Crosby and Nash - Wind On The Water (1975)

 (U.S  1970 - 2015)

By the time of the release of Wind On The Water by Crosby and Nash in September 1975 both musicians were what could reasonably be described as 'Rock Royalty'. David Crosby and Graham Nash had both enjoyed illustrious careers, both as solo artists and as members of highly influential bands starting in the sixties and right through the early seventies.

In the sixties Graham Nash had been a member of the British band The Hollies and also in the sixties David Crosby was a member of The Byrds. Along with Stephen Stills they formed 'Crosby Stills and Nash' in late 1968 and in 1969 released their debut album. Within months of releasing that album they had added Neil Young (from Buffalo Springfield)  to the group and became 'Crosby Stills Nash and Young' (CSNY). The band managed to make just one album in the seventies (Deja Vu) before splitting after touring caused friction between the members and they all headed off into solo projects. Both Crosby and Nash released critically acclaimed solo albums (Crosby's 'If Only I Could Remember My Name' and Nash's 'Songs for Beginners').

Following the solo albums in 1971 Crosby and Nash, who had a strong friendship decided to make their debut recording as a duo. This album, the self-titled David Crosby and Graham Nash album of 1972, was a massive success both critically and commercially where it broke into the Billboard top 5.

It was to be another three years however before the duo would reconvene to record a follow up. It was not that the duo was lazy or even that there wasn't a demand. There was however a bigger demand for CSNY and during late 1973 it was decided to reunite for a series of concerts throughout the world. Most of these concerts took place in stadiums such was the demand for the band.

Once the tour was over however it was decided to attempt to record another CSNY album, something that had already been attempted in 1973. Studio sessions were booked for December 1974 and all members had prepared material for the album. Tensions however once again got the better of the band with Neil Young being the first to bail out. It almost came to blows between Graham Nash and Stephen Stills following an argument where stills took a razor blade to the master of one of Graham's songs. Graham Nash threw him out of his house where the recording sessions were taking place and the sessions were abandoned.

Just two songs had been finished and both of those songs (Wind On The Water and Homeward Through The Haze) would be re-recorded for the forthcoming Crosby and Nash album. The album was recorded through out 1975 with four songs (Marguerita, Wind On The Water, Carry Me and Mama Lion) being recorded in just one afternoon at the Village Recorders studio in Westwood. Even Graham Nash was amazed !

"Four Masters in one day - in our world that's unheard of"

Three of the songs would make the cut for Wind On The Water and the fourth "Marguerita" would be held back for the follow up album 'Whistling Down The Wire', which was released in 1976.

Another song recorded on Wind On The Water was "Fieldworker", a Graham Nash song inspired by the struggle of fieldworkers trying to get decent working conditions. Crosby and Nash would play a benefit concert for the fieldworkers and ally that to a Save the Whale benefit in December 1974 where two songs from the album ("To The Last Whale" and "Fieldworker") would be featured.

Although the album took some nine months to finally pull together the end result was hugely successful, making number 6 in the Billboard chart following its release on the 15th of September 1975 and was the impetus for the duo to embark on a lengthy tour to promote the album in late 1975 with musicians in the band that played on the album including Russ Kunkel, Tim Drummond, David Lindley and Danny Kortchmar. There were other high profile musicians who also guested on Wind On The water including James Taylor, Carol King and Jackson Browne who supplied backup vocals throughout and at one particular concert at Anaheim in late November Carol King joined Crosby and Nash onstage to sing backing vocals to "Carry Me".

The tour was an extensive one taking in a series of concerts across America and also at the end of 1975 Japan where the duo were accompanied by David Lindley and Craig Doerge. Throughout the tour audiences were left in no doubt as to strength of Wind On The Water with no less than eight of the albums eleven tracks being featured in a set that included songs from Graham and David's solo albums and selected highlights from the CSN/CSNY catalogue.

