When applied to two 70s LA rock bands, the old adage ‘more the merrier‘ appears to have worked well.
In 1973 Little Feat expanded their membership from four to six with the addition of Sam Clayton (percussion) and Paul Barrere (guitar) – the revamp also bringing a change of bassist with Kenny Gradney replacing Roy Estrada.
This new intake joined forces with original members Bill Payne (piano), Richie Hayward (drums) and slide guitar-playing, song writing genius Lowell George for the magnificent ‘Dixie Chicken‘ and succession of fine albums thereafter.
Across town twelve months later, on the back of two well-received albums, the four-strong Eagles added guitar virtuoso Don Felder to their ranks and within weeks ‘Best of My Love‘ was a US number one hit single – its parent ‘On the Border‘ LP their most successful to date.
In extending their line-ups the fabulous Feat and easy-sounding Eagles were clearly not deterred by the fate befalling the most acclaimed rock act to emerge from the city in recent times – the addition of Neil Young to the aggregation of Crosby, Stills and Nash at the turn of the decade, briefly providing some unforgettable music.
But from most accounts’ merriment was in short supply as they created the huge selling ‘Deja Vu‘ album, the rancorous atmosphere continuing into the subsequent concert tour of 1970.
Further down the road things may have turned out differently had, say, Jackson Browne become an Eagle or stray-Byrd joined Little Feat – but as it was the addition of Young into a classy, yet combustible mix had the effect of pouring nitroglycerine onto an already roaring fire.
Sadly the implosion was as fractious as it was foreseeable, Stills and Young having previous for nurturing the best and worst in each other – Young brought into the fold by Stills despite their mutually protective, love-hate relationship that two years before had brought an end to seminal LA folk-rockers Buffalo Springfield.
On disbanding Buffalo Springfield in the spring of 1968, Young having quit soon after release of the exemplary ‘Buffalo Springfield Again‘ (October 1967), Stills wound up with former-Byrd David Crosby – whose three-year tenure in that pioneering band ended after his insubordination and demands for greater song writing input finally grew too much for head Byrds honcho Jim McGuinn.
After taking some tentative recording steps, they enticed Blackpool-born Graham Nash from English Top Twenty regulars The Hollies, hearing in him another distinctive voice that would add to their mellow, two-part harmony sound.
So as songwriters with differing influences, Crosby (jazz), Stills (acoustic rock) and Nash (catchy pop), but a unique vocal sound, the trio entered a San Francisco recording studio in the early months of 1969 – the resulting ‘Crosby, Stills & Nash,’ an impressive album notable for at least three great Stills cuts, two intriguing Crosby tracks and the Nash-penned hit single ‘Marrakesh Express.’
But most pronounced was the mesh of mainly acoustic guitars with soaring vocals, the lush, smooth contours at odds, but in welcome contrast, to the prevailing taste for hard rock.
Aside from occasional guitar contributions from Crosby and Nash, the instrumentation (guitars, keyboards, bass), was mainly down to Stills – drums the domain of Dallas Taylor – his controlling instincts earning him the moniker ‘Captain Manyhands.’
Despite production being credited to the three main protagonists Stills took the role of creative director, engineer Bill Halverson also playing a key role in capturing the essence of their melodic vibe.
With ‘Crosby Stills & Nash‘ becoming a fixture in the upper echelons of album charts the world over, a tour was the next logical step. Yet recreating the layered sound Stills was virtually responsible for would be impossible without recruitment of two extra players, namely a bassist and second guitarist.
Those concerned would have to bring high class musicianship, meet Stills exacting standards without threatening his leadership – while being a team player who would fit seamlessly into the burgeoning momentum of CSN.
The two latter conditions made approaching Neil Young a non-starter………
Of all the mythology surrounding Crosby, Stills and Nash, such as where they first sang together (Stills: ‘We were at a party given by Cass Elliott‘/Nash: ‘He’s wrong – it was Joni’s house‘) or in which order they had affairs with Ms Mitchell, pursuit of the fourth man eclipses them all.
