CSN

In 1991, CD box sets were the music industry's newest fad. The CD itself had been commercially available for just 8 years at that point, and the back catalogues of many great artists had either been rushed to market in the mid '80s with little thought for quality or had been sorely neglected. This was the year the newly-rechristened Sony Music (resulting from the merger of CBS Records and their Japanese operation with Sony) launched the Legacy label in earnest; Warner Bros. bought the Rhino label and soon made it into their answer to Sony Legacy; and the late lamented PolyGram (bought up by Universal in 1999) launched its Chronicles label - all of this to the purpose of consolidating their back catalogues from the labels they owned or distributed and producing a new generation of digital remasters that sounded better and covered more ground.Atlantic, owned by Warner Music, had given us the first of several Led Zeppelin boxes the previous year; in 1991, they gave us Yes' Yesyears box and this set from Crosby, Stills & Nash. As CSN's catalogue with Atlantic consisted of just 4 complete studio albums (Allies doesn't count, as it's a mix of live and studio tracks), plus 2 studio and 1 live album under the CSN&Y banner (with Neil Young, of course), this box had to be fleshed out with tracks from various solo albums from all three core members and also from the 3 studio albums by Crosby & Nash. Also, many of these tracks were recorded for other labels (C&N did two LPs for ABC/MCA, Stills had 3 solo albums on Columbia, Crosby and Nash had one apiece on A&M and Capitol, respectively, along with the solo albums all 3 did for Atlantic), so there was much licensing to be done to make this a complete and comprehensive set.But what an amazing set it is! I first bought this in the fall of 1991, shortly after its release, from one of my favourite record stores of the time, the sorely-missed Tower Records, and as I hadn't heard much of the material previously, this was a revelation. Of course, the hits are present, many in their accustomed forms, but the first disc kicks off with an alternate recording of Stills' lyric tone poem to his one-time lover, Judy Collins ("Suite: Judy Blue Eyes"), that actually features percussion prior to the final coda with the three harmonising "doo-doo-doo-doo-doo, doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo" while Stills sings a difficult-to-understand line about Cuba! There are early recordings and demos to be had in great number - "You Don't Have to Cry" sung in a different key, Crosby's first attempt at "Guinnevere," Crosby & Nash's previously unreleased cover of Joni Mitchell's "Urge for Going" - and the what-ifs later on - the CSN&Y versions of "Homeward Through the Haze" (recorded for the ultimately-scrapped 1974 album Human Highway, which would have been their best record ever, so the legend goes) and "Taken at All" (which ended up on Crosby & Nash's third studio album, Whistling Down the Wire, minus Stills and Young's contributions) - and a studio recording of "The Lee Shore," a gorgeous Crosby ballad that only appeared on the 1971 live album 4-Way Street. There are, of course, solo recordings - a few tracks from Crosby's 1971 album If I Could Only Remember My Name ("Laughing," "I'd Swear There Was Somebody Here" [Croz' haunting tribute to his girlfriend Christine, killed in a car crash in 1969], and an alternate version of "Song With No Words (Tree With No Leaves)" featuring Nash), Nash's "Military Madness," "Simple Man" and "I Used to Be a King" from Songs For Beginners, and a fair cross section of Stills' solo works ("Love the One You're With," "Old Times Good Times" [featuring Jimi Hendrix, with whom Stills was close friends], "Change Partners," "Johnny's Garden" and "Turn Back the Pages," to name a few).While not everything in the CSN collective canon is completely wonderful, most of the embarrassments were kept away from this set; happily, it does represent this supergroup at their very best. There is a booklet included with a decent essay (anyone needing more details can find the book "Crosby, Stills & Nash," which will give you their history from the highest highs (the early meetings at Cass Elliott's house in Topanga Canyon that produced such magic) to the lowest lows (Crosby's addiction to freebase that put him in jail in Texas and very nearly ended his life) and everything in between), and notations from the lads themselves and many of their colleages on every track - Stephen Barncard, who engineered so many of their recordings, and Jerry Garcia, who added the famous pedal-steel licks on "Teach Your Children" and assisted Croz on IICORMN, add their observations. And as this set was released in 1991, it only covers up to 1990's Live It Up album (also known as the "Hot Dogs on the Moon" album for the bizarre cover art); it closes, fittingly, on 1970's "Find the Cost of Freedom," originally the B-side of the "Ohio" single and otherwise only available on the best-of set So Far. Perhaps the greatest revelation is the uncut full-length take of "Almost Cut My Hair" from CSN&Y's Deja Vu album, which begins with a false start, Crosby's admonition "OK, not *quite* that slow!", and then continuing through a lengthy jam to a cold ending.As I say, this was the beginning of the Age of Box Sets, so we weren't yet to the point of oversaturation or newly-remastered versions of the original albums with bonus tracks added that were first issued here. In 1991, this was a real treasure which gave me a greater love for the works of Crosby, Stills & Nash, along with a will to find all the vintage albums. In 2013, it's an old friend welcomed back for a new generation. Thank you, Atlantic, for giving this one a second wind! (NB: For anyone interested in the CSN antecedents, the long out-of-print Buffalo Springfield box is also making a return trip - due out in September - but I have not found on Amazon's US website, only on the UK site. It, too, was an interesting set that will be nice to see on the shelves again, and Neil Young's Archives, Vol. 1: 1963-1972 makes a fine companion piece to both; I recommend it if you can find it, and it should still be available here.)