Whilst continuing to work with each other during the seventies and beyond both with CSN and CSNY, not to mention solo works, it is the mid period seventies work from Crosby and Nash that still resonates for a large part of the fan base and Wind On The Water was the second of three excellent studio albums from the duo between 1972 and 1976 [Liner Notes by Jon Kirkman]

Wind on the Water Album Review 

(by Jason Elias. Allmusic.com)

As two of the most distinctive artists from the '60s and '70s given their work in CSNY, Crosby & Nash also did great work as a duo act. Wind on the Water was released in 1975 after the previous year's CSNY reunion tour and the dissolution of their contract at Atlantic. In many respects, this alliance made perfect sense. When it was just the two of them, they were often more likable. Crosby wasn't as much of a blowhard and Nash became more pragmatic. 

Wind on the Water's virtues are apparent with the first song, the warm and pensive single "Carry Me." "Homeward Through the Haze," "Low Down Payment," and "Naked in the Rain" are gems that all but sum up their complicated harmonic and melodic style. 

Besides Crosby & Nash being on their game, the studio players here are impeccable. Lovers of '70s pop/rock will love to hear players like Danny Kortchmar and David Lindley effortlessly doing their identifiable riffs. James Taylor, Carole King, and Jackson Browne also showed up for these sessions, but do not intrude or overshadow Crosby & Nash. 

Without a doubt, despite the strong production, the stars of the show here are Crosby & Nash. The album concludes with "To the Last Whale...: Critical Mass/Wind on the Water." The song is not only a testament to the album's skill at making the complex seem effortless, but it also gets its point across without being mushy. 

Wind on the Water has an instant classic, lived-in sound and is a definite must-have.

This post consists of FLACs ripped from my near new vinyl which I acquired sometime in the 80's. Of course full album artwork and label scans are included.  Note that liner notes were taken from the 2008 Troubadour CD release.

My favourite tracks on this album are the Nash tracks "Take The Money And Run" and "Love Work Out", while "Carry Me" is Crosby's stand out track in my opinion

Track Listing

01 Carry Me 3:34

02 Mama Lion 3:15

03 Bittersweet 2:37

04 Take The Money And Run    3:23

05 Naked In The Rain 2:25

06 Love Work Out 4:50

07 Low Down Payment 4:53

08 Cowboy Of Dreams 3:27

09 Homeward Through The Haze  4:04

10 Fieldworker 2:45

11 To The Last Whale... 5:30

   a. Critical Mass

   b. Wind On The Water

The Band:

Acoustic Guitar – James Taylor, Joel Bernstein

Bass – Leland Sklar, Tim Drummond

Drums – Russ Kunkel, Russell Kunkel

Electric Guitar – David Crosby, Graham Nash, Danny Kootch

Keyboards – Graham Nash, Craig Doerge, Carol King

Fiddle – David Lindley

Slide Guitar – David Lindley, Ben Keith

Vocals – David Crosby, Graham Nash

Backing Vocals - Carol King, Jackson Browne, James Taylor

Crosby and Nash Link (138Mb) New Link 06/09/2023

David Crosby - Oh Yes I Can (1989)

 (U.S 1965 - 2023)

Oh Yes I Can....and he did!

"David Crosby is back in the international spotlight with the release of his new solo album. He returns with an LP full of the lyrical and melodic prowess we've grown to respect from this very talented artist. Crosby is one of the most innovative figures to have been involved in rock music over the last two decades. As a founder member of The Byrds, Crosby was a pioneer of a least three musical genres, just retrace his work with Crosby, Stills, Nash and (later) Young. That wonderful bittersweet voice sounds as fresh today as when it first appeared on record. Guitarist Michael Hedges, pianist Kenny Kirkland, singers James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and J.D Souther make special guest appearances throughout this LP."  [taken from cover Liner Notes]

'Oh Yes I Can' album was released during the week of February 11, 1989. It was Crosby's first solo album in 18 years.

This was David´s first Solo effort after finally having cured his Lebanese Flu. The mood of the album was very optimistic. David was letting us and his wife Jan know that “Oh Yes I Can still make music” and “Oh Yes I can still be the man you fell in love with”.  And David invited a lot of friends to celebrate his return. The whole West Coast Scene took a train and went to the Studio. You will recognise Graham Nash, James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Steve Lukather and many others. And David´s band includes Russ Kunkel and Joe Vitale on Drums, Craig Doerge on Keyboards (who also co-wrote many of the tracks on the album), Joe Lala, Danny Kortchmar and Larry Carlton on Guitars,  George Perry on Bass and Mike Finnegan on Organ. And, finally, David´s voice is back in its full glory.

