CSN (album) – Wikipedia

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1977 studio album by Crosby, Stills & Nash

CSN is the fifth album by Crosby, Stills & Nash, released on Atlantic Records on June 17, 1977.[3] It is the group’s second studio release in the trio configuration. It peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart; two singles taken from the album, Nash’s “Just a Song Before I Go” (No. 7) and Stills’ “Fair Game” (No. 43) charted on the Billboard Hot 100. It is currently the trio configuration’s best selling record, outselling 1969’s Crosby, Stills & Nash by 200,000 copies.[4] It has been certified quadruple platinum by RIAA.[5]

Content[edit]

Following their tour in the spring and summer of 1970 to support Déjà Vu, Crosby, Stills and Nash had only completed one project together, a 1974 reunion tour of CSNY. David Crosby and Graham Nash had recorded three albums as a duo, with Crosby releasing a single solo album (in addition to a Byrds reunion album) and Nash a pair. Stephen Stills pursued other projects including the release of four solo albums, a short career with Manassas that yielded two albums, as well as a tour and an album with Neil Young, which itself nearly became a CSNY project.

CSN featured strong writing from all three members, the last time for seventeen years that the band would compose songs and handle vocals without major assistance from outside sources.

Many of Stills’ songs on the album echo his marital problems,[6] with “Dark Star” returning to the Latin rhythms he had favored all the way back to his Buffalo Springfield days. Crosby continued the existential probings consistent with much of his past work, and Nash offered both a radio-ready acoustic ballad with “Just a Song Before I Go”, and an elaborate set piece re-creating a vision of a hashish experience that he had in Winchester Cathedral with “Cathedral”.[6] Many tracks included a string section, a first on a CSN project.

The album was released for compact disc an initial time in the 1980s,[7] then again at Ocean View Digital from the original tapes and reissued on September 20, 1994. It was remastered once more by Steve Hoffman in April 2013, for an Audio Fidelity 24kt gold disk release in the summer of 2013.

Cash Box said that “Fair Game” “combines a snappy Latin rhythm, neatly interlocking harmonies, and layers of Stephen Stills’ thoughtful acoustic guitar work.”[8] It commented on the “surging guitars and piano” and “harmonic hooks” and “powerful rhythmic elements” of “I Give You Give Blind”.[9]

Record World called “Fair Game” a “mid-tempo Stills song with samba touches, with the trio’s trademark vocal harmonies again standing out.”[10]

Track listing[edit]

Side one

Title Writer(s) Lead vocals
1. “Shadow Captain” Crosby, Stills & Nash 4:32
2. “See the Changes” Stephen Stills Stills with Crosby & Nash 2:56
3. “Carried Away” Graham Nash Nash with Crosby 2:29
4. “Fair Game” Stephen Stills Stills with Crosby & Nash 3:30
5. “Anything at All” David Crosby Crosby 3:01
6. “Cathedral” Graham Nash Nash with Crosby 5:15

Side two

Title Writer(s) Lead vocals
1. “Dark Star” Stephen Stills Stills 4:43
2. “Just a Song Before I Go” Graham Nash Nash 2:12
3. “Run from Tears” Stephen Stills Stills 4:09
4. “Cold Rain” Graham Nash Nash 2:32
5. “In My Dreams” David Crosby Crosby 5:10
6. “I Give You Give Blind” Stephen Stills Stills with Crosby & Nash 3:21

Personnel[edit]

  • David Crosby – vocals; rhythm guitar on “Fair Game” and “Dark Star”; acoustic guitar on “Just A Song Before I Go” and “In My Dreams”; string arrangements on “Cathedral” and “Cold Rain”
  • Stephen Stills – vocals; guitars on all tracks except “Carried Away”, “Cathedral” and “Cold Rain” electric piano on “Anything at All”; piano, string arrangements on “I Give You Give Blind”; timbales on “Fair Game”
  • Graham Nash – vocals; piano on “Carried Away”, “Cathedral”, “Just A Song Before I Go”, and “Cold Rain”; harmonica on “Carried Away”; string arrangements on “Cathedral” and “Cold Rain”

Additional musicians

  • Joe Vitale – drums on “Carried Away”, “Fair Game”, “Cathedral”, “Dark Star”, “Run From Tears” and “I Give You Give Blind”; organ on “Shadow Captain”, “Fair Game”, “Anything at All”, “Dark Star”; electric piano on “Carried Away”, “Just A Song Before I Go”; percussion on “Cathedral”, “I Give You Give Blind”; flute on “Shadow Captain”; timpani on “Cathedral”; vibraphone on “In My Dreams”
  • Craig Doerge – piano on “Shadow Captain” and “Anything at All”; electric piano on “Shadow Captain” and “Dark Star”
  • Mike Finnigan – organ on “Run From Tears”
  • George “Chocolate” Perry – bass on “Shadow Captain”, “Fair Game”, “Anything at All”, “Cathedral”, “Dark Star”, and “I Give You Give Blind”
  • Jimmy Haslip – bass on “Carried Away”
  • Tim Drummond – bass on “Just A Song Before I Go”
  • Gerald Johnson – bass on “Run From Tears”
  • Russ Kunkel – drums on “Shadow Captain”, “Anything at All”, “Just A Song Before I Go”, and “In My Dreams”; congas on “Shadow Captain”, “Dark Star”; percussion on “Just A Song Before I Go”
  • Ray Barretto – congas on “Fair Game”
  • Mike Lewis – string arrangements on “Cathedral”, “Cold Rain”, and “I Give You Give Blind”
  • Joel Bernstein – string arrangements on “Cathedral”

