Crosby, Stills, and Nash CSN CD

Digitally remastered edition of the original superstar musician trio's first "reunion" album from 1977. After a period of separation that lasted about six years following the release of this album's predecessor "Deja Vu" (which added Neil Young to the lineup), the original trio regrouped at Miami's famed Criteria Studios to recapture the magic that is so much more than the sum of their individual parts. The album yielded the hit single "Just A Song Before I Go" and "Fair Game" as well as the FM radio favorites "See The Changes", "Shadow Captain", the haunting "Cathedral" and "Dark Star". Other participating musicians included Craig Doerge, Joe Vitale, Tim Drummond, Mike Finnegan, Russ Kunkel and the legendary Ray Barretto.

Crosby, Stills & Nash: David Crosby (vocals, acoustic guitar); Stephen Stills (vocals, guitar, piano, timbales); Graham Nash (vocals, piano, harmonica).
Additional personnel: Joe Vitale (piano, organ, flute, drums, tympani, vibes, percussion); Craig Doerge (piano); Tim Drummond, Gerald Johnson, George Perry (bass); Russ Kunkel (drums, congas); Ray Barretto (congas).
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
Crosby, Stills & Nash: David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash.
Additional personnel includes: Neil Young (vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica); James Taylor (vocals, acoustic guitar); Joni Mitchell (vocals); Jimi Hendrix, Dave Mason, Donnie Dacus, Chris Hillman, Danny Kortchmar, Jimmy Page (guitar); Jerry Garcia, Al Perkins (pedal steel guitar); David Lindley (fiddle); Branford Marsalis (soprano saxophone); John Sebastian (harmonica); Carole King (keyboards); Bruce Palmer, Jack Casady, Phil Lesh, Leland Sklar (bass); Dallas Taylor, Bill Kreutzmann, Russ Kunkel (drums); Rita Coolidge, Fred Neil (background vocals).
Recorded between 1969 & 1990. Includes liner notes by Chet Flippo.
Personnel: Stephen Stills (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, slide guitar, piano, electric piano, keyboards, timbales); David Crosby (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar); Graham Nash (vocals, guitar, harmonica, piano, keyboards); Craig Doerge (vocals, piano, electric piano, keyboards); Joe Vitale (flute, electric piano, organ, keyboards, synthesizer, vibraphone, drums, timpani, percussion); Mike Finnigan (organ, keyboards); Russ Kunkel (drums, congas, percussion); Ray Barretto (congas, percussion).
Audio Remasterer: Jow Gatswirt.
Photographer: Joel Bernstein.
Arrangers: David Crosby; Graham Nash; Mike Lewis ; Joel Bernstein.
The times had certainly changed since Déjà Vu's release in 1970. Nevertheless, there was a hunger in audiences for a return to the harmony-soaked idealism with which the trio had been catapulted to popularity, and CSN consequently reached number two on the charts, behind Fleetwood Mac's megasuccessful Rumours. The music here is very good, though probably not up to the hard-to-match level of Crosby, Stills & Nash or Déjà Vu. Still, the songs showed a great deal of lyrical maturity and compositional complexity compared to those earlier albums (from a far more innocent time). "Just a Song Before I Go" was the latest of Graham Nash's radio-friendly acoustic numbers, and a Top Ten single. "See the Changes" and "Dark Star" ranked with the best of Stephen Stills' work, while David Crosby contributed three classics from his distinctive oeuvre: "Shadow Captain," "Anything at All," and the beautiful "In My Dreams." Nash's multi-part "Cathedral," a recollection of an acid trip taken in Winchester Cathedral on his 32nd birthday, became a staple of the group's live repertoire. CSN was the trio's last fully realized album, and also the last recording on which the three principals handled all the vocal parts without the sweetening of additional voices. It has held up remarkably well, both as a memento of its time and as a thoroughly enjoyable musical work. ~ Jim Newsom
This 77-track, four-CD set remains one of the best boxes devoted to a single music act that one can buy,