It has been muted Eric Clapton volunteered his services (the offer, if true, apparently not taken seriously), with a claim by Taylor that George Harrison – still tenuously a Beatle – was offered the gig, laughed out of the room by Stills in the 2014 ‘Legends of the Canyon‘ documentary.
There is also a notion overtures were made to Steve Winwood, currently a member of Blind Faith, Taylor claiming he and Stills flew to London in order to gauge his interest, only for Winwood, sensible man, not to answer the door when they called.
At this point – and again conjecture is rife – one of the CSN management duo, either Elliot Roberts or David Geffen, made the loaded suggestion to Stills of ‘why not give Neil a call?’
Since splitting from Buffalo Springfield Young had recorded two solo albums, a hesitant self-titled debut affair and the much more assured ‘Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.’ In sales terms, however, he had been eclipsed by ‘Crosby, Stills & Nash‘ – a cynical, if plausible school of thought, being Young accepted the offer attracted by the cut of some lucrative action in the marketplace.
With Crosby and Nash receptive to the idea of Young coming aboard (Nash putting aside concerns of recurring Stills/Young, Springfield tensions), in July 1969 three became four and a month later, in only their second concert appearance, the quartet played to an audience of 400,000 at Woodstock.
While it is tempting to state the group, now being dubbed the ‘American Beatles‘, then entered the studio to cut an eagerly anticipated album, would not in fact be true – the truth being Stills, Taylor, Halverson (once again assigned engineer duties) and enlisted bass player Greg Reeves were the ones mainly on site during the estimated 800 hours it took to record the resultant ‘DEJA VU.’
For all Stills dominance of the previous record (which by now some had renamed ‘Stills, Stills & Stills‘) there is still a distinct feeling of unity and the piece hanging together – things they would find hard to replicate as creative tensions old and new began to resurface.
With Crosby and Nash almost put on notice for when they were required to attend and Young little more than a silent partner, the emotional mood within the camp had darkened since the first outing.
The sessions were barely underway when Stills and folk-songstress Judy Collins (subject of his magnificent ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes‘ that opened the debut) had split, with Nash and Joni Mitchell also no longer an item – but far, far worse occurred on September 30, 1969, when Crosby lost girlfriend Christine Hinton to a fatal San Francisco traffic accident.
Only Young appeared untouched by personal trauma, but to the consternation of the others took a singular approach to his contributions, for the most part avoiding contact with any permutation of this quickly unravelling alliance.
As a result, Young only appears on half of the ten songs and although the album contains much to recommend it, there is a strong sense they have become special guests on each other’s songs rather than close collaborators – the record more energetic and diverse than its predecessor, but darker in tone.
The two songs that open ‘Deja Vu‘ can be seen as continuation of the first album with CSN working as a trio, Young nowhere to be seen. Starting with ‘Carry On/Questions,’ a song purposely written by Stills after Nash stated there was not an obvious opening track, ‘Captain Manyhands‘ is at it again handling everything except drums – the strident mix of acoustic and electric guitars, harmonic organ and bank of voices, making this rallying call a strong statement of intent on which to begin.
The Nash-penned ‘Teach Your Children‘ featuring pedal-steel work from Jerry Garcia, began as a folk song rejected by The Hollies before becoming a gentle country rocker in the vein of James Taylor. While the lyric sounds too politically conscious for his former band, Nash conveys sentiments that espouse the counter-culture ethos of CSN – with or without Y.
Their position at the fulcrum of Woodstock-era ideology, based on peace, love and freedom, are best expressed through Crosby – seen by many as spokesman for the believers – in his two songs.
On ‘Almost Cut My Hair‘ a journey into the dark paranoia of late-60s America, fueled by civil unrest, assassinations and the on-going Vietnam war, CSNY actually project themselves as a cohesive, nay formidable rock band – the electric guitar dueling of Stills and Young is sharp and edgy, but controlled in a way not evident in the live shows that followed release of the album.
