So far, no one Anyone who wanted to hear live recordings of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young in their prime had to settle for the double album. 4th Street WayThe album, compiled from their 1970 shows, had its charged moments, including Neil Young's debut on “Ohio,” the exchanges between Stephen Stills and Young on “Southern Man” and “Carry On,” and the late David Crosby's version of “Triad,” his trio's manifesto. But Stills in particular was never a fan of the album, calling it “terrible” in a 1974 interview with Cameron Crowe.
The group's first tour, in 1969, carried the spirit of the new age – and its setlist – but for decades, fans had to rely on shoddy recordings, such as wood nickelTo experience the shows. After 55 years, that is set to change with the October 25 release. Live at the Fillmore East, 1969the first official CSNY concert recording ever from that period.
By the time the quartet (backed by drummer Dallas Taylor and guitarist Greg Reeves) arrived in New York to play two sets at the famed Fillmore East on September 19 and 20, 1969, CSNY was a completely new fusion. The original trio had been launched only a year earlier and had not played live until the release of Crosby, Stills and Winch In late spring 1969. Young was added shortly after, and the group made their first official appearance in Chicago, two days before Woodstock; Stills's comment to the audience about being “terribly afraid” was not just idle talk on stage.
New lineup possibilities are displayed on the sound screen. Living in Fillmore Eastwhich collects songs from the four sets they played (two per night) at the legendary Bill Graham Theater in downtown New York City. The acoustic set includes Crosby, Stills and Winch Songs like “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” “Guinnevere” and “Helplessly Hopeing” (where the joy they found in their combined voices was palpable). The electric second half includes Crosby's “Long Time Gone” and ends with an a cappella version of “Find the Cost of Freedom.” Some songs, like Young's “Sea of Madness,” “I've Loved Her So Long” (with Graham Nash) and Nash's “Lady of the Island,” would not be played on the 1970 tour or at any other time by the quartet.
There are references to the past, such as the song “On the Way Home” written by Young in the Buffalo Springfield era (also heard on 4th Street Way) and Stills' “Bluebird Revisited,” a reworked version of his Springfield hit “Bluebird.” But the future, more than the past, permeates the album. Stills plays “4 + 20,” the haunting song that would later be added to the album. Deja vuand an acoustic version of “Go Back Home,” the rock song sung by Eric Clapton that ended up on his first tour outside CSNY.
With his then-partner Joni Mitchell in tow, Nash played what may have been the first live performance of “Our House,” on organ rather than piano. The electric section ends with a 16-minute rendition of “Down by the River,” which Young had just released with Crazy Horse; the CSNY version, which features an extended riff between Stills and Young, shows just how much Young’s alternative band could do for an epic. (Unfortunately, another song from Young’s Springfield days, “Broken Arrow,” didn’t make the list.)
Speaking to paid members of the Neil Young Archive on a Zoom call last month, Young was clearly excited about the project. “It’s great to hear Crosby, Nash and Stills,” he said. “I just joined the band weeks after that happened. It was two weeks after Woodstock or something. It’s a really great record. There’s a song on that record called ‘Down by the River,’ which is probably the final ‘Down by the River,’ even though everyone thinks ‘Crazy Horse’ is the final song because it’s the one that came out.”
Working with Stills and Young's engineer John Hanlon, Young is particularly excited about the sonic quality of the album, which is based on analog tapes with no “digital reverb,” as he calls it. “Everything is analog, there's not a single digital piece that goes into making the record. The vinyl comes out exactly as vinyl was in 1969. Everything is done the same way. It has the sound and it's a beautiful thing,” he said on the show.
Beginning with the death of Crosby's girlfriend Christine Hinton in a car accident, tense sessions of Deja vuBut shortly after these recordings, the CSNY train began to go off the rails. The band continued, in various combinations, for the next four decades—breaking up, reforming, quarreling, and breaking up again. Sadly, Crosby’s death last year put an end to any potential reunion of the quartet, although Stills and Young will reunite next month at the Harvest Moon benefit concert in Lakes Hughes, California.
But in September 1969, all that music and turmoil remained on the horizon. Referring to those shows at the Fillmore, Stills says in a statement: “We gave it our all. What we lacked in finesse, we made up for in enthusiasm… A band on the run. Expecting to soar.”
