Track Listing

1. Crosby, Stills & Nash - Marrakesh Express
2. David Crosby - Almost Cut My Hair
3. Stephen Stills - You Don't Have To Cry
4. David Crosby - D�j� vu
5. Graham Nash - Sleep Song
6. Stephen Stills - My Love Is A Gentle Thing
7. Graham Nash - Be Yourself
8. David Crosby, Neil Young & Graham Nash - Music Is Love
9. Stephen Stills - Singing Call
10. David Crosby & Stephen Stills - Long Time Gone
11. Graham Nash - Chicago
12. Stephen Stills - Love The One You're With

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25376 in Music
• Released on: 2009-06-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .12 pounds

CD Description
As members of one of rock’s first super-groups, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, & Graham Nash helped define the Woodstock generation through their peerless harmonies, resonant songwriting and deep commitment to political and social causes. This album celebrates Stlills and Nash being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame with this behind-the-scenes look at the group’s early days--a collection of 12 previously unreleased demos recorded between 1968 and 1971.

Customer Reviews

Long does their music run - quite rightly so!
There is a lot of activity going on in the CS&N camp right now. The trio will soon embark on a major US/European tour. During the tour, all three will be inducted into the "Songwriters Hall of Fame" (a ceremony is planned for the 18th June 2009 in New York).

In preparation for the tour, Rhino has grabbed the opportunity to release "Demos". Said demos were recorded by the trio (with some contribution from Neil Young).

The project was co-produced by Graham Nash and long-time associate/engineer Joel Bernstein. Most of the tracks were recorded at Wally Heiders's famed studios in San Francisco.

Five of the demos [tracks 1-4 and 10] were later reworked for "Crosby, Stills and Nash" (May 1969) and "Déjà Vu" (March 1970). Track 6, "My Love Is a Gentle Thing" is a Stills solo performance from 1968. It only previously appeared, in a 1975 version, on the 4-CD "Box Set" compilation from October 1991. The three musicians harmonize on Nash's "Marrakesh Express". Crosby and Stills recorded an electrified version of "A Long Time Gone" prior to Nash's involvement. This track is the only electric one to be found here. All the other tracks feature mainly acoustic guitars and pianos.

The six other tracks are demos that were re-recorded and used for various solo projects. Tracks 5, 7 and 11 appeared on Graham Nash's "Song for Beginners" (1971) Tracks 12 and 9 appeared on "Stephen Stills" (1970) and "Stephen Stills 2" (1971), respectively.

Neil Young and Graham Nash started singing along one of Crosby's 12-string guitar lick and "Music Is Love" [track 10] was improvised on the spot. The track, credited to all three musicians, received minimal overdubs before appearing as the lead-off track on Crosby's "If I Could Only Remember My Name" (1971).

These demos draw the listener's attention to the quality of the stripped down songs themselves. I certainly miss the presence of harmony vocals on most of the tracks. The three tracks involving more than one of the musicians explain why C, S & N were much more than the sum of their individual talents.

Although these demos are pretty good, I must say that I prefer the original, finished tracks. I must also admit that I am well pleased to be able to listen to these works in progress. As such, they will be valuable additions to any comprehensive library of Crosby, Stills and Nash recordings. As a result, this album will mainly interest people who, like me, are devotees of the group.

...collection of pure, uncut diamonds from the harmony masters...


I still remember the first time I heard Crosby, Stills & Nash. It was 1980, at a summer house party, and "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," from their debut album, was played, close to midnight, when there was still just a hint of light in the sky. It was one of those rare, magical, musical moments when it seemed as though time had stood still as I heard a supernatural confabulation of voices.

I've been a bit of a fanboy ever since, despite some of the dodgier, later CSN albums, and I've even grown to tolerate some of Neil Young's irregular interloping. But nothing has come close to those early days when everything seemed possible. Which means that this release is like a gift from on high to me.

However, the title is a bit of a misnomer, for this isn't actually a collection of Crosby, Stills & Nash demos, bar the opening "Marrakesh Express." No, instead, it's a collection of David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash demos. But as someone who still thinks that Stephen Stills is the most underrated musician of the last forty years, the appearance of four tracks featuring Stills and his guitar is a rare treat. Add in a couple of numbers from Crosby, back when his voice was still sweet and angelic, and I'm a very happy man. "My Love Is A Gentle Thing" and "Singing Call" from Stills, and Crosby solo turns on "Almost Cut My Hair" and "Deja Vu" are absolutely priceless.

Graham Nash fans aren't neglected either, and there are three solo demos for them to enjoy, with takes on "Sleep Song," "Be Yourself," and "Chicago," recorded back in 1971, when he was working on his solo debut, Songs For Beginners. But it's when you get a degree of cross-pollination that you get to hear the stars collide.

Crosby, Young & Nash get together on "Music Is Love," one of the greatest songs ever written, and although it doesn't quite match the majesty of the If I Could Only Remember My Name version, it comes mighty close. And then you get Crosby & Stills coming together on "Long Time Gone," recorded even before Nash became part of the equation. With Crosby singing and Nash playing, it has a sparse, dark backing that supersedes the released version.

I didn't think things could get any better after the release of Just Roll Tape: April 26, 1968 by Stephen Stills, but this album is a collection of pure joy, from back when music was love and love was music.

The Wolf Blisses Out In Hippie Heaven
There's more than enough here to bring
a big lump to an aging hippie's throat.
My thanks go out to Cyril Stoat
for bringing it to my attention.

This many years on some may feel
that it's a bit too much to swallow
but CSN (and Y) in their inimitable way
were a very hard act to follow.

These wonderfully imperfect rough-cut gems,
The roots of final polished songs,
Are nothing less than a joy to hear.
(That they survived at all should be a clear
Reminder of their rightful place in history).

Mr Crosby's 'Almost Cut My Hair' was an anthem
To those of us who valued freedom way back when
To have hair at all was a perfect mindless joy;
A stark and sad reminder that this very nearly
hairless man was once a wide-eyed, wild-haired boy.

The Woodstock generation now grown creaky in their bones
Understand the value of joint care in quite different ways
Than when the distinctive harmonies of 'Marrakesh Express'
Filled North London's smokey bedsits with their blissful tones.

'Music Is Love' simply says it all.
There were those of us who dared to dream;
The dream did not quite come to pass
In all the ways that we had hoped.
That these bright fragments have survived
Somehow makes me feel a little more alive.

Essential (For Those Who Still Dare To Dream).