On the jazz-infused title song, Crosby muses on the nature of reincarnation, the effectiveness of the track, fleshed out by harmonica from John Sebastian, losing nothing by Young not being present.
Young is also absent from the Nash-written ‘Our House,’ a McCartney-styled piano ballad celebrating domesticity, that he wrote while still cohabiting with Mitchell.
Young is not seen on ‘4+20‘ either – but in fairness neither is anyone except Stills, who performs this fine composition of his own with just an acoustic guitar.
Stills provides lead vocals on a powerful take of ‘Woodstock,’ the four heroes of the hour combining for a more forceful version than the Mitchell original. Of his three writing credits, Young offers an aching, emotional reading of the country-tinged ‘Helpless‘ which impressed everyone, including the composer who had been frustrated in his efforts to cut a satisfactory solo version.
‘Country Girl‘ is effectively a five-minute suite (Whiskey Boot Hill/Down, Down, Down/Country Girl I Think You’re Pretty‘) and has obvious similarities to the astounding ‘Broken Arrow‘ he wrote for ‘Buffalo Springfield Again,’ but without quite reaching the same level of accomplishment.
The power-pop closer (co-written with Stills) of ‘Everybody I Love You‘ is a pleasant, if somewhat slight way to close things – the song reminiscent of something the Byrds or the Springfield would have created four years before (Stills would later reuse the opening lines ‘Know you got to run/know you got to hide,’ for the title of a much superior song on ‘Stephen Stills II‘ eighteen months later).
Almost fifty years on from the March 1970 release of ‘Deja Vu,’ the album occupies a curious position in rock history, continuing as it does to divide opinion.
Throughout the 70s what praise came its way was of a begrudging nature – it even failed to make a Top 40 list of 1970 albums issued by Rolling Stone magazine in 1981. The ‘New Musical Express Encyclopedia of Rock‘ (1977 edition) labelled it ‘a mixed bag‘ and as late as 2002 Young was telling biographer Jimmy McDonough:
‘I think Crosby, Stills and Nash made great records. ‘Crosby, Stills & Nash’ is better than ‘Deja Vu.’ ‘Country Girl’ is overblown. It’s overdone. That was my fault. Parts of ‘Deja Vu’ are good – but they’re the parts I’m not on.’
But in the year after Young offered those forthright views, ‘Deja Vu‘ appeared at 148 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums ever made, rising in 2012 to 61.
Young, however, may actually have made some valid points. He contributes one truly great song (‘Helpless‘) and some typically chunky guitar work – but the most memorable moments, the glorious harmonies, shared political vision, the songs with real gravitas (‘Carry On,’ ‘Almost Cut My Hair,’ ‘Deja Vu,’ ‘4+20,’ ‘Teach Your Children‘ – even ‘Our House‘ has its heart in the right place) are the input of Crosby, Stills and Nash.
Which begs the question would they have been better off without Young and the change in dynamic he brought with him?
Given that seven years would pass before CSN entered the studio as a trio again, quite possibly – yet there is no denying the brooding presence of Young on the sepia tinged ‘Deja Vu‘ cover photo (joining the others in their Civil-War period garb) helps make it one of the most iconic sleeves of the era.
That and the little matter of sales in the region of 15 million – making it the best-selling album any one of them have ever been associated with.
CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG – ‘DEJA VU‘ (Released March 11 1970):
Carry On/Teach Your Children/Almost Cut My Hair/Helpless/Woodstock/Deja Vu/Our House/4+20/Country Girl/Everybody I Love You;
Produced by Crosby, Stills Nash & Young;
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This article was first published on 21/1/2020.
NEIL SAMBROOK is the author of ‘MONTY’S DOUBLE‘ – an acclaimed thriller now available in paperback and as an Amazon Kindle book.