So everything and everybody is set to make a great record. Unfortunately that did not quite happen for two reasons. Firstly, the songs, mostly written by David alone or in association with Craig Doerge, are very mainstream and lack the magic of his Byrds /CSN days. Secondly, the production is very generic. Artists like Toto and Jackson Browne come to my mind when listening to Melody and In the Wide Ruin.

There are some exceptions to the rule of course. There is quality in songs like Monkey and the Underdog and Tracks in the Dust. The first song is the story of David (The Underdog) in his battle against drugs (The Monkey). And in the second song we welcome Graham Nash´s harmony vocals. That probably explains why I consider this song to be the best on the album.

So yes, David was back and that´s great. But did he miss the mark? Maybe.

Crosby, Stills and Nash

Album Review

Back in 1989, Crosby was the underdog in a fight against a drug addiction that so nearly killed him and landed him in prison. The drugs sapped away the creativity and left Crosby questioning his decisions. 'Oh Yes I Can!', finally released in 1989, took an entire decade to make and was finally released a full eighteen years after the last solo album 'If I Could Only Remember My Name'. Written off the back of Crosby's powerful autobiography 'Long Time Gone' (which is similarly full of apologies and mistakes), it's an album unique in the Crosby canon, without the eccentric certainty of the predecessor or the big open heart of the CPR records to come.

Despite the certainty of the title, 'Can' is the one Crosby album where Crosby fears he can't and where nothing is safe, where things have gone so wrong that he can't get himself out of trouble. 'Drive My Car' has the narrator taking his motor for a spin, simply because it's the only thing in life he has any control over anymore. 'Tracks In The Dust' tries to have a four-way conversation about how to put the world to rights and comes up empty, or at any rate ends up a tie. 'The Monkey and The Underdog' is a struggle still left ongoing at the end of the song, the odds still heavily in favour of the tougher drug-Monkey whose killed so many, even though the underdog is doing his best at putting up one hell of a fight. On 'Distances' even Crosby's eloquence can't break through the barriers the drugs have built up.

The title track is the closest we've had to an apology in over fifty years of music-making, part fictional but also part autobiographical. Even Crosby's decades fighting the American establishment get overturned with 'Lady Of The Harbour' praising the constitution (if not the ways it's maintained) while the album even ends with the unofficial US anthem 'My Country 'Tis Of Thee'.

Crosby, it seemed, had finally cut his hair. It takes an outside song, by Crosby friend Craig Doerge's wife Judy Henske, to proclaim that deep within nothing ever changes within the self, even when everything changes.

Oddly, perhaps, given how much Crosby has always worn his heart on his sleeve you don't get much sense of that truly awful period in his life from the music on 'Oh Yes I Can!', which is a largely upbeat and hopeful album. There's only one song about drugs, nothing about prison and precious little about 'freedom' (the closest we get is the statue of liberty appearing to America's first immigrants). Maybe that's because five of these eleven are old songs (four dating back to that 1979 record and 'Drop Down Mama' even further), one of these a cover and one a traditional folk tune/national anthem, which leaves only the title track, 'The Monkey and The Underdog' 'Tracks In The Dust' and 'Lady Of The Harbour' as bona fide new compositions.

 

Crosby sounds more concerned with the outer world than he's ever been in song before, perhaps because he felt so cut off from anything outside his cell during his time in prison - hence the inclusion of songs that are respectively about his girlfriend Jan, fellow drug sufferers, the state of the world and a nationalistic pride for America from someone whose just realised how much they miss it. The last of these three songwriting methods are ones Crosby won't ever really return to again with no future song being so blatant about drugs, fictional four-way dinner party conversations or jingoistic concerns, though all are heartfelt after so long in solitary. What is constant is the true start of a run of love songs for girlfriend Jan Dance, the one loving constant in what must surely be Crosby's most difficult decade and final proof to the man who once sang 'Triad' and meant it that he had to commit himself to one true love.

