Track Listing

1. On The Way Home
2. Cowgirl In The Sand
3. Southern Man
4. Teach Your Children
5. Don't Let It Bring You Down
6. Ohio
7. Triad
8. 49 Bye Byes
9. Carry On
10. Lee Shore
11. Love The One You're With
12. Find The Cost Of Freedom
13. Chicago
14. Pre Road Downs
15. Right Between The Eyes
16. Long Time Gone
17. Suite/Judy Blue Eyes
18. King Midas In Reverse
19. Black Queen
20. Loner/Cinnamon Girl/Down By The River

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14293 in Music
• Released on: 1992-07-20
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Live
• Dimensions: .27 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
This is one of those albums where you'll want to cherry-pick favourites. Recorded live when the supergroup was at its commercial zenith, it's sloppy in spots where precision is called for; and the hyperbolic counterculture rants sound a bit silly these days (bellows Stills: "Jesus Christ was the first non-violent revolutionary! Ah, dig it, dig it!"). On the other hand, the electric jams are enlivened by some charged guitar skirmishes between Stills and Young. Those who owned the original two-record set will be pleased by the additional Graham Nash song ("King Midas in Reverse") and Young's acoustic "The Loner" / "Cinnamon Girl" / "Down by the River" medley. --Steven Stolder

CD Description
4 WAY STREET caught Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young on their 1970 concert tour at the height of their success. Even with its included bits of audience patter and a few overlong tracks ("Southern Man" and "Carry On"), the album is varied and exciting, and perfectly captures the quartet's remarkable singer/songwriter chemistry and sparkling harmonies. Stephen Still's classics like "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" and "Love the One You're With" abut David Crosby tunes like the beautiful "Laughing" and Graham Nash's positive, instructional "Teach Your Children".
But the real treat of 4 WAY STREET is the inclusion of Neil Young's solo material, including "Cowgirl In the Sand" from Young's first solo album, and the riveting "Ohio", about the Kent State student massacre. (The CD reissue also includes the Young medley "The Loner/Cinnamon Girl/Down By The River".) By the time the album came out, however,Young had already left the group, and Crosby, Stills & Nashbegan to work on solo and duo projects. 4 WAY STREET captures the end of an era, then, and remains an essential part ofany folk and singer/songwriter collection.

Customer Reviews

Not clean crisp music, more.. rusty sweaty idealistic rock!
To put it more clearly, this CD shows all the limitations of a live album, as usual sound is poor, lot of talking, nevertheless it was my first CSN&Y record some years back and I fell in love with the band. You have to remember that this is about 35 yrs old, so of course people were quite different at the time, they believed (or were supposed to believe)in peace, love and so on...nevertheless the music is still great. The version of Southern man is so much better than the "After the goldrush" version, interesting also the acoustic version of cowgirl in the sand (you won't find it anywhere else, not even in Neil Young's bootlegs). A lot of other songs are great: Chicago, The lee Shore, Right between the eyes, all of them don't suffer much from the live version. I saw some bad reviews but I think they are due to the fact that people bought it without knowing what to expect. If you buy the Woodstock record, you have to expect bad sound quality, confusion, lots of chat and so on, similarly for this record, the music might be better in the studio versions, but this remains like a historical testimony of a period, and the solos on the electric part are still great!!!

THE YEARS HAVE BEEN KIND
"4 Way Street" was the double vinyl album of two halves - acoustic and electric - that gave the world un-plugged rock & roll when Clapton still had long hair and MTV was a lifetime away. It was always an irresistible album, and since the current CD release has several additional tracks, the couple of less successful songs spoil the pudding even less than they did on the original release.

Only close friends with egos locked in mortal combat could have produced a manifesto as tense but as intimate. This rare combination – fierce rivalry crossed with artistic and emotional inter-dependence - comes across in several ways: Sarcastic/affectionate banter between numbers, impossibly perfect live harmonies often sung round a single mike, frantic duelling during the long improvised solos, and a collection of (with a couple of exceptions) superb examples of the singer-songwriter's craft.