I liked that they sometimes used different takes of songs. Pretty cool.

Disk OneSuite: Judy Blue EyesHelplessly HopingYou Don’t Have to CryWooden ShipsGuinevereMarrakesh ExpressLong Time GoneBlackbirdLand of the IslandSong with No Words (Tree with No Leaves)Almost Cut My HairTeach Your ChildrenHorses Through a RainstormDéjà vuHelpless4 + 20LaughingCarry On / QuestionsDisk TwoWoodstockOhioLove the One You’re WithOur HouseOld Times Good TimesThe Lee ShoreMusic is LoveI’d Swear there Was Somebody HereMan in the MirrorBlack QueenMilitary MadnessUrge for GoingI used to be a KingSimple ManSouthbound TrainChange PartnersMy love is a gentle ThingWord GameJohnny’s GardenSo Begins the TaskTurn Back the PagesDisk ThreeSee the ChangesIt Doesn’t MatterImmigration ManChicago/We Can Change the WorldHomeward Through the HazeWhere Will it Be?Page 43Carry MeCowboy of DreamsBittersweetTo the Last Whale … Critical Mass … Wind on the WaterPrison SongAnother Sleep SongTaken At AllIn My DreamsJust a Song Before I GoShadow CaptainDark StarCathedralDisk FourWasted on the WayBarrel of PainSouthern CrossDaylight AgainThoroughfare GapeWild TalesDear Mr. FantasyCold RainGot It MadeTracks in the DustAs I Come of Age50/50Drive My CarDeltaSoldiers of PeaceYours and MineHaven’t We Lost EnoughAfter the DolphinFind the Cost of Freedom

I had previously owned the original box set...12x12 packaging, book, and one of the most expensive sets at the time (it retailed for around $60). I've seen other box sets repackaged, stripped down to just the music, but that's not what happened here. The 4 CDs are housed within a double-sized jewel box, it's housed in a nice cardboard slipcase, and...they kept the book. It's smaller, of course, but with a set like this, a major part of the "archive" impact is having recording info, photos, and recollections of the story behind each song. You get it, just smaller. As far as the music itself is concerned, my understanding is that Graham Nash was the one who curated the set, and the selection is a good balance between the "greatest hits," deep album cuts, and solo tracks. The project was presented to Neil Young as a potential CSNY box, and he chose to abstain. He's still represented with a handful of tracks. Depending on the degree to which you've collected it all (CSN, CSNY, & the solo albums), you'll either find the set to be a new discovery or a refresher course. But back in the day, this box set was consistently lauded as one of the best, the only negative being the list price, and now that it's a steal, all I can say is BUY IT. It feels great to have it back in my collection.