Original subtitles

And now part four of Crosby Stills Nash

and Young. When I last left you, the

solo careers of these four guys became

the norm as time after time they failed

to complete the Human Highway album

after trying off and on for about 3

years. So that left them in 1977 at

basically loose ends. Now, one of the

things that I wanted to talk about here

with regard to why this didn't really

work uh long term and they could never

really operate as a fourpiece. And the

one of the problems was is this was not

never really a band. I mean, essentially

what you had here were two lead guitar

players that were songwriters and two

very good singers who were songwriters.

It's not like there was a rhythm section

or anything. So, there was never really

a band. and the experiment to add Neil

Young which they were pressured to do by

the record label by a Matt Erdigan

that didn't work as Neil Young

essentially became kind of this black

hole that they couldn't really work with

long term and he didn't fit in

and it really worked best with Stephen

Stills as the guy. I mean, this band

originally was built with the first

album on Steven Stills's songs, and you

have the layered harmonies on top of his

his songs. Now, imagine in 1970, had

Neil Young got in his way when they were

touring that he wanted to fire Steven

Stills. Can you imagine Crosby Young and

Nash? How would that those vocals have

worked together? I mean, it wouldn't

have worked, I don't think, long term.

Anyway, that just goes to show you how

this was really Steven Stills band and

if Stills was not around, it wasn't

going to work. It operated on his songs,

his music.

So, after years of starting and

stopping, they finally put together an

album as a trio. This is called CSN.

This came out in 1977.

And if you listen to this album, what I

just said about Steven Stills, you know,

basically it's built on his his

shoulders. This album completely

demonstrates that. And there's no Neil

Young on here at all. And that's not to

say Neil Young wouldn't have worked on

some songs on here, but really he was

just kind of an add-on piece and never

meant to be an integral part of the

group unlike the three guys here. And

this album shows it. [music and singing]

>> I don't care.

Shadow.

[music]

I'm flying [music and singing]

in Winchester

and it [music] gets

as [singing]

far [music]

away.

>> Now, this album was kind of a breath of

fresh air. They rebuilt their brand. And

believe it or not, this album actually

outsold the debut album from 69 by

200,000 copies. So that I didn't

realize, but that's how big this album

was. There a couple hit singles off

here. Just a song Before I Go was one.

And it was so popular that they started

to tour through 1978 on this record. Now

I've got two different albums here. Now,

this is the first pressing and they had

this kind of paste on photo and the the

idea was is when that ran out, they were

going to just run an alternate photo

which kind of a happy photo. And this is

not a one that's pasted on the cover.

It's just printed on the cover. So, you

have two different photos. Neil Young

started to slow down a little bit with

his next album, American Stars and Bars.

And half of this album were tracks that

were recorded in 1974 and 1975.

There's a bar hall queen

[music and singing] down in Charlotte

Town.

You are [music]

like a hurricane.

>> My favorite track on this album is Bite

the Bullet and that has backing vocals

by Nichollet Larson and Linda Ronstat.

Uh the song Like a Hurricane was kind of

an album hit off of this uh off of this

album. People always like that that song

quite a lot. And another song that's

mentionable is the song Will to Love.

Now, he recorded this on a cassette,

mixed it, and completed it in eight

hours, never to play it again. So, you

can hear the crackles of the fireplace

in the background. And it's called by

some crit critics as his worst song, but

Neil Young being the contrarian that he

is, he considers it one of the best

songs he's ever recorded.

>> [music]

>> Sometimes I [singing] ramble on and on

and I repeat [music] myself till all my

friends are [singing] gone.

>> Now this album is also notable because

the design was done by actor Dean

Stockwell who was a friend of Neil

Young's and a neighbor. Now Young didn't

stop there. He finished off what was his

first major retrospective. This is

Decade. This is a three album set going

back to his Buffalo Springfield days all

the way up to the mid70s. Crosby and

Nash's next effort was a live album. I

guess somewhat predictable.

Kind of better picture on the back here.

And then uh this was a time we're in

1977 here, you know, everything was

changing in rock music. You had the

backlash. All this hippie stuff had

already started. This is the advent of

disco and punk happen happening

simultaneously.

So all of this kind of music, all these

60s people are doing more adult

contemporary stuff now. Now Stills

and I've mentioned that he's done a lot

of Latin beat stuff. He kind of goes

disco here with thorough fear gap

[music]

>> to the seventh mile. [music and singing]

[music]

>> Now, some critics call this disco and

swamp rock. It's got it's got a couple

good songs on it. The the song Thorough

for a gap actually goes back to the

Manasses days. So, this is not a disco

album. Although the song Can't Get No

Booty sounds a little bit like uh Casey

and the Sunshine Band. So, but he wasn't

the only one doing disco. You have

McCarten doing disco, Ringo, the Stones,

the Dead with Shakedown Street. You

know, everybody's getting into the act.