The real fascination of this album, however, is the way time has played with the reputations of its stars. It was once fashionable to dismiss CSN&Y (or more realistically with hindsight, YCS&N) as a mismatched collection of solo numbers rather than a real band project, and to regard Crosby and Nash as junior partners - almost an irrelevance, in fact.

It will come as no surprise, then, that it is Neil Young whose songcraft and keening vocals make the strongest impression. He also sounds the most modern of the crew – again unsurprisingly, given that the grunge generation was so indebted to him.

What will come as more of a surprise (to everyone but hardcore fans – to whom I apologise in advance) is how downright unnecessary much of Steven Stills’ contribution sounds to modern ears: the cheesy Hammond organ…the clumsy lead runs on guitar…the interminable, shapeless, mock-soulful vocal improvisations. Sadly, the songs picked for the album don’t really do justice (apart from a blazing “Carry On”) to his fantastic song-writing skills.

And what will come as even more of a surprise is how well time has treated David Crosby. His raw/tender vocal work is finely shown off – indeed he now sounds the best voice on the album. More to the point, on the extended electric workouts that make up half the original package, the rambling guitar duels between Stills and Young (in which Young incidentally wins hands-down) are beginning to sound their age. What stands out now is the creative, driving, remorseless rhythm section comprising Crosby’s incisive guitar work, and Manassas stalwarts Johnny Barbata and Fuzzy Samuels on drums and bass.

A final word on those extra tracks. They’re a mixed bag. Stills’ Black Queen is utterly surplus to requirements, and Nash’s self-conscious acoustic treatment of the Hollies’ pop single “King Midas” is merely tolerable. However, with Crosby’s poignant searching song, “Laughing”, we’re really in bonus territory. And finally, for Young aficionados, his fresh and imaginative acoustic reworkings in “The Loner/Cinnamon Girl/Down By The River” almost justify the purchase price by themselves.

The original plugged/unplugged rock concert
The 1999 reformation of CSN&Y for a new studio album and tour is as good a reason as any for a retro look at the supergroup's definitive live recording from the early '70's, "4 Way Street". This was the double vinyl album of two halves - acoustic and electric - that gave the world the concept of unplugged rock & roll when Eric still had long hair. It was always irresistible, and, since the current release on CD has several additional tracks, a couple of less successful songs spoil the pudding even less than they did on the original release. Only close friends with egos locked in mortal combat could have produced a manifesto as tense but as intimate as "4 Way Street". This rare combination - rivalry crossed with artistic and emotional interdependence - comes across in several ways: Sarcastic/affectionate banter between numbers, impossibly perfect live harmonies often sung round a single mike, frantic duelling during the long improvised solos, and a collection of (with a couple of exceptions) superb examples of the singer-songwriter's craft.

Opinions will thus differ on whether this is really a group performance or a portfolio of solo numbers. The main competition for the spotlight is clearly between former Buffalo Springfield bandmates Stills and Young, and when they hit their respective strides the junior partners Crosby and Nash almost become an irrelevance. On the other hand, when David Crosby's superb voice is allowed to dominate, its raw-tender soulfulness carries material that might otherwise sound mediocre. Ex-Holly Graham Nash brings less to the party in the way of songwriting, but his tirelessly supportive vocal harmonising in support of stronger material from the three Americans helps bring home that this is ultimately a band project.

Standout tracks naturally include the live performances of all five of Neil Young's compositions, along with an extended jam around the CSN&Y studio number "Carry On". The rhythm section, comprising Johnny Barbata on drums and Calvin "Fuzzy" Samuels on bass, lays down a powerful groove on the electric sides. However, as with the four singer/guitarists, their key strength is the ability to share in the sensitive interaction that joins all six musicians into a tight but flexible ensemble. Even during the free soloing that fills over half of part 2, the interest never slackens and the polish never fades.