Crosby Stills Nash & Young - Deja Vu
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Free Music Notes for Deja Vu
Free Music Review: THE HIPPIE ANTHEM !
Hit: 5 Stars
Some albums are remembered as much for the impact they had on people's lives, as they are for the great music on them. Deja Vu (1970) is one such album. Oh yeah, the music here is great, but this was the album that called to people living in suburbia to join the "hippie movement". Before this, you had to "tune in, drop out" and move to California, take part in anti-war protests, or wade around naked in a lake while tripping on acid (all fun, but a little too far out for some). This album spoke to people who were raising kids, working jobs, and paying mortgages. "Carry On", "Almost Cut My Hair", "Everybody I Love You", and Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock" are all hippie call-to-arms, while "Teach Your Children" and "Our House" give the album a warm, domesticated, family atmosphere. The Neil Young contributions, Helpless(chosen by Young to be on his greatest hits album) and "Country Girl" are some of the best of his career, as are the songs by the other three. Other than Stephen Stills solo 4+20, these songs are all group efforts, with contributions by all four members on each one (Jerry Garcia stops by to play the pedal steel guitar on Teach Your Children). The three standouts are the songs that most people know, "Woodstock", "Helpless", and "Teach Your Children", but every song on this album is a classic. And don't worry, listening to this won't turn you into "One of those long haired, dope smoking hippie freaks" (remember that?), but you might look at the world in a different way for a little while.Free Music Review: Melded their talents and egos to create a classic
Hit: 5 Stars
Déjà vu is not a recording I listen to regularly anymore. But when I do play this album, I do listen. It's full of crisp details: the guitar strings vibrating, unexpected percussion, layers of vocal harmonies, the sudden energy of a wailing guitar. (And if you only own a CD version, it's worth finding a vinyl copy to appreciate the excellently crafted packaging and artwork.)
Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young melded their talents and egos to create a classic, a recording that is infused with the culture and angst of the time yet still grounded in common themes that resonant well now. Déjà vu is a very balanced album allowing the band members space to showcase their own talents and to come together sounding very much like a cohesive band. Each member takes the lead on some songs and burnishes them with his own characteristics--yet there is no real jolt or letdown despite how different one song is from the next.
In listened again, I'm convinced that the supporting rhythm section of Dallas Taylor on percussion and Greg Reeves on bass never have gotten full credit for both their excellent work and their contributions to the overall tightness of the sound. Despite the title "Déjà vu," CSN&Y never again collectively reached the heights they achieved on this great recording.
Free Music Review: It Has Carried On
Hit: 5 Stars
Interesting that, of the 105 reviews of this album (as of this writing), only 15 gave it less than 5 stars and only 8 gave it less than 4 stars. This is a true testament to the enduring quality of this work. I slightly prefer their debut album over this, but both are fabulous. My favorites, for what it's worth, are the two Stills compositions, "4+20" and "Carry On", Crosby's "Deja Vu" and Young's "Helpless". I can't believe one of the more negative reviews called "4+20" filler! Strangely, the "hits" from this CD, "Teach Your Children", "Our House" and "Woodstock", have always been my least favorites.
I always thought the orchestration on Young's "Country Girl" sounded a bit tinny. But how can you not notice great lines like,
"No pass-out sign on the doors set me thinking
Are waitresses paying the price of their winking
While stars sit at bars and decide what they're drinking
They drop by to die 'cause it's faster than sinking"
or,
"Too late to keep the change, too late to pay
No time to stay the same, too young to leave"
HEAVY MAN!!! Remind you of anyone today?
If only CS&N or CSN&Y could have continued with a couple more solid albums like these first two. Easily one of the top 30 rock albums of the 1965-1975 period.
Free Music Review: A Great Album That Represented the Times
Hit: 5 Stars
The first album to have Neil Young in the line-up, which changes the atmosphere of the group considerably compared with the first album. CSNY arguably reached its creative peak after Deja Vu with Ohio/Find the Cost of Freedom, which had Young in the mix.... although it isn't included here.It is a bit misleading on his contributions to the group, as there are few "CSNY" cuts with all four of them actually present. Songs such as "Woodstock" & "Almost Cut My Hair" is vintage CSNY, with harmonies & dual guitars of Stills & Young. But on songs such as "Carry On" & "Our House", Young supposedly wasn't even there for the session.
Each member contributes strong material, & each of them shine when given the opportunity. Around this time, the most accomplished member might've been Stephen Stills. His talents EXPLODE during the late 60's & early 70's.
It's unfortunate that innner squabbles forced these guys to waste valuable time making music together. This album may seem as though it hasn't aged too well, but in the age of the Hippie Dream, the Vietnam War, & Woodstock, this is arguably THE album. And hey, don't we all need to "find the cost of freedom" again... after 9/11?
Free Music Review: Great harmonies, dunked in grit.
Hit: 5 Stars
Crosby, Stills, and Nash's first album (Crosby, Stills, and Nash - AKA "Dirty Couch") was a monumental triumph of harmony and songwriting skill. However, the additon of Neil Young on the band's 1970 followup album took the band in new directions and solidified the band as a rock and roll force. Neil Young's edgy guitar and gravel-tinged voice brought the high harmonies of CSN down to earth and added a healthy grime to the product.
The addition of Young also seems to have spurred the other members to expand their songwriting, as each member contributes relatively equally to the writing credits on the album, (with the addition of Joni Mitchell, who contributed "Woodstock"). The album seems to alternate between acoustic and electric songs, upbeat anthems and depressing melodies. In other hands, this would have been a recipe for disaster, but CSN&Y carry this off like master storytellers and artists, leaving us at the end of "Everybody I Love You" wanting more and more. For the record, my favorites on the album are "Almost Cut My Hair", and "Country Girl".
Overall, the album is a more mature and introspective album than Dirty Couch, and is definitely one of the best albums I have ever heard.