The Best of Crosby & Nash: The ABC Years

by Graham Nash, David Crosby, Crosby & Nash

Overview

"The ABC Years" of David Crosby and Graham Nash were the years 1975 and 1976, when the two, best known for their association with Stephen Stills and, sometimes, Neil Young, were performing as a duo and had left Atlantic Records, which issued the recordings they made with those partners, for ABC, a label later subsumed within MCA, the imprint under which this compilation has been issued. Crosby & Nash released three albums with ABC: 1975's gold-selling, Top Ten Wind on the Water, featuring the chart entry "Carry Me"; 1976's gold-selling Whistling Down the Wire, featuring the chart entry "Out of the Darkness"; and 1977's Live. By the time that last, contractually obligated, album came out, they had rejoined Stills to reform Crosby, Stills & Nash. But this brief, productive period was arguably their most impressive, alone or in tandem, outside the more popular trio/quartet. Fronting a highly regarded and high-priced Los Angeles session band sometimes called the Section (drummer Russ Kunkel, bassist Leland Sklar, guitarist Danny Kortchmar, et al.) and best known for backing James Taylor, Crosby turned out a series of his characteristic jazz-tinged tunes with self-reflective lyrics, while Nash performed pop songs on personal and political topics. Annotator Steve Silberman recalls that such Nash efforts as "Take the Money and Run" and "Mutiny" directed anger at the absent Stills and Young, though the lyrics are too vague and metaphorical for the layman to parse, especially a quarter-century later. But "Wind on the Water" remains a feeling statement on the slaughter of whales. Compiler Mike Ragogna has made a reasonable reduction of the two studio albums, adding four familiar tunes from the live disc, for this 78-minute collection. 1978's The Best of Crosby/Nash, also including Atlantic material, was more complete, but this album lives up to its title. ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	10/15/2002
Label:	Mca
UPC:	0008811257521

Tracks

1. Carry Me
2. Mama Lion
3. Bittersweet
4. Take the Money and Run
5. Naked in the Rain
6. Love Work Out
7. Homeward Through the Haze
8. To the Last Whale...Critical Mass/Wind on the Water
9. Spotlight
10. Broken Bird
11. Time After Time
12. Mutiny
13. Taken at All
14. Foolish Man
15. Out of the Darkness
16. Immigration Man
17. Lee Shore
18. I Used to Be a King
19. D¿¿j¿¿ Vu

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Crosby & Nash   Primary Artist
David Crosby   Primary Artist,Piano,Vocals,Guitar (Rhythm),Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Guitar (12 String Electric)
Graham Nash   Primary Artist,Guitar (Electric),Organ,Piano,Congas,Vocals,Harmonica,Guitar (Rhythm),Guitar (Acoustic)
James Taylor   Guest Artist,Guitar,Vocals
Carole King   Guest Artist,Organ,Piano,Vocal Harmony
Jackson Browne   Guest Artist,Vocals
Jimmie Haskell   Conductor
Joel Bernstein   Guitar (Acoustic)
Tim Drummond   Bass
Danny Kortchmar   Dobro,Guitar,Guitar (Electric)
Craig Doerge   Organ,Piano,Melodica,Synthesizer,Piano (Electric),Harmonica (Glass)
Russ Kunkel   Drums,Percussion
David Lindley   Viola,Fiddle,Violin,Pedal Steel,Slide Guitar,Guitar (Electric)
Leland Sklar   Bass
Sid Sharp   Orchestra Leader
Laura Allen   Zither

Technical Credits

Jimmie Haskell   Arranger,String Arrangements
Ray Thompson   Engineer
Joel Bernstein   Photography
Mike Ragogna   Compilation Producer
David Crosby   Composer,Producer,String Arrangements
Danny Kortchmar   Composer
Stephen Barncard   Engineer,Producer,Remixing
Bob Hammer   Photography
Craig Doerge   Composer
Graham Nash   String Arrangements,Composer,Producer
Erick Labson   Mastering
Lee Holdridge   String Arrangements
Barry Korkin   Editorial Assistant
Don Gooch   Engineer,Producer,Remixing
Vartan   Art Direction
Junie Osaki   Design
Beth Stempel   Production Coordination
Lesley Foster Barncard   Photography