All those groups I just mentioned, they

were no longer the leaders in the music

industry. They were now the followers,

copying new trends. And Stills, I guess

you could include in that, although he

was also playing on some BG's albums,

Andy Gibb albums. Andy Gibb actually

sings on this record. So Stills is

still, you know, renting his services

out to whoever will hire him to play on

their albums. Thoroughfare Gap charted

lower than previous albums as did the CS

or the Crosby Nash album. Neil Young was

also struggling a little bit on the

charts until he did this album. His next

album is called Comes a Time. This is

1978 and he almost apologetically

returns to the sound of Harvest. This is

more folky with a dash of country thrown

in and he's got some very nice songs on

it.

>> Comes a [singing]

settle down. [music]

[singing]

[music]

going to take a lot of [singing] love

to change the way things

[music and singing] are.

>> So, when I mentioned Harvest, Neil Young

employs some of the same musicians from

the Harvest days like Tim Drummond on

bass. Ben Keith as well. Uh Nichollet

Larson also sings on this album and she

took the song A lot of love to the top

10. That was actually a number one song

in the adult contemporary chart. So, as

we see these guys maturing, Neil Young,

like the CSN album, this is adult

contemporary, easy listening type of

music, and that's just kind of where

they're maturing. And other musicians

their age are going in that direction as

well. By 1978, David Crosby had

basically stopped writing and his drug

use started to escalate and he put

together an album for the record company

that he had hoped would be released and

it was cobbled together of outtakes and

some unreleased tracks, but the record

company said, "No, we're not

interested." So, they released a Best of

Crosby Nash album at this time. And as

Crosby started to decline, you know, his

nose got destroyed by lots of longtime

cocaine use. So he resorted to drinking

the cocaine. So moving into 1979, Neil

Young gets back together with Crazy

Horse for the first time on an album

since 1975 with Russ Sleeps. Now this

album was a kind of a surprise hit as he

returns to form with Crazy Horse. This

got to number eight in the charts and he

had a couple rather popular songs on it.

[music]

>> Last [music] night it was cool at the

pool and the people living.

Now, this is the album that gets

credited, I guess, for jumpstarting that

the grunge movement in the 90s. And

basically, Neil Young's guitar is just a

little more distorted than normal when

he plays his rock stuff. So, this grunge

business, I I think it's a bit of an

overstatement, but there you have it,

folks. Now, as Neil Young returns to

Crazy Horse, Steven Stills is going

forward in a new direction. He put

together what was first supposedly the

first ever all digital album. The record

company rejected it. However, Neil Young

kept moving with the album Live Rust. I

don't have that one. Live Rust is Crazy

Horse. This was also a hit. Number 15 in

the charts 1979.

With all this drug talk, I need a little

break here. So, let's see what the gals

are doing. So, update with their women.

We have David Crosby is now with Jan

Dance.

Steven Stills divorced Veronique.

Graham Nash got married to Susan Sennet

in 1978.

He was soon to start a family. Neil

Young had been with Nichollet Larson for

the last couple albums. She had sang on

those albums anyway, but he ended up

ghosting her and took up with a waitress

at a nearby diner named Peggy Morton and

together they got uh married and had a

son. We're still 1979 here and it was

about time for David Crosby and Graham

Nash to do another album as a duo. But

Crosby, as I had said, was his drug use

was escalating. And after not being able

to snort it anymore because his nose was

ruined,

he tried drinking it for a period of

time, but somebody introduced him to

freebasing. Now, this is this went

really off the rails very quickly for

him as he became extremely dependent,

smoking the cocaine, and as a result,

Graham Nash couldn't really work with

him. He had no really new songs to very

few songs and Nash ended up doing the

album as a solo artist and that is Earth

and Sky

[music]

from the day that we met.

I can [music] see the writing on the

wall. I can hear the action before it

falls. Never [music] coming down to

earth and sky.

Now, Earth and Sky was released in early

1980, and it's got some, you know, it's

kind of a softer rock album, the type of

songs you would expect from Graham Nash

at this point. Songs that are

inoffensive and good quality songs, and

he had some good support on this record

from the likes of Stills Anne Crosby,

plus Jackson Brown, David Lindley, and

Joe Walsh on guitar. Overall, the guitar

work is very good on this album, and

it's a little bit more optimistic than

his former solo album called Wild Tales.

Now, one of the things that you may have

gleaned from this entire series is that

in the 70s, this this idea of party like

a rock star that was really born in the

70s with the excesses of the rock

lifestyle. And one of the things to add

to that has to do with this album. And

this is probably more got more press

than the actual album did, but Graham

Nash uh had a problem with his record

company putting a UPC code on the back

or some kind of U barcode.

And he said, "I don't want that there. I

want you to take it off." And they said,

"Well, no, we that's standard. We have

to have that there." Now, obviously,

that became standard and it was the way

they did inventory or whatever. And he

said it interfered with the design. So,

it got to be such an issue that he left

that that record company and signed with

Capital, which is who released this

album. You'll notice there's no barcode

anywhere.

But this is just the kind of thing that

rock stars got to be known for, this

kind of petty type of thing. Not only

did Graham Nash sign with Capital, but

so did David Crosby. And they expected

him to do a solo album. And uh although

Crosby was in in big trouble at this

time because of his drug problem and he

actually borrowed money in advance from

Capitol against his house and he went on

tour and this tour was not very good and

it was basically a disaster. he was not

fit to be performing and word got back

to his friends and when they he came

back from the tour from the airport they

staged an intervention and this was led

by Graham Nash and Nash had something

all set up for him to go to a hospital

and essentially dry out. Crosby's

partner, Jan Dance, was also a user. So,

she was also going to be included in

this rehab. And uh I think Jackson Brown

sprung for a helicopter. And other

people that were there were Paul Canner

and Grace Slick. Jackson Brown was there

as well. And they tried to usher, they

separated Jan and David Crosby and tried

to explain what was going on. and

you know he's an addict so he was not

receptive to this and went along with it

and they got to the hospital to the

clinic and I think they checked out very

shortly thereafter. So all of this

expense I think was just basically

flushed and uh he went on uh doing what

he was doing. He thought he was because

he was a functional addict and could

work i.e. could tour he thought that he

didn't need rehabilitation. Meanwhile,

Neil Young comes out with another album.

This is 1980 Hawks and Doves. Now, this

album is kind of interesting. I really

like this album. Half the tracks are

from the 7475 period. That bottomless

well of creativity. Half side one is

that that's my favorite side and the

other side are new tracks.

Up and down the old [singing]

homestead,

[music] the naked rock. All of friends

[singing]

call her little wing.

My father was a sailor named Captain

Kennedy.

>> So we hear Young here, sticking with a

softer sound, very different from the

live rust, the crazy horse. Getting back

to uh a more folk song here and side two

is a little bit different.

>> I'll make those when I

find a job.

>> On one side the government, [music] the

other the mom.

>> Now these new songs I get the feeling

that Young just wasn't trying very hard.

I mean a couple songs here they're

almost clones of each other. So I think

Neil Young was also running out of

steam. Now one very good compilation

that came out at the end of 1980 in time

for Christmas is Replay. This is a

compilation of Crosby Stills Nash their

solo tracks some tracks as a duo and

it's kind of a I guess we call almost

like a best of. This came out I think

partially because Stills and Nash were

touring together. So, this was the

product that was put out and another

great Joanie Mitchell likeness on the

cover, which I think is [snorts] uh very

retrospective and the songs on here are

very good. So, if you're looking to get

an an album of some of their solo stuff,

this may be a good place to start. Okay,

we're in 1981 here and the next Neil

Young album is Reactor. This is an album

I don't have. um listened to it several

times though and uh it it charted at

number 27 but it's a very strange album.

It's people call this like a punk album

but this is a really post punk period

and this is just an album with a lot of

tired guitar riffs that don't go

anywhere. Crazy Horse doesn't sound

anything like Crazy Horse. So a very

strange album.

[music]

So for a period from 1980 through about

1982, Neil Young wasn't really around

much. He released some music but did not

tour. And one of the things he was doing

was caring for his son. His new wife

Peggy Morton and him, they had had a son

named Ben. He also had cereopal palsy

like his former son. And during this

period, Neil Young was basically tending

to his son. And a lot of the exercises

he did with his son inspired this

reactor album. So that's why it sounds

so different, I guess. And Neil Young

didn't tell anybody that this is what he

was doing with his son. So people

thought that he was being even more

reclusive and distant than normal. But

uh really he was caring for his son and

his son Ben couldn't speak. So I think

Neil Young deserves some credit here

after being not around for people

through his career. This is a time when

he was really there for his son. Now

Neil Young wouldn't tour for four years

and meanwhile

this was in the works. Now this started

out as a Steven Stills Graham Nash

album. They had been touring together

and they were going to record a new

album

and the record company suggested that uh

well maybe Crosby should be brought in

here. You know, they didn't particularly

care if he was not in any shape to

record at all. I don't think they just

wanted that other face on there because

they could smell the money. And uh Nash

and Stills were against it because they

knew David Crosby's condition until the

record company said, "Well, you're going

to have to pay for the recordings

yourself then." And then Stills and Nash

said, "You know what? Maybe you should

get David a call."

>> [music]

>> time we have wasted [singing] on the

way.

When you see the southern cross for the

first time,

you understand [music] time stops here

on the [music and singing] del

again

[music] following me to bed.

>> This album had two surprise hits on it.

Wasted on the Way by Graham Nash that

hit number nine. And Southern Cross,

that was a Steven Stills collab with

some other writers. Uh that got to

number 18. The song that Crosby brought

was Delta, one of his better songs that

he had kind of in his back pocket. He

had been he'd had for a number of years.

That's the only song he contributed. And

they had bring in some other singers to

fill his parts, namely Timothy B.

Schmidt and uh Art Garfuncle also sings

on here. He sang on the daylight again.

That song is kind of returned to the old

CSN sound that rep reprises uh find the

cost of freedom at the end of that track

as well. But unfortunately these these

other singers which also included Mike

Finnegan had to take the place of Crosby

who who contributed almost nothing to

this record. Believe it or not Crosby

and Nash did tour on this album and

David Crosby just wasn't there. He just

was in no shape. But he's he got through

the tour and they ended up doing a live

album in 1983 called Allies that was

released. They got to number 43. So

obviously their name still carried some

weight. Meanwhile, Neil Young released a

couple more albums, late 1982, Trans,

which baffled most people. And the next

album he wanted to do was a country

album called Old Ways.

And this is where he naturally wanted to

go. But the record company, you know, he

played it for Geffin and Geffin said,

"No way. Give us a, you know, rock and

roll album."

So Neil Young being insolent at this

time, he he gave him a old school rock

and roll album, Everybody's Rocking. And

this kind of pissed off the fans, too.

But this I don't think Neil Young cared.

And then Geffin said, "Well, okay, do

your album you wanted to do." So Old

Ways came out after that. Now, old ways,

everybody's rocking and trans. Now,

there's the real ditch trilogy for you.

We are in 1985 and David Crosby finally

bottoms out after a a drunken driving

episode where he ran off the road into a

fence. He got busted for con carried a

concealed weapon, drug paraphernalia,

etc. So he did some time here and this

is the thing that really turned him

around because he at this point after

this these incidents he came out of that

and was clean and has been clean since.

And I had the fortune, the good fortune

to see Crosby and Nash in 1986, not long

after. This is the first tour after he

got out. And I saw it at a small theater

about a 2500 person uh theater. And I

was in about the 13th row, I believe. I

I paid like 18 bucks for these tickets.

It was a lot of money. Went with my

cousin Ray and they put on an excellent

show. I was really impressed. This is

one of my the best shows I'd ever seen

in my young concertgoing life. And it

was just them two plus Craig Durgy on

keyboards. So a real stripped down show

and it I mean Crosby was in really good

voice and Nash was so proud of him. You

could just tell beaming you know with

fatherly pride because Crosby had beat

it and Crosby had a big smile on his

face. So that was a a really special

concert. Now, because Crosby cleaned up

his act, the original four guys were

able to finally do the reunion that they

were trying to do 20 years earlier, and

that was 1988's American Dream. That was

followed by Live It Up, which got album

cover of the year. And then in 1994,

CSN doing After the Storm. So, we have

another ditch trilogy for you folks. By

the end of the 80s, David Crosby had

written his autobiography. He did his

first solo album in a long time called

Oh yes I Can and this was kind of a

creative run that he began now and did

another six solo albums through the rest

of his life. Stills and Nash each did

four solo albums and they toured on and

off. Neil Young did another 30 albums up

to the current date here. They kept on

trucking, but by this time they all had

their followings and you know by this

time they were obviously uh kind of a

nostalgia act and a very good one at

that. And occasionally they did perform

together but very very seldom was all

four of them. This is the part where I

talk about compilations and where you

can find some of the best stuff from

these guys. Well, they didn't have a lot

of albums together. So the compilation

from 74 called So Far was kind of the

best compilation you could get from

these guys. But what I will tell you,

there are a couple excellent box sets

out there. One of which is called CSN.