Jan had problems herself, struggling with Crosby's lack of income and getting by through odd-jobs while battling drug issues too. Thankfully there's a happy ending, with the pair getting married soon after Crosby's release (and they still are to this day, with this currently the longest running relationship in all of CSN-dom). Though Crosby had survived hell and many fans expected a record full of exorcising demons, it's that sense of happiness that comes over most on 'Oh Yes I Can' - that love is there somewhere if you look hard enough (even if it's only in a 'melody' or a simple car-ride, two old pre-jail songs that must have taken on new meanings after being denied to Crosby for so long). The album's other message is that sometimes, just sometimes, under-dogs can win the hardest fights.

Overall, then, 'Oh Yes I Can' wasn't the album we were expecting and it smacks at times of the speed and necessity with which it was made as Crosby found his need for a quick income was faster than his still slightly sluggish inspiration could flow. There has never been a Crosby related album with quite so much filler (the special case of covers project 'A Thousand Roads' aside) and the late 1980s production is often at odds with the timeless era-defying songs they're meant to balance (even more so than the 1979 version of the album, actually). However, there's a lot of hard work that went into this album at both the composing and recording stage and a lot of truth and heart went into the lyrics and melodies too.

 

The 1979 recordings are, 'Drive My Car' aside, too good to hold back in a drawer somewhere (it seems odd that Stills and Nash didn't pick up on the excellent 'Distances', especially, the same time they 'borrowed' 'Delta' and 'Might As Well Have A Good Time'). The best of the new songs like the title track and 'Tracks In The Dust' are right up there with Crosby's best too, poignant and sophisticated. The much-debated flag-wavers 'Lady Of The Harbour' and 'My Country 'Tis Of Thee' aren't the betrayals of liberalness fans took them to be at the time, but a wider understanding of the idealism in Crosby's nature and his frustration when America so infrequently even tries to live up to that fact. 'In The Wide Ruin' is a better and more suitable choice of cover than most on next record 'A Thousand Roads' and Crosby's voice is still full of pure beauty throughout, impressively so given what Crosby had been doing to it for the past decade.

Like Crosby, 'Oh Yes I Can' is far from perfect, is often opinionated (even if most opinions are right) and slightly conceited at times across the album. But, really, would fans have had it another way? Despite the production, despite the covers, despite the mix of old and new material and a sense of commercialism that will never be there on his solo works again, there's plenty of the 'real' Crosby here and after pretty much fifteen years out of the public eye (two songs on CSN's 'Daylight Again' and CSNY's 'American Dream' aside) for long term Crosbyphiles that's blessing enough. Oh yes Crosby still could, most of the time anyway - and that's all about this album you really need to know. [Extracts from alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com]

This post consists of FLACS ripped from my 'near mint' vinyl and contains full album artwork for vinyl and CD formats, along with label scans and photos.

It was always my intention to do a tribute post for Crosby in light of his recent passing (Jan 19, 2023), however I wanted to see what other bloggers posted first, before I produced mine. I think this album is one that has not been posted recently, and is a worthy addition from his wide discography.

RIP David Crosby - aged 81

Track Listing

01 Drive My Car 3:34
02 Melody 4:07
03 Monkey And The Underdog 4:15
04 In The Wide Ruin 4:47
05 Tracks In The Dust 4:47
06 Drop Down Mama 3:06
07 Lady Of The Harbor 3:19
08 Distances 3:35
09 Flying Man 3:24
10 Oh Yes I Can 5:08
11 My Country 'Tis Of Thee 1:58

Artists:

Vocals - David Crosby, Graham Nash, Michael Hedges, Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor, J.D Souther
Bass – Leland Sklar, George Perry, Tim Drummond
Drums – Joe Vitale, Russ Kunkal, Kim Keltner
Guitar – David Crosby, Danny Kortchmar, Joe Lala, Steve Lukather, Jackson Browne, Michael Hedges, Mike Landau, Larry Carlton
Slide Guitar – David Lindley, Dan Dugmore
Keyboards – Craig Doerge, Mike Finnegan, Kim Bullard

David Crosby Link (216Mb) New Link 15/05/26