An historic document of real importance – A newly discovered multi-track recording of CSN&Y’s 20th September 1969 Fillmore East concert. Definitive versions of well-loved songs, works in progress and some powerful, intense live workouts. And, this time, nobody is “scared sh*tless!”
Release Date: 25th October 2024
Label: Rhino Records
Formats: CD / 2LP Vinyl, Digital
SCARED SH*TLESS?
It was just one month after that legendary ‘second gig’ at Woodstock. You know the one I mean – the one when Steven Stills admitted to the assembled half million or so that he and his co-band members, David Crosby, Graham Nash and Neil Young were “Scared S*itless” at the prospect of performing their complex, harmony laden, often quiet and contemplative songs to such a vast audience? History records that they nailed it good and proper on that early Monday morning and, now, thanks to the discovery of a pristine 8-track recording of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s 20th September 1969 show at New York’s Fillmore East auditorium, history can also record that, in just 33 days after that landmark Woodstock appearance, CSN&Y had honed their material, polished their act and developed the confidence to showcase a whole load of new songs. Nobody, it seems, was ‘scared sh*tless’ anymore.
For diehard fans of CSN&Y, this live release will be a revelation and, such is the quality of these recordings, the album will also serve as a useful point of entry for anyone who might have heard about the band and is curious to understand what all the fuss is about. Both Neil Young and Stephen Stills have lavished their personal attention on the tapes and both were involved in the remastering process at Sunset Studios in Los Angeles. Speaking of the process – that involved mixing and compiling the recordings – Neil Young, a long-term detractor of digital recording techniques, said: “[We] have the tapes, and they sound so real. We mixed at Sunset Sound – the analog echo chamber, no digital echo. We’re staying all analog throughout the production…Pure. Analog. No digital – an analog original.”
A GLORIOUS SOUND
I don’t claim to be any kind of expert or enthusiast of any particular recording or mastering process, but I do know when I hear something I like, and I like this. The sound is glorious and the music is fresh and vibrant. The concert is split conveniently into two halves – an acoustic set and an electric set. I say conveniently, because that allows the acoustic set to be featured on Disc 1 of the 2-disc vinyl set, whilst Disc 2 accommodates the electric set.
The setlist is a fascinating mix of already established classics from the first, eponymous, Crosby, Still and Nash album, a few fascinating early versions of songs that would make the cut six months later on the debut CSN&Y album, Déjà Vu, songs from Stills’ and Young’s recent and forthcoming solo albums, a couple of delves into the Buffalo Springfield back catalogue and even a Beatles cover version.
DEFINITIVE VERSIONS OF WELL-LOVED SONGS
What I really like is that many of the versions of the songs captured here can almost be considered as ‘definitive’ versions – brighter and warmer than those captured on the albums and more relaxed and confidently delivered than when they were performed at, say, Woodstock. That’s certainly true of Suite: Judy Blue Eyes – surely one of the finest songs ever to be written and presented. Stills’ vocal is stronger than it was on the album and the harmonies seem, somehow, more sincere. The audience is clearly familiar with the song, although that familiarity doesn’t prevent a premature round applause from some quarters after the “Catch a sparrow” line…
Guinnevere is as mellow and intimate as ever – stoner yacht-rock before anyone had dreamed of such a term – and Stills’ solo delivery of 4+20 is masterful. This version doesn’t have the polish of the Déjà Vu track, but it’s riveting, nonetheless, and the passion of Stills’ delivery of You Don’t Have Yo Cry beats the album version, hands down.
Elsewhere in the acoustic set, Crosby, Stills and Nash all struggle to contain their laughter during Helplessly Hoping – although they do, of course, recover; Graham’s Manchester accent is distinctly noticeable during his rendition of Lady Of The Island and, despite that fact that his vocals are a tad strained, his solo performance of Our House – directed at Joni Mitchell, Graham’s muse and the song’s subject, who was in the audience – is one of the album’s real highlights.
There’s a couple of particularly pleasant acoustic surprises, too. McCartney’s Blackbird is given a Crosby, Still & Nash makeover and the harmonies would induce tears of joy in a boiled potato, and Crosby’s raga guitar and Nash’s discrete vocal harmonies bring a special magic to Go Back Home, a song that would surface on Steve’s debut solo album some 14 months after this concert.
ELECTRIC SOUNDS
Speaking of the contrast between the acoustic and electric portions of the show, Stills remarked: “The acoustic part of the show took care of itself, but now that we had equipment and Dallas (Taylor – drums) and Greg (Reeves – bass) and sizeable shows to do, we just went for it. What we lacked in finesse, we made up for in enthusiasm – a band on the run, expecting to fly.” That’s a summary that goes a long way to providing a rationale for the latter half of the CD – Disc 2 of the vinyl album – on which the versions of the band-aided songs are powerful, intense and exploratory-yet-disciplined and, when it works, it works to perfection.
The versions of Wooden Ships and Sea of Madness are both top-notch. Organs swirl and guitars solo and soar as Crosby delivers his best vocal of the whole album on Wooden Ships and the band are in heavenly unity behind Neil for Sea of Madness. Long Time Gone is raunchier and looser than the version we’ve been hitherto used to; Nash remembers his harmony discipline but Croz appears to be caught up in his soulful ecstasy, but they manage to keep shape and, altogether, it’s a classic live performance of a truly classic song.
A LENGTHY JAM
Stephen gives another preview of what he’s going to be up to twelve or so months’ hence with an early rendition of Bluebird Revisited – a song that would feature on his 1971 Stephen Stills 2 album. His vocals are soulful and the bass and organ weave nicely together, but there’s still a sense of ‘work in progress’ about the song. That can’t, however, be said of the epic version of Young’s Down By The River that brings the album to its (almost) close. The song’s parent album, Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, had been released earlier in the year and I guess that the song would have been familiar to many in the Fillmore audience. What that audience may not have been ready for was the lengthy 2-chord guitar jam that we now take for granted, but it’s a sizzling version of the song with lots to engage with enjoy for anyone with a spare 16+ minutes on their hands.
It’s a new Stills song – Find the Cost Of Freedom – that closes the set. Written as a possible song to end the Easy Rider movie, it finally saw light of day as the ‘B’-side to CSN&Y’s Ohio single. A couple of brief minutes of lovely, a capella vocal harmonies, and that’s the concert over. It just leaves enough space for Nash (or is it Stills?) to bid a “Goodbye everybody – we love you all” farewell and, I can assure you, by this point, you’ll feel like you were actually there.
Thinking back over the album, and back to the actual concert, Graham Nash provided the perfect summary: “Hearing the music again after all these years, I can tell you how much we loved each other and loved the music we were creating. We were four people reveling in the different sounds we were producing, quietly singing together on the one hand, then rocking like f*ck for the rest of the concert.”
Absolutely.
Watch Crosby, Stills & Nash perform Teach Your Children – a track not featured at the Fillmore East concert but in the making at the time – here:
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