The first Crosby, Stills and Nash album was a masterpiece.
Three brilliant, talented songwriters full of interesting music and lyrics.
The recording sessions, by all accounts, were a miracle.
One of those times when everything went right.
And it shows- the album has the glow of one of those beautiful days when everything just goes right.
The second album, on the other hand, with Neil Young, well, the process of recording that album was a mess.
There were all kinds of personal problems and disagreements.
But Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young worked hard to make it work.
And it shows.
The album is brilliant.
Just in a different way.
It is not like the first one, it does not feel like a beautiful glowing miracle.
But you can feel how hard they worked to make it.
You can feel all the hard work that went into it.
While the first one feels like Rivendell, a beautiful miracle, the second one feels more like Frodo and Sam's journey to Mordor- complete with the triumph over the Dark Lord in the end.
The second feels like a long hard journey that is still beautiful because you can feel all the hard work and determination that went into it, and you can feel the triumph in the end.
Because they did.
They did triumph.
They finished the album.
And it is beautiful.
Just a different kind of beauty from the first album.
And then?
And then they made more beautiful brilliant albums- just not together.
The first Steven Stills album, which has that feeling of a beautiful miracle just as much as the group's debut.
The David Crosby solo album, a San Francisco masterpiece to go alongside the work of the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane.
And more. Much more.
A huge beautiful catalogue to pour through.
A beautiful brilliant legacy.
God loves you!
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson