971 and "Songs For Beginners" to find Graham Nash solo albums as pleasant and rewarding as his new CD, "Songs for Survivors". The standout track is "Lost Another One", a nice mid-tempo rocker about hearing on the radio that another music-industry friend has passed away (he doesn't say who). I also really like the first track, "Dirty Little Secret", another strong rocker, although the lyrics are tough to decipher - something about a tragic event in 1921 in Greenwood Oklahoma. As I am not up on my Oklahoma history, I don't know what the event was that so disturbs Nash, and the lyrics sheet doesn't provide much in the way of clues. "Liar's Nightmare" is 8 enjoyable minutes of fascinating, stream-of-consciousness rambling wherein Graham confronts a black horse snorting fire, meets Elvis in a store, attends some sort of board meeting and gets uncontrollable shakes, wakes up from surgery, and finally realizes it was all a crazy dream. It reminds me of Neil Young at his weirdest. "Chelsea Hotel" is a quiet, mature rumination on growing old. "Pavanne", written by Richard and Linda Thompson, is a tribute to a murderous ice queen (not your typical Nash subject matter), which features gorgeous Simon and Garfunkel-style harmonies. The song that I find most intriguing, at least from a lyrical standpoint, is "Blizzard Of Lies". In it, he warns against repeating old mistakes from the past. The most telling line is "If you're always using, excuses will be your friend...don't walk out of that door, back into a blizzard of lies". Sounds like he's warning a recovered drug addict against returning to his habit. Hmmm. Could it be....CROSBY? The remainder of the album consists of a few lightweight love songs and ballads of the sort that would have fit right in on his first two solo outings. Graham was never the strongest songwriter in CSN, and his breezy pop songs always benefited from being surrounded by the weightier fare offered up by Stills and Crosby. On his own, Nash comes across as pleasant but not particularly substantial, but the better songs on this album rank with his best, and the album on the whole should please his fans.

Graham Nash can certainly craft songs that are sometimes unforgetable and has proved so with many fine songs both with the Hollies and CSN&Y. "Lost another one" is up there with "Teach your Children", "Our House" and from the Hollies era "King Midas in reverse" a well crafted song that descibes many of our feelings to the death of some of the icons that we grew up with. Graham Nash in my opinion has always been a great balladeer being able to combine the West Coast sound with rock n' roll as in "Dirty Little Secret" and his story telling in "The Chelsea Hotel" is exceptional. Grahan Nash surrounds himself with great session musicians that add to the quality of this recording. Hopefully we don't have wait another decade before Nash records his next recording.

Tremendous Production lifts the spirit of the songs to match the heart Graham has always generously offered through his songs. Reminds me so much of the glory days of the beautiful "Songs For Beginners" and classic "Wild Tales". Why such a long time between these albums is a mystery.The lyrics are always interesting weaving around aimlessly at times yet touchingly sincere throughout. More please. PS I attended the same school as Graham, only ten years after he did.

Graham Nash was not the heavier (don't thing about Crosby's or Stills' weight...) personality of the group: but he held his task in a very fine way, that's sure. I perceive him as a patient craftsman and consider this work coming from his highest standards: closer to Song for Beginners, from a man that gained a lot of experience through the years. Astonishing sound and strong lyrics. Believe me, rock is still in the hands of old protagonists even in new millenium. Revolution is over but sixties' musicians are playing best yet.