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Crosby, Stills & Nash - Live & Kicking
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Nostalgia is not what it once was - it's better! By Brian Wise.
CROSBY, STILLS & NASH
A Day On The Green, Yarra Valley
Saturday December 8
Nostalgia certainly isn’t what it used to be. That’s what I was thinking halfway through the Crosby, Stills and Nash concert. Thirty-eight years on from their Woodstock festival appearance these men in their mid-sixties are still touring successfully. Not only that, the audience was lapping it up like they were conquering heroes. Close your eyes and you might think you had been transported back three decades or so.
As anyone who is connected with Rhythms - either writing or reading - would know, there are more than enough new albums released every month to save us from having to wallow in the past. I must admit that I do not spend a lot of time listening to old albums. A few favourites reappear regularly, if I am reading a rock bio I will go back and reacquaint myself with a musician’s older work and if there is a re-release I will invest in it and enjoy the experience.
But can you imagine back in 1967 going to see any artist that began their career in 1929? Would the music be of interest (unless it was blues or jazz)? Would the songs be relevant? Probably not. Yet Crosby, Stills and Nash provided an experience that transcended nostalgia.
Four years ago I saw CSN in New Orleans and was impressed with the way they had transformed themselves since I saw them produce a saccharin show in Melbourne in the late ’80s. They had added a powerful backing band that allowed them to flesh out the songs and also to cover up some of the cracks that have gradually appeared in the vocals. So I was looking forward to a good show, not concerned that they might not be able to deliver.
For this Australian tour their three own guitars were augmented by Hammond B3 (Todd Cardwell?), as well as James Raymond (Crosby’s son) on keyboards and vocals, Kevin McCormack on electric guitar (he has toured here with Jackson Browne) and legendary drummer Joe Vitale. The additional musicians anchor the songs and, while Stephen Stills vocals are well beyond his prime (although he may have had a cold) this is compensated for by a fuller sound.
Crosby has joked on stage that they are sick of doing some of the songs but the fact is that the sentiments are still as valid as when they were originally recorded. This is the secret. Written in the hothouse era of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, many of the songs were rooted in politics or brought a personal perspective that was more than just churning out romantic ditties. (Interestingly they did not perform ‘Suite:Judy Blue Eyes’).
So a lot of the material from the first few albums has not dated nearly as much as some of that produced by their contemporaries. ‘Long Time Gone’ appeared early in the set, almost as an antidote to the jaunty ‘Marrakesh Express’ (which must have brought back a lot of memories to some people).
And, while Stills voice appeared shot on the night, there was nothing wrong with his guitar playing and it seemed he tried to wring every note out of the electric guitar as some compensation. It was a nice surprise to hear him tackle ‘For What It’s Worth’ – a song that also rings true forty years from its inception.
Nash pointed out the relevance of his ‘Military Madness’ – which has always sounded a little too jaunty for my liking but it contrasted with ‘Just A Song Before We Go’ and ’49 Bye Byes’ that preceded it.
By halfway through the set, and ‘Southern Cross,’ things started to get shaky. The harmonies were slightly adrift but the discordance did not last long and they quickly moved into ‘Helplessly Hoping’ and a sing along of ‘Our House’ prior to the Buffalo Springfield classic.
Later in the set, ‘Wooden Ships’ offered the chance for Stills to break out with another solo and he decorated the song with some stunning guitar work. It remains one of my favourite CSN pieces and retains an almost mystical presence. Crosby’s vocal strength and subtlety certainly came to the fore on this. The lyrics are just obscure enough to remain intriguing all these years later.
Here it has to be said that David Crosby’s voice is still a stunning instrument and was the undoubted highlight of the concert. His latest book is aptly titled Since Then: How I Survived Everything and Lived To Tell About It. ‘Survived’ being the operative word – and, luckily, his voice has too.
While the group had to postpone dates earlier in the year it appears that Crosby has overcome any illness that struck him then. His flowing white hair, burgundy t-shirt and hands-in-pocket casualness on stage place in that hippie era but when he opens his mouth to sing you know you are hearing something special. He can still perform ‘Almost Cut My Hair’ with a wry grin, having made absolutely no concessions to fashion.
It was hardly a surprise that the show ended with ‘Woodstock’ (a loose version’) and ‘Teach Your Children’ but it was a surprise how CSN managed to cover so much of their catalogue without sounding like a nostalgia act that belonged in casino somewhere in the mid-West of America.
Talent will out in the end, I suppose, especially when you have one of rock music’s finest singers in David Crosby along for the ride.
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