Production

Year-end charts[edit]

Certifications[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Newsom, Jim (2011). “CSN – Crosby, Stills & Nash | AllMusic”. allmusic.com. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  2. ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). “Consumer Guide ’70s: C”. Christgau’s Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved February 23, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  3. ^ Greene, Andy. “Flashback: Crosby, Stills and Nash Perform ‘Just a Song Before I Go’ in 1977,” Rolling Stone, January 9, 2018. Retrieved September 30, 2021
  4. ^ “RIAA – Soundscan”. Greasylakes. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  5. ^ RIAA Gold and Platinum Database retrieved 8 September 2015
  6. ^ a b https://www.crosbystillsnash.com/discography/1977/csn/
  7. ^ The date constantly given for first generation remastering for digital as issued on compact disc, October 25, 1990, is the earliest date for which amazon.com has records regarding compact disc releases. So, for any CD that came out prior to that, they simply put in that date rather than an actual one since they do not have it. Every single first generation compact disc was not issued on October 25, 1990.[citation needed]
  8. ^ “CashBox Singles Reviews” (PDF). Cash Box. October 1, 1977. p. 18. Retrieved 2021-12-26.
  9. ^ “CashBox Singles Reviews” (PDF). Cash Box. December 31, 1977. p. 24. Retrieved 2021-12-26.
  10. ^ “Hits of the Week” (PDF). Record World. October 1, 1977. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  11. ^ “CROSBY STILLS NASH & YOUNG | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company”. www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  12. ^ Canada, Library and Archives (2013-04-16). “The RPM story”. www.bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  13. ^ “norwegiancharts.com – Norwegian charts portal”. norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  14. ^ “newzelandcharts.com – New Zealand charts portal”.
  15. ^ “InfoDisc : Les Albums (CD) de 1970 par InfoDisc”. 2016-01-02. Archived from the original on 2016-01-02. Retrieved 2020-12-11.
  16. ^ “Swedish Charts” (PDF).
  17. ^ Salaverri, Fernando (2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002. Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  18. ^ a b Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  19. ^ “Dutch Charts – dutchcharts.nl”. dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  20. ^ “Hit Parade Italia – ALBUM 1977”. www.hitparadeitalia.it. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  21. ^ “charts.org.nz – New Zealand charts portal”. charts.nz. Archived from the original on 2018-12-30. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  22. ^ “クロスビー,スティルス,ナッシュ&ヤングの売上ランキング”. ORICON NEWS. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  23. ^ a b c “CASH BOX MAGAZINE: Music and coin machine magazine 1942 to 1996”. worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  24. ^ a b c “RECORD WORLD MAGAZINE: 1942 to 1982”. worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  25. ^ a b c Whitburn, Joel (1990). Joel Whitburn Presents the Billboard Hot 100 Charts: The Seventies. ISBN 0-89820-076-8.
  26. ^ “Dutch Charts – dutchcharts.nl”. dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  27. ^ “Infodisc – French Chart Website”.
  28. ^ a b “RPM Top Singles Chart” (PDF). RPM. RPM archives. Ottawa: Library and Archives Canada. January 30, 1971. OCLC 352936026. Retrieved September 3, 2016.
  29. ^ “RPM Top 100 Albums of 1977”. RPM. 31 December 1977. Archived from the original on 5 April 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  30. ^ “Hit Parade Italia – ALBUM 1977”. www.hitparadeitalia.it. Retrieved 2021-01-08.
  31. ^ “Dutch Charts – dutchcharts.nl”. dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 2021-01-08.
  32. ^ “BILLBOARD MAGAZINE: American music magazine 1920’s to 2017”. worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved 2021-01-08.
  33. ^ “CASH BOX MAGAZINE: Music and coin machine magazine 1942 to 1996”. worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved 2021-04-03.
  34. ^ “American album certifications – CROSBY, STILLS & NASH – CSN”. Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
  35. ^ Zimmer, Dave (2008). Crosby, Stills & Nash: The Biography. Da Capo Press.

Further reading[edit]

Herbst, Peter (2011). “Crosby, Stills and Nash: CSN : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone”. web.archive.org. Archived from the original on February 14, 2009. Retrieved 19 July 2011.

External links[edit]