That box set came out in 1991. Four disc

set. Lots of unreleased material and

stuff that uh is just rare, hard to

find. And I use that box set for quite a

lot of the tracks that I used to compile

this album. So, you're going to find a

lot of that there. I don't have a

physical copy of that. I remember

getting it from the library when it came

out back in the 90s and I ripped all the

songs from it. So you could do the same.

And if you're in Europe, that set is

only two discs, so you get short change.

So the American one is the one to get.

Uh the other thing I I don't have here

uh is the Neil Young archive series. So

he came out with uh this Kachoka Horse.

How much stuff he's got available and

from his very early days. So I use some

of that for some of his obscure tracks,

too, that I use for this compilation.

Crosby, Stills, and Nash. Each of them

had their own box set and that was

lovingly compiled by Graham Nash. So

those mostly consist of demos. So all

the demos that these guys do oftentimes

are rather interesting and because

they're singer songwriters so sometimes

they put a little extra feeling into

those demos. So those are also worth

looking at. Now as you know I had the

stack of albums at the beginning of this

series and I'm happy to say we got

through all of these. This goes up to

about 1982

and there's about there's over 50

records here and uh sorry I couldn't get

to some of your favorite songs on here

but uh if I did that video would be be

unwatchable. It' be too many parts. So I

was happy to get through it and put this

whole history in perspective. It was

good even to do it for myself because

this is a different difficult story to

weave a different difficult history to

put together because of all the ins and

outs and everything. But as you can see

throughout everything, they always still

m were able to come up with some very

good material whether they were together

or apart. On this channel, I often talk

about physical media and the allure for

it for us collectors. Well, one thing

I'm going to tell you about now that

doesn't get talked about a whole lot are

books. This book called Crosby Souls

Nash and Young was of a huge help to me

in putting this whole thing together.

This is by Peter Dogit. In fact, this is

my second copy. I was my first copy I

left on the plane with tons of my notes

in it for this video. This is back in

summertime, I believe. I was pissed, but

I had to buy it again and redo some

research. So, I got to know this book

very well. Dogget is a huge fan of these

guys. And one of the things I like about

it is he doesn't shy away from some of

their piccadillos and he he tells it in

a humorous fashion which makes it a

little lighter. It's a very easy read

and if you want to get deeper into these

guys, this is the book. Another one I

got here is David Crosby's Long Time

Gone. This is his autobiography.

This has been around a while. And for

those people who like to rip on David

Crosby because he's an easy target. It's

because he tells of his he doesn't

whitewash his history at all and this

book shows that. So, we get to know all

about him and good and bad. And uh so

anyway, uh those are the kind of things

that John Lennon would get away with. It

didn't matter the bet. Oh, he's so

honest. Unfortunately, the same courtesy

is not offered David Crosby, but this is

an excellent book and I use this for a

lot of my stuff. Now, whitewashing, I

wouldn't say Neil Young is a

whitewasher, but this book by Jimmy

Mcdana was originally an authorized

book. It became unauthorized as Mcdana

worked with Young. He interviewed him

like over 50 hours worth of stuff and uh

a lot of people connected with Young and

somehow uh it became unauthorized.

Something must have gone wrong. Anyway,

excellent book. This is another another

one where Neil Young his very difficult

career is put into very good perspective

in this book. And unfortunately

um or maybe I should say fortunately, it

was unauthorized. And well, that's why

they call them shaky.

So, I guess that's about it. This is the

time when I say, hey, thank you

everybody for watching and watching

through four parts. I know that was a

lot to get through. A lot of people said

that, oh man, this is kind of a the

story was depressing them. And uh one

thing I wanted to say, you know, these

guys really loved each other and the

camaraderie and the fellowship between

them as musicians always showed through

in the music. and what the the negative

stuff you hear about the personalities I

think is balanced by excellent music. So

that's what I tried to show in this

series and I hope you liked it. Now I

also want to thank people not only for

watching but also for for supporting me.

The way I'm able to get books like this

is through your additional support

through my Patreon subscription which is

below. I have a tip tip jar that's like

a onetime donation. Thank you to many of

you that have given via that. that's

helped me a great deal. And I also have

a website that I sell merchandise on.

That's pop goes60s.com.

So, as you might imagine, these videos

take a lot to put together and there is

a lot of research involved. So, a lot of

shoe leather being burned and I

appreciate everybody helping me out. So,

I'd like to talk more about this, but I

got to get back to work. I have a huge

list for 2026 to do for you guys. So, I

hope to see you back here on Pop Cool